Puja is a hindu word for devotional homage. This music is an offering to Mustafa’s dear guruji Pandit Manilal Nag and my many teachers who shed light along the way. This record is a bit of a throwback. While it is not uncommon these days for the performance of a single raga to stretch to an hour and beyond, some of the first recordings of Indian classical had a built in time limit - the 22min of wax available on the side of an LP. The maestros of these early recordings were able to distill and clarify the raga down to 15, 10, even 3 minutes sometimes. But it never felt rushed, it always felt whole. And the rasa (emotional essence) of the raga always remained fully intact. I look back to this approach in putting this batch of tunes together.
This record represents a full day’s journey of the sun. The morning raga Charukeshi makes its way through the heat of an afternoon Bhimapalsi, basks in the sweet evening Kafi and finally savors the light of a sunrise Bhairavi. An entire all-night Indian music program on two sides. Pick up your copy at Team Love Records. Enjoy!
Released May 26, 2023 . All rights reserved