S-r-g-P-d-S A captivating audav raga said to symbolise spiritual purity, which essentially runs along the lines of ‘what if all Bhupali‘s chal swaras were set as komal rather than shuddha?’ (SRGPDS > SrgPdS). Most renditions are poorvang-dominant, drawing from the Todi-ang as well as reshaping phrases from Bhupali, Bilaskhani Todi, and other forms (given the uniqueness of […]
• Raag Bhupali Todi •
• Raag Bairagi Todi •
S-r-g-P-n-S Created by Ravi Shankar, Bairagi Todi replaces Bairagi’s shuddha ma with a Todi-intoned ati-komal ga, retaining the concise audav structure while presenting an odd mix of narrow and wide intervals. Sometimes matched with unusual talas (e.g. Shankar’s original is in ‘sade-gyarah’: a ‘fractional‘ 11.5 matra cycle divided ‘4-4-2-1.5‘), the raga is explorable in all saptak, […]
• Raag Firozkhani Todi •
S-r-g-M-d-S A fascinating audav raga formed by removing the Ni from Gujiri Todi – leaving an angular pentatonic shape which, aside from Sa, contains no shuddha swaras (n.b. the same scale is known as ‘Audav Todi’ and ‘Chaya Todi’ too: although the latter title is also separately applied to other fusions of Chaya and Todi). […]
• Raag Madhukauns •
S-g-M-P-n-S A curious ‘Dhani tivra Ma’ scale introduced by vocalist Amir Khan via a ‘ma-murchana’ of Chandrakauns (listen to his sargam-demo of the process below) – full of inescapable tension, with 3 of the 5 swaras being imperfect, and the disbalancing Ma–ni sangati on stark display. Sometimes considered identical to Khan’s Chandramadhu, created as part […]
• Raag Tivrakauns •
S-g-M-d-n-S A novel experiment by rare raga connoisseur Abhirang, formed by changing Malkauns’ shuddha ma vadi to its tivra variant. This shift renders both Sa and Ma ‘detached’ (i.e. with no swaras either 7 semitones above or below them: a property shared by only Harikauns and Sehera), meaning that conclusive resolutions towards the raga’s two […]
• Raag Komal Ramkali •
S-r-g-M-P-d-n-S A strange sampurna scale, equivalent in shape to ‘Todi komal Ni’ or ‘Bhairavi tivra Ma’ (or ‘Todi’s poorvang + Bhairavi’s uttarang’: SrgM+PdnS) – indeed, the scale matches a historic form of Todi itself (Bor: “Todi Varali…first mentioned by Ahobala c.1665, with the scale SrgMPdnS”). Aside from Sa and Pa, Komal Ramkali has no shuddha […]
• Raag Saheli Todi •
S-r-g-P-d-n-S An invention of vocalist Kumar Gandharva, lying between Bhupali Todi and Bilaskhani Todi via the addition of an avroh komal ni to the former (or the subtraction of ma from the latter). His original renditions linger patiently on the komal re (often intoned with a noticeably higher sruti than is usual for the Todi […]
• Raag Chandramadhu •
S-g-M-P-n-S An angular pentatonic form conjured up by vocalist Amir Khan only a short time before his untimely death in a 1974 car accident – indeed, it is unclear if he ever formally named his new creation (I’ve seen it referred to as ‘Bhushwati’ and ‘Amarpriya’, and at least two releases just list it as […]
• Raag Mangal Gujari •
S-r-g-M-d-n-S A strange shadav scale matching the swara set of ‘Gujiri Todi komal ni’ or ‘Meladalan minus shuddha ma’. Its structure presents a unique combination of geometric quirks: Sa is ‘detached’ (=Pa and ma are both varjit), and all other swara positions are vikrit (rgdn: komal, M: tivra) – leaving the ultra-rare ‘tivra Ma, no […]
