Raga Kedar: Alap

Samwad is a collaborative studio album by Indian classical musicians Purbayan Chatterjee and Kala Ramnath, released on CD by Sense World Music in 2004. The album explores the interplay between Chatterjee’s sitar and Ramnath’s violin within the framework of Hindustani classical music.

The opening track, Raga Kedar: Alap, spans 12 minutes and 35 seconds and serves as the first composition on the release. The piece adheres to the alap tradition, emphasizing slow, meditative development of the raga without rhythmic accompaniment. Chatterjee and Ramnath alternate and merge melodic phrases, showcasing the raga’s characteristic komal re (flattened second) and komal dha (flattened sixth) swaras. The recording captures the spontaneous dialogue between the two instruments, a thematic focus reflected in the album’s title Samwad (Hindi for \"dialogue\").

The album’s production emphasizes natural acoustics, with minimal post-processing to retain the organic texture of live performance. Sense World Music distributed the release primarily in India and international markets with a focus on world music audiences. Additional track details, including accompanying artists or subsequent raga elaborations, remain undocumented in available sources. The collaboration marked one of the few recorded duets between Chatterjee and Ramnath, both recognized for their contributions to instrumental Hindustani classical music.