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Journalism of Courage
The American artistJames McGarrell finds shades of ragas in his works
The cacophony of Connaught Circus segues into the slow, majestic strains of the Kambhoji raga as you walk through the glass doors of Arts.i gallery at Scindia House in Delhi. On a hazy, seemingly uninspiring November evening, the American artist James McGarrell is ready to convince you that every sound has a season, and raga can be colour-coded. 8220;There is a raga for each season and time and there is a shade that can describe it,8221; says the 78-year-old, leafing through Joep Bor8217;s The Raga Guide: A Survey of 74 Hindustani Ragas, and finally stopping at a page featuring a table of a 17th century ragamala consisting 36 ragas.
The watercolour Dipak in shades of deep red and yellow spreads like a forest fire, seemingly emanating heat, as a perfect rendering of the raga is fabled to; and the strokes in Madhumadhavi pour down like a monsoon ragini. The traces of Indian miniatures, which liberally portrayed the ragas, can be seen in the works. 8220;The frames and the gouache are reminiscent of India miniatures,8221; he says.
Those familiar with McGarrell8217;s oeuvre will agree that music is a natural choice for him. Four years ago, he paid tribute to eight jazz artists, including Charlie Parker, Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young. And even though he confesses that it is still hard for him to distinguish each raga, Kamboji and Kedar feature on his playlist back home along with classical jazz.
