Concert Description 

A concert of North Indian Classical Music typically consists of the performance of two ragas, each about an hour in length with an intermission in between.  Indian Music is ninety-nine percent improvised, based upon a melodic structure known as raga.  The instrumentalist spontaneously composes the piece, at first solo and then accompanied by percussion.  K. Sridhar's concerts feature an extended alaap, jhor, and jhala before the gat begins.  The alaap slowly and gently reveals the structure, just as a flower bud appears under the influence of the sun.  After many explorations related to the mood of the raga, the percussion enters and the flower opens.  In the final dialogue between sarod and tabla, the essence of the raga reveals itself much like the flower emits its fragrance.  All ragas begin and end on the same note just as all manifestation begins and ends in the Creator.  It is only between the beginning and the end that the three aspects of creation, preservation, and dissolution are revealed.