Rag Lalit

This article is about the music album. For the raga, see Lalit (raga).

Rāg Lalit is a studio album by Indian classical musician Ram Narayan, released in 1989. Recorded December 3, 1987, in Wyastone Leys near Monmouth, Wales, the album features a performance of the serene dawn raga Lalit on sarangi. Narayan performs a long non-metrical introduction to unfold the raga, during which he adds a pulse, until he is joined by tabla to perform a composition.

Rāg Lalit
album cover art
Studio album by Ram Narayan
Released	1989
Recorded	December 3, 1987
Genre	Hindustani classical music
Length	73:43
Label	Nimbus

Origin

Main article: Lalit (raga)

The album consists of a single track performance of the raga Lalit. Lalit is commonly described as calm and devotional and is performed at dawn.^[1] Neil Sorrel portrayed Lalit as conveying a feeling of instability and connects this to the performance time, when night changes into day.^[2]

Recording and artwork

Rāg Lalit was recorded in a single take in Wyastone Leys near Monmouth, Wales, on December 3, 1987, and includes the tuning of the sarangi's sympathetic strings through plucking.^[2] In the performance, Narayan plays a long alap (non-metrical introduction) and a jor (performance with pulse) that increases in speed and range and makes use of gamaks (note oscillations).^[2] Suresh Talwalkar, a frequent accompanist of Narayan, joins in playing a gat (composition with rhythmic pattern provided by the tabla) in the rhythmic 16-beat cycle tintal, which is separated into four groups of four beats.^[2] When Talwalkar plays a solo, the sarangi repeats the melody.^[2] The performance was mastered in England, but not edited.^[2] In the same session that produced Rāg Lalit, the 1987 album Rāg Bhūpāl Toṛī, Rāg Paṭdīp was recorded.^[3]

The album cover features a 19th-century painting of the goddess Tripura Sundari,^[4] also called Lalita. A picture of Narayan playing the sarangi is on the back of the album, along with a quote of Yehudi Menuhin praising Narayan.

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[3]
New Straits Times	(favorable)[5]

Allmusic critic Ken Hunt gave the album a maximum five star rating and called it "a magical performance",^[3] and R. S. Murthi of the New Straits Times argued that Narayan utilized his musical knowledge on the album to "stunning effect".^[5]

Track listing

1. "Rāg Lalit" – 73:43

Personnel

• Ram Narayan – sarangi
• Suresh Talwalkar – tabla
• Neil Sorrell – tambura
• Elizabeth Haddon – tambura