S-R-G-M-d-n-S
Among the strangest of raga scales, Sehera’s six swaras are all spaced out in two-semitone jumps (akin to the Western Whole-Tone scale and the Carnatic Gopriya). The resulting symmetries summon a curious, centreless mood (also famous as the ‘dream sequence‘ of countless soundtracks) – best explored by sarangiya Sultan Khan, who described Sehera as “the forbidden scale”, and, after pre-recording it for AIR, reportedly requested that his session “should not be aired…it is too sad”. Thankfully, he did cut a haunting ghazal with Mehdi Hassan, manipulating a GMdS refrain over ambiguous harmonium drones (…what would you even tune a tanpura to?).
• Raga Megalist (365+) •
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• Hindustani Raga Index •
—Mehdi Hassan & Sultan Khan (1977)—
[composition, e.g. 4:58] MGRS, dnSG, GMdMGMd, MGRS…
• Classifiers •
Explore hidden inter-raga connections: swara geometries, melodic features, murchana sets, ragangas, & more (also see the Full Tag List):
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
Double: rR | gG | mM | dD | nN
Thaat: 10 | 32 | Enclosed | Inexact
Chal: All-shuddha | All-komal | Ma-tivra
Gaps: Anh. | Hemi. | 3-row | 4-row | 5-row
Symmetries: Mirror | Rotation | Palindr.
Aroha: Audav | Shadav | Sampurna
Avroh: Audav | Shadav | Sampurna
Jati: Equal | Balanced | Av.+1 | Av.+2
Samay: Morning | Aftern. | Eve. | Night
Murchana: Bhup. | Bihag | Bilaw. | Charu.
Raganga: Bhairav | Malhar | Kan. | Todi
Construction: Jod | Mishra | Oddball
Origin: Ancient | Carnatic | Modern
Dominance: Poorvang | Uttarang
Prevalence: A-list | Prachalit | Aprach.
–Swara Geometries–
• Core form: S-R-G-M-d-n-S
• Reverse: SRGMdnS (=itself)
• Inverse: Ni; SRGMdnS (=itself)
• Imperfect: 6 (Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, dha, ni)
• Detached: 6 (Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, dha, ni)
• Symmetries: mirror (x6)
• Murchanas: itself (x5)
–Global Translations–
• Carnatic: Gopriya
S-R2-G3-M2-D1-N2-S
• Jazz: Whole-Tone Scale
1-2-3-#4-b6-b7-8
• Pitch classes (‘fret-jumps’):
0-2-4-6-8-10-0
(2-2-2-2-2-2)
o • o • o • o • o • o • o
• Tanpura: Sa–??
• Names: Sehera, Sehra, Gopriya
—Sayeed Ur Rahman (1996)—
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George Howlett is a London-based musician, writer, and teacher (guitars, sitar, tabla, & santoor). Above all I seek to enthuse fellow sonic searchers, interconnecting fresh vibrations with the voices, cultures, and passions behind them. See Homepage for more, and hit me up for Lessons!
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