Jasdeep Singh Degun - Jogkauns (2025) [Hi-Res]

The upcoming album is the first pure Indian classical recording by Jasdeep Singh Degun, a sitar master trained in the North Indian school of music, the Imdad-Khani gharana. Creating the album required sensitive negotiations, as Indian classical music is a long-form, improvisational tradition resistant to studio capture. Degun, who previously experimented with contemporary music (Anomaly, 2022), returns to his foundation. He reflects on how technological advances, from three-minute 1930s gramophones to modern LPs, impact the improvisational structure. The album, recorded at Real World Studios with tabla accompanist Harkiret Bahra, is fully licensed and structured like an Indian classical concert, played entirely within a single raga—Raag Jogkauns—known for its "evening" colours. The recording, a collaboration with engineer James Turner, uses modern microphones to capture the subtle, immense resonances of the sitar previously unheard. Degun's teacher, Ustad Dharambir Singh, advised him to approach the session as a transient moment within the limitless guru-shishya-parampara tradition. The album is divided into two sides: Side A contains the improvisational sections alaap, jor, and jhalla, while Side B features vilambit (slow rhythmic cycle teentaal with tabla) and drut (a fast concluding improvisation).

Tracklist:
1-1 Jasdeep Singh Degun - Alaap Jor Jhalla [20:19]
1-2 Jasdeep Singh Degun - Vilambit [10:55]
1-3 Jasdeep Singh Degun - Drut [10:51]