Rāga
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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 a raga.
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[edit] 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 equivalences 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 ("śrutis"), 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.
[edit] 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, which are 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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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).
[edit] 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 ārōhanam (ascending scale) and avarōhanam (descending scale). 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.
[edit] The Rare Ones
Various schools known in the past as Gharanas have exhibited a penchant for some special ragas. They worked on these ragas so that a particular raga attained a height hitherto unachieved. These special ragas would be taught to a capable pupil alone, often the maestro's son or nephew. Because of this several of such ragas, though liked by audiences, were not very popular among artistes due to their complexity. These ragas gradually fell out of use and were known as Aprachalit ragas.
[edit] Notes
- ^ "Raag" is the modern Hindi pronunciation used by Hindustani musicians;
[edit] References
[edit] 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.
- Krsna Kirtana Songs Ragamala --an informative database with over ninety ragas (audio clips coming soon), tutorial on the North Indian notation system, raga classification, and explanation of how ragas work.
- Raga-rang
- A collection of Compositions of Sangeetendu Dr. Lalmani Misra by Dr. Pushpa Basu.
[edit] See also
- Melody type
- Maqam
- makam
- echos
- muqam
- Raga, a documentary about the life and music of Ravi Shankar
- Sitar
- Raga-Rupanjali. Ratna Publications: Varanasi. 2007.
de:Raga es:Raga fr:Râga hi:राग it:Raga nl:Raga new:राग ja:ラーガ nn:Raga pl:Raga (muzyka) pt:Raga sv:Raga ta:இராகம்
