David - marigold_bookshelf's Reviews > Finding the Raga: An Improvisation on Indian Music

Not far into reading Finding the Raga I felt that I was experiencing a behind the scenes look at how Amit Chaudhuri’s novel The Immortals was born. I hadn’t realised at the time of reading it, but the latter turns out to have been to a large degree autobiographical (the author is also an accomplished musician, who confesses to singing a Todi raga every morning!). This all meant that I felt on familiar (and pleasurable) terrain reading the sections of the book where the author relates his personal introduction to, and experiences in, Indian classical music.

As the cover of the book advises us, this is an improvisation on Indian music. The book is in parts autobiographical, historical, technical and philosophical. Some parts will appeal more to different readers, and there are some technical sections that may prove trying for some. Taken as a whole, however, I found the book very rewarding.

Chaudhuri takes us back to his youth when he was an aspiring singer songwriter in the western style of the time. As he abandons this to immerse himself in Indian classical music, he makes us aware of the nature of the differences between western and Indian music.

For someone with a love of Indian music, but without a great depth of knowledge, I gained a lot of interesting and useful background. Simple insights such as “I began to become aware of the raga and its relationship to the present moment” may seem obvious to experienced listeners, but will lead aficionados like myself towards a greater understanding and appreciation of the music.