Events

On Saturday, June 15, Pt (Dr.) Arun Dravid, a Chemical Engineer par excellence and an accomplished vocalist of the Jaipur-Atrauli Gharana, delivered a fascinating talk on the science behind the ragas in classical Indian music. The event was chaired by Prof. Pradeep Apte, PIC’s Distinguished Fellow and Professor Emeritus at the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics.

Much to the delight of the audience, PIC’s President Dr. Raghunath Mashelkar also spoke at the event and shared warm memories of his friendship of more than 60 years with Dr. Dravid.

Prof. Dravid discussed the manner in which the 12 notes of the octave (seven basic Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sa, and four flat and one sharp variants) are related to the base note Sa, and to each other by their frequencies.

With a detailed PPT, he explained the slight frequency differences between the Indian and the Western scales, which is why the Western scale is not quite suitable for the Indian Raaga system.

He noted that for vocal accompaniment in India, the harmonium (a Western instrument) is specially modified by tuning it to the Indian scale.

The lecture was thoroughly enjoyed by the packed audience with a Q&A session that was equally enjoyable.

Click here to watch the video of the event.