Raga

Hindustani Classical Music

Better known as raga, I play Hindustani classical music accompanied by the gifted tabla player, Zaheer-Abbas Janmohamed in the traditional Hindustani style.

We play with a modern, multicultural, and fresh approach that still preserves the integrity and authenticity of this centuries-old tradition. Using an innovative new marimba for raga that I designed and built himself that allows me to play seated on the floor, and paired with the traditional tabla drums, we harness the great rhythmic potential of Indian music while maintaining its flowing lyricism. As is the tradition, this music is largely improvised, but with composed elements that allow us to play off of and anticipate each other in a vigorous and intense melodic and rhythmic chamber music conversation. Ranging from intimately delicate to rhythmically explosive, our music takes audiences on a journey exploring every emotional nuance of each raga we present. Our concerts are also informative, as engaging discussions about the tradition, the inner structure of raga music, and our instruments and journey with raga music are dispersed throughout the concert. Our performances are targeted towards diverse audiences, including those of Western classical music and the South Asian community. Indian and Western classical music are similar in sensibility, artistic refinement, intellectual elevation and emotional passion. Our repertoire ranges from serious classical ragas to light classical music, romantic pieces, devotional songs and folk tunes. Our music is a bridge between these audiences and is always well received by both.

Video

Raag Malkauns | Vilabmit Gat in Chartal-ki-Sawari | Rod Thomas Squance & Zaheer-Abbas Janmohamed

A serene and contemplative improvisation on the beautiful raag Malkauns in a slow, vilambit tempo in the eleven-beat cycle chartal-ki-sawari.

Raag Durga | Madhya Gat in Tin Taal & Jhala | Rod Thomas Squance & Zaheer-Abbas Janmohamed

An improvisation on raag Durga in a sixteen-beat cycle, ending with a grand tihai before embarking on a jhala finale. A jhala is an acceleration to a musical climax often played at the end of a raga performance in Hindustani classical music. Constructing this one with two composed melodies, we climb in both pitch and speed before arriving at a final rhythmic formula.

Lilies In The Breeze | Raag Maand | Rod Thomas Squance & Zaheer-Abbas Janmohamed

"Lilies In The Breeze" was composed for marimba and tabla duo. The piece depicts two lovers (Abbas and I are just friends … in case you were wondering) in sweet repartee, the two voices represented by the right and left mallets of the marimba, at times in dialogue, in counterpoint, or in unison.

Raag Hamsadhwani Live | Madhya Gat in Tin-Taal | Rod Thomas Squance & Zaheer-Abbas Janmohamed

An excerpt from my improvisation in the madhya, or medium tempo section of a live raga performance of the uplifting Raag Hamsadhwani in the sixteen-beat cycle tin-taal. Recorded Live in Langley, British Columbia, Canada.

Raag Durga (2015)

My first album of North Indian, Hindustani classical music played on the marimba and accompanied on the tabla by Zaheer-Abbas Janmohamed. The main feature of the recording is a substantial performance of Raag Durga, followed by a beautifully delicate interpretation of the bhajan Vaishnava Jana To, known to be Mahatma Gandhi’s favourite Hindu devotional song.

Recordings

Live In Concert: Ragas Kirwani & Hamsadhwani (2016)

A live recording of North Indian, Hindustani classical music with me on the marimba accompanied by Zaheer-Abbas Janmohamed on the tabla. This is Abbas and I doing what we love most, performing in concert, bringing the audience along on a journey through the mystical regions of magical ragas, in this case the serious raag Kirwani and the beautiful raag Hamsadhwani.

Media

Squance-Janmohamed Duo. Rod Thomas Squance and Zaheer-Abbas Janmohamed play Hindustani classical music, better known as raga, in a traditional Hindustani style. Their collaboration started over sixteen years ago, during which time they have developed a fresh, exciting and highly entertaining approach that preserves the integrity and authenticity of this centuries-old tradition. Using an innovative new marimba for raga of Rod’s own design that allows him to play seated on the floor, paired with the traditional tabla drums, they harness the great rhythmic potential of Indian music while maintaining its flowing lyricism. They have performed in concert halls and university campuses all across Canada, from Vancouver Island to St. John’s, Newfoundland, giving raga concerts, workshops and masterclasses. Their full-length recording Raag Durga was released in 2015. Rod and Abbas’ repertoire ranges from serious classical ragas to light classical music, romantic pieces, devotional songs, folk songs and contemporary compositions. As is the tradition, their music is largely improvised. Ranging from intimately delicate to rhythmically explosive, their music takes audiences on a journey exploring every emotional nuance of each raga they present. Their concerts are also informative, as engaging discussions about the tradition, the inner structure of raga music, and their instruments are dispersed throughout the concert.

Rod Thomas Squance is very active as a soloist and freelance percussionist in chamber, orchestral, jazz and world music settings. His collaborations with renowned international figures are numerous. He has performed with Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Project, clarinettist Paquito de Rivera, Korean traditional percussionist Dong-Won Kim, shakuhachi player Kojiro Umezaki, erhuist Yu Hongmei, and tabla players Prafulla Athalye, Sandeep Das and Abbas Janmohamed. Rod’s playing has been heard on national radio and television broadcasts. He appears in solo recitals regularly, including recitals for national CBC radio broadcasts, and has performed as a soloist with many other orchestras and ensembles. Rod holds a doctoral degree from the University of Miami, having received his formal training as a classical percussionist, but is equally comfortable playing jazz vibraphone. He is an experienced performer and scholar of Balinese gender wayang music, completing field research in Balinese music studying gender wayang with I Ketut Sukayana in Sukawati village, Bali. He is also an accomplished performer of Indian classical music, having performed Hindustani raga using a special marimba of his own design, accompanied by Mumbai based tabla player Shri Prafulla Athalye and touring with Canadian tabla player Zaheer-Abbas Janmohamed. Rod has studied percussion with Ney Rosauro and Glenn Price, Balinese gender wayang with Brita Heimarck, marimba with Leigh Howard Stevens and She-e Wu and for many years developed his musicianship under the mentorship of Canadian pedagogue and violinist, Thomas Rolston. He currently teaches ethnomusicology and percussion at the University of Calgary and has served on the faculty of the Banff Centre for the Arts.

Zaheer-Abbas Janmohamed is a Canadian tabla player and a student of Ustad Allarakha’s senior disciple, Shri Prafulla Athalye. A two-time recipient of the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute Arts Fellowship Award, he studied in India in 2005-2006 and again in 2010-2011, learning intensively under Athalye, a distinguished tabla soloist and a senior disciple of the late Ustad Allarakha, in Mumbai. While in India, he also attended classes at the Ustad Allarakha Institute of Music, studying with Ustad Fazal Qureshi. True to his multicultural heritage, Zaheer-Abbas embraces innovative cross-cultural collaborations, but also places great emphasis on preserving the integrity and authenticity of the classical Indian tradition of his instrument. He brings the tradition of tabla to new contexts and audiences through musical collaborations, using the instrument’s sound and theory to explore rhythmic composition and electronic music production. He has performed across Canada in a variety of classical, semi-classical, and contemporary musical settings, including appearances such as Sonic Landscapes (Surbahar) with Ustad Irshad Khan, Sufi folk music of Mukhtiyar Ali, and numerous performances with Dr. Rod Thomas Squance. Zaheer-Abbas is credited as a contributor and musician in WhyNot Theatre's staging of the play Mahabharata, having recently performed in Canada, the UK and Australia.