Tihai, a North Indian Hindustani classical trio band, performed a traditional Indian style that revealed most of the elements of Indian classical music.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puqqTPCmnKU
Digital Pill only featured three pieces, but the first piece had two performers featured with their own improvisations, one playing the saxophone like instrument and the other on a chordophone that might be a sitar. Although, the saxophone isn’t a traditional Indian instrument, the sitar and talbla are.
The tabla is a drum that is played with the hads and fingers to create elaborate patterns, another element of Indian music. Accompanied by the drummer in the second and third pieces, more elements are visible.
The improvisation was based on a raga melodic style, which is there are hundreds of unique ragas with their own ornaments, scales, pitches, and melodic lines which create the mood for the music. I could only hear the melodic movements, which didn’t move much, but the ornamentation in between seem to create the spirit of the music.
The tala, or long rhythm cycles, were too complex to follow, but seemed to be somewhat consistent for the musicians to follow together in the second and third pieces. Ironically, it seemed like the tabla player was following the sitar player rhythmically which contrasts from the contemporary style of music, where the drum is the metronome for the band.
Strangely I didn’t notice a drone until I read that it was a tonal foundation for the raga. This band also had a drone in the background.
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