Il raga che porta la pioggia

by Pia Srinivasan Buonomo

Paola Buonomo reads excerpts from Pia Srinivasan’s Italian memoirs titled
Il raga che porta la pioggia (recorded by Ludwig Pesch 16 May 2022)

Free copies are available from the publisher: Istituto Italiano per gli Studi Filosofici (Naples 2005)

Listen to raga Amritavarshini (“the raga that brings rain”) sung by D. Pasupathi: Anandamritakarshani (a kriti by Muttusvami Dikshitar) recorded by Ludwig Pesch (Kalakshetra, 2 October 1992) | Song lyrics and translation >>

About the book

“Pia Srinivasan Buonomo’s book is based on her letters home during a stay in India and this its epistolary nature it this that gives it a narrative and intimate tone – description, reflection, critical comments trace with success a vast section both of the country and of Indian culture.” – Worldcat.org

“For those of us who experienced those halcyon days Pia brings back wonderful memories. For other readers her writing will bring the images, smells, tastes, personalities, rhythms of existence, and most of all the music of those times vividly to life. Thank you, Pia!” – From the Foreword by DAVID B. RECK, Ph.D., Professor of Music, and Asian Studies and Civilizations Amherst College

“In India one does not need to look for music, instead, it is music that finds us. … In her book Pia Buonomo recounts her encounter with the classical music of Southern India, a kaleidoscope of ragas which succeed in keeping alive its long-time history, thanks to their usage and transformation.” – CARLA CONTI

Il raga che porta la pioggia … is not only a celebration of Rajeswari’s musicianship, but a readable and elegant account (deserving to be rendered into English) of her own slow and sympathetic assimilation of the Tamilian life style, and of her passionate mastery of the subtleties of her chosen instrument, the vina.” – JOSÉ PEREIRA

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