Here is an exploration of beautiful Rag Puriya. Puriya uses the same notes as Rag Marwa but emphasizes them in different ways. The most notable feature of the rag is perhaps the way the major seventh or Ni is held long and becomes a point of rest, while the tonic or Sa is often avoided. In Puriya and other rags where the tonic is weak, one has a choice of how to handle a resolution to that note. One can return to the tonic in a dramatic and grand way, as if something that had been longed for is finally being realized, or one can return to the tonic without ceremony, making sure not to linger too long, as if this resolution were a passing event and not a grand occurrence. In this alap, I chose the latter approach, keeping Ni as a point of focus, and not assigning much gravity to Sa even when touching it. This is the first alap recording I’ve done using a tanpura track from my album Uncommon Drones (I am using the Sa-only track in B, though the Ni-Sa and Ga-Ni-Sa tracks are also appropriate for this rag).
[audio src=“https://rudiseitz1.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/puriya5.mp3"][/audio] ■