At the very root of Indian classical musical tradition is something called the ragas. And although they are quite well known world over, they are still largely misunderstood. To the western world ragas were gifted by such music stalwarts as Pt. Ravi Shankar (whom George Harrison fondly called the Godfather of World Music).
What had intrigued George Harrison back then and still continues to puzzle many a listener is the unique sound of the Indian classical scales. The musically educated mind finds it difficult to understand the reason for this vast difference between the eastern and the western sounds.
One of the most common misconceptions is to call a raga an Indian classical scale? Well it is to some extent similar to the western modes or scale as there are only some permitted notes or swaras in each raga. But that is where the similarity ends. Each raga has particular stress on the ways one ascends or descends the scales( Called the Aarohan and Avrohan). The notes may vary in the aarohan and avrohan|. Some notes in a raga can be more important than others in the sense of the stress that is placed on them. Think of it like an accented scale where you stress a particular syllable(here note). These important notes are known as the vadi and samvadi. Then there maybe a characteristic motion associated with a raga, known as the Pakad(or Swarup).
What had intrigued George Harrison back then and still continues to puzzle many a listener is the unique sound of the Indian classical scales. The musically educated mind finds it difficult to understand the reason for this vast difference between the eastern and the western sounds.
One of the most common misconceptions is to call a raga an Indian classical scale? Well it is to some extent similar to the western modes or scale as there are only some permitted notes or swaras in each raga. But that is where the similarity ends. Each raga has particular stress on the ways one ascends or descends the scales( Called the Aarohan and Avrohan). The notes may vary in the aarohan and avrohan|. Some notes in a raga can be more important than others in the sense of the stress that is placed on them. Think of it like an accented scale where you stress a particular syllable(here note). These important notes are known as the vadi and samvadi. Then there maybe a characteristic motion associated with a raga, known as the Pakad(or Swarup).
And the list can go on depending on how perfect one wants the raga to be. This explains why although there are only a few modes in western music there can virtually be 100's of ragas. There are something similar to the western modes in indian music called the thats and in essence any of the ragas must belong to one of these thats. Each raga may only slightly be different from the other but may cast a completely different mood. The distinction between the ragas are thus made mainly on the basis of mood they cast. (Raga comes from the Sanskrit Word ranj meaning to colour ( the mind?)) .
One of the many thats
The classification of ragas is thus quite abstract and a lot of ragas end up having rather interesting names depending on what mood their creator thought they were casting. Each raga is often also associated with a time of the day they can be played in. For example the Bhairavi is typically played in the early hours of the dawn the Malkauns after midnight. Malhaar is the monsoon raga.
One of the many thatsThe classification of ragas is thus quite abstract and a lot of ragas end up having rather interesting names depending on what mood their creator thought they were casting. Each raga is often also associated with a time of the day they can be played in. For example the Bhairavi is typically played in the early hours of the dawn the Malkauns after midnight. Malhaar is the monsoon raga.
The above is a typical example of Raag Malkauns in Md.Rafi's voice.
A major part of the Raga thus relies on the feeling that the musician attaches to it. Hence it is difficult to think of a raga as something that is merely a bunch of notes. As Pt. Ravi Shankar explains above you must breathe life into it. These are the features that give the unique sound to a raga and indian semi classical music in general which builds on these ragas.
Sources:
http://chandrakantha.com/articles/indian_music/raga.html
