Raag Yaman - Alap - Live from Kala Festival 2025

Deepak Shah opens his Norwich recital with the alap of Raag Yaman, the unmetered first movement where a raga takes shape one phrase at a time. Yaman sits in the Kalyan thaat and belongs to the early evening; its raised fourth, the Teevra Madhyam, pulls each ascent upward and gives the raga its open sound. Shah lets the piano's sustain do the work a vocalist's breath would, resting on the Gandhar, the raga's vadi, until each phrase fades into the next.

At close to fourteen minutes this is the longest track on the album and the foundation for the two Yaman movements that follow: the jod, which adds a pulse, and the jhala, which drives that pulse to speed. KalaSudha recorded the set live at The Assembly House, Norwich, during Kala Festival 2025.