Indian Classical Music And Sikh Kirtan
by Gobind Singh Mansukhani (M.A., LL.B, Ph.D.) © 1982
Type of Notes
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by Gobind Singh Mansukhani (M.A., LL.B, Ph.D.) © 1982
Type of Notes
Indian Classical Music And Sikh Kirtan by Gobind Singh Mansukhani (M.A., LL.B, Ph.D.) © 1982 Type of Notes |
| Type of Notes In the composition of a raga, certain notes are important, and some are subsidiary. There are others which are taboo. This gives us the pattern of notes in a raga. a) Vadi svara/amsa (sonant): Literally, it means the note which “speaks”. This is the most important or dominating note in a raga, which is a sort of key to the unfoldment of its characteristics. It is like the king of that raga. As it is the pivotal note, it is played very prominently or repeatedly. In it lies the particular rasa of that raga. It also determines the time for the singing of the raga. Vadi/Badi is of two kinds: poorvanga and uttarang. Poorvang vadi means the lower tetrachord, that is the first four notes S, R, G, M. The timing for ragas which use such notes is from noon to midnight. Take Khamaj raga its vadi is G and as such it is poorvang and hence sung up to midnight. Uttarang vadi means the next group of notes (the upper tetrachord) that is the four later notes P, D, N, S. The timing for ragas which use these notes is from midnight to noon. An example of uttarang raga is Bhairav whose vadi note is D [1]. There are however some borderline ragas belonging to the time period of 4 to 7 a.m. and 4 to 7 p.m., which are called sandhi Prakash ragas which use R and D. b) Samvadi svara (consonant): This is second important note in the raga, after the vadi note. Samvadi/sambadi note is also deserves some notice. Its position is at an interval of a fourth or fifth from the vadi note. Its position is at an interval of a fourth of fifth from the vadi note. It has the same status as a minister in relation to a king represented by the vadi note. c) Anuvadi svaras (assonant): All the svaras in a raga except the vadi and samvadi are called anuvadi. They are like the servants which are subordinate to the vadi (king) and smvadi (minister) svaras. d) Vivadi svaras (dissonant): These are the dissonant notes which are not used in a raga, as for example P in Gujri raga or R in Malkaus raga. The use of vivadi notes disfigures the raga, and as such it is the enemy of the raga. The four above types of notes determine the structure and pattern of the raga. In fact the change of vadi in the same scale of notes may yield a different raga. |