'You Cannot Eat Breakfast For Lunch': Pt. Suhas Vyas On Why Morning Ragas Lose Their Essence When Sung At The Wrong Time

Indian classical music has that otherworldly quality to it, especially when morning ragas are concerned. But few know about that. Pt Suhas Vyas, a big torch-bearer of Indian classical music, will be presenting such morning ragas in Mumbai at the Morning Ragas – Unique Experiences of Rare Ragas. The concert series conceptualised and organised by Pancham Nishad and presented by Grace Foundation is on July 12 at Ravindra Natya Mandir from 10 AM onwards.

The son of the doyen of Indian classical music, Pt. CR Vyas, he carries his legacy with aplomb. Among the awards bestowed upon him are the Pandit Basavraj Guru Puraskar by the Govt of Karnataka and the Pandit Jitendra Abhisheki award in 2024. He also performed at the inauguration of Kartavya Path in front of the honourable PM and other Indian ministers, at the BRICS summit in China in 2017 and all across the globe. He is a top-grade artist of All India Radio. Hear Pt. Vyas speaks about the concert series and more.

Excerpts from the interview:

What is the concert series ‘Morning Ragas’ about? Is this about rare bandishes?

In Indian music, there are eight prahars or segments. Early morning starts at 4.45. Today, there are more evening concerts. Earlier, concerts ran throughout the night, where you heard all the ragas. Now, you don’t get to. Shashi (Vyas, founder and MD of Pancham Nishad) had the idea that some ragas don’t get sung often. Because concerts are in the evening, many of the same ragas get repeated. There are 4,484 ragas in Indian music. Around 150 ragas can be sung. Usually, 50 ragas are sung. People can get bored hearing the same ones. The idea came that there are such morning ragas that the singer can present to the audience.

What will the listeners hear in the concert?

There is a soothing raga called Ahiri Lalat of Maihar Gharana belonging to Ustad Allauddin Khan. But it is used more on instruments. Vocally, it was introduced and composed by my father.  The second raga is my father’s, Dugam Hindol. Among the six basic ragas, Hindol raga was sung in shuddha madhyam years back. It is now sung in teevra madhyam. My father wondered about the effects of combining these two madhyams and created this raga.

After the interval, there is Baradi Todi. This traditional raga is usually sung after 10 AM. I am not sure but it was first sung by my father. It combines three ragas. Then, I will sing Dev Gandhar, a traditional raga. It is sung in two ways. You will not find the knowledge of prevailing raga anywhere in the scriptures. After that, there is a raag called 'Salang' found only in the books of Ramakrishnanhau Vaze. These two pieces are sung very rarely. I will end with Jogiya Asavari. It is a blend of Jogiya and Asavari.

There are many morning ragas that are sung. Sadly, not many are there to tell all this. Shashi thought these ragas should be sung in front of people. But it is a challenge for the singer, too. You have to sing one raga after the other. The first thing is to create the ambience of the raga. There are 4,400 types of ragas. It is important to know which ones can be sung.

Also, the raga has a personality. It has to be shown while singing. And that is a difficult task. So, when people get a chance to present a raga, they don’t present a complex raga. In our musical language, we call them 'Aam raga' and 'Anuvat raga'. 'Aam' means 'prevalent'. 'Anuvat' means infrequent. So, singing the Anuvat raga needs command and is difficult.

What impact does the morning raga have on people?

Firstly, nature and music always go hand in hand. When you wake up in the morning, how is your mental state? How is it in the afternoon, in the evening, or at night? These four mental states are different.

In the morning, a person is full of energy. If you sing Marwa in the evening, the feeling of listening to it is similar to twilight. Similarly, in the morning, Bhairava raga or Lalat raga says something different. Bilaval is sung in the morning, and Yamak in the evening. These are bigger ragas. You can sing Bilaval, Todi, Bhairava and Ahir Bhairava for as many hours.

The second technical thing is Rishabh (second swara) and Dhaivat (sixth swara). Re and Dha are heard differently in the morning raga. Similarly, evening ragas feel different in the evening. The reason is the treatment.

The important point is your mental state. In the morning, the singer sings around Brahma Murta. There are different ragas for this time based on two madhyams of music – shuddha and teevra madhyam. As they increase and decrease, the ragas change. In Brahma Muhurta, the teevra madhyam decreases, and Bhairava starts. When the shuddha madhyam of Bhairava decreases, Todi comes into the picture.

After 12-12.30 pm, the two madhyams meet again. The pure Sarang raga is performed. In the afternoon, the teevra madhyam is more powerful. There are morning ragas and afternoon ragas. So, all these are formed in these two madhyams.

My father and other elders always spoke of why we should sing Bhairava in the morning or Lalat before that. Many questioned about singing morning raga in the evening. But can you create an effect? It is related to nature. The Komal Rishabh you experience in the morning will not come in the evening. There has been a lot of debate on this. Do you want to sing the morning raga in the evening or the afternoon raga in the evening? Earlier, artists recorded a live broadcast. In the studio, you don’t know what time of the day it is. But put it on in the morning and see the effect. It is like food. You cannot eat breakfast for lunch.

How should a first-timer hear unknown ragas?

Common people don’t need detailing. They need emotion. Now, we have so many songs from film music. Their emotion will not come in my songs because the situation in the film is different. But those musical notes have the same importance.

 How the power of those musical notes is shown depends on the artist’s dominance. The audience doesn’t need to understand Gandharva, Madhyamaya, or Panchamaya. My singing should be so powerful that it reaches the audience. That is why one should keep hearing the bigger artists. The insight comes from those experiences.

When the programme starts, people are not permitted to leave. To create the effect of the music, the artist and listeners should have the capacity to sit quietly. The singer has to create the effect in the first fifteen minutes. The essence and personality of a raga need time to reach people. That’s why one raga sung lasts for 45 minutes at times.

We always tell the audience to enjoy the song. Don’t go into detailing. Don’t ask if a tune is right or wrong. For example, a family friend used to ridicule classical music. His friend had sponsored a programme of Pt. Bhimsen Joshi invited him. My friend listened to the mehfil for four hours. What he wondered was how a person could sing continuously for four hours. He started listening and became so popular among musicians that he had recorded many concerts, including my father’s. Classical music is not massical. The amount of detailing done reaches only one per cent of the audience.

As a classical performer, what are the challenges of being a musician?

Suppose if I sing Jogi Asavari and commit a mistake, people will not know. But if I am honest with myself, I have to say. Many musicians, including my father's generation, were honest in their art. For example, Ravi Shankarji was criticised heavily in the media in 1968 for forgetting and losing his music in the USA. So, he kept a programme. He started the concert at 9.40 at night and concluded it in the morning at 6 o’clock. He then spoke, “I have never lost my sitar. I play only Hindustani music. Whatever I have experimented with, it was just an experiment. But my real work was classical music.”

So, honesty is a part of every artist. It has changed a little today. You want to earn money. It was the same back then. But how do I justify my performance? By honesty. Now, if I want to sing, I have to do riyaaz every morning. I have to keep my mind working continually. After all this, no one can guarantee what will happen on stage. But I have to be honest with my art.

And the organiser should be like that. That is Shashi for you. His production value is very good. You will find a lot of event managers now. But they have no capacity for such a thought process. Shashi was brought up on music. Still, he feels he should know ragas and all. And that is why he can keep such concepts.

People are changing. But you have to understand the beauty behind the music, the raga, the composition, the depth of the words and so on.

What can you say about music preservation and audience response?

It is every artist’s responsibility. When I am sitting to sing, I have to explain what I am going to sing. The reason is that the depth I have understood helps me reach other people. I have to stay updated. And you have to keep it in your head 24 hours a day.

If I have to sing tomorrow, I have to know how to present the raga. Even if I know everything, I must create the effect in 40 minutes. It is not possible to sing whatever comes to your mind. You have to be honest with your art. If I don’t know one thing, I can relearn.

All this storehouse of ragas doesn’t happen in one birth. Bhaskarbua Bakhale once said that an artist needs to live for 300 years – 100 years to learn, another 100 years to rehearse and 100 years to create the next generation.

Also, the audience’s perspective of looking at the artist has changed. Today, everyone wants a flight and a five-star. And all these societal changes result in people not looking at someone as an artist if they don’t follow these new norms. Our challenge was that the song should be good. Now they want all the baggage along with the song. So, these challenges are for the artists: how should they present?

Published on: Sunday, July 05, 2026, 08:00 AM IST