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6.1 The naghma-ye kashal in Rag Yeman

Fingering chart for the Yemen mode

This piece comes from the repertoire of Ustad Mohammad Omar. He played it in his celebrated concert with the young Zakir Hussain at the University of Washington in 1975 (released on CD by Smithsonian Folkways 2002). The astai of this naghma is a 32 matras composition. The antara is closely related to the astai, differing only in the notes of the first four matras, and is also 32 matras in length. Two other sections are the bhog and sanchari. I learned this piece from Ustad in 1973. In addition to the four main parts there are five paltas, which are to be interpolated in the sanchari, and a seh to conclude the piece. In the bhog the note Me is replaced by Ma in the 13^th matra, and in the sanchari something similar happens in the 12^th matra. These changes imply a modulation from Yeman to Yeman Kalyan. It is not clear why he should have played this way

complete performance

New multi-angle version

shakl

astai

antara

bhog

sanchari

palta 1

palta 2

palta 3

palta 4

palta 5

seh