UNPACKING YOUR KIND OF WELLNESS IN INDIA
Episode 39
Location: Pal Garh, Jodhpur, Rajasthan
Explore Pal Garh's website here
Explore Nawab's website here
Nawab Khan and Louise Nicholson
invite you to a weekend festival retreat
of raaga music, dance & poetry
Thursday 27 February – Sunday 2 March 2025
I invite you to the first musical retreat of the Jodhpur gharana, the music school that traces its roots to the Rathore clan founding Jodhpur, capital of great Marwar kingdom, in the 15C. Spend a weekend in the Rajasthan countryside while Ustad Nawab Khan, maestro of the santoor, tells the story of India’s most ancient form of classical music, the raaga, from its beginnings through formalization at royal courts to today’s freer expressions. Enjoy this music in its fullest cultural context.
Together, we shall experience sunrise and sunset ragas led by Nawab and relatives among his ninth-generation musician family who play a variety of instruments. Nawab will give us music-talks sharing his lifelong knowledge. He will also show us how to enjoy a moon bath, listen to experimental raaga science, and start the discipline of naada yoga - listening to your internal sound.
We shall learn how Sufism took root in India and how it helped develop the remarkably syncretic culture of Rajasthan, expressed in the raaga. It was this raaga tradition that later inspired poetry and paintings developed at the Rajasthan courts of Jodhpur, Nagaur, Sirohi and Amber-Jaipur.
During our stay we shall have special opportunities: to hear Nawab and his family play in a temple garden and at their favourite spot in the Thar Desert; to visit tabla-makers, lac bangle craftsmen and private havelis in Jodhpur’s walled city; and to learn how to cook one or two of Nawab’s family recipes, then enjoy the meal together. There will be some extra surprises, too!
Although you are encouraged to follow Nawab in mediation, please know that nothing is compulsory. It’s fine to skip sunrise in favour of sleeping, meditation in favour of reading a good book, lolling poolside, or enjoying a steaming chai with chilli cheese toast. Whatever ups your wellbeing!
We shall share this intimate experience at Pal Garh, a beautifully restored fort-palace outside Jodhpur. Pal Garh and its 20 bedrooms are ours for the weekend; there will be no daily visitors. Throughout our stay, two ayurvedic masseurs will be on hand to nourish our bodies and help us relax that little bit more so we find true spiritual and physical wellbeing.
Come and join this first raaga festival retreat created for you by Nawab!
Simply email me here for the details and Booking Form.
With warm wishes,
louise
Must-do wellness experience: Nawab paying a sunset raaga
Pal Garh buzzwords: 'What a combo: music, poetry, dance & food!'
Enjoy listening to Nawab play. He's one of 100 musicians in a family which has received Jodhpur royal patronage for nine generations. He is a master virtuoso of the Indian santoor, an ancient instrument whose 100 strings are played with two wooden mallets, stroking and gliding them to create floating, serene sounds.
Relax in our weekend home, the beautifully restored palace-fort of Pal Garh. Just a 15 minute drive from busy Jodhpur city, Pal Garh is serenely peaceful. Drink in the history, walk the char-bagh formal gardens, relax on the battlements, wander the tiny hamlet of Pal to taste the Thar Desert and its local plants, trees and birds.
Enjoy the long tradition of Sufi music in Rajasthan. When Sufi mystics - a mystical side of Islamic culture - arrived at Ajmer in Rajasthan in the 12C, the santoor was their instrument of choice to accompany their qawwalis (devotional songs). In the photo, Sufis from Ajmer play at Nagaur Sacred Music Festival 2018 beneath a video installation of their dargah.
During our retreat we shall talk about the raaga story. It began with the music, with melodies that evoke specific feelings and moods. This varies hugely across India, and Rajasthan’s is distinctive for its rich mix of Sufi, folk and Hindu traditions. Later, raagas were ordered into raagamalas, or families, and described in poetry. Later still, court painters gave each raaga an iconography - this one shows passionate expectation, the lady being prepared for her lover, the bedroom perfumed with a flower garland.
Go ahead and relax beside Pal Garh's pool, fresh lime soda to hand! If you hear distant music you are experiencing raaga therapy. For the santoor’s deeply spiritual and serene sounds have encouraged Nawab to study the power of clinical and traditional music therapy, which he calls ‘raga science’.
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