Meditative State | Dhun | Raag Charukeshi | Pt. Debasis Chakroborty
About This Video
Pandit Debasis Chakroborty, a Pandit of the Senia-Maihar Gharana, performed this dhun titled Meditative State on Indian slide guitar at Hoxton Hall, London, during the Kala Festival on 17 September 2025.
Raag Charukesi originates in the Carnatic system and sits in the sampoorna-sampoorna jati, all seven swaras in ascent and descent. Its defining character comes from komal Dha and komal Ni against a natural Gandhar, a combination that gives the raga its quality of measured sorrow. The pakad phrase G m P n d P G m G R traces this tension between the upper and lower registers, with Pancham as vadi anchoring the movement. In Hindustani concert practice the raga typically appears in the afternoon and carries moods of devotion or quiet longing.
On slide guitar, the glissando technique suits Charukesi's characteristic phrases: the portamento between notes sustains the komal swaras rather than articulating them as hard stops. In this dhun, Pandit Chakroborty draws from the raga's melodic outline outside the formal structure of a khayal, phrases circling back and developing without a fixed compositional frame. The 4:38 performance at Hoxton Hall works through the instrument's three-octave range, from quiet opening phrases to fuller resonance, then pulling back.
