Indian pianist/composer Utsav Lal, often known as the ‘Raga Pianist’ is recognised as one of the most talented musicians of his generation. Choosing to perform ragas on the piano, an instrument that has traditionally been considered unsuitable for Indian Classical Music, Lal’s creative musical genius, unfailing clarity of technique and rhythmic virtuosity has led him to an impressive career performing at leading global venues like Carnegie Hall-NYC, Southbank Centre-London, The Kennedy Centre-DC.

From his debut album ‘Piano Moods of Indian Ragas’ on the Times Music label in 2008, Utsav Lal has come a long way with six subsequent releases that include a historic solo recording on the world’s first ever 'Fluid Piano, ‘The Fluid Piano Album in 2016.

On 3rd February, Lal released ‘Visangati’ his seventh record of pure Indian Classical Music on Piano.Visangati, a hindi-sanskrit word, in English literally means Anomaly, a deviation from the norm. Having gainedinternational recognition over the past 17 years for his groundbreaking work, this record signifies Lal’sunending pursuit of walking an untrodden musical path that has been laced with contradictions.

Visangati presents Lal’s distinctive, unapologetically original take on Indian Classical music and the music representsa truly unique and original voice on the piano.The first three tracks in this record are dedicated to exploring the beautiful Raga Lalit. Starting with a solopiano, patient and sensitive rendition of the raga in traditional Alap Jod Jhala form, this is followed by twotracks where Lal is joined on tabla by the renowned Nitin Mitta (of Vijay Iyer’s “Tirtha” trio). The rhythmicincisiveness of Nitin joins hands with the inspirational improvisations of Utsav to create a meaningfulacoustic dialogue and Raga Lalit is presented with two beautiful compositions set to a Vilambit Teental (16beat cycle) and a Drut Ektaal (12 beats cycle) . Utsav explores his work on Indian Classical Music under the tutelage of Dhrupad maestro Ustad Wasifuddin Dagar and violinist Sharat Srivastava and his music featuresstrong Dhrupad influencedraga interpretations on piano w ith much more focus on the subtler nuances of raga ornamentation, resonanceand development.

The record includes a track on the romantic Raga Bihag composition Lat uljhi suljha ja re balam which brings forth how much Khayal and Thumri styles have been an inspiration for Lal and how particular care has been given to translating the decay and nuance of tone of the instrument in his playing. The last two tracks are an original rendition of two well-known traditional songs Neer Bharan Kaise Jaon & Yaad Piya Ki Aayi and it is here that Utsav Lal’s wide source of musical influences shine through the clearest. Both compositions are very clearly based on ragas, but are explored by Lal with much leniency in form and development reflecting his musical training at Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and New England Conservatory of Music and his diverse influences ranging from diversity of touch of Thelonious Monk and Ellington to the genre bending piano playing of Tsegué - Maryam Guèbrou and vast soundworld of improvisers like Chris Abrahams (The Necks) and Ran Blake. This is Indian Classical music as it has never been heard before.

“Visangati as a word reflects an integral poly-semantic and ambiguous quality. It mostly translates as an “anomaly” but sometimes also hinting at absurdity or illogicality. When attempting to play Indian Classical Music on the piano, it is impossible to not acknowledge the contradictions at play in this endeavour. My goal is to embrace and revel in these discrepancies while trying to get as close as possible to eliminating them. This record represents a current snapshot , 17 years into the everlasting goal of bringing this vast and vibrant art form to this instrument ” says 28 year old Utsav Lal who is based out of New York city.