S-R-G-m-P-D-N-S

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Mirroring the tones of the Western Major Scale, Tilak Kamod’s seven swaras offer robust melodic flexibility across a range of sentiments (“heroic courage, philosophic poise, devotional contentment, suggestive eroticism…”). Some trace the raga’s origin to Pyar Khan, a rabab-playing descendent of Tansen via his son Bilas Khan, who is said to have picked it up from a melody sung by an Uttar Pradesh village woman as she was grinding corn. Prakriti with numerous ragas, including Bilawal, Bihari, Swanandi, & many more – although its phraseologies are distinct (as per Ashok da Ranade, “Tilak Kamod has a structure of intricate upward-downward phrases [e.g. PNSRGS; SPDmG; SRGSN], asking to be explored across all three saptak, which certainly makes intellectual and expressive demands on an artist…”).

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Aroha: PNSRGS, RmPDNS

Avroh: SPDmG, SRGSNS

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Chalan: e.g. (S)NSRmPNS; RS(N)S; PD(P)mG; (G)RG(R)S; NS (Khan/Jairazbhoy)

–Anupama Bhagwat (2019)–

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“Piyar Khan, while walking through a village in Uttar Pradesh, heard a woman singing a folk tune while grinding maize. He noticed a simple beauty in it, and immediately recognized possibilities of improvisation…As a master musician, he worked on it, and developed it into Tilak Kamod” (South Asia Journal)

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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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—Parichay demo (2021)—

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“Most phrases in Tilak Kamod move in an ‘oblique’ manner. Ga and Dha are omitted in direct ascent, and SRmP/S (with a Pa-to-Sa glide) is highly characteristic. Similarly, S\PDmG is a characteristic descent, while Ga and Ni are important notes. Some musicians occasionally include komal ni, however others prefer to avoid it altogether (and according to some, Tilak Kamod with both Ni is known as Bihari). The descent progresses in a peculiar manner: instead of returning to Sa, it tends to go into the lower octave with a pause on shuddha Ni, as in SRGSN – and then concludes as PNSRG\S. Complementary phrases include PDmG and RGSN…” (AUTRIM)

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—Listen—

A brief selection of superb renditions

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–Kala Ramnath (2019)–

• Mewati violin (5m): the string-sliding queen explores the raga at Darbar 2019 with Yogesh Samsi on tabla, showcasing the influence of her family forebears T.N. Krishnan and N. Rajam, as well as her Mewati guru Pandit Jasraj (also see another excerpt from the same performance):

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[refrain, e.g. 0:21] PDmP G (R)S, (m)G G(RS)S, RmPNS, P(D)P(D) (PGm)G (R)GRS, RmPNS…

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–Shubha Mudgal (2016)–

• Mixed-gharana khayal (11m): a sublime set-closing thumri I was fortunate to witness as part of Darbar 2016 at London’s Southbank Centre, accompanied by her husband Aneesh Pradhan on tabla and Sudhir Nayak on harmonium (observe the hints of a Khamaj-like murchana on Pa):

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[refrain, e.g. 2:14] P(SNRS) N(P)P, N S(GR), (N)S N(SRGmG) m/DP(m), m (mGR)GR, (R)NSN S, (N)S; G(RGmGRS)N, N(P)P…

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–Further Recordings–

• D.V. Paluskar (4m): a well-known drut tintal bandish from the Gwalior-grounded vocal prodigy (Koyalia Bole)
• Aarshin Karande (5m): “Enumerates the virtues of true music: synchronous melody, pure harmony, and pure expression…”
• Rais Khan (6m): a short excerpt filmed for BBC TV some time in the 1970s (although some may prefer to classify it as Bihari)
• Venkatesh Kumar (6m): at the FEA Parallel Lines Festival, with Ravindra Yavagal on tabla and Vyasmurti Katti on harmonium
• Ashwini Bhide-Deshpande (10m): an AUTRIM pitch-graph (“This composition describes the virtues of a good performer…”)
• Tejendra Majumdar (11m): Darbar: “A tapestry of gorgeous layers, his notes drifting effortlessly, soaring in airy grace…”
• Mallikarjun Mansur (13m): supported by Rajsekhar and Jasraj, and peppered with enthusiastic audience interjections
• Shahid Parvez (17m): a concise take filmed at a 2020 Bazm-e-Khas baithak, accompanied by Rafiuddin Sabri on tabla
• Sisirkana Dhar Chowdhury (29m): a rare recording from the late Maihar violinist (compare to Kala Ramnath’s above)
• Rajan & Sajan Mishra (30m): a trio of hearty compositions in jhaptal and tintal, from their 1992 Ahead of Time album
• Vilayat Khan (40m): a playful Imdadkhani interpretation, which flirts with the infrequent inclusion of komal ga (e.g. 24:11)
• Budhaditya Mukherjee (47m): from the 2018 FEA Crossroads Festival, with longtime accompanist Soumen Nandy on tabla

• Guitaragas •

My attempts to capture the raga on electric guitar (see more of these clips)

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—Raag Tilak Kamod (electric guitar)—

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My brief electric guitar cover of some Anupama Bandish melodies…

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• Experiments •

Novel interpretations of the raga’s essence…

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—Raga Jazz Style (Shankar-Jaikishan)—

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Captivating melodies from filmi composition duo Shankar-Jaikishan, released in 1968. Read more in my review of the album’s reissue: “Raga Jazz Style is a rare recording from the rich Bombay jazz scene. While its 1968 release date might suggest a pioneering work of Indo-jazz fusion, part of the recording’s intrigue is that it is not. Rather, it is one of the few surviving documents from a fusion scene that dates back to the 1920s – few realise that jazz was thriving in India before Coltrane was even born…” 

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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

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.

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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.

• Prakriti: Bilawal thaat, Bilawal, Bihari, Nat, Hem Bihag, Savani, Swanandi, Gagan Vihang, Maluha, Mand, Chaya Malhar, Hemant, Loom, Manjari Bihag

–Proximate Forms–

Khamaj = ‘Tilak Kamod komal ni‘

Patdeep = ‘Tilak Kamod komal ga‘

Yaman = ‘Tilak Kamod tivra Ma‘

Bihag = ‘Tilak Kamod double Ma‘

Nat Bhairav = ‘Tilak Kamod komal dha‘

Bhatiyari Bhairav = ‘Tilak Kamod komal re‘

(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: SrgmPdnS (=Bhairavi)

• Negative: 3-2-3-2-2 (e.g. Malkauns)

• Imperfect: 1 (Ni)

• Detached: none

• Symmetries: mirror (R—d)

• Murchanas: Bilawal set

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• Quirks: ‘maximal‘ (swaras are optimally ‘spread out’) • ‘Pa-repeating‘ (poorvang and uttarang take the same ‘semitone shape’)

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–Global Translations–

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• Carnatic: ~Nalinakanthi

S-R₂-G₃-M₁-P-D₂-N₃-S

• Jazz: Major / Ionian

1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8

• Pitch classes (‘fret-jumps’):

0-2-4-5-7-9-11-0

(2–2–1–2–2–2–1)

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o • o • o o • o • o • o o

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• Tanpura: Sa–Pa (+Ni)

• Names: Tilak Kamod, Tilak Kamodh, Tilakamod

• Transliterations: Hindi (तिलक कामोद); Bengali (তিলক কামোদ); Urdu (تلک کا مود); Kannada (ತಿಲಕ್ ಕಾಮೋದ್)

—More—

Further info: links, listenings, learnings, etc

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• Raag Tilak Kamod: [coming soon]

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• Header audio: Solo elaboration by Imdadkhani sitarist Anupama Bhagwat (2018)
• Header image: ‘Cornfields during sunset in India’ (Commons)

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