Raga Komal Rishabh Bageshri - A Raga with a twist

Posted on 21 April, 2020 • 4 min read

Raga Bageshri is a very popular and beautiful Raga, usually sung in the late evening or night. Sometimes, changing a single note changes the entire character of a Raga, so much so that it feels like a completely different Raga. One such Raga is Komal Rishabh Bageshri. As the name suggests, Raga Komal Rishabh Bageshri has been modified by changing the Tivra Rishabh to Komal Rishabh (flattened Re).

As a scale, Komal Rishabh Bageshri could be considered a Janya Raga of Melakarta Natakapriya (Sa re ga ma Pa Dha ni). But here I present the Raga as a derivative of Raga Todi. This twist is mainly due to the use of extra flattened Komal Re and Komal Ga and the phrases used which create a feeling similar to that of Todi.

An interesting footnote is that Late Pandit Ravi Shankar has played a similar scale and called it Raga Parameshwari.

Program Notes

Raga Alapana in Komal Rishabh Bageshri

Raga Alapana is an improvisation and a systematic presentation of a Raga. This part has no rhythmic accompaniment. It has three parts - Alap, Jod and Jhala. This format is also known as Ragam and Tanam.

Pallavi (composition) in Komal Rishabh Bageshri set to Tivratala and Jhaptala

Pallavi is a melodic phrase or lyrics set to a fixed set of beats in a rhythmic cycle. The improvisation here is creating interesting rhythm based melodic patterns while maintaining the framework of the Raga. This part of the performance is accompanied by Pakhawaj.

About the Raga

Raga - Komal Rishabh Bageshri

Scale - Sa re ga ma Dha ni

Family - Todi (Jod Raga formed by combining Raga Todi (Sa re ga ma Pa dha ni) and Raga Bageshri (Sa Re ga ma Pa Dha ni))

Melakarta - Varja Bhashanga Raga of Hanumatodi (Sa re ga ma Pa dha ni)

Prahar - 1st prahar (equivalent to 6 AM - 9 AM)

Reading the scale

In Indian Classical Music, the seven notes in an octave are called Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni and then Sa comes again. Notes with a capitalised first letter are called Tivra (or sharp) notes. E.g., Dha above. Notes written fully in lower case are called Komal (or flat) notes. E.g., ma and ni above. Sa and Pa are always written with a capitalised first letter.

Varja Raga - A Janya (derivative) Raga of a Melakarta in which a note is dropped from the parent Melakarta notes. In this Raga, Pancham has been dropped.

Bhashanga Raga - A Janya (or derivative) Raga of a Melakarta which uses a note outside of the Melakarta notes. In this raga, Tivra Dha is outside of Hanumatodi (Sa re ga ma Pa dha ni).

Prahar

In Indian Classical Music, Ragas are classified into Prahars (time periods of a day or night) which are said to represent the most appropriate time to perform the Raga.

About the Tala

Tivratala has 7 beats split as 3 + 2 + 2 denoted by solfas or syllables representing various rhythmic patterns. The basic solfas of Tivratala are given below.

Tala - Tivratala

Beats - 7 (3+2+2)

Solfas - Dha Dhin Ta | ThiTa KatTa | GaDhi GaNa |

Jhaptala has 10 beats split as 4 + 2 + 2 + 2 denoted by solfas or syllables representing various rhythmic patterns. The basic solfas of Jhaptala are given below.

Tala - Jhaptala

Beats - 10 (4 + 2 + 2 + 2)

Solfas - Dha Ge Dhin Ta | Dhin Ta | ThiTa KatTa | GaDhi GaNa |