Wednesday, August 26, 2009

When is a scale a raga?

Here are some basic rules for calling a given scale a raga

1. The raga has its origin in a scale called ‘thaat’ or ‘mela’.

2. There should be at least 5 notes in a raga.

3. The 2 forms of a note i.e. flat and sharp, should not come in succession in a raga.

4. A raga has both ascending and descending (aaroha and avaroha) order of notes.

5. A raga should have the note ‘sa’ i.e. ‘do’ of the solfa notation.

6. A raga should have at least one note from ‘ma’ and ‘pa’, i.e. ‘fa’ and ’so’ of the solfa notation.

7. A raga should have both ‘vadi’ and ‘samvadi’ notes.

8. A raga should have an aesthetic value.

1 comment:

SKS said...

Hi,

I have a small note regarding your points 6 and 2. Niroshta is a janya ragam of shankarabharanam and it doesnt have either ma or pa. Harikeshanallur Muthaiah Bhagavathar is credited with this scale. And Dr. Balamuralikrishna has created ragas with 3 and 4 notes. The concept of having minimum five notes is just a rule of thumb, not a strict rule. Hope it helps.

Regards,
Sampath.