Alap

The Alap (pronounced ah-laap) is the opening section of a typical North-Indian r?g (or raga). The notes of the r?g are introduced by the soloist (commonly on the sitar). It is unmetred (without structure), improvised, unaccompanied (except for the tanpura drone) and slow in tempo. It may last for a few seconds or several hours depending upon the soloist.

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Two examples of alaps are:

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• Anakshar alap
• Sakshar alap

See also: Pandit Pran Nath and LaMonte Young.

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North-India: North India is a geographic and linguistic-cultural region of India. Geographically, North India traditionally includes the entire Indian Peninsula north of the Satpura and Vindhya ranges and Narmada River. The dominant feature geographic feature is the Indo-Gangetic Plain....

R?g: REDIRECT...

Raga: Raga (rāg /राग (Hindi), raga (Anglicised from rāgaḥ/रागः (Sanskrit)) or rāgam /ராகம் (Tamil)) are the melodic modes used in Indian classical music. "Raag" is the modern Hindi pronunciat...