Raga Ahiri Todi

Raga Ahiri Todi is a 15-minute and 33-second instrumental composition performed by Baluji Shrivastav on the dilruba, a bowed string instrument of North Indian classical music. The track opens The Art of the Indian Dilruba, a studio album released on CD by ARC Music in 1997.

Shrivastav presents the raga in the Ahiri Todi framework, a variant of the Todi thaat characterized by its use of komal re (flattened second) and komal dha (flattened sixth). The performance follows the traditional alaap-jor-jhala structure, beginning with an unmetered alaap that explores the raga’s melodic contours. The composition progresses into rhythmic sections, accompanied by tabla and tanpura, though the album credits do not specify the accompanying artists.

The recording captures Shrivastav’s technique on the dilruba, an instrument with a fretless fingerboard and sympathetic strings that produce a resonant, vocal-like timbre. The track exemplifies the gayaki ang (vocal style) approach to instrumental performance, emphasizing phrasing and microtonal inflections. The album’s liner notes, where available, may provide further context on the raga’s historical or stylistic placement within the Hindustani tradition.

Limited documentation exists on the production details of The Art of the Indian Dilruba, including recording location or session musicians. The release remains one of Shrivastav’s early commercial albums, predating his later work as a composer and multi-instrumentalist in both classical and fusion contexts.