Buddhadev's sarod.

Buddhadev Das Gupta was born in Bihar in 1933. He began his music training at eleven with the renowned purist, Sri Radhika Mohan Moitra. Buddhadev has emerged as the foremost exponent of the distinctive, complex style his guru created. It is a style distinguished by its wit, its unusual and unpredictable taans (cascades of notes), and its masterful incorporation of the bol (rhythmic stroke) patterns and vocabulary of the ancient rabab. Buddhadev's powerful virtuoso playing, as well as his vast scholarship of sarod history, repertoire and technique, has earned his place among today's leading sarod masters.

Anand Gopal Bandopadhyay is from a family of musicians of the Vishnupur Gharana of West Bengal. Receiving his initial training from his father, he became the disciple of Pandit Mahadeo Prasad Mishra of the Benares Gharana. He is a popular accompanist, and is on the faculty of the Sangeet Research Academy.

Ahir Bhairav is a morning raga, with a mood of devotion. The distinctive sound of this raga comes from the scale: a flat second, a natural third, fourth, fifth and sixth, and a flat seventh.

Credits: Recorded at the home of Ashish and Tulsi Sen Gupta in Jersey City on November 12th 1989. Crossed pair B & K 4011 microphones courtesy North Star Audio. Nakamichi DMP-100 digital processor. Special thanks to Subrata Chowdhury. Edited at National Video Industries, supervised by Buddhadev Das Gupta. Audiofile Engineers: Corey Pirrotta & Andy Green. Tamboura: Ira Landgarten. Photos: John Wilton. Produced by Ira Landgarten & John Wilton.