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Rag Bageshri

by David Courtney working tools

Description

Bageshri is a very popular rag of Kafi that found in both classical and lighter forms of music. The term “Bageshri” is a corruption of Vageeshwari; by which it it is often referred to in old texts. It has been said that this rag was first sung by Tansen, the royal musician in the court of the emperor Akbar.

Discussing Bageshri can be difficult because there are several different versions. There are five versions which differ only in the number of notes used.

  • The audav-shadav version omits Re and Pa in the ascending portion, but omits only Pa in the descending. This particular version is problematic because it tends to impinge upon Rag Shri-Ranjani.
  • The audav-sampurna version omits Re and Pa in the ascending portions, but allows all of the notes while descending. This appears to be the most common approach, and is the one we will use here.
  • The shadav-shadav version omits the Pa in both ascending and descending.
  • The shadav-sampurna version omits only Pa in the ascending movement.
  • The sampurna-sampurna version allows all seven notes in both the ascending and descending movements


Arohana

Ascending structure for Rag Bageshri

(general discussion of arohana)(general discussion of notation)


Avarohana

Descending structure of Rag Bageshri

(general discussion of avarohana)


Jati

Disputed – (general discussion of jati)


Vadi

Ma – (general discussion of vadi)


Samvadi

Sa – (general discussion of samvadi)


Time

Midnight – (general discussion of time and rag)


That

Kafi That – (general discussion of that)


Drone

Sa – Ma – (general discussion of drone)


Popular Songs

Film songs in Rag Bageshri



Selected Video



Other Sites of Interest

Indian Classical Music: Tuning and Ragas

Modes and Ragas: More Than just a Scale

Emotional responses to Hindustani Raga music: The role of mus­ical struc­ture

Automatic Raga Recognition in Hindustani Classical Music

Patrick Moutal. A Comparative Study of Selected Hindustānī Rāga-s based on Contemporary Practice

Automatic Tonic Identification in In­dian Art Music: Approaches and Evaluation