Rooted in the resonant stillness of Dhrupad, North India's oldest Rāga music tradition, Prassanna
Vishwanathan's music flows from meditative sound and silence. From India to concert halls
across Europe, he carries the timeless essence of Dhrupad worldwide. A senior disciple of Pt.
Uday Bhawalkar, he trained in the Guru–Shishya Paramparā, the ancient lineage binding teacher
and disciple through sound and spirit. A devoted teacher himself, he guides students across India
and Europe into a discipline where breath becomes melody and sound turns transformative.

Shri Sukhad Munde
Pakhawaj: Ancient Indian Drum

Among the foremost Pakhawaj exponents today, Sukhad Munde upholds one of North India's
most ancient rhythmic traditions. Trained under his father and Guru, Pt. Manik Munde, he has
performed widely across India and abroad, both as soloist and accompanist to leading Rāga musicians. He is a respected teacher to many disciples worldwide.

Dhrupad is the oldest surviving Rāga music tradition in India. The term 'Dhrupad' is the confluence of the Sanskrit terms 'Dhruva', meaning immovable, and 'Pada', meaning verse or steps. Emerging from the stillness of forests, Dhrupad journeyed through temple sanctums and later into royal courts, finding its voice even in the modern stage. Its emphasis on the subtle resonances and intonation of each note makes it the source of all subsequent Indian Rāga music. This form serves as a means to attune the self to the unique vibration that lies at the heart of Rāga.

There are two highly improvisational components of Dhrupad – Alāp and Bandish. Alāp explores the Rāga with syllables in three varying tempos— ālāp, jod, and jhālā. These syllables trace their origins to ancient chants invoking various deities, linking musical sound to sacred expression. The compositions explore the Rāga where melodic improvisation of the composition's lyrics unfolds in the form of Upaj. The structural completeness established the principle of thematic and emotional development of Dhrupad later influenced khayāl and other forms of Rāga music. Thus, Dhrupad is not only an ancient art but the primal source through which the spirit of Rāga first found expression.

Raja Man Singh Tomar (1486–1516), the ruler of Gwalior, was a great patron of Dhrupad and gathered legendary musicians at his court. In the 16th century, Bhakti saint Swami Haridas, a renowned Dhrupad singer, carried the tradition forward; among his disciples was the celebrated Tansen. The Mughal emperor Akbar further elevated the form's stature through his patronage, with Tansen, his court musician, becoming the enduring symbol of Dhrupad's refinement and grandeur. In the 20th century, the Dagar lineage, tracing its ancestry over twenty generations, became instrumental in the revival and evolution of Dhrupad, preserving its meditative essence while bringing it to audiences around the world. In the 21st century, maestros like Pandit Uday Bhawalkar have revitalised and sustained this tradition through performances and nurturing a generation of students devoted to the art of Dhrupad.

Listen here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y24QeKBtHIs;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pxmwa_hPnKs;