S-r-G-M-P-d-N-S

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According to Gwalior vocalist Omkarnath Thakur, Shree’s seven swaras are associated with those sunset hours when “disembodied spirits…become active, and aid in the black magic of Tantriks”. Tied to mythologies of Lord Shiva, the raga takes its name from ‘Sri’ (श्री), a sacred Sanskrit syllable which, in Vedic tradition, represents the material nature of humanity’s place in the universe (with ‘Om’ signifying the spiritual dimension). One of the oldest extant forms in the Hindustani pantheon, Shree is frequently depicted in classical ragmala paintings, as well as being mentioned in various shastras throughout the centuries – with Sarngdeva’s 13th-century Sangita Ratnakara stating that “Bhairava, Kaushika, Hindola, Dipaka, Sri, and Megha are the six primary ragas”, and the 14th-century Sangitopanishat describing: “Sri, with fair complexion, has eight hands and four faces. He carries a snare, a lotus, a book, a gourd, and the fruit of a citron tree. In two of his hands is a veena, and he is known for having a swan as his vehicle…”). Sitarist Vilayat Khan described it as “a raga of the warrior”, and vocalist Arun Bhaduri considers the mood to be “king-like…very strong”, associating its sound with visions of Shiva’s ‘trishul‘ (trident-wielding) incarnation. Performers seek to summon the energies of the tantriks with fleeting, scattered ornaments such as N(SrSNSr), with Sa itself being weakened in favour of a curiously strong tritonal sangati between komal re and Pa – often traversed with a wide-jumping rrP pakad (Deepak Raja: “Shree has two ‘faces’: SNr has an abrasive quality, while rrP imparts a supplicant character”). The raga’s sruti flavours can vary greatly: some artists choose to intone the re–dha samvad markedly lower than usual, but others raise them up instead – with variance also evident for Ga, Ma, and Ni. See melodic summary below – and compare to assorted Shree-infused derivations such as Puriya Dhanashree, Shree Kalyan, Tankeshree, and the ‘evening form’ of Malavi – as well as the nearby Basant lineage.

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Aroha: SrP, MPNSrS

Avroh: rNdP, MPdMGr, rGrS

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Pakad: e.g. SNr; rrP

Chalan: e.g. SNr; NGr; rM; MGr; rMP; PMGr; PMGr; rMPd; MGr; rMPNS; PNSNr; rNdMd; MPdMGr; rdMGr; GrSNr; SNr; GrS (Raja)

• Ga and dha are skipped in aroha (e.g. SrP; PNSrS) – and in avroh, tend to appear in lines which skip Pa (e.g. rNdMd; MPdMGr)

• Komal re dominates Sa, often being used on the sam and featuring in both pakads: a disbalancing SNr cluster, and a tritonal rrP jump

• Ornaments should evoke a ‘restless, scattered, unpredictable’ sensation – with the raga generally avoiding tidy, unambiguous melodic resolution

• Given the scale form’s inherent geometric tensions, sruti tunings can vary wildly – some artists pull the re-dha samvad higher than usual, while others push it lower (Ga, Ma, & Ni can also vary)

• Traditionally associated with Lord Shiva, as well as with the disembodied dusk spirits (‘tantriks’) which serve him – although an alternate mythology ties it to Lakshmi, Goddess of Prosperity

–Nikhil Banerjee (1985)–

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“The time for performing this raga – around sunset – is when nature and humans are at peace, but the disembodied spirits (of whom Shiva is the Lord) become active, and aid in the black magic of tantriks…” (Omkarnath Thakur)

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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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• Ragmalas •

Historic miniature paintings (learn more)

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“Sri Raga, seated, with three female attendants, a veena player, and a ‘kinnara’ [gandharva: heavenly horse-headed musician]…” (Penn, c.1800)

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“Shri Raga, from a folio” (Nasiruddin, c.1695) / “Shri is envisioned as a prince seated on a terrace, listening to a musical performance by Tumburu, a gandharva [horse-headed celestial musician] – while keeping the rhythm with his left hand. A gray-haired female musician plays a veena, and an attendant holds a peacock-feather fly-whisk…” (Andhra Pradesh, c.1800)

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—Phraseologies—

Melodies, movements, characteristics…

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[coming soon]

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—Kala Ramnath demo (2022)—

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“The vadi is re, the samvadi is Pa, and all other swaras are of normal emphasis. Unlike most ragas, Sa is not considered a resting point or melodic centre, because of its proximity to the komal re. As currently performed, Shree is identified by two catchphrases – SNr; rrP – which define its two ‘faces’. SNr has an abrasive quality, while rrP imparts a supplicant character. Some believe that the re and dha ought to be distanced from their neighbours Sa and Pa by the use of fractionally sharper microtones – but there is also an opposite view, which instead recommends ‘suppressed’ microtones of re and dha…authorities also acknowledge non-standard intonations of Ga, Ni, and Ma. Thus, the aesthetics of intonation play a far greater role in the communication of Shree’s musical ideas than its melodic grammar…” (Deepak Raja)

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—Listen—

A brief selection of superb renditions

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–Niladri Kumar (2014)–

• Maihar sitar (9m): a dense, cascading jhalla recorded for Darbar in London, featuring a virtuosic range of techniques – including tawaf-plucking (5:21), double-stop harmonisations (7:03), and rapid-fire rhythmic sequences (7:50):

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[jhalla, e.g. 0:11] Sr/M, Sr/P, P M(PMP)r, SrM MMMM, rSN(SNSN) N; PNS rN dP M(PM) (d)PM(P), r MPd M(PM) dSNr (NS)N, Sr r/P(MPMr), S…

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–Priya Purushothaman (2019)–

• Agra khayal (49m): the young Agra vocalist performs a superb pair of bandish (the traditional Sanjh Bhayi, followed by S.N. Ratanjankar‘s Guni Gun Nihar) – live at the 2018 Khayal Rang Festival with excellent support from Swapnil Bhise on tabla and Dnyaneshwar Sonawane on harmonium:

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[motifs, e.g. 40:08] PP (P)MPd, P(MP)Gr P(MP)GrS r; PP (P)MPd…

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–Further Recordings–

• Purbayan Chatterjee (10m): an outdoor solo for Darbar VR360, filmed in the fading light of the raga’s natural evening timeslot
• Veena Sahasrabuddhe (10m): an AUTRIM pitch-graph (“Meditate on the lotus-feet of Hari…to cross the ocean of life”)
• Manjusha Patil (11m): another Darbar VR360 session, accompanied by a tanpura and the gentle waves of Mulshi Lake
• D.V. Paluskar (15m): as per G.N. Joshi, “Paluskar said, ‘I’ll come back soon and sing it better!’ – but he died three weeks later…”
• Kamal Sabri (24m): an extended solo sarangi rendition, filmed outdoors by Darbar (“a yearning call to the inner beloved…”)
• Ulhas Kashalkar (29m): excerpt from an unknown live show with a second vocalist in support, exploring classic refrains
• Mallikarjun Mansur (39m): a haunting rendition from the Jaipur-Atrauli doyen (thanks Jaideep Roy for the suggestion!)
• Vilayat Khan (41m): an early recording, featuring tangled string-bends and layakari interplay with Samta Prasad’s tabla
• Shubhada Paradkar (48m): with Yati Bhagwat on tabla, Omkar Agnihotri on harmonium, and a trio of disciples in vocal support
• Ashwini Bhide-Deshpande (59m): live at the Hindu Temple Society in Georgia, backed by Vishwanath & Sima Shirodkar
• Basant Kabra (62m): at the 2024 Vivekananda Festival with Yashvant Vaishnav (thanks to Jaideep Roy for the suggestion!)
• Ali Akbar Khan (63m): a longform show (“A time of reflection and exploration; A mood of devotion, peace, and heroism”)
• Rahul Sharma (69m): a pristine, close-up concert film from 2018, driven forth by Zakir Hussain‘s ever-fabulous tabla

• 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: Poorvi thaat, Puriya Dhanashree, Basant, Jaitashree, Tankeshree, Gauri Basant

–Proximate Forms–

Todi = ‘Shree komal ga‘

Bhairav = ‘Shree shuddha ma‘

Poorvi = ‘Shree double Ma‘

Din ki Puriya = ‘Shree no Pa‘

Maligoura = ‘Shree double Dha‘

Hansa Narayani = ‘Shree no Dha‘

(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–P–d–N–S

• Reverse: SrGmMdNS (=Lalit)

• Complement: SRgmDnS (=Shadav Bageshri)

• Imperfect: 2 (Pa, dha)

• Detached: none

• Symmetries: none

• Murchanas: Basant set

–Global Translations–

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• Carnatic: ~Kamavardhini (mela #51)

S-R₁-G₃-M₂-P-D₁-N₃-S

• Jazz: Lydian b2 b6

1-b2-3-#4-5-b6-7-8

• Pitch classes (‘fret-jumps’):

0-1-4-6-7-8-11-0

(1–3–2–1–1–3–1)

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o o • • o • o o o • • o o

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• Tanpura: Sa–Pa (+re)

• Names: Shree, Shri, Sri

• Transliterations: Hindi (श्री); Bengali (শ্রী); Punjabi (ਸਿਰੀ); Sindhi (سري); Kannada (ಶ್ರೀ)

—More—

Further info: links, listenings, learnings, etc

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• Raag Shree: [coming soon]

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• Header audio: Alap ornaments by Maihar sitarist Nikhil Banerjee (1985)
• Header image: ‘Brihadeeswarar at Sunset’, Thanjavur ‘Big Temple’, Tamil Nadu (Commons)

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