Raga Ahir Bhairav

Posted on 06 March, 2020 • 3 min read

Ragas in Indian Classical music have often taken inspiration from folk tunes, and then formalised them according to the principles of the Indian Raga system. Ahir is an ancient ethnic group in India who were primarily cattle farmers. Some of them claim to be descendants of the Yadava tribe from Lord Krishna. Whatever maybe the case, as cattle grazers, did they have a typical signature folk tune? Is that where the origins of Raga Ahir lie?

In this session, I present Raga Ahir Bhairav on Chandraveena. Raga Ahir Bhairav is a mixture of two Ragas, the aforementioned Ahir and Bhairav. Ahir and Ahir Bhairav have the same notes, but are distinguished by differences in their melodic structures. I explore the Raga in Alap, Jod and Jhala.

Program Notes

Raga Alapana in Ahir Bhairav

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 are some notes about the Raga.

Raga - Ahir Bhairav

Scale - Sa re Ga ma Pa Dha ni

Family - Bhairav (Jod Raga formed by combining Raga Ahiri (Sa re Ga ma Pa Dha ni) and Raga Bhairav (Sa re Ga ma Pa dha Ni))

Melakarta - Chakravakam (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. 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 capitalized first letter.

Jod Raga

A Jod (or combination) Raga which uses a combination of notes and phrases from two Raga. In Ahir Bhairav, the basic ragas of Ahir and Bhairav are combined. The Ragas Ahir and Ahir Bhairav have the same notes, but are distinguished by differences in their melodic structures.

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.