Article - Part V:

V. Budgeting for CDs - Spending money wisely and fruitfully

To recapitulate from the previous article: Our precious little money supply will go towards the following:
(1) Purchase of audio cassettes/CDs;
(2) Purchase of tickets to attend Indian classical music concerts;
(3) Purchase of good audio equipment to enhance joy of listening -- and, hopefully, performing;
(4) Purchase of some books to help understand our music better;
(5) Optionally, to attend a short course in Indian classical music appreciation and basic learning.

Purchasing audio cassettes/CDs
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You may have already cultivated taste for any one or more of the following genres: (1) Indian classical music -- vocal; instrumental ; (2) Movie songs based on classical music [raga-s] ; (3) World music, with Indian music as the base ; (4) Educational CDs -- specially designed to expose the listener to the more popular raga-s. [In addition, I may mention now, that we may add Indian folk music to our repertoire.
This is because folk music is extremely lively, because many raga-s are based on folk music, and because there are several popular movie songs based on folk music of various regions of India. We will take this up as our last topic].

(1) Indian classical music -- VOCAL
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Several sets of raga-s cassettes / CDs, sung at different time of the day, are available on cassettes/CDs. You have a wide choice. If you like some of the raga-s, or some of the singers especially, you can select cassettes or CDs to take care of your preferences. Give your selection a broad base.
Make several trips to the music shops before finalizing your selection. You will get much information on the web also. Wait for a good deal which offers great discounts.

The following list is illustrative of, not recommendation for, a reasonable set of cassettes/CDs to start with:
Music Today has produced four audio casettes of morning raga-s; four cassettes of afternoon raga-s; four cassettes of evening raga-s; and four cassettes of night raga-s. These cassettes contain short performances, not educational material.
For educational material, "The Raga Guide" is a good source. It presents 74 raga-s on four CDs, and includes a 196-page book. A set of 10 CDs, by SONY, should be useful, too. Then there is a 20-CD set, published from Pondicherry, which you should examine. and check if it suits your needs. In addition, there are hundreds of web sites which you will find very informative.

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Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part VI

Haresh Bakshi
The author is the editor of Sur.Aur.Saaz articles and also runs SoundofIndia.com