Dhrupad

Dhrupad is a meditative style of singing that is thought to be a connecting link between ancient Vedic chanting and the modern forms of what we now know as Indian classical music. This gorgeous, slow-burning documentary by renowned Indian filmmaker Mani Kaul offers an intimate portrait of the musicians of the Dagar family, a lineage of singers who have kept this tradition alive in modern times. Kaul writes that his film “will be appreciated only if one begins to relate to both tone and silence, particularly to a kind of pervasive and a whole silence that stands above the tonal expression.”