Chitti Babu: Musings of a Musician, Vol. 3 - Raga & Rhapsody (1976)

Very entertaining and unusual album of classical and not-so-classical Indian music played on the Veena.

Side one features a medley of several ragas, while side two is made of shorter, original pieces, often with strong Western influences.

The raga medley is especially suited to those who lack the patience to sit through a 30 minute recording of a typical classical raga. Here the percussion-less introduction lasts only 2 minutes and the individual ragas reach pretty wild hights pretty quick.

Veena

Babu plays the veena, which is belived to be an ancestor of the sitar, with a more guitar-like sound.
Instead of the tabla, which is part of the Hindustani (northern Indian) tradition, the Carnatic (southern Indian) music features percussion instruments which are less well-known in the West, like the Mridangam, a barrel-shaped drum with drumheads on both ends, the Ghatam, a clay pot, and even an Indian version of the Jew's harp, called Morsing. All this clattering is used to great effect on this album, really driving the music along.

The original pieces that make up the second half of the album are the main reason i enjoy this platter so much. Babu had already played for the Indian movie industry for several years, before becoming one the country's best known veena masters. Thus he was open to influences from outside the tradition and willing to write his own pieces, fusing Indian and Western music.


"Chitti Babu (1936 – 1996) was a renowned classical musician from India, and arguably one of the greatest Veena artistes, in the Carnatic Music genre of South India, who became a legend in his own lifetime. His name was synonymous with the musical instrument Veena, and he was and still is known in the Carnatic Music world, simply as Veena Chitti Babu....

He had a significant stint as a key Veena artiste, in film music from 1948–1962, when he worked in the South Indian Film Industry as a recording artiste, playing Veena for numerous background scores in movie soundtracks under the batons of many eminent music directors of the time...

However, the burning ambition inside him to continue to establish himself as an independent, freelancing solo concert artiste made him declare at a very young age – "Veena is my Mission in Life" and caused him to pursue a lifelong career as a performing artiste, a goal from which he never wavered for the rest of his life." (wikipedia)

Chitti Babu presents Musings of a Musician, Vol. 3 - Raga & Rhapsody
EMI S/33ESX. 6116, India, 1976

01 Raga
02 Rendevouz
03 Old Memories
04 Fairy Tale
05 Rhapsody
06 Royal Salute
07 Solitude