Raga Ahir Bhairav

Great music to play for intimate gatherings. If you like "Calcutta Slide Guitar," you'll like this CD as well. Intelligent, yet dreamy, the only downside to this CD is when it's over! No worries, hit replay!

Slide guitar Indian style..Deeper than the blues can go.Slowly building up to incredible guitarplaying.Do you have a guitar-festival?Then let this guy come-over.A unique !

This is one of the best Hindustani recordings of all time. I hope you will not let the guitar factor get in the way of your giving this cd a chance. Make no mistake about it, in the hands of Debashish Bhattacharya his acoustic slide guitar is as "valid" and "authentic" a Hindustani instrument as a sarod or a sitar. Plus he has altered the guitar by adding drone and sympathetic strings so it does indeed have a very "Indian tone" to it. Gorgeous tone actually.If you never have 70 uninterrupted minutes to dedicate to a cd then actually Debashish's Raga Saraswati cd may be a better choice for you because it has three shorter performances rather than the one long one contained on this cd. Plus, in terms of "performance quality" you aren't sacrificing anything by buying Saraswati. It's an epic recording as well. I give the slight nod to the Bhimpalasi cd because the 48-minute alap, jor, and jhala on this cd is so magnificent, and it so perfectly displays the profound emotional impact and creativity that stands at the heart of a great Hindustani improvisation that I just have to choose this one. Plus the gats are volcanic as well! The Saraswati cd is also amazing, the performances are just more compact so none of the alap's get to stretch out and go quite as deeply as this one does. My advice: Buy them both!In terms of just sheer improvisational ability and emotional power, Debashish is right up there with Viliyat Khan, Ali Akbar Khan, etc....If you've never heard of him before, don't worry. Whether you're just a guitar fan who is curious to hear something new or you're a knowledgeable longtime fan of Hindustani music this cd will blow your mind. Debashish and Samir Chatterjee (the tabla player) created one of the pearls of recorded music.Raga Bhimpalasi is a beautiful raga and they create one of its best-ever versions.

If ever there was a CD to illustrate the complexity of Indian Music, the sheer scale and intellectual levels of improvisation, and make all other guitar players of any kind seem like first day pupils at a kindergarten, it is the set of CDs by Deb - this is absolutely fabulous.Open a bottle of Sula Sauvignon Blanc, and enjoy .... time will know no bounds and will demosntarte to you what the 10 second culture makes you lose today.....

Listen to this music and you'll look for all his CD s' I DID, AND I HAVE 4 AND COUNTING LOW VOLUME OR HIGH, IT IS UNBELIEVEABLE.. TAKE MY WORD AND OTHERS' ....

I am not that familiar with hindustani silide guitar.. my preferences generally are jazz guitar and blues... However, having amassed some respect for indian music (mainly through the music of ravi shankhar) i thought i would give this one a try.. What i found was a music so simple and direct.. it communicates immediately to your mind and body... I have no knowledge in this area - but i find it too be completely free and conducive to the meditative state..

Quite simply this is one of the best performances of Indian music I have ever heard. I knew Debabish Bhattacharya's album with Bob Brozman,and while the playing on that is really accomplished,the pieces are a bit crossover-gimmicky. This, however, is very traditional, even if the choice of instrument isn't: over an hour of a single raga, Bhimpalasi, and,unusually, there is a real focus on the Alap - the free-time, slow exploration of the raga before the pulse kicks in. The Alap goes on for 30 hypnotic minutes by which time you feel that you have completely absorbed, and are completely absorbed by, the ascending and descending structure of this raga, so you see where the bends and tweaks come from and go to. And when the pulse does kick in, and the tabla starts up, the same high standard prevails. It doesn't have the thunderous climax of a lot of Ravi Shankar's work, or the sense of the two players sparking ideas off one another, but the unbelievably fast playing and impossibly high notes had me grinning from ear to ear. I played it three times over in succession on the first listen. And besides the recording, the liner notes are excellent - if anyone is, as I am, trying to learn to play an indian instrument, these notes wil help you to follow the way Debabish develops his theme and also how to stay within the structure of the raga instead of drifting off into another one. I couldn't recommend this more highly.Alan Jones

I can also give a rating of 5 stars. These particular ragas (ahir bhairav and bhairavi) are very attractive and have scales that are very eastern, evocative of India and very enticing. The slide guitar is specially made with sitar type tuning and additional sympathetic/drone strings. The playing is precise to the point of technical brilliance. Tabla playing is equally stunning and at times, both players provide an awesome listening experience. The Alap and Jhor track unfold slowly over 31 minutes and pick up in rhythm. The remaining 4 tracks are with tabla in various rhythm patterns. Overall, this CD provides a deeply satisfying listening experience.