ONGOING THURSDAY EVES @ THE VOICE LOFT

Sacred Resonance; Feel the Life within the Ragas
Dhrupad and Raga Singing
Vocal Improvisation & Raga Choir
with Silvia Nakkach

WHEN
Thursdays, February: 20, 27, March 6 & 13
Time: 7:30 – 9:00pm

LOCATION
At The Voice Loft, in Emeryville

FEES
Four Sessions $120 – paid in full on 1st session, or $35 drop-in

These sessions involved 1 and ½ hour of uninterrupted singing practice, including mantra healing, kirtan, raga choir, and contemporary vocal improvisation.

Please, let us know if you are planning to come @ voxmundi@yahoo.com
If you are not a regular student check the dates (on this site) prior to coming.
Pre-Registration is highly recommended mail a check or PAYPAL/Eventbrite

The Program
Experience modern techniques of vocal Improvisation based on the 108 Strategies to Free Your Voice, learn the art of melody and experience inner divinity and the life within the ragas.

The Ragas are the most important link to the essence of Indian classical music. The appreciation and experience of the raga becomes profoundly meaningful to spiritual seekers as well as to the trained musician. The word “rag” is derived from the Sanskrit “raga” which means “color,” or “passion.” Ragas, therefore, may be thought of as an acoustic method of coloring the mind of the listener with an emotion. Ragas are not just musical scales or modes, they are described by master musicians as divinely inspired melodic entities.

These call-response chanting sessions focus on the main characteristics of several ragas by cultivating familiarity with the pitches and particular tonal movement and their introductory melodic phrases. We will discover the beauty of the shrutis (micro-tones that are revealed in the space between the notes), and the transformational power of the rasas (a rasa is that which gives “taste” to the mind), which relates to aesthetic sentiments such as love, joy, devotion, wonder, heroism, peace, and detachment evoked by the rendering of the ragas.

Students learn various styles of devotional chanting: Dhrupad singing, Saregam, Khyal and Kirtan, and how to desing a vocal practice. Ragas are the greatest music teachers, because through the traditional practice of call and response, these awakening melodies stimulate our memory, while refining our senses deeply and delightfully.

Silvia Nakkach studied Hindustani music and raga singing under the direction of the late maestro Ali Akbar Khan from 1982-2009 uninterruptedly with, and for the past 13 years, she has devoted her time to the study and mastery of Dhrupad singing with Dr. Ritwick Sanyal in Benares (India), and through extended retreats with Yvan Trunzler, Nirmalia Dey, and the Gundecha Brothers. She has developed exceptional qualities for the teaching and the interpretation of the alap (invocation or introduction to the picture of the raga, no rhythmic section), and with erudite sensibility she transmits the distinctive emotional character of each raga and its relation with rasa (mood) and consciousness transformation. She is known for having the gift of making simple and joyous the access to the complexity of ragas, mentoring committed students to cultivate a powerful practice.

To read more about this topic go to READINGS on this site:

RASA, INTO THE CORE OF MUSIC HEALING, by Silvia Nakkach, M.A., MMT.