RāGA

(Redirected from Raga)

'Rāga' (in Sanskrit "Raga" is literally "colour" or "mood") and (''rāgam'' Carnatic music) refers to melodic modes used in Indian classical music.^[1] In Indian music, a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is founded. In the Indian musical tradition, ragas are held in different times of the day. Indian classical music is always set in ''raga''. Non-classical music such as popular Indian film songs sometimes use ''ragas'' in their compositions.
A ''ragini'' is an archaic term for the 'feminine' counterpart to raga.
Raga also is the ancient name of an Iranian city, nowadays called Shahr Ray.

Contents

Nature of ''Raga''

''Ragas'' and their seasons

Notations

Northern and Southern differences

Carnatic ''Raga''

The Rare Ones

Notes

References

External links

See also

Iranian RAGA

Nature of ''Raga''

: योऽसौ ध्वनिविशेषस्तु स्वरवर्णविभूषितः ।

: रञ्जको जनचित्तानां स च राग उदाहृतः ।।
: ''"That which is a special ''dhvani'', is bedecked with ''swara'' and ''varna'' and is colorful or delightful to the minds of the people, is said to be ''raga''"'' - Matanga in the Brihaddesi.
''Raga'' describes a generalised form of melodic practice. It also prescribes a set of rules for building the melody. It specifies the rules for movements up (''aahroh'' [आरोहणम्]) and down (''aavroh'' [अवरोहणम्]) the scale, which ''Swara'' (notes) should figure more and which notes should be used more sparingly, which notes may be sung with ''gamaka'', phrases to be used, phrases to be avoided, and so on. The result is a framework that can be used to compose or improvise melodies, allowing for endless variation within the set of notes.
The basic mode of reference is that which is equivalent to the Western Ionian mode (this is called ''Bilawal thaat'' in Hindustani music and ''Shankarabharanam'' in Carnatic music). All relationships between pitches follow from this basic arrangement of intervals. In any given seven-tone mode, the second, third, sixth, and seventh notes can be natural (''shuddha'', lit. 'pure') or flat (''komal'', 'soft') but never sharpened, and the fourth note can be natural or sharp (''tivra'') but never flattened, making up the twelve notes in the Western equal tempered chromatic scale (but without Western pitch equivalencies like, for example, A# and Bb). A Western-style C scale could therefore theoretically have the notes C, Db, D, Eb, E, F, F#, G, Ab, A, Bb, B. Ragas can also specify microtonal changes to this scale: a flatter second, a sharper seventh, and so forth. Treatises from the first millennium report that the octave used to be divided theoretically into 22 microtones ("shrutis"), but by the 16th century, this practice seems to have died out. Furthermore, individual performers treat pitches quite differently, and the precise intonation of a given note depends on melodic context. There is no absolute pitch (such as the modern western standard A = 440 Hz); instead, each performance simply picks a ground note, which also serves as the drone, and the other scale degrees follow relative to the ground note.

''Ragas'' and their seasons

Some Hindustani (North Indian) ragas are prescribed a time of day or a season. During the monsoon, for example, many of the ''Malhar'' group of ragas-associated with the monsoon-are performed. However these prescriptions are not strictly followed. There has also been a growing tendency over the last century for North Indian musicians to adopt South Indian ''Ragas''. These do not come with any particular time attached to them. The result of these various influences is that there is increasing flexibility as to when ragas may be performed.

Notations

Although notes are an important part of ''raga'' practice, they alone do not make the ''raga''. A ''raga'' is more than a scale. Many ''ragas'' share the same scale. The underlying scale
may have five, six or seven tones made up
of ''swaras''. Ragas that have five swaras are called ''audava'' (औडव) ragas; those with
six, ''shaadava'' (षाडव); and with seven, ''sampoorna'' (संपूर्ण) (Sanskrit for 'complete'). Those ragas that do not follow the strict ascending or descending order of swaras are called ''vakra'' (वक्र) ('crooked') ragas.

Northern and Southern differences

The two streams of Indian classical music, Carnatic music and Hindustani music, have independent sets of ragas. There is some overlap, but more "false friendship" (where raga names overlap, but raga form does not). In north India, the ragas have recently been categorised into ten ''thaats'' or parent scales (by Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande, 1860-1936); South India uses a somewhat older, more systematic classification scheme called the ''melakarta'' classification, with 72 parent (''melakarta'') ragas. Overall there is a greater identification of raga with scale in the south than in the north, where such an identification is impossible.
As ragas were transmitted orally from teacher to student, some ragas can vary greatly across regions, traditions and styles. There have been efforts to codify and standardize raga performance in theory from their first mention in Matanga's Brhaddesi (c. tenth century).

Carnatic ''Raga''

In Carnatic music ''ragas'' are classified as ''Janaka'' ragas and ''Janya'' ragas. ''Janaka'' ragas are the ragas from which the ''Janya'' ragas are created. Janaka ragas are grouped together using a scheme called ''Katapayadi sutra'' and are organised as ''Melakarta'' ragas. A Melakarta ''Raga'' is one which has all seven notes in both the aarohanam and avarohanam. Some ''Melakarta'' ''Ragas'' are ''Sankarabharanam'', ''Maaya Malava Gowla'', ''Kalyani'' etc. Janya ragas are derived from the Janaka ragas using a combination of the swarams in the parent raga.
Each ''raga'' has a definite collection and orders of ''Swaras'' (the basic notes). In Carnatic music, there are 7 basic notes of which there are 12 varieties. The seven basic swarams of carnatic music are: Sa, Ri, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni.

The Rare Ones

Various schools known in the past as Gharana-s have exhibited a penchant for some special Raga-s. They worked on these Raga-s so that a particular Raga attained a height hitherto unachieved. These special Raga-s would be taught to a capable pupil alone, often the maestro's son or nephew. Because of this several of such Raga-s though liked by audience were not chosen by the artistes as they required precision to handle the complexity. These Raga-s gradually fell out of use and were known as ''Aprachalit'' Raga-s.

Notes

1. "Raag" is the modern Hindi pronunciation used by Hindustani musicians;

References

External links

★ Musical Nirvana --includes some introductory material, raga descriptions, artist biographies and discographies, and a glossary; information on both Hindustani and Carnatic music.

★ ITC Sangeet Research Academy --scholarly organization devoted to the promotion of Hindustani classical music; includes information on artists past and present, Hindustani sangeet (theory), and current events in the Indian classical world.

★ Raga Ranjani School of Music --a non-profit organization to promote Indian classical music in Southern California, thorough workshops, classes, and concerts.

See also

★ Melody type, Maqam, makam, echos, muqam, and musical mode.

★ Carnatic Music

★ Hindustani Music

★ ''Raga'', a documentary about the life and music of Ravi Shankar

★ Sitar

★ Raga-rang

★ 'Raga-Rupanjali'. Ratna Publications: Varanasi. 2007. A collection of Compositions of Sangeetendu Dr. Lalmani Misra by Dr. Pushpa Basu.

Iranian RAGA

Raga also is the ancient name of an Iranian city;nowadays called Shahr Ray.