The Indria Project

A new fusion ensemble

Blending Indian music traditions with those of Western pop, rock, jazz and dance, Indria uses basic raga principles as a foundation for exciting and complex compositions that explore the topics of romance and devotion using Bhakti, Sufism and Eastern spirituality. Dr. Vijay Rajput and Nick Grimes bring together some of the finest musicians based in Northeast England to create a truly passionate and original hybrid of styles.

The compositions were conceived and developed adhering to the frameworks and nuances of specific Indian raags, albeit with a certain degree of flexibility, allowing us to utilise numerous western styles and principles, to produce a dynamic contemporary sound. For example, in order to add harmony to Indian classical music, which is essentially modal, we would construct a series of chord progressions, paying particular attention to ensure all of the notes in each chord were contained within the particular raag. However, in certain tracks, such as ‘Khayalo Me Aakeh’ where we really wanted to kindle the spirit of jazz, many blue notes, leading tones, walking bass lines etc. were included, and whilst this moved the harmony away from Raag Bhairavi (or Mishra-Bhairavi, meaning a flexible version of), the melody of the song remains strictly within it.

‘Piya Bavari’ is based on Raag Charukashi, a relatively modern raga that uses komal Dha and komal Ni (flattened 6th and 7th degrees respectively). Western listeners may recognise the scale as coming from the F♯ Melodic minor. ‘Tum Se Lagi’ is firmly set to Raag Bhairagi, a pentatonic raag using the following formula: R, ♭2, 4, 5, ♭7 (Sa, Re, Ma, Pa, Ni – excluding Ga and Dha). ‘Bhimpalasi Tarana’, is a contemporary take on the popular Raag Bhimpalasi, which is essentially a pentatonic minor scale in ascent (aroha) and a dorian mode in descent (avaroha). In a Tarana, vocables are used instead of lyrics; therefore the singer has to fully express themselves through the sound and emotion of their voice alone. When composing this piece we tried to allow for as much improvisation as possible – an essential part of Indian classical music. “Kaise Na’ is based on Mishra-Kirvani. Rhythm (tala) is of course, a fundamental element in all music, and we established basic rhythm patterns very early on in the song writing process, gradually embellishing and enhancing them as we progressed, therefore the tala also had an influence on the eventual structure and progression of the tracks, especially as tabla and congas etc. were added. Often synthesizers were used as additional drones alongside the integral tanpura, and the unique sound of the sitar fuses with guitar, violin and saxophone, to weave melodies that were sometimes written out (in western or Hindustani notation), sometimes taught by vocalising, sometimes totally improvised then arranged in the studio.

More information

The Indria Project resources/ audio