Raga

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Raga (singular rag or raga, plural raga or ragas) is a complex structure of musical melody used in India and should not be confused with scales.

A raga is basically a set of rules of how to build a melody. It specifies a scale, as well as rules for movements up and down the scale, which notes should figure more and which notes should be used more sparingly, which notes take which ornamentation, which notes must be bent, which notes may be bent, phrases to be used, phrases to be avoided, and so on. The result is a framework that can be used to compose or improvise melodies in, so that melodies in a certain raga will always be recognisable yet allowing endless variation.

The underlying scale is a five, six or seven tone-scale. In the seven tone-scale the second, third, fourth, sixth, and seventh notes can be sharp or flat, making up the twelve notes in the Western scale. However, ragas can specify microtonal changes to this scale: a flatter second, a sharper seventh, and so forth. Furthermore, such variations can occur between styles, performers or simply follow the mood of the performer. There is no absolute pitch; instead, each performance simply picks a ground note, and the other scale degrees follow relative to the ground note.

Every time of the day, morning, afternoon, evening and night, has its specific ragas.

Also See Kirtan, Sikh Kirtan, Taal

The following are the ragas that are mentioned in the SGGS:

  1. Asa
  2. Bairari
  3. Basant
  4. Bhairon
  5. Bihagara
  6. Bilaval
  7. Devagandhari
  8. Dhansari
  9. Gauri
  10. Gond
  11. Gujari
  12. Jaijavanti
  13. Jaitsri
  14. Kalian
  15. Kanara
  16. Kedara
  17. Majh
  18. Raag Malaar
  19. Mali Gaura
  20. Raag Maru
  21. Nat Narain
  22. Prabhati
  23. Ramkali
  24. Sarang
  25. Sri Raag
  26. Sorathi
  27. Suhi
  28. Tilang
  29. Todi
  30. Tukhari
  31. Vadahans


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