Puja by Mustafa Bhagat
Puja is a hindu word for devotional homage. This music is an offering to my dear guruji Pandit Manilal Nag and my many teachers who shed light along my winding path. I’m honored to have recorded this with my long time musical collaborator, partner in crime, great friend - my brother from another mother - David Freeman. Aside from getting me back on the horse, he has been a constant inspiration and source of knowledge for the last 2 decades. I would not be the musician I am today without him.
This record is a bit of a throwback. While it is not uncommon these days for the performance of a single raga to stretch to an hour and beyond, some of the first recordings of Indian classical had a built in time limit - the 22min of wax available on the side of an LP. The maestros of these early recordings were able to distill and clarify the raga down to 15, 10, even 3 minutes sometimes. But it never felt rushed, it always felt whole. And the rasa (emotional essence) of the raga always remained fully intact. I look back to this approach in putting this batch of tunes together.
This record represents a full day’s journey of the sun. The morning raga Charukeshi makes its way through the heat of an afternoon Bhimapalsi, basks in the sweet evening Kafi and finally savors the light of a sunrise Bhairavi. An entire all-night Indian music program on two sides.
Tracklist
| 1. | Gujari Todi | 7:55 |
| 2. | Charukeshi | 6:56 |
| 3. | Bhimpalasi | 7:58 |
| 4. | Hamsadhwani | 4:54 |
| 5. | Kafi | 6:56 |
| 6. | Malkauns | 3:45 |
| 7. | Bhairavi | 5:02 |
Credits
License
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Mustafa Bhagat is an Emmy award winning producer, editor and cinematographer. He runs his production company, Flicker Filmworks, with his partner Laura da Ney. When not making films he can be found strumming sweet melodies on his sitar.
He also performs with David Freeman as The Biryani Boys, and as Arranged Marriage NP with Jerry Adler.
Puja is an offering to his guruji, Pandit Manilal Nag.