About Touching Air (live at the Saptak Festival)
Touching Air (live at the Saptak Festival) is a live album by Indian classical violinist Kala Ramnath. The recording captures a solo violin performance from the Saptak Festival, an annual event dedicated to Hindustani classical music. Ramnath released the album in 2002 under the label Sense World Music in CD format.
The album features six tracks that showcase Ramnath’s interpretation of the Mewati gharana tradition. The performance begins with an Alap, an unmetered improvisational section that establishes the raga’s framework. This is followed by two segments of a Vilambit Ektaal composition, a slow-paced piece in the 12-beat ektaal rhythmic cycle. The recording then transitions into a Jhaptaal composition, split into two parts, performed in the 10-beat jhaptaal cycle. The album concludes with a fast-paced Tintaal composition, set in the 16-beat tintaal cycle.
The Saptak Festival performance emphasizes Ramnath’s technical command of the violin and her adherence to the improvisational and structural conventions of Hindustani classical music. The album’s production retains the acoustic qualities of the live setting, with minimal post-processing. Sense World Music distributed the recording as part of its catalog focusing on traditional and contemporary Indian classical works.
The release date of the album aligns with the 2002 edition of the Saptak Festival, though the exact performance date within the festival remains undocumented in available sources. The tracklist omits specific raga names, leaving the modal framework of each composition unspecified in the official release notes.