Read Of The Week (March 28 to Apr 3)

By turns essay, memoir and cultural study, Finding the Raga is Amit Chaudhuri's singular account of his discovery of, and enduring passion for, North Indian music: an ancient, evolving tradition whose principles and practices will alter the reader's notion of what music might — and can — be.

Tracing the music's development, Finding the Raga dwells on its most distinctive and mysterious characteristics: its extraordinary approach to time, language and silence; its embrace of confoundment, and its ethos of evocation over representation. The result is a strange gift of a book, for musicians and music lovers, and for any creative mind in search of diverse and transforming inspiration.

Amit Chaudhuri is the author of seven novels, including, most recently, Friend of My Youth, as well as a work of non-fiction, Calcutta, and collections of short stories, poetry, essays, and a critical study of D H Lawrence's poetry. Alongside this, he is an admired singer in the North Indian classical tradition and a composer and performer in a celebrated project that brings together ragas, blues and jazz with a variety of other musical traditions.