What is Raga

WHAT IS A RAGA?
This if very difficult to explain, but I will do my best here.

The word "Raga" literally means "what colours the mind" and often in music books you will find all
kinds of heavy worded and poetic descriptions, however for the sake of helping you understand
what a raga is, I will explain it as simply as I can at first before giving the more complex
descriptions. It is important also to know that there are hundreds of ragas - all with different
names, some are more common than others.

A raga is basically a melody produced by playing a set of specific notes and adhering to certain
rules. Each raga, which is always improvised in Indian music, gives a different feel. So one
improvised melody might make us think of romance, another might make us feel very calm and
another might make its listeners feel sad.
Imagine someone saying to you "Ok so now you can play on the bansuri the normal notes; Sa Re Ga
Ma Pa Dha Ni Sa, but now you must only play specific notes and some notes you must not play at
all".

The natural scale of the bansuri is Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sa (excluding half notes) - but when we
play different ragas, we select only some of these notes. For example Raga Bhupali uses the
following notes ascending: Sa Re Ga Pa Dha Sa and descending Sa Dha Pa Ga Re Sa (Note that with
Raga Bhupali the notes are the same ascending and descending but this is not the case with all
ragas).

You will notice in this Raga Bhupali that Ma and Ni are omitted (not played at all). So instead of
playing SRGMPDNS, you play SRGPDS.

So we now know that Ragas consist of certain notes which must be played and other notes which
must be omitted. The next thing you need to know is that some notes have more importance than
others. So with each raga, there is a VADI (a ruling/king note) and a SAMVADI (a vice-ruling/queen)
note. For Raga Bhupali, the vadi (most important note) is: GA and the Samvadi (Second most
important note) is DHA. So when a musician plays Raga Bhupali, he or she will play these notes
longer or may start or stop on these notes.

Furthermore, ragas are traditionally played at different times of the day. Some ragas are played in
early morning and other in the evening after sunset etc. Nowadays these rules are not always
followed however.
Raga Bhupali is traditionally played in the evening between 6pm to 9pm.

As I mentioned before, each raga creates different emotions and feelings. These
include:Shingara (romance), karuna (pathos), hasya (cheerfulness & humour), raudra (anger &
fury), vira (courage), bhaya (fear), bibhatsa (disgust), adbhut (surprise &
wonder),shanta (peace), viraha (absence or separation), madhurya (sweetness &
ternderness),vatsalya (motherly feelings) and kama (eroticism) and also Bhakti (devotion).

Raga Bhupali is a Bhakti (devotional) raga and creates this mood. It is also often associated with
the separation of a lover.

When you learn a new raga, you will learn first the Aroha (Ascending scale - notes played from
bottom to top) & avaroha (descending scale - notes played from top to bottom), then you will need
to know the Vadi & Samvadi and also the Pakad. The pakad refers to typical (and generally
accepted) patterns of notes associated with a specific raga and which will help you to bring out the
essence and full feeling of a particular raga. These notes are played over and over again
throughout a performance and that is why it is important to know them. The pakad also helps
players identify which raga is being played.

Now - Musicians usually explain ragas in a completely different way. Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia
once said "For me, ragas are gods or goddesses, all members of a great family. I can call one of
them any moment and immerse myself in its musicality; their personalities are so rich and complex
that I never feel lonely". So we can see that performing ragas is much more than just playing notes,
it is like painting a picture in front of an audience and trying to convey all the emotions and make
a beautiful painting.

Now let's bring a small composition together for Raga Bhupali (sometimes also spelt bhoopali or
called Bhoop)

RAGA BHUPALI

Aroha (Ascending): S R G P D S'

Avaroha (Descending): S' D P G R S
Vadi (Important note): G
Samvadi (2nd important note): D
Pakad (Punch-line): G, R, S 'D, S R G, P G, D P G, R, S

How to play the composition:

The composition is divided into 2 parts. The "Sthayi" which is the first part of the composition and
is a central and dominant part of the composition, played many times and which allows us to
express the lower register; and the second part called the "Antara" which allows us to explore the
higher register and then come back to the lower register and go back to the beginning of the
sthayi.