It's time for dancing with the sitars. Three sitarists, three hours, six ragas.

Set #1 - 8:00am - 9:00am

1. Raga Bilashkhani Todi
20:10

2. Raga Malaya Marutam
13:42

Tracks 1-2
Shalil Shankar - sitar, Subhankar Banerjee - tabla
Shalil Shankar: Raga Bilashkhani Todi
Audiorec Classics, 766032 1045-2
30:06

3. Ragamalika (Medley of Ragas)
Ananda - voice, Jana Starling - clarinet, K. S. Mani - violin, Anand Bala - mrdangam [double-sided drum]
Ananda: Treasures
Tantra, TSMV9701
15:07
(Our raga guide, beginning with South Indian Shankarabharanam, which happens to share its interval structure with the Western major scale. Note how the mood changes as D- and B-flats are added, and E- and A-naturals jettisoned...)

Set #2 - 9:00am - 10:00am

4. Raga Charukeshi
29:35

5. Raga Jog
31:56

Tracks 4-5
Mani Shankar - sitar, Siddartha Shankar - vocal, Mayookh Bhaumik - tabla
Rejoice: Duet Sitar & Vocal
Rageshree Music Institute, CD RMI 107

Set #3 - 10:00am - 11:00am

6. Raga Yaman Kalyan
22:13

7. Raga Bhairavi
21:40

Tracks 6-7
Hasu Patel - sitar, Brian Feather & Paul Nugent - tanpuras
Hasu Patel: Gayaki Sitar
Hasu Patel, HASU-1

This is an ear-based program. The Indian shehnai and the Tibetan gyaling (oboe) are the featured instruments .

Set #1 - 8:00am - 9:00am

1. Raga Yaman
L. Subramaniam - violin, Bismillah Khan - shehnai & their ensembles
Live in Geneva: Commemorative Album for India Festival in Geneva
Audiorec Classics, ACCD 1020
41:18
(A North-South duet.)

2. Ragamalika (Medley of Ragas)
Ananda - voice, Jana Starling - clarinet, K. S. Mani - violin, Anand Bala - mrdangam [double-sided drum]
Ananda: Treasures
Tantra, TSMV9701
15:07
(Our raga guide, beginning with South Indian Shankarabharanam, which happens to share its interval structure with the Western major scale. Note how the mood changes as D- and B-flats are added....)

Set #2 - 9:00am - 10:00am

3. Raga Puriya
41:44

4. Thumri in Raga Khamaj
8:38

Set #3 - 10:00am - 11:00am

5. Dhun in Raga Shivaranjani
11:46

6. Banarasi Dhun
10:29

Tracks 3-6
Bismillah Khan - shehnai, Nayyar Hussain - shehnai, Mumtaz Hussain - shehnai, Nazim Hussain - tabla, Basharat Hussain - khurdak [small kettledrums], Mehtab Hussain - sur shehnai [shehnai drone], Nanne Hussain - sur shehnai [shehnai drone], Bande Ali - tanpura peti [drone]
Ustad Bismillah Khan: Live at Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, November 22, 1993
Navras Records, NRCD 0033

7. Sacred Instrumental Music
Monks of Tashi Lhunpo Monastery
OgreOgress productions, 643157 175827
40:42
(The whole album, played as a suite. Piercing oboes, gutteral horns, crashing cymbals and tiny bells set against a vast canvas of silence. Click the link above for a complete track listing and to purchase the CD. Proceeds support Tibetan monks in exile. "Gyaling (Tibetan oboes) are often played when receiving respected teachers and for inviting and making offerings to enlightened beings.")

All sarod, an instrument for which there's no Western equivalent. I like to think of it as a high-class banjo.

Set #1 - 8:00am - 10:00am

1. (But first...)
Ragamalika (Medley of Ragas)
Ananda - voice, Jana Starling - clarinet, K. S. Mani - violin, Anand Bala - mrdangam [double-sided drum]
Ananda: Treasures
Tantra, TSMV9701
15:07
(...our raga guide, beginning with South Indian Shankarabharanam, which happens to share its interval structure with the Western major scale.)

2. Raga Sindhu Bhairavi (rec. 1955)
Ali Akbar Khan - sarod, Chatur Lal - tabla, Mr. Gore - tanpura
19:50
(Late morning raga. "Moods... are pathos and joy".)

3. Raga Hemant (rec. 1994)
Ali Akbar Khan - sarod, Zakir Hussain - tabla
24:32
(Springtime? or autumnal? raga expressing "peace, joy and hope". Hemant means "winter" in Sanskrit. Riddle me this: How is spring like fall?)

4. Raga Hindol-Hem (rec. 1994)
Ali Akbar Khan - sarod, Zakir Hussain - tabla
49:58
(Evening springtime raga. "Peace, pathos, joy and heroism". Pathos, as in appealing to the emotions, not the negative connotations that this word carries in English.)

Tracks 2-4
Ali Akbar Khan: Then & Now
Alam Madna Music Productions, CD-A 04201A/B
(The late Ustad Ali Akhbar Khan, sarod master and popularizer of Hindustani music in the West.)

Set #2 - 10:00am - 11:00am

5. Raga Malkauns (rec. 2001)
Devjyoti Bose - sarod, Sandeep Das - tabla
Devjyoti Bose: Devotion
Sense World Music, 003
64:17
(Late night raga "...just five notes: deep, peaceful and sublime..." Read more about this transformational raga in the show notes from January 27th. Malkauns is kinda spooky. The Raga Guide says "superstitious musicians describe it as a raga with supernatural powers, and some believe that it can attract evil spirits". But who said that personal growth was a walk in the park? Well, sometimes a walk in the park with the windchill at -40 will do you good.)

The Broadcast presents dueling Indian santurs (hammered dulcimers).

Set #1 - 8:00am - 9:00am

1. Raga Pahadi & Raga Misra Pahadi
Shivkumar Sharma - santur, Shafaat Ahmed Khan - tabla
Shivkumar Sharma: Mountain Breeze
Audiorec Classics, 766032 1041-2
59:37
(Genial, folksy, light classical raga. Pentatonic with a sprinkling of accidentals. More and more of them as the performance unfolds.)

Set #2 - 9:00am - 10:00am

2. Raga Kirvani
35:19

3. Dhun in Misra Anandi
8:20

Tracks 2-3 (rec. 1995)
Tarun Bhattacharya - santur, Bikram Ghosh - tabla
Tarun Bhattacharya: Kirvani
Music of the World, CDT-139
(This one's for you if you've ever wondered how to play a pitchbend on the hammered dulcimer.)

Set #3 - 10:00am - 11:00am

4. Raga Janasammohini (rec. 1998)
Shivkumar Sharma - santur, Rahul Sharma - santur, Shafaat Ahmed Khan - tabla, Manorama Sharma - tanpura
Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma: Sampradaya
Realworld, CDRW75
66:20
(Jugalbandi, or duet, one idea realized through two pairs of hands, featuring, here, father and son.)

Simon and Garfunkel sang "Slip Sliding Away". That's this Wednesday.

Set #1 - 8:00am - 9:00am

1. Ry Cooder & V. M. Bhatt: A Meeting by the River
10:08

2. Ry Cooder & V. M. Bhatt: Longing
11:59

3. Ry Cooder & V. M. Bhatt: Ganges Delta Blues
9:59

4. A. W. Caten: Isa Lei
7:40

Tracks 1-4 (rec. 1992)
Ry Cooder - bottleneck guitar, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt - mohan vina [modified archtop guitar], Sukhvinder Singh Namdhari - tabla, Joachim Cooder - dumbek [goblet drum]
A Meeting by the River
Water Lily Acoustics, WLA-CS-29-CD

5. Doug Cox, Salil Bhatt & Ramkumar Mishra: Bhoopali Dance (2006)
Doug Cox - resophonic guitar, Salil Bhatt - satvik veena [modified guitar], Ramkumar Mishra - tabla
Slide to Freedom
NorthernBlues Music, NBM0039
10:17

Set #2 - 9:00am - 10:00am

6. Raga Gavati
25:47

7. Raga Miya ki Malhar
25:57

Tracks 7-6 (rec. 1991)
Vishwa Mohan Bhatt - mohan vina, Sukhvinder Singh Namdhari - tabla
Gathering Rain Clouds
Water Lily Acoustics, WLA-ES-22-CD

Set #3 - 10:00am - 11:00am

8. Raga Puriya Dhanashri (rec. 2005)
Vishwa Mohan Bhatt - mohan vina, Salil Bhatt - satvik veena, Ramkumar Mishra - tabla
Bharat Sangeet Utsav 2005: Mohan Veena: Hindustani Instrumental
Carnatica, CAR CD 1087
66:32