Wednesday, 3 February 2021

"Kanada" group of Ragas

Some of these are in the "Asavari' Thaat & some in "Kafi" Thaat.

The most well-known is Darbari Kanada, also known as "The King of Ragas" & "The Raga of Kings" as Tansen reputedly created it to perform in court. This is in "Asavari" Thaat & the unique feature is the andolan on Komal Gandhar & Komal Dhaivat. Vadi & Samvadi are Shuddha Rishabh & Pancham.

Koushi Kanada also uses the same notes as above, but is distinguished by having Shuddha Madhyam & Komal Gandhar as Vadi & Samvadi. The Pancham string of the tanpura is also tuned to Shuddha Madhyam to help support the Vadi swara.

Suha Kanada is in Kafi Thaat & drops the Dhaivat altogether. The andolan on Komal Gandhar gives the Kanada touch. Rishabh is not used in ascent. Vadi & Samvadi are Ma & Sa. Surprisingly it is an afternoon raga.

A very similar Raga is Nayaki Kanada, having the same notes & even the same Vadi & Samvadi as above, but using the Rishabh in ascent. This is a night raga in the idiosyncratic time frame of the Hindustani system! This raga is favoured by the Jaipur Atrauli Gharana.

A raga recorded by Ustad Ali Akbar Khan is Bageshree Kanada, in which the ascent progresses in the Kafi Thaat upto Pancham & then doubles back to Madhyam & proceeds again, dropping the Pancham & going straight to Dhaivat!

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