'Rag Desh' - Steve Gorn and Benjy Wertheimer

- 2004 by 2 American musicians

- Performance style is Raga

- Based on a Rag 'Desh' based on late evenings in monsoon season

- Music is based on improvisations within clear structures and conventions

- Bansuri - wind

- Esraij - stringed

- Shruti Box - produces a continuous drone, an electronic one is used in the recording

- Tabla - drums

- Tambura - stringed

- Alap - begins with drone on D and A, bansuri introduces notes and mood of rag, esraj takes over, the 2 instruments alternate improvised phrases, slow tempo with no regular pulse

- Gat 1 - slow in Rupak Tal, begins with Bansuri solo, Tabla enters, Bansuri plays a composed Gat, Bansuri and Tabla imrovise around Gat and Tal, section ends with a Tihai

- Gat 2 - fast in ektal, begins with Tabla solo, improvisation becomes more elaborate, Bansuri plays Tans (fast scales), ends with a Tihai

- Based on Rag 'Desh':

Sa Ri Ma Pa Ni Sa Ni Dha Pa Ma Ga Ri Sa

- This version uses 2 Tals:

1. Rupak Tal - 7 beat cycle (3+2+2)

2. Ektal - 12 beat cycle (2+2+2+2+2+2)

- A Tambura drone is used playing Sa (C, tonic) and Pa (G, dominant)

- Melody dominated layered texture

- Rag = melodic layer

- Drone - the notes are usually tonic and dominant, sustained sounds add texture, keep a sense of tuning and intonation as a reference point for the melodic parts

- Tala - rhythm section, Tabla plays rhythms based on repeated rhythmic cycles called Tala

- Reasonably constant dynamics