David Dalle
Thursday February 11th, 2021 with David Dalle
Utsav Lal joins me for an in-depth conversation about his brand new album "Visangati", as well as his ongoing 17 year journey bringing Hindustani music to the piano. Also, music from Ethiopia, Columbia, Niger, and more.

I am joined today by guest Utsav Lal for an in-depth conversation about his brand new album "Visangati", as well as his ongoing 17 year journey bringing Hindustani music to the piano. He is perhaps unique in the world. He might not be the only pianist to attempt to play Hindustani music, but I am certain no one else has matched his skill and success in developing the technique necessary to bring this music to the piano. The standard piano is tuned in 12 tone equal temperament, while Hindustani music uses smaller intervals "shrutis". In standard Hindustani music there are 22 shrutis in an octave (though there are variations-the Pakistani singer Ustad Saami claims to use 49). This makes the piano distinctly ill-suited to performing Hindustani music (unlike other Western instruments which have found their way into Indian classical music such as the violin, guitar, mandolin, and saxophone). Utsav Lal embraces this inherent contradiction: “Visangati as a word reflects an integral poly-semantic and ambiguous quality. It mostly translates as an “anomaly” but sometimes also hinting at absurdity or illogicality. When attempting to play Indian Classical Music on the piano, it is impossible to not acknowledge the contradictions at play in this endeavour. My goal is to embrace and revel in these discrepancies while trying to get as close as possible to eliminating them." This new recording shows just how far he has come in achieving his "everlasting goal". The piano is my own instrument, and my favourite instrument, and I have been listening extensively to Hindustani music for over 25 years, together they are spectacular. Truly a heavenly match! https://utsavlal.bandcamp.com/album/visangati