Hindustani Shastriya Sangeet (Classical music) basic theory

2008-12-09T08:37:00.000-08:00

Like most other art forms, it is very difficult to give an all encompassing definition of Hindustani Shastriya Sangeet also known as (North) Indian classical music. The south Indian classical music is known as Carnatic Shastriya Sangeet. I am not going to delve into the histroy of the classical music. Rather I will try to write about the musical style and grammar associated with this genre.

Now some basic theory about the Hindustani classical. If you are aware about this, you can skip this section.

Musical Scale in Hindustani classical

The smallest interval of tuning system in the hindustani classical is the Sruti. There are 22 srutis per saptak (octave). However in practice Hindustani classical mainly uses 12 swaras (notes) grouped in every Saptak (octave). Seven of these are known as Shuddha (pure) and five of them are called as Vikrit (sharp/flat) making a total of 12 notes per saptak.
Those familiar with western music will immediately recognise this as being similar to the solfège.

The seven shuddha (pure) notes are:

Sa Shadja

Re Rishabh

Ga Gandhar

Ma Madhyam

Pa Pancham

Dha Dhaivat

Ni Nishad

The vikrit notes are

Komal Re (flat)

Komal Ga (flat)

Tivra Ma (sharp)

Komal Dha (flat)

Komal Ni (flat)

Thus in total, we have the following 12 notes per saptak.

Sa Shadja

Komal Re (flat)

Re Rishabh

Komal Ga (flat)

Ga Gandhar

Ma Madhyam

Tivra Ma (sharp)

Pa Pancham

Komal Dha (flat)

Dha Dhaivat

Komal Ni (flat)

Ni Nishad

It is important to note that unlike western music, Hindustani music is not based on equal tempered scale.In simple terms, it means that the pitch(frequency) of the first note Sa is not fixed (hence the rest of the notes also), nor is the difference between the notes completely fixed. However, now with the percolation of western instruments like Piano and harmonium people tend to use fixed scales more often. This point is of great importance to the all the classical vocalists because depending on your natural vocal range you can choose to sing the classical compositions in different scales. This is perfectly acceptable in Hindustani. But the same cannot be said of the popular music which are composed in western fixed scale.

Indian classical music is normally played in 3 registers, Mandhra saptak, Madhyam Saptak and Taar Saptak, lowest to highest.

Notes of Mandhra saptak have a dot symbol placed below them.

Taar spatak notes have a dot above them.

Komal swaras have a small horizontal line placed below them

Tivra swaras have a small vertical line placed above them.

Thaat

Thaat is the basic method of classification of various raags which was created by Pt. Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande. It is akin to the musical mode that is used in western music. Pt. Bhatkhande created this system based on the mela system used in the Carnatic music.

There are ten generally accepted thaats, these are:

Bilawal: S R G m P D N S'

Khamaj: S R G m P D n S'

Kafi: S R g m P D n S'

Asavari: S R g m P d n S'

Bhairavi: S r g m P d n S'

Bhairav: S r G m P d N S'

Kalyan: S R G M P D N S'

Marwa: S r G M P D N S'

Poorvi: S r G M P d N S'

Todi: S r g M P d N S'

Taal

Taal is the word used to denote the rhythmic pattern used in the any composition. For example, Teen Taal refers to the 16 beat cycle used commonly in Hindustani music.

Raag

A raag (raag) is a set of five or more swaras that are combined according to certain rules to create a melody of aesthetic value. Every raag has a vadi,samvadi and varjit swara.

Vadi swara is the most prominent note of a raag. It is often said that the vadi swara is the note used maximum number of times in a raag. However, this is not entirely true nor is there any strict rule for the same.

Samvadi swara is next in prominence and is in harmony with the vadi.

Varjit swaras are the notes that must NEVER be used in a raag. However, varjit swaras can sometimes be used in a raag by clever manipulations. This requires practice and strong understanding of the raag.

Aaroha refers to the ascending order of the notes in a raag.
Avaroha refers to the descending order of the notes in a raag.

To clarify the concepts stated above lets take an example of raag Yaman.


Raag    : Yaman
Thaat   : Kalyan
Vadi    : Ga
Samvadi : Ni
Varjit  : Shuddha Ma

                |       .
Aaroha : S R G M P D N S

          .       |
Aaroha : S N D P M G R S

Note : The dot "." above a note denotes the Taar spatak. The line "|" above the note denotes a tivra (sharp) note.

The rules for creating the ragas are summarised below.

The raag belongs to a scale in a "thaat" or "mela".

There should be at least 5 swaras (notes) in a raag.

A raag has both ascending and descending (aroha and avaroha) order of notes.

A raag must have the tonic note. In other words it must have "Sa".

A raag must have at least one note from Pa and Ma

A raga should have both "vadi" and "samvadi" notes.

A raga should be aesthetically pleasing.

The tivra and komal swaras, should not come in succession in a raag.

There are a few ragas, which are exception to the 2nd rule; yet, they are quite popular and well accepted as classical ragas.

Like all art forms, rules and strict logic cannot be applied to raags. Raags are not strictly bound by these rules only. There may be raags with the same notes and their ascending or descending order; yet, they will sound distinctly different from one another. This happens because different raags have different styles, mood, vadi, samvadi associated with them.

In classical music performance, these rules are followed strictly. In semi classical, light, devotional and other forms of Indian music, even if the tune of a song is composed in a raga, the rules are not strictly followed.

There are hundreds of ragas and each is categorised under one of the thaats explained before. Each raag is thought to create a specific mood and supposed to be sung in a specific time of the day. Some raags like Malhar and Vasant are considered appropriate for a specific season rainy and spring respectively.
Some raags and their corresponding thaats are as below:

Kafi Thaat : Dhanashree, Dhani, Bhimpalasi, Pilu, Shahana, Megh Malhar, Shuddha Sarang, Bageshwari etc.
Kalyan Thaat : Yaman, Bhupali, Hindol, Kedar, Kamod, etc.

Jaati
Simply speaking Jaati of a raag refers to the number of swaras contained in it's aarohan and avrohan.
The raag jaatis are as follows :

Samporna-Sampoorna : 7 in aarohan - 7 notes in avarohan. example Yaman

Sampoorna-Shadav : 7 in aarohan - 6 notes in avarohan

Sampoorna-Auduv : 7 in aarohan - 5 notes in avarohan

Shadav-Sampoorna : 6 in aarohan - 7 notes in avarohan

Shadav-Shadav : 6 in aarohan - 6 notes in avarohan

Shadav-Auduv : 6 in aarohan - 5 notes in avarohan

Auduv-Sampoorna : 5 in aarohan - 7 notes in avarohan. Ex, Baagesree

Auduv-Shadav : 5 in aarohan - 6 notes in avarohan

Auduv-Auduv : 5 in aarohan - 5 notes in avarohan, example Bhupali

This completes our discussion of basic theory of Hindustani classical music. By no means is this discussion complete or encyclopedic. However, for a serious student of music this provides a small platform to start the journey of musical ocean.

Hari Om Tat Sat

Hindustani Raag's time

2008-08-09T09:23:00.000-07:00

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

Common Urdu words in hindi songs

2007-02-01T21:40:00.000-08:00

All of us who have heard Hindi songs must have at some point of time wondered what the meaning of Urdu words are. This is just a compilation of some of the common words by me. I hope you will find it interesting.

The list is unordered.

Tabassum : Smile, Smiling
Martabaa : Account, Class, Degree, Office, Order, Position, Rank
Kehkashaan : Galaxy
Aaftaab : Sun, Face
Gardish-e-shaam-o-sahar : Passage Of Time
Jalsah : Meeting
Laalaa-e-saharaa : Desert Flower
Sahaba : Wine, Esp. Red Wine
Saher : Morning
Sheher : City
Wirsah : Legacy
Dil shaad : Cheerful, Winsome
Irshaad : Instruction, Order, Command, Guidance
Naashaad : Cheerless, Joyless, Dull, Sad, Unhappy
Shaad : Bring Joy To, Cheerful, Delighted, Happy, Lightsome, Rejoicing, Winsome
Saahir : Magician, Wizard
Mojaain : Waves
Saahil : Beach, River-Side, Shore
Laal-e-lab : Ruby Red Lips
Surkhi : Lipstick, Redness, Title
Maikhaane : Drinking Bar
Surmai : Mackerel