Saturday, April 28, 2007

Traditional Sikh Kirtan - Puratan Reet

If you're a Kirtan-lover or even if you're generally intersted in music - check the following link:

Jap Man Narhare Narhar Swami - Raag Shudh Sarang

This is Puratan Reet Kirtan (Translation for those not familiar with Sikhi: Old School "Sikh Music")
The chorus is first sung in a 15 beat cycle - yep, no type-o: 15 beats.
And then they switch to a fast 12 beat cycle for the verses.

Switching rythmic cycles is an old Sikh tradition started by Our 4th Guru , Sri Guru Ram Das Ji.

This composition is about 350-400 years old.

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I dont know about you, but every time I hear it, I get chills (in a good way). 
On top of that, If you are in to spirituality/Sikhi etc and understand the meaning - it just takes you to another level.

4 comments:

Gurjeet Singh said...

may apna nava and very first dilruba kida tune karaan? how should i find out the relationship between the main strings and the sympathetic strings? which ones to tune first and las ...please help ...

Mnv said...

Veer Gurjeet Ji,
I've put up some basic info already.

I'll get a proper video guide up in a couple of months. In the meantime, good luck.

Angad Singh said...

how i have learnt to tune my saaz is..

tune the 2nd main string to your Sa..

then
1st String to Ma
3rd to Ga or Sa
4th to Ga or Sa

your tarab string

the 5 which connect to the top of the dilruba are according to the Raag

so for bilaval you will tune..

Ga Pa Dha Ni Sa ( Ga and Dha are vadi sum vadi for bilaval)

the other 17 tarabs on the side..manav singh has explain to you...

once that is done...then play your 1st string on Sa ..it should be accurate..if it not..adjust the tuning till it is.

what is the make of your dilruba?

Gurjeet Singh said...

Angad Veer ji, Thank you for providing the vital information .But you know ... I don't know any raag as such, but I really have the heart to learn and to play Dilruba.

I am totally naive about the topic of Dilruba and your question : "what is the make of your dilruba?" ... I am sorry but I don't understand what it actually means. I hope with a proper guiance and knowledge I will learn. But while getting the Dilruba the store owner told me that this is made in Calcutta. And for initial tuning I got it tuned from Master Saajan Singh, Delhi. According to him the Dilruba ia quite huge and is not the normal size that we get to see. I actually carried my Saaz from Bombay to Delhi specifically to get it tuned and you must be knowing Upinder Mam, she ownes her own blog and if I have not mistaken you know her quite well. She helped me to get the saaz tuned. Finally, I got my Dilruba tuned and I can play the basic sargam. Anyways, I went to a local musical store to get a bundle of strings because I was trying to tune the jawari bridge but I ended up breaking the string itself !... I enjoy experimenting with my Saaz and I think this is the way to (technically )know it better ;) Now when some of the strings are tuned I know how SA sounds otherwise I didn't have any idea. The first six months with me and my saaz were wonderful, I used to run the bow on all the four strings, you see ! I could gather all the information that I could get online including the free lessons from Raj Academy's website but I couldn't understand anything.

Its a different story now that I have little knowledge of playing my Dilruba and now when I play there is no screaching sound at all. By the way, now when I got the string bundle I carried one as a sample to show it to the store owner. It turned out that the (sympathetic)strings of my Dilruba are thick and with the knowledge of the store owner I should get them changed, BUT! I really don't want to experiment more with it ... no more. Everything in a good time. It was really nice to know you all ... Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh.