CHARU SURI, Shayan

Considering that one of the characteristics of Indian ragas is offering a musical framework within which to improvise, the American art form of jazz should be considered something of a cultural sister genre. But it took a visionary like South Indian born pianist/composer Charu Suri to bring the logical fusion of these two art forms – one dating back thousands of years, the other just over a century – to emphatic fruition as a contemporary hybrid style all its own.

Starting with her debut album Lollipops for Breakfast and continuing on through works like The Book of Ragas, Volumes 1 and 2 and Ragas & Waltzes, the classically trained Charu has fearlessly transcended musical boundaries, creating stirring recordings with top jazz musicians, earning praise from Rolling Stone Magazine (“All substance, no gimmicks”) and becoming one of the few female composers from India to perform at Carnegie Hall.

Though Charu believes that her 2023 collection Rags & Ragas showcased her definitive raga jazz style, her latest work Shayan is unique from the rest of the jazz pieces in her catalog. Offering an epic, meditative portal to a state of inner peace, the seven-track set reflects a deeper, emotional journey she went on to both find for herself and provide for her listeners a call to slow down, savor life and turn to simple, healing melodies. Composing purely from the heart, she began writing Shayan earlier in 2025 to help her mother, who had trouble sleeping after her dad passed away a few years ago. Seeing her popping pills to help her relax, Charu wanted her to heal with more natural remedies via more natural remedies like evening ragas.

The first piece the pianist wrote was “Nightingale,” a gracefully hypnotic and free-flowing duet intricately intertwining her dreamy piano melody with Jim “Kimo” West’s inimitable acoustic guitar magic. This glorious piece is so emotionally enrapturing that listeners who choose it as an entry point into Shayan may find themselves listening to it over and over before exploring the other fascinating pieces on the collection. Charu was inspired to compose it when she heard an evening bird she thought was a Nightingale around 9 p.m. one night. She instinctively turned to the pentatonic raga Bagesri to create it, as that particular raga is supposed to be played between 9 p.m. and midnight. The rest of the album came to her in bits and stages for the next few months before she and her band premiered it at Carnegie Hall in July.   

“I used the title Shayan, the Sanskrit word for ‘deep sleep’ or ‘rest’ because this is an album filled with evening ragas specifically composed to help people heal and sleep better,” she says. “I thought it was such a beautiful, fitting title to the premise of the album. Shayan is a soft word, and not often used. The more common word in Sanskrit for sleep is ‘Nidra.’ I thought it was inviting, cozy and comfortable, like a warm fuzzy blanket. 

“The concept is that these are pieces inspired by various evening ragas to help people sleep better,” Charu continues. “A raga is a modal scale found in India: there are over 500 ragas in India: each supposed to be played at a particular time of day, which makes it very spiritual and healing. Think of a raga like C major, or D minor etc but often without all the 12 tones, some 5 tones up and some 7 notes down and endless permutations and combinations thereof. There are depths to a raga (e.g. some have prominent notes etc.) so the learning and energies are powerful anmod deep.’”

While Charu shares her insight to illuminate her passion for the art form and the way she drew on the tradition of ragas to create this extraordinary album, it’s likely that the casual new age/ambient fan will focus more on how she manifests it musically for their enjoyment and health benefit than on those admittedly fascinating details.

Wherever one chooses to begin their journey into the spacious sonic world of Shayan, it should be noted that the artist is working with musical virtuosos from many genres – including the  aforementioned Jim “Kimo” West, flutists Premik Russell Tubbs, Ravichandra Kulur and Ron Korb, harpist Peter Sterling, violinists Philip Vaiman and Raniero Palm, ukulele player Ramya Shankar and vocalists Mary Dawood Catlin and Siyer and the Venezuelan Strings Recording Ensemble.

Charu wrote what I would consider the album’s grand emotional centerpiece, the haunting, deeply soulful and darkly melancholy eight-and-a-half minute meditation “Raga Jog,” specifically for another master, cellist Tess Remy Schumacher. She later added the dulcimer because she felt that National Hammered Dulcimer Champion Max ZT instinctively knew how to straddle East and West. The premise of “Raga Jog” is the reality that not all evenings are happy occasions. Some are, as she says, “deeply broody and melancholic,” and she turned to “Raga Jog” to express those heavier emotions. By the time listeners reach the end of the journey of this peace, it’s her hope that they’ll feel a sense of peace and solace.

Every piece on Shayan has a story, but sometimes it’s just best to listen, absorb the music and feel whatever your heart needs to feel. On the majestic, classically tinged opening title track, for instance, the mingling of gentle, angelic voices, Charu’s piano, Tubbs’ lyrical flute, Sterling’s elegant harp and Remy-Shumacher’s cello may bring some to tears as the sheer beauty sweeps them away to divine realms whose truth defies easy explanation. The album is bookended by this piece and “Shayan (Reprise),” a rapturous, string centered gem featuring sweeping instrumentation by Palm, Korb and the Venezuela Strings Recording Ensemble.

Likewise, the mellifluous, rhythmically shapeshifting (from immersive/meditative to more percussive) “Mohanam Hymn” was inspired by the pianist’s fascination with the church and hymns. She’s joined at the metaphorical altar by Tubbs, Remy-Schumacher, West and Catlin. The traditional flavored piece is mostly very relaxing, but on another level, it feels like an invitation into a more personal spiritual experience. Featuring the gossamer ivory “snowfall” of Charu’s high piano notes, lush flute and the gently lilting ukulele of Ramya Shankar, Shayan’s final track “Raga Durga” is a relatively new raga for the pianist – a simple, sweet and melodious pentatonic raga that plays the perfect foil to Raga Jog’s brooding nature.    

“The fact that we are all super stressed from the global economic and political events truly motivated me to create something super calming and healing---like a warm cozy aural blanket---because that is what we all need right now,” says Charu. “I really loved creating a calming tapestry of sounds to help people sleep better while showing the world the enormous power and depth of ancient evening Indian Ragas. I can't tell you how many people have written to me saying that they spin the album every night and it really helps them unwind and get a calm night's sleep. My plan is to take the album far beyond the concert halls, to nursing homes and sleep centers--where people need it the most.”