Raga Yaman

Raga Bihag - A Concert at India Community Center

Raga Ahir Bhairav

RAGA BASANT

Raga Maru Bihag

Famous Raags

Raagas

Although the total number of raags in Hindustani classical music was as big as 300, several of them have been lost over the centuries. About 100 raags are known and performed these days. The following list contains most of them. Complete formats, bandishes and popular songs have been provided for many raags. Names of such raags are underscored. Simply click on the name of a raag to see its complete details. Audio clips are also provided to illustrate several details. We’ll keep adding details for more raags with time. While classification of most raags in thaats is universally accepted, opinions vary among the experts for some raags. The same is true about performance times of some raags. The list is sorted alphabetically by raag name. You can sort the list by thaat or performance time by clicking on the column headers.

Raaga Thaat Performance Time Adana Asavari Night Ahir Bhairav Bhairav Morning Asavari Morning Bageshri Kafi Night Bahar Kafi Night Bairagi Bhairav Bhairav Morning Basant Poorvi Night Basant Mukhari Morning Bhairav Bhairav Morning Bhairavi Bhairavi Any Time Bhankar Bhairav Morning Bhatiyar Bhairav Morning Bhimpalasi Kafi Afternoon Bhinna Shadja Khamaj Night Bhoopal Todi Bhairavi Morning Bhoopali Kalyan Evening Bihag Kalyan Night Bilaskhani Todi Bhairavi Morning Bilawal Bilawal Morning Chandani Kedar Kalyan Night Chandrakauns Night Charukeshi Chhayanat Kalyan Night Darbari Asavari Night Desh Khamaj Evening Deshkar Bilawal Morning Desi Asavari Morning Dhani Kafi Any Time Durga Bilawal Night Gara Khamaj Gaud Malhar Kafi Monsoon Gaud Saarang Kalyan Afternoon Gorakh Kalyan Khamaj Night Gunakri Bhairav Morning Gurjari Todi Todi Morning Hamir Kalyan Night Hansdhwani Bilawal Evening Hindol Kalyan Morning Jaijaiwanti Khamaj Night JanaSammohini Jaunpuri Asavari Morning Jhinjhoti Khamaj Night Jogiya Bhairav Morning Kafi Kafi Any Time Kalavati Khamaj Night Kalingada Bhairav Morning Kamod Kalyan Evening Kedar Kalyan Night Khamaj Khamaj Evening Kirwani Night Lalit Poorvi Morning Madhuvanti Todi Afternoon Madhyamad Sarang Kafi Afternoon Malgunji Kafi Night Malhar Kafi Night Malkauns Bhairavi Night Malkauns Pancham Bhairavi Night Mand Bilawal Any Time Maru Bihag Kalyan Evening Marwa Marwa Afternoon Miyan Malhar Kafi Monsoon Multani Todi Afternoon Nand Kalyan Night Nat Bhairav Bhairav Morning Pahadi Bilawal Evening Patdeep Afternoon Piloo Kafi Any Time Poorvi Poorvi Afternoon Puriya Marwa Evening Puriya Dhanashri Poorvi Evening Rageshri Khamaj Night Sham Kalyan Kalyan Evening Shankara Bilawal Evening Shivranjani Kafi Night Shri Poorvi Afternoon Shuddh Kalyan Kalyan Evening Shuddh Sarang Kalyan Afternoon Sohni Marwa Morning Tilak Kamod Khamaj Night Tilang Khamaj Evening Todi Todi Morning Vibhas Bhairav Morning Vrindavani Sarang Kafi Yaman Kalyan Evening Yaman Kalyan Kalyan Evening

How to hold a bansuri

Different people have different ways of gripping the flute. The only thing that you should keep in mind is that you should be comfortable while holding the instrument.

If you are right handed then you would use the left hand to cover the top three holes of the flute and the right hand for the bottom three or four holes depending upon what style of playing you follow.

There are at least two common ways of holding the flute - The Pt. Panna Lal Ghosh style and the Pt. Hari Prasad Chaurasia style.

Pt. Pannalal Ghosh Technique

In this style the holes are covered by the tips of the fingers. By using the finger tips to close the holes the right hand can be stretched to cover the seventh hole of the bansuri. The following picture shows Pt. Pannalal Ghosh holding the flute.



Pt. Hari Prasad Chaurasia Technique

In this style, the flat portion of fingers, and not the tips, are used to cover the holes.




In order to understand this style better, role over the following image to see what portions of the fingers are used to cover which holes. Also, keep in mind that the lines on your fingers should not be over the holes as that will lead to leakage of air.

Playing your first note

As with any other woodwind instrument the first step is the toughest. You will need a lot of patience initially and you might have to put in a lot of effort to play your first note properly. Once you are able to do that, then the fun begins.

The first step is to get a clean tone out of your flute. I'm sure, at some point or the other, you would have tried blowing into a bottle or a pen cap; Blowing into a bamboo flute is exactly the same. So try that out - just blow into the blowing hole and see if you are able to produce a sound.

Remember that you cannot get a sound by blowing straight into the hole, you have to blow at an angle in such a way that some portion of the air goes inside the flute and some of it goes outside. It is a personal thing and I have seen that this comes very naturally to some people and some people like me have to struggle with this. Personally, I spent about three months just blowing into the flute and trying to get the correct tone out of it.

I suggest you do not worry about how you are holding the flute at first and concentrate only on getting a clean sound without covering any holes.

Here is a simple trick that I learnt when I was starting out. This is what helped me. I could not explain this in words so I asked my cousin to help me take it on video...

Famous Raga Names

abhogi kanhra
ahir bhairav
ahir lalit
alahiya bilawal
amrit varshni
ananda bhairav
asavari
bageshree
bahar
bairagi
bairagi todi
bangal bhairav
basant mukhari
bhagavat ranjani
bhairav
bhairavi
bhavani bhairav
bhim
bhimpalas
bhinna shadja
bhoopali
bhoopali todi
bilaskhani todi
brindavani sarang
chandrakauns
charukeshi
chayyanat
darbari
deepawali
desh
dhani
durga
gaur malhar
gavati
gujri todi
hameer
hansa nad
hansadhwani
hansanarayani
hindol
jaijaivanti
janasamohini
jaunpuri
jayakauns
jhinjoti
jog
jogeshwari
kafi
kalavati
kamalaa manohari
kedar
khamaj
kirwani
komal risabh asavari
lalit
madhukauns
madhyamad sarang
malkauns
mamata
mishra mand
manmohini
marwa
megh
megh ranjani
mian ki todi
mian malhar
mohini
multani
narayani
nat bhairav
nat bhairavi
noor sarang
parameshwari
mishra piloo
puriya dhanashri
puriya kalyan
rageshwari
rajhastani mand
ramkali
rangeshwari
saalag varaali todi
saraswati
shan mukha priya
shivaranjani
shobhavari
shree
shree todi
shudd kalyan
shudd sarang
simendra madhyam
sindhi bhairavi
sorath
sreeranjani
subah shankari
sundarkauns
tilak kamod
vachaspati
vibhaas
vijayranjani
yaman
yaman kalyan
yasharanjani

RAGA Bhopali

Introduction

Bhoopali is one of the five oldest ragas, along with Megh, Shree, Malkauns and Hindol. It is thought to be 4,000 years old.

Arohi: SRGPDS
Avarohi: SDPGRS
Time = Evening
Vadi = Ga
Samvadi = Pa
Vivadi = Dha
Rasa = Bhakti, Shanti


Lessons

DDSS | RRGG | DDSS | RRGG
DDSS | RRGG | PPGG | RRS_

DDSS | RRGG | PPGG | RRS_
PPGG | RRS_ | PPGG | RRS_

***********************

DDDD SSSS RRRR GGGG PPPP GGGG RRRR SSSS
SSSS RRRR GGGG PPPP DDDD PPPP GGGG RRRR
RRRR GGGG PPPP DDDD SSSS DDDD PPPP GGGG
GGGG PPPP DDDD SSSS RRRR SSSS DDDD PPPP etc...

Tonguing

Set teental to 208 beats per minute and try tonguing this section at double speed.
To tongue at full speed go tookootookootookootookoo.
DDDD | SSSS | RRRR | GGG_
DDDD | SSSS | RRR_ | GGG_
DDDD | SSS_ | RRR_ | GGG_
DDD_ | SSS_ | RRR_ | GGG_
PPPP | GGGG | RRRR | SSS_
PPPP | GGGG | RRR_ | SSS_
PPPP | GGG_ | RRR_ | SSS_
PPP_ | GGG_ | RRR_ | SSS_
Now practice gamaks by playing the above at one note per beat.
Alankars

Look down the left-most note in each row below. It equals SDPG RGPD, so each row drops a step from SDPG then returns upwards RGPD...this brings you back to high S. Go full speed (taan practice):

SDPG SDPG SDPG SDPG
DPGR DPGR DPGR DPGR
PGRS PGRS PGRS PGRS
GRSD GRSD GRSD GRSD
RSDP RSDP RSDP RSDP
GRSD GRSD GRSD GRSD
PGRS PGRS PGRS PGRS
DPGR DPGR DPGR DPGR

####
SDPG | RSDP | DSRG | PDS_ x4
####
SDPG | RSDP | SDPG | RSDP
SDPG | RSDP | DSRG | PDS_ x2
####
SDPG | SDPG | SDPG | RSDP
SDPG | RSDP | DSRG | PDS_
####

####################

SRSRSRS_ | RGRGRGR_ | GPGPGPG_ | PDPDPDP_
DSDSDSD_ | SRSRSRS_ | RGRGRGR_ | GPGPGPG_
GPGPGPG_ | RGRGRGR_ | SRSRSRS_ | DSDSDSD_
PDPDPDP_ | GPGPGPG_ | RGRGRGR_ | SRSRSRS_

Now similar to above, but inverted:

SDSDSDS_ | RSRSRSR_ | GRGRGRG_ | PGPGPGP
DPDPDPD_ | SDSDSDS_ | RSRSRSR_ | GRGRGRG
GRGRGRG_ | RSRSRSR_ | SDSDSDS_ | DPDPDPD
PGPGPGP_ | GRGRGRG_ | RSRSRSR_ | SDSDSDS
TIHAIS

Tihais are phrases that are repeated three times. They often end on or just prior to sum, which is the first note of the cycle.
Notation:
Brackets [ ] mean repeat the contents of the brackets three times. [3x = tihai]

Sum to Sum:
[RGPDS_S_ | RGPDS_S_ | RGPDS_S_ | SDPGRSDS]

Vary it...
[RGPDS_S_ | RGPDS_S_ | RGPDS_S_ | SDPGRSDP]
or
[RGPDS_S_ | RGPDS_S_ | RGPDS___ | SDPGRSDS]
[RGPDS_S_ | RGPDS___ | RGPDS___ | SDPGRSDS]
[RGPDS___ | RGPDS___ | RGPDS___ | SDPGRSDS]

[RGPDS___ | SDPGRSDS | SDPGRSDS | SDPGRSDS]

More Exercises

RGPDS___ | SDPGR___ | SRGPD___ | DPGRS___
DSRGP___ | PGRSD___ | PDSRG___ | GRSDP___
GRSDP___ | PGRSD___ | DPGRS___ | SDPGR___
SDPGR___ | DPGRS___ | PGRSD___ | GRSDP___

ADVANCED:
Going up...
PDSDPDRS | DSGRSRP_ x4
DSRSDSGR | SRPGRGD_ x4
SRGRSRPG | RGDPGPS_ X4
RGPGRGDP | GPSDSRG x4
Variation for last line: S'DS'PS'DSG | S'DSRP.D.S X4

Coming down...
SDPDSDGP | DPRGPGS_
DPGPDPRG | PGSRGRD_
PGRGPGSR | GRDSRSP_
GRSRGRDS | RSPDSRS_

Tanpura

As there is no key change in a raga, it is possible (and preferable) to have a drone in the background that repeatedly plays the tonic and one or two other important notes in the raga. The drone serves several purposes: (1) it creates an ambience and fills empty spaces between notes; (2) it allows the musician to determine the correct pitch of the notes they are playing, and adjust accordingly; and (3) it serves as the sound against which each of the musician's notes are based, and thus brings out the feeling of each note: a note in and of itself has no feeling; it is only its relationship to another note that allows it to produce feeling.

This drone is most often produced with a "tanpura", a 4 to 6 stringed instrument, whose strings are repeatedly plucked for the duration of the performance. The drone is most often using the notes "low Pa - Sa - Sa - low Sa", though if the raga in question lacks Pa, but has shudd Ma (i.e. Malkauns), the Ma is used instead of the Pa. If the raga lacks both Pa and shudd Ma (i.e. Marwa or Puriya), one could use Sa, Ni, or Dha as the first note, depending on their preference. Another drone instrument is the swarpeti, a rarely heard pump organ that repeatedly plays "Sa".

The Raga - Scales

Each melody in Indian Classical Music is called a raga. Literally translated, raga means "that which colors the mind". Ragas differ based on their scales and their important phrases and notes. Their are thousands of ragas, which are derived from the 72 possible combinations of heptatonic (7-note) scales (known as melakartas in southern India), as well as hundreds of possible combinations of hexatonic (6-note) and pentatonic (5-note) scales. Further, there are ragas that use 5 or 6 notes going up, but 7 notes coming down, and there are ragas that have notes in their natural form on ascent, but in their flattened form on descent. Some ragas use scales that are "vakra", which means crooked: one cannot simply go straight up or down. Finally, there are ragas that are "mishra" meaning they are mixed, and use notes in both their natural and their sharp or flat form, often resulting in more than 7 notes being used in the raga.

Examples of ragas with different types of scales:
-- 7 notes: Kirwani, Simendra Madhyam, Vachaspati
-- 6 notes: Gujri Todi, Janasamohini, Malaya Marutan, Mohini
-- 5 notes: Shivaranjani, Bhoopali, Hansadhwani, Durga, Madhyamad Sarang, Megh
-- 5 notes up, 7 down: Bhimpalasi, Bhairavi, Madhuvanti
-- 5 notes, with some shudd in ascent but komal in descent: Jog, Brindavani Sarang
-- Vakra: Tilak Kamod, Hameer
-- Mishra: Kafi, Sindhi Bhairavi, Piloo