On the album Karnatik Roots from Yarlung Records, artists Aditya Prakash, Kamalakiran Vinjamuri, Rajna Swaminathan and Vini Sundaram perform seven Ragas for you. A Raga is a melody (a collection of pitches), sometimes ancient, which often comes with a traditionally associated mood or temperament, and sometimes with a time of day for optimum performance.

With a wink in his eye and mock professorial posture, Aditya clarified that a “raga is a melodic entity, a song, with a phraseology that has marinated over time and been defined through existing compositions and the legendary practitioners of the form who have given the raga a distinct identity through their compositions and improvisations.” But then Aditya grinned and admitted that to him, “a raga is a personality, a living being, a friend or partner that I must become intimate with in order to freely enter its world and even begin to explore it.”

No wonder some of these ragas have been celebrated for generations. Diane and Craig Martin and I express our sincere appreciation to Aditya Prakash for his magnificent Voice and leadership, to Kamalakiran Vinjamuri on Violin, to Rajna Swaminathan on Mridangam (South Indian Drum) and to Vini Sundaram playing Acoustic Tambura, or Drone.

This is a Pure DSD Stereo and 5 Channel Surround Sound DSD 256 album release.  Exclusively available in Stereo and 5 Channel DSD 256, DSD 128 & DSD 64 plus Stereo DSD 512 at NativeDSD.  It is a DSD Exclusive, Not Available on SACD release.

Fellow recording engineer and equipment designer Arian Jansen and I used SonoruS Holographic Imaging technology in the analog domain to refine the stereo image and the Merging Technologies HAPI to record the album in DSD 256 Stereo and Surround Sound. We used our friend Ted Ancona’s AKG C24 microphone previously owned by Frank Sinatra, and vacuum tube microphone amplification by Yarlung executive producer and designer Elliot Midwood. Our hearty thanks to executive producers Craig and Diane Martin for underwriting and inspiring this album.

Aditya Prakash, Vocals & Leader
Kamalakiran Vinjamuri, Violin
Rajna Swaminathan, Mridangam (South Indian Drum)
Vini Sundaram, Acoustic Tambura (Drone)