S-r-G-M-D-N-S

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Notable for omitting its own Sa for long stretches, the hexatonic Marwa conjures moods of ‘austere, spiritual renunciation’ – summoning these sentiments with low, slow lines which patiently outline the raga’s highly irregular geometry (three adjacent plus three wide-set swaras: NSr; GMD). Its descent-dominant melodies, which avoid Pa throughout, often tease at resolutions which never fully settle, with Sa being the only swara ‘detached‘ from all samvad relationships, and special prominence afforded to shuddha Dha (if you omit Sa, and see Dha as the new ‘home tone’ in murchana fashion, the scale resembles the far more stable Bhupali: DNrGMD > SRGPDS). In Nikhil Banerjee‘s words, “Marwa is considered devotional and heroic…Pa is not used, as it expresses joy, and Dha may express disgust“. Chosen by Bhatkhande as the eponymous raga of Marwa thaat (albeit with Pa added) – and prakriti with Puriya and Sohini, although the trio’s movements differ markedly. Strangely, Marwa is an exact Ma-murchana of the famous Western ‘Blues Scale’ (SrGMDNS > SgmMPnS: see Shrutivardhini). See melodic summary below – and compare to overlapping forms including Jait, Bhatiyar, Sazgiri, Maligoura, and Monomanjari.

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Aroha: e.g. DNrGMD, DNrS

Avroh: e.g. SND, MGrND, NrS

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Pakad: variable, e.g. DNrG; MGrN; DNrS

Chalan: illustrative sequences e.g. DNrGMD; MGrND; ND; NGr; MGrND; DNrS (Banerjee)

• Notable for omitting Sa for long stretches (the only swara ‘detached’ from all samvad relationships) – generally holding it back until concluding motions (e.g. DNrGrM; NrGmD; DMGrNrS)

• The Shuddha Dha vadi is strong throughout, particularly in mandra saptak – indeed, the Sa-less scale resembles ‘Bhupali from Dha’ (as DNrGMD is congruent to SRGPDS)

• Sruti tunings can vary significantly given the raga’s curious melodic geometries – although consonant samvad pairs are generally preserved (i.e. perfect 5th correspondances between Ma-re; Dha-Ga; Ni-Ma)

• Given Sa’s weak role, the volume of the tanpura and instrumental drone strings can have a highly significant effect on the raga’s mood (broadly, a more prominent ‘background Sa‘ will increase melodic tension)

• Associated with dusk, and traditionally considered a raga of veera (‘heroism, courage, resolve’) and austere spiritual renunciation – favouring slow, serious, patient elaborations in the lower register

–Kushal Das (2007)–

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“The king at war worships Maravi, whose face shines like the moon, with long tresses of hair; Eyes moist, faintly smiling, she is adorned with sweet-smelling flowers, and her complexion gleams like gold; She is attired in red, with eyes like those of a fawn…” (verses from Pundarika Vitthala)

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—Context—

Origins, myths, quirks, & more

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[COMING SOON: click here to hasten the project’s expansion, so all 365+ raga pages can eventually look more like these]

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—Phraseologies—

Melodies, movements, characteristics…

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[coming soon]

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—Moumita Mitra demo (2023)—

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“Marwa drops Pa altogether. The same is true for two other principals of Marwa thaat – Puriya and Sohini, and these three ragas maintain a collegial but distinct melodic dynamic. The main idea in Marwa is the overwhelming dominance of re and Dha: This is an exception [to samvadi theory], since no consonance exists between re and Dha; it takes some genius to sense and fructify this germ of an idea. The definitive tonal sentences are: DNrGr, ND, MDSNrS. The points of note in this poorvang construct are the nyas on re and Dha, the skipping of Sa in both aroha and avroh directions, and the smallness/weakness of Ni…” (Rajan Parrikar)

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—Listen—

A brief selection of superb renditions

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–Rupak Kulkarni (2018)–

• Maihar bansuri (8m): an atmospheric alap from Darbar 2018, which I was fortunate to witness live – with a strong DNr motif which brings out the scale’s odd Bhupali shades, further accentuated by the bansuri’s absence of static Sa drones (as per Parth Thakur, “it gives me an extraordinary feeling, like I’m in a very strange place at night, and everywhere I look I see unstable energies sprouting from lakes and the deep darkness…”):

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[alap, e.g. 2:10] DNrGM G(rGr)MG\r(Sr), N(S)DSr, N(S)DG\r, N(S)DMG\r (GrG)r (SNSN)D, SNrN(SN)D, D/Gr, D(r)N, D(N)D\M M/DNr GMG\r(Sr), N(SNS)D, D(S)Nr, D(rSr)S, S S(NS)…

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–Amir Khan (1960)–

• Indore khayal (18m): Often spoken of as the raga’s foremost exponent, Khan’s iconic rendering of the Piya More Aanat Des bandish – explored here over Lucknow master Afaq Hussain Khan’s vilambit jhoomra – is an undisputed modern classic (Parrikar: “It is not merely a performance. It is the ne plus ultra in meditation. What Einstein’s General Relativity Theory is to scientific thought, Amir Khan’s Marwa is to musical thought…”):

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[bandish, e.g. 0:06] (N)S, S(NSN)r S(NS)ND, (S)N(r)S (S)r, (G)r (G)rND NrS; (SN)S S(N)r (S)D(SD) D, D(rN)rGM D(M), (DMD)M Gr(ND), D(rN)rGr (SN)S…

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–Further Recordings–

• Bhimsen Joshi (4m): the famous Bangari Mori Murak Gai bandish (also hear his renditions of the prakriti Puriya)
• Pandit Jasraj (7m): an intense tintal take from the Mewati master, featuring a stronger role for Sa than is typical
• Shahid Parvez (8m): “the mood is defined by the sunset…oncoming nightfall awakens longing and solemn contemplation”
• Sultan Khan (10m): “it haunts me of a nostalgic past, and takes me to a celestial world of bliss and tranquility…”
• Manjiri Asanare-Kelkar (13m): an AUTRIM pitch-graph (“Oh my beloved, Adarang wishes to converse with you…”)
• Ravi Shankar (24m): a concise mandra-focused rendition from a 1968 concert in New York, with Alla Rakha’s tabla
• Ulhas Kashalkar (43m): from a Kolkata show, with Purushottam Walawalkar on harmonium and Rohit Majumdar on tabla
• Vasantrao Deshpande (44m): on hearing of Deshpande’s passing, Bhimsen Joshi declared: “Marwa died in Maharashtra”
• Kumar Mardur (48m): at Paramparik 2019 (“The quintessential Kirana features burst forth in the meditative calm”)
• Shivkumar Sharma (57m): the quiet tanpura and santoor‘s lack of chikari or other drones serve to accentuate Sa‘s absence
• Ashwini Bhide-Deshpande (63m): a trio of absorbing bandish (Piya More Anat Des / Begi Aao / Maai Ri Sanj Bhayi)
• Nikhil Banerjee (63m): building on Amir Khan’s inevitable influence, fittingly dominated by a long alap–jor–jhalla

• Experiments •

Novel interpretations of the raga’s essence…

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—Marwa In The Pines (Turtle Island Quartet)—

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An imaginative set of modulations and variations on Marwa’s core phrases, composed by violinist David Balakrishnan as part 4 of his Spider Dreams suite (also check out his involvement with Purnaprajna Bangere’s ‘Metaraga’ project). As per the liner notes, the piece is “Based on Raag Marwa, a mode commonly used in certain types of Bluegrass tunes. The lyrics for these tunes typically involve a man telling the story of killing his love, throwing her in a river, getting caught or turning himself in, and facing either a lifetime in jail or suicide. It may be difficult for a Westerner to equate an Indian version of the use of this mode with the kind of storyline mentioned above. However, Indian classical musicians, for whom all of their music has spiritual significance, feel that this raga symbolizes renunciation, a letting go of sorts. There is an eerie similarity in the way this mode is phrased in these two styles, especially in the melismatic treatment of the motion between the major and minor third, which became the basis of exploration in this piece.” (n.b. in this instance, the ‘major and minor third’ refers to the strength of Marwa’s Dha-murchana, already implicit in classical renditions, which causes the Sa & re to function like ga & Ga – in Bluegrass terms, ‘Major Pentatonic with double 3rd’)

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• Classifiers •

Explore hidden inter-raga connections: swara geometries, melodic features, murchana sets, ragangas, & more (also see the Full Tag List):

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Swaras: -4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10+

Sapta: Audav | Shadav | Sampurna

Poorvang: SRGM | SRG | SRM | SGM

Uttarang: PDNS | PDS | PNS | DNS

Varjit: Re | Ga | Ma | Pa | Dha | Ni

Thaat: 10 | 32 | Enclosed | Inexact

Chal: All-shuddha | All-komal | Ma-tivra

Gaps: Anh. | Hemi. | 3-row | 4-row | 5-row

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Aroha: Audav | Shadav | Sampurna

Avroh: Audav | Shadav | Sampurna

Jati: Equal | Balanced | Av.+1 | Av.+2

Samay: Morning | Aftern. | Eve. | Night

Construction: Jod | Mishra | Oddball

Origin: Ancient | Carnatic | Modern

Dominance: Poorvang | Uttarang

Prevalence: A-list | Prachalit | Aprach.

• Prakriti: Puriya, Sohini

See all shadav ragas which omit Pa

–Proximate Forms–

Hindol = ‘Marwa no re‘

Puriya Kalyan = ‘Marwa add Pa‘

Raj Kalyan = ‘Marwa shuddha Re‘

Lalita Sohini = ‘Marwa double Ma‘

(n.b. these are just ‘scalar similarities’, with nothing particular implied about phraseological overlap)

–Swara Geometries–

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• Core form: S–r–G–M–D–N–S

• Reverse: SrgMdNS (=Gujiri Todi)

• Complement: SRgmPdnS (=Darbari)

• Imperfect: 2 (Sa, re)

• Detached: 1 (Sa)

• Symmetries: none

• Murchanas: Marwa set

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• Quirks: ‘detached Sa‘

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–Global Translations–

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• Carnatic: ~Gamanashrama

S-R₁-G₃-M₂-D₂-N₃-S

• Jazz: Lydian b2 (no 5th)

1-b2-3-#4-6-7-8

• Pitch classes (‘fret-jumps’):

0-1-4-6-9-11-0

(1–3–2–3–2–1)

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o o • • o • o • • o • o o

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–Around the World–

Dr. Stephen Jones, an expert on Daoist philosophical systems, clearly has a keen ear for broader East-West cultural convergence too – pointing out that Blondie’s 1978 new-wave smash-hit Heart of Glass has a momentary yet oddly specific similarity with Marwa: “There’s one detail of Debbie Harry’s song that the tedious analytical bent of the musicologist may home in on: the hallucinatory temporary modulation at the end of the third line [‘…find/blind’], fleetingly sketching a major triad on [Dha] [i.e. ‘find’ descends as GrD in the line from 0:25, and ‘blind’ similarly at 0:50]…That reminds me of Marwa, with its implied major scale on Dha, and the re clashing with the tonic.”

 

Excellent spot Dr. Jones! This line’s Marwa similarities are heightened by its harmonic backing of a vi minor chord (6-1-3 / Dha-Sa-Ga of the home key: moving to the relative minor functions a bit like a temporary murchana). Heart of Glass has a couple of other curiosities too, blending live kit percussion with a Roland CR-78 drum machine, and adding a 7-beat instrumental interlude in the middle (according to Debbie Harry, “we’d tried it as a ballad, and as reggae, but it never quite worked…”).

 

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—Heart of Glass (USA)—

(Blondie, 1978)

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“Heart of Glass was one of the first songs Blondie wrote, but it was years before we recorded it properly. We’d tried it as a ballad, as reggae, but it never quite worked. At that point, it had no title. We just called it ‘The Disco Song‘. At first, the song kept saying, ‘Once I had a love, it was a gas. Soon turned out, it was a pain in the ass’. We couldn’t keep saying that, so we came up with, ‘heart of glass’…” (Debbie Harry)

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• Tanpura: Sa–Ni (+dha)

• Names: Marwa, Marva, Marava, Maruva

• Transliterations: Hindi (मारवा); Bengali (মারোয়া); Urdu (ماروا); Kannada (ಮಾರ್ವಾ)

—More—

Further info: links, listenings, learnings, etc

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• Raag Marwa: [coming soon]

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• Header audio: Bansuri gat by Rupak Kulkarni (2005)
• Header image: ‘Sunset over Rabindra Sarobar Lake’, West Bengal (Abhijit Kar Gupta)

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