Spring Collection

Cold winter was going on while I was doing these watercolors. I have in my collection an Indian miniature with a green background. This I copied in 1952 and thought at the time it was a very daring thing for that artist to have done.

There was one teacher of vocal music to whom I took my musical instrument. I played for a few minutes and he then told me to stop. He told me to play one note: sa. When I moved onto another note he told me "No! Play only the one note sa and listen carefully to how it mingles with the drone. Close your eyes and listen to the drone while playing and notice how many different swaras and srutees you can hear." Although I was angry I later realized that there is more to music than just playing notes. Tuning the instrument in the morning is almost a Zen experience, a gathering of the spirits, a transformation from words and images into musical images.

Sarangi Nawaz

These watercolors were painted during the months of April and May, 2002.