Pancham Se Gara

Pancham Se Gara is a collaborative Indian classical instrumental composition by sitar virtuosos Ravi Shankar and Anoushka Shankar. The piece was released in 2005 as part of the album Rise. The primary format of the track is a studio recording, though live performances of the composition exist in various concert settings.

Ravi Shankar and Anoushka Shankar perform the piece on sitar, blending traditional raga structures with contemporary improvisational techniques. The composition follows the Gara raga, a lesser-known but melodically intricate scale within the Hindustani classical music tradition. The track duration is 4 minutes and 3 seconds, making it one of the shorter pieces on the album.

The album Rise was released under the Angel Records label. It features a fusion of Indian classical elements with global musical influences, though Pancham Se Gara remains rooted in classical conventions. The track does not include vocal components, focusing instead on the interplay between the two sitars and accompanying percussion instruments such as the tabla.

Anoushka Shankar, the daughter and disciple of Ravi Shankar, had been performing and recording with her father since the late 1990s. Their collaboration on Pancham Se Gara demonstrates a generational exchange of musical ideas, with Ravi Shankar’s established mastery complementing Anoushka Shankar’s modern interpretations. The piece does not credit additional musicians, though the album Rise includes contributions from other instrumentalists on different tracks.

The composition’s title translates to "From the Fifth Note to Gara," referencing the pancham (fifth note) in the raga’s scale. The track opens with an alap, a slow, meditative introduction that establishes the raga’s mood. It progresses into a rhythmic section, where the sitars engage in call-and-response patterns over a tabla-driven teental (16-beat cycle). The piece concludes with a return to the alap’s introspective tone.

No official music video or single release accompanied Pancham Se Gara. The track has been performed in concert by Anoushka Shankar following Ravi Shankar’s passing in 2012, often as part of tributes to his legacy. The original recording remains available on streaming platforms and physical copies of the Rise album.