Raga Bhairavi - The Immortal Raga

There is a classic song in Raga Bhairavi which has attained an immortal status thanks to its soulful rendition by the legendary Indian film actor and singer K. L. Saigal in the film Street Singer. Its words go:

बाबुल मोरा, नैहर छूटो ही जाए - Babul Mora Naihar Chhooto Hi Jaye

Many rulers of the erstwhile princely states of India were great patrons of Art, Dance and Music. Some were very good artists themselves. One among them, was the 19th century Nawab of Awadh, Nawab Wajid Ali Shah. The above poetry was composed by the Nawab when he was exiled from his beloved Lucknow by the British Raj. Here he uses the metaphor of a bride’s farewell from her father’s home.

The bride tragically cries out (roughly translated as):

“O my father, the home of my birth is slipping away from my reach!”

Many Indian classical musicians feature this composition in Raga Bhairavi.

In this session, I present a brief Alap and a composition in Tivratal (7 beats). You can further explore Raga Bhairavi which I covered in 6 takes on Bhairavi. This is a recording of a live performance held at Siddhivinayak Temple, Dandia Bazaar, Vadodara.

Program Notes

Raga Alapana in Bhairavi

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. Here a short Alap is presented.

Here are some notes about the Raga.

Raga - Bhairavi (also called Sindhu Bhairavi)

Scale - Sa re ga ma Pa dha ni

Family - Todi

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

Prahar - 1st and 2nd prahar (equivalent to 6 AM - 12 PM), though its now become an all Prahar Raga!

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. Notes written fully in lower case are called Komal (or flat) notes. This Raga has all komal (or flat) notes. Sa and Pa are always written with a capitalized first letter.

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 |

Credits

Artist

Chandraveena - S Balachander Pakhawaj - Dhaval Mistry

Production

Sadharani Music Works - https://www.sadharani.com

Release Links

Please note that since this performance was held in a place of worship, a video recording is not available. However, we are uploading the full audio file to YouTube, with information labels for your enjoyment.

The full video recording of the Pallavi is available at https://youtu.be/gWkMs_AzEXM.

Snippets from this performance are available at https://youtu.be/c7O7weNTDZs.

Purchase CD quality audio of the performance from https://chandraveena.bandcamp.com/album/live-at-vadodara.