Five Notes of the Raga

About the Book

Five Notes of the Raga is about Indian music and Indian History. This short story that gives the book its name is an imagined encounter between two great personages of the sixteenth century Indian Bhakti movement: the blind musician Surdas and the great Mughal Emperor Akbar. There follows five musical plays staged in London, including the most recently staged “Phool Walon ki Sair”—a flower sellers’ procession that starts from a Hindu temple and ends at a Muslim shrine. Kavita K2k recounts Indian poetry—ancient and modern. “Sheydiner Doojon” is about the two bards of Bengal—Tagore and Nazrul. “T3” tells the time with timeless Indian Ragas and Tagore melodies. Lastly, “Gulbagicha” displays the repertoire of Nazrul’s creativity. The book ends with a few of Dasgupta’s poems.

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