Ragas are not tunes. Tunes have to follow a fixed sequence of notes. When singing a Raga one does not sing the notes in the same pattern all the time.

There is a strong improvisational aspect to performing a Raga, as long as some rules about the melodic content/conceptual framework of the Raga are followed. This framework is known as the Raga’s lakshana .

The lakshana of a Raga includes what notes are to be ornamented and how, which notes are to be stressed, which ones are to be just touched upon and which ones are to be avoided.

Another factor that can influence the lakshana of a Raga are ascending and descending note sequences.

The aaroh or aarohana is the ascending note sequence in a Raga and the avroh or the avrohana is the descending sequence.

For example, the arohana for the Ragam Mohanam (Raag Bhoopali in the Hindustani system) is as follows:
S R G P D S
and the avarohana is
S D P G R S.

(Note: when the notes are written in all capitals as above that means it is the “higher/sharper” form of each note. Remember, there is more than one form of the notes R, G, M, D, N. If I write notes in lower case, that means they take on the lower “flatter” form. Sa and Pa are fixed).

Below is a clip of the Aarohana and Avarohana of Mohanam courtesy the excellent site ragasurabhi

Another example:

The Raga Saveri’s Aarohana (ascending pattern) is
S r m P d S
and its Avarohana (descending pattern) is
S N d P m G r S

Thus, if one is performing the Raga Saveri and touching upon the notes in an ascending sequence (aarohi prayoga), one may not sing Ni though the note is present in the Raga. However, one may sing Ni if it is approached in a descending sequence (avrohi prayoga). This applies whether one is actually singing out the names of the notes, singing a text free phrase (eg by just singing the vowel aaaaaaaa), or a composition with text.

More on note patterns, aarohana and avarohana in the next post.

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There are a lot of people these days who have jumped on to the “great Indian culture” bandwagon, but sadly, there are not many, or not enough, who devote much time to this phenomenal idea, the idea of Raga. Ragas are based on those other phenomenal things-swaras (inadequately translated as notes).

Indian classical music is sometimes referred to as Raga Music.

There is no English word that properly explains the meaning the of Raga.

Raga is a Sanskrit word, that literally means “colour” or “passion.” Ragas are meant to colour the mind with emotion.

Ragas are referred to as Raag in the North and Ragam in the South. However, all three words, i.e. Raga, Raag and Ragam are understood both in the North and the South.

Ragas are made up of notes or swaras. As noted in the previous posts, there are seven basic notes (Sa, Re( or Ri), Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni) known as the saptak or the saptaswaras. Sa is repeated at the end of the scale and is higher in pitch, the exact double of the first Sa. [This higher Sa will be referred to with quotation marks in front of it like this: S"]

Remember there are also “in-between notes” known as semi-tones and microtones (srutis), which are varieties of the seven main notes/tones.

Shadja, or Sa for short, is the swara that is always present in every Raga. It is the fundamental note and all the other notes are relative to it.

Traditionally, it has been accepted that a Raga has to have a minimum of 5 swaras. However, Ragas with fewer notes have been invented/discovered. The contemporary singer and composer Dr. Balamuralikrishna is famous for his Raga creations that have only three or four notes.

The reason why Indian Raga music sounds the way it does is because of the special treatment that is given to the seven notes and the use of microtones. The microtones are touched upon by using various techniques to ornament the notes, known as “gamaka,” “meend” etc.

Learning where to stress a note, where to ornament it, which one to give importance to, and which one needs to be gently caressed with a feather, so as to just give a hint of it, are things that can only be learned from a teacher and through a lot of listening.

A demonstration of some of what has been discussed above is provided in some enjoyable videos by Rama Varma, who discusses the Raga Shankarabharnam, a major raga of Carnatic music. He uses the word “gamakam” which refers to note ornamentation in Carnatic music.

Though different types of gamakas/gamakams are used in Carnatic and Hindustani music, what Rama Varma says is useful in understanding how notes can be differently ornamented and stressed in Ragas in general. A gamakam is also sometimes said to be an “oscillation” of a note.

Another video that is worth rewatching at this point is the one by Dhanashree Pandit Rai which I had posted earlier. The only quibble I have with this video is that Ragas are referred to as tunes, which they are not.

Distinguishing features of Ragas including ascending and descending sequences of notes, characteristic phrases etc will be discussed in more detail in following posts.

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I reserve a part of my brain to file away music into the category of Tinkle Tankle. A large amount of so-called devotional music falls into this category, with terrible orchestration and even more horrible group singing. Add to this a layer of treacle. You can almost see the strings of syrup forming a halo around everyone’s head.

Classical compositions have an enormous “devotional” component. That is, a lot of them are addressed to the Divine, speak of the relationship with the Divine (often referred to as the Beloved), may address various deities etc. But when we speak of the “devotional” genre in this post, I am largely speaking of lighter forms of Indian music, that don’t strictly adhere to classical grammars.

Classically trained musicians have always sung what are called the “lighter” genres, but have recently entered the “light music” /”devotional” market in a big way. They are singing stotras, shlokas, bhajans,mantras, kirtans, abhangas and other forms of devotional songs and/or setting them to music.

Some of the devotional music rendered by classical singers suffers from the ailments described above. But there has been some that has come out that is very enjoyable, and full of bhakti without diabetes.

Note: The bhajan (devotional song) appears in many different varieties, and can be performed in different ways.

Later posts will examine the different forms of the bhajan etc. For now lets just concentrate on listening samples (I hope to do lots of these “in-between” posts, featuring singers from both the Northern and Southern traditions, my day job and other issues permitting).

******

Pandit Bhimsen Joshi is one of India’s most well known classical singers. He is a Khayal singer and belongs to the Hindustani, or North Indian tradition of Indian classical music. He has also sung in the South Indian language, Kannada (he was born in Gadag, Karnataka). Below are a few of my favourites Bhimsen Joshi bhajans (with some reservations on the orchestration). I suggest turning up the volume a little, these are no good on a low setting:

Chalo Ri Murali Suniye (Surdas Bhajan)-Bhimsen Joshi

Sun Surat Rangili(Charandas Bhajan)-Bhimsen Joshi

Aaarambhi Vandin Ayodhyecha Raja (Ramdas Bhajan in Marathi)(lyrics)-Bhimsen Joshi

Madhukar Shyam Hamare Chor-Bhimsen Joshi

A whole lot of Panditji’s Kannada Bhajans are available to hear on youtube.

He is also famous for singing Abhangas in Marathi. I hope I can do a separate post on Abhangas.

USEFUL LINKS:

To Read:
Bhimsen Joshi-A Profile

If you want to buy some of the above they are available as shown below:
To Buy (from amazon.com):
Madhukar Shyam Hamare Chor

Sun Surat Rangili

Chalo Ri Murali

Aarambhi Vandin Ayodhyecha Raja

Deva Bandha Namma

Bhajan-Bhimsen Joshi

Mantra-Bhimsen Joshi

Tantra-Bhimsen Joshi

Jantra

Indu Yenage Govinda-Pt. Bhimsen Joshi

Amazon UK:
Madhukar Shyam Hamare Chor

Chalo Ri Murali

Sun Surat Rangili

Aarambhi Vandin Ayodhyecha Raja

Deva Bandha Namma

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In the previous post we said that if you take the example of a keyboard, in theory, your Sa can start anywhere on the keyboard, depending on where you comfortable singing it.

In practice, the human voice is limited to a certain range of keys (but this is quite a wide range).

With reference to Hindustani music, people tend to describe their pitch with reference to harmonium keys. So you may hear someone say, for example, that their pitch is “kaali chaar,” i.e. black four. That means that’s where they are comfortable singing their first Sa.

The word “safed” refers to white keys.

In the Carnatic system, a unit of measurement called “kattai” is used to refer to pitch. There are also half kattais. Half kattais indicate semi-tones (the black keys on a keyboard)

Below is a comparative pitch chart (source link here):

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This pitch is called sruti in the south (the word sruti is translated in different ways, this is one of them) or sur/ swar in the North.

Finding and maintaining one’s pitch is of fundamental importance. The instrument that helps a classical musician do this is the Tanpura, or as it is known in the South, the Tambura.

The Tanpura is the instrument that is tuned to a singer’s pitch (instrumentalists use them too) and that provides a constant reference point that helps the musician stay in pitch.

Well tuned Tanpuras are a pathway to heaven, the heaven inside yourself, because they help you find your pitch, your frequency.

In the video below we have some really well tuned Tanpuras. They are the long instruments with fat bottoms behind the singer, who is Ustad H. Sayeeduddin Dagar. He sings a Sanskrit chant in the Raga Bhoopali.

How do you find your pitch?

Your pitch can be found against a keyboard, a harmonium or against a Tanpura, although it is advisable to carry on your practice against the Tanpura and not the keyboard.

Finding one’s pitch is basically finding one’s base “Sa” (Shadja).

As we noted earlier, the seven notes of Indian music are Sa, Re (or Ri), Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni and Sa. We do not count the last Sa, because Sa repeats itself at the end of the scale. Sa’s frequency at the end of the scale is exactly double that of the fist Sa at the beginning of the scale and sounds “higher.”

It is the first “Sa” that constitutes one’s basic pitch or adhara shadja/adhara swara.

If you take the example of a keyboard, in theory, your Sa can start anywhere on the keyboard, depending on where you comfortable singing it.

“Sa” then becomes the fixed or tonic note (adhara shadja/sruti/swara).

All other notes are in relation to and relative to Sa.

My “Sa,” is different from my teacher’s “Sa”, as he is a male and has a lower pitch.

Tanpuras/Tamburas usually have four or five strings. The first string is tuned to Pa, the two middle ones are tuned to the higher Sa and the last, to the tonic Sa (i.e. your fundamental Sa), an octave lower. So what a Tanpura does is to provide a constant tonal reference point.

The tuning of the first string (Pa) may change, depending on the raga (e.g. there may be a raga without Pa) or an extra string that plays the seventh note, i.e Ni, can be added (the adding of strings is usually done by Hindustani musicians), or the Pa string may be tuned to Ma.

Nowadays one gets electronic “sruti boxes” and electronic tamburas that are much easier to carry around, that look like small radios. Though these are very good and have reached high standards, some people (including yours truly) feel that the traditional Tanpuras and Tamburas provide a richer sound and should not be done away with.

Learning to tune a Tanpura to one’s pitch is considered essential in perfecting one’s pitch or sur or shruti. More on Tanpuras here.

Sadly, some teachers are doing away with the practice of teaching their students to tune Tanpuras.

Here is a podcast by the Carnatic musician Vidya Subramanian explaining the concept of pitch. Since she is a Carnatic musician and from the South, she calls pitch “sruti.”

And here is a podcast by Vidya on Tamburas.

Want to try singing and finding your Sa yourself? There are some online Tanpura recordings here. If you are female, you will probably find a pitch between 4 and 6 that is comfortable and if you are male try between 0.5 to 2 (some manage even higher).

Just sing Saaaaaaaaaaaaaa in your normal voice and hold it steady.

You can vary it by just singing “aaaaaaaaaaaaaa.” Singing “aaaaa” is known as aakaara saadhana in the South and singing in aalaap/aakaar in the North.

Here is a free aalaap/aakaaram lesson, that you can try singing along with and is good for generally toning your voice! Click in the top right hand box to listen.

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