Article - Part VI:

Indian classical music - Instrumental

The instrumental cassettes / CDs commonly available include Sitar, Flute, Santoor, Tabla, Sarod, Shehanai, violin, and not-so-common Sur Bahar, mandolin, Vichitr Veena, etc. There is no better or worse -- just, your choice. Raga-s like Kirwani, Basant Mukhari and Simhendramadhyama may be available only as instrumental versions.

Cassettes/CDs of movie songs based on classical music
Again, several sets are available. Using movie songs to recognize raga-s is a good, easy way to get going. There are radio and TV programmes which play movie songs based on raga-s, and tell you a few things about the raga-s. These programmes are more authentic, and you should listen to these regularly. The "oldies" are famous for providing some very exquisite classical-based songs; but the newer movies have their small share, too.

World music, with Indian music as the base
The genre called the World Music is the largest genre in the world. It includes music - or musical elements - from all over the world. Indian classical music is a major player here. Other countries include Ireland, Spain, African countries, Latin America, Turkey, Afghanistan, and Arabic countries. All these countries have very rich traditions in classical and folk music. You will find that some kind of transformation, blending, sometimes hybridization, with the Western music may take place. The genres which include "applied" Indian music are World Music, New Age, Alternate, etc. We will have a separate article on this, later.

Next: VII. Purchase of Audio equipment ...................

Why should we listen to Indian Classical music? Part I
How to start enjoying Indian classical music? Part II
Using Hindi film songs to appreciate ICM further. Part III
Other issues of ICM appreciation. Part IV
Budgeting for CDs, Part V
Choose audio equipment for a concert, Part VII

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