Raag Jhinjhoti | Sitar | Dr Lovely Sharma | Music of India | Kala Festival 2023

Lovely Sharma performs Raag Jhinjhoti on sitar at Music Without Boundaries, held at West Road Concert Hall in Cambridge on 17 August 2023, as part of Kala Festival 2023. Durjay Bhaumik accompanies on tabla. The performance runs 26 minutes, covering alap, jor, and a gat section.

Raag Jhinjhoti belongs to the Khamaj family. It is a night raga, shadava-sampoorna in jati, with Shadaj as vadi and Pancham as samvadi. The aroha moves through S R G m P D to the upper Sa; the avaroha introduces komal Ni before descending through the lower octave. The pakad, S R m G S R 'n 'D 'P 'D S, keeps the raga's motion in the lower half of the octave. Jhinjhoti is purvanga-dominant: its phrases concentrate in the middle register, close to the ground tone.

Sharma opens with an alap tracing the raga's descent through the lower register, returning to the pakad before moving into the gat with Bhaumik's tabla marking the rhythmic frame. Over the 26-minute arc, the two build through faster passages, with Sharma's phrases pulling back to the middle register between each acceleration.