Raga Bhoopali Todi - A morning Raga variant of Bhoop?

Posted on 09 June, 2020 • 4 min read

Raga Bhoop (also known as Bhoopali or Mohanam) is an ancient pentatonic scale, and a very popular evening Raga across India. This scale has been found in many ancient musical systems like the Chinese music for Guqin, Japanese music for Koto, etc. It is what we call an Audav - Audav scale (which means it uses 5 notes while ascending and while descending). This Raga uses all Tivra or sharp notes - Sa Re Ga Pa Dha. Bhoopali Todi or Bhoopala uses the same set of notes, but they are all Komal or flat notes (denoted without capitalization) - Sa re ga Pa dha. This Raga belongs to the Todi family of Ragas, and gives an entirely different feeling compared to its Tivra counterpart. So could it be called Subah ki Bhoop (morning Bhoop)?

Here, I present a detailed Alap in Raga Bhoopali Todi consisting of three sections - Alap, Jod and Jhala. In addition to a usual tanpura, this alap performance is also accompanied by a very unique drone (Tanpura) accompaniment track. This drone track is synthesized from a project called PureTones. It has been microtonally adjusted to precisely suit the scale of the Raga. It was a different and interesting experience for me. Do try and hear the difference. If it sounds interesting to you, be sure to check out PureTones. You can also hear a synthesized signature tune of Bhoopali Todi which goes along with the PureTones drone track.

Program Notes

Raga Alapana in Raga Bhoopali Todi

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

Pallavi (composition) in Bhoopali Todi set to 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.

Here are some notes about the Raga and the Tala.

Raga - Bhoopali Todi

Scale - Sa re ga Pa dha

Family - Todi

Melakarta - Varjit Janya of Hanumatodi (Sa re ga ma Pa dha ni)

Prahar - 1st and 2nd prahar (equivalent to 6 AM - 12 PM)

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. Notes written fully in lower case are called Komal (or flat) notes. E.g., dha and ni above. Sa and Pa are always written with a capitalized first letter. This Raga uses all Komal (or flat) notes.

Varjit Raga

A varjit raga is a derived scale from a Melakarta in which a note/s has been omitted. In this case, ma and ni of Melakarta Hanumatodi has been omitted, hence a pentatonic derivative of Hanumatodi.

Janya Raga

A janya raga is a derived scale from a Melakarta. A melakarta by definition is a Sampoorna (heptatonic) scale. A janya Raga could be Sampoorna (heptatonic) or Shadava (hexatonic) or Audava (pentatonic). Indian Ragas with less than 5 notes are very rare.

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

Jhaptala is generally divided into 2+3+2+3. However, here I have used a different time signature of 2+2+2+2+2 denoted by solfas or syllables representing various rhythmic patterns. The basic solfas of modified Jhaptala are given below.

Tala - Jhaptala

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