Sitar unusual conversations

Sitar is rarely used in South Indian music. However, Raja has used it extensively in his compositions. He has used it in its traditional as well as his own non-traditional forms. C&R arrangements with Sitar is also another part of Raja’s orchestration in his long career. Let’s hear some top of mind examples of how Raja has used Sitar in C&R arrangements.
Here is a single clip with four segments showing how Raja has arranged Sitar in his unusual C&R arrangements:

1. The first segment is from the song Rangulalo Kalavu from Abhinandana (Telugu 1990). This is a brilliant violin and sitar C&R that has the Raja stamp all over it. The call is by the sitar and the response are a few strokes from the sitar
2. The second segment is from the song ‘Poo Pookum Masam’ from Varusham 16 (Tamil 1989). This is a beautiful call by the sitar and a nice classical response from the flute
3. The third segment is from the famous song, ‘Nilaave Vaa’ from Mouna Ragam (Tamil 1986).  This is part of the prelude of the song and the call is by the sitar and the response is by the guitar.
4. The fourth segment is again from the song Rangulalo Kalavu from Abhinandana (Telugu 1990). This is from the second interlude and this time, the call is by the synthesizer and the response is from the sitar.

Two close string instrument based arrangement seems to be a Raja favorite. The sitar-guitar, sitar-synthesizer arrangements are very good Raja innovations. I will also cover some of Raja’s Veena-guitar arrangements later, which are similar.

Let’s hear the sample of Raja’s unusual sitar conversations of Raja set to a C&R arrangement...