Jaya Jaya Saraswati | Pt. Ratanjankar's Dhrupad in Raag Tilak Kamod | Vikram Taal (12 beats)

My sangatkaars:
Tabla - Lavan Ravindran, Harmonium - Parth Deshpande
More details below :)

I sang this piece as part of Taal Tarang, the Easter Term concert of the Cambridge University Indian Classical Music Society, held at Lucy Cavendish College on 16 June 2024. This is a dhrupad in praise of Goddess Saraswati, composed by Pt. Shrikrishna Narayan Ratanjankar (1899-1974). In the antara (second stanza), Pt. Ratanjankar praises his guru Pt. Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande, saying that it is by the grace of the Goddess that Pt. Bhatkhande became such a great scholar of music. The raag is Tilak Kamod, and the taal is Vikram taal, a rare 12-beat rhythm. For all three of us, it was the first time performing in this taal. I hope you enjoy it!

The usual 12-beat taal of dhrupad is Chautaal, divided as 4+4+2+2 or 2+2+2+2+2+2:

𝐃𝐡𝐚̄ 𝐃𝐡𝐚̄ | 𝐷𝑖𝑛 𝑇𝑎̄ | 𝐊𝐢𝐭̣𝐚 𝐃𝐡𝐚̄ | 𝐷𝑖𝑛 𝑇𝑎̄ | 𝐓𝐢𝐭̣𝐚 𝐊𝐚𝐭𝐚 | 𝐆𝐚𝐝𝐢 𝐆𝐚𝐧𝐚 ||

(Bold: taali, "heavy" beat. Italic: khaali, "empty" beat)

However, Vikram taal is divided as 𝟐+𝟑+𝟑+𝟒, and feels very different:

𝐃𝐡𝐚̄ ऽ | 𝐃𝐡𝐢𝐭 𝐓𝐚̄ ऽ | 𝐾𝑎𝑡 ऽ 𝑇𝑎̄ | 𝐓𝐢𝐭̣𝐚 𝐊𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐆𝐚𝐝𝐢 𝐆𝐚𝐧𝐚 ||

Or

𝐃𝐡𝐚̄ ऽ | 𝐃𝐡𝐢𝐭 𝐓𝐚̄ ऽ | 𝐷𝘩𝑎̄ 𝐷𝑖𝑛 𝑇𝑎̄ | 𝐓𝐢𝐭̣𝐚 𝐊𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐆𝐚𝐝𝐢 𝐆𝐚𝐧𝐚 ||
(ऽ = blank beat)

We used the second variant of Vikram taal for this performance.