Word: ragas
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...first truly national folk manifestation. Capoeira pervades nearly every aspect of Brazilian life, from pop songs and poetry to sport and even formal receptions for state visitors. It resembles a super-athletic ballet, its deadly blows precisely calculated to miss by inches, and its movements matching the raga-like thrum of the berimbau...
Such attention as he got came in oddball ways. In 1965 he created a vogue for raga-rock, by introducing the sitar in Norwegian Wood. It was he who interested the rest of the Beatles in transcendental meditation. For years George lived in a ranch house painted in psychedelic colors. He finally surrendered it, but only for a 30-room Gothic mansion complete with secret doors and sculptured gnomes. No superstar, but no ordinary man either was George Harrison...
Whales are extraordinary animals. Besides being the largest creatures on this planet, they apparently possess a sense of humor, a reasonably well-developed conversational skill, and an inordinate amount of musical ability. According to an accumulation of scientific findings, they lumber through the oceans bellowing raga-like compositions of extraordinary length and complexity. On the other hand, whale intelligence may leave something to be desired, for they seem about to embark on a career in the music business. Humpback whales have just made a record. And last week whales were performing with the New York Philharmonic in a new work...
...raga's path seems to change on the first beat of each cycle, which acts as a convergence point for the interplay of the two instrumentalists. Mirza sometimes suggests a rhythm in his strumming, picking right hand (the lute-like sitar is played vaguely like a guitar) which Khan then develops more fully during the coming cycle...
...unassuming honesty-coupled with his virtuoso elegance-was received with great enthusiasm. The small size of the audience permitted a certain intimacy which provided the atmosphere in which Indian music was meant to be heard. The Brandeis listeners probably sensed little of the Hindustani culture in which the raga is firmly rooted, but they undoubtedly came away with a feeling for the romantic delicacy of Indian music well-performed...