Thaat is one of the most fundamental bases of classification in the Hindustani classical system. Developed by the learned musicological Vishnu Narayan Bhatkande, that offers a framework to classify several ragas based on their musical scales. The Hindustani classical music system has thus, 10 thaat-s. each that is a raga in itself and stands as a proud parent to several raga that belongs to its family.

This album features vocal renditions of the popular ragas belonging to thaat Bhairavi by the legends of classical music.

Bhairavi Thaat

The Bhairavi thaat consist of seven notes where the 2nd note Re (rishabh), 3rd note Ga (gandhar), 6th note Dha (dhaivat) & the 7th note Ni (nishad) are komal (flat). The ragas belonging to the Bhairavi thaat bear characteristic resemblance to the musical scale of the thaat, but have distinetly unique features of their own, in terms of the arrangement of notes as well as the time of the day they are associated with. Raga Bhairavi is the prime raga of this thaat.

Pattern of swaras in the thaat- Sa Re(f) Ga(f) Ma Pa Dha (f) Ni (f)

1. Raga Bhairavi
Prime raga of the thaat
All seven notes are used
'Re' 'Ga' 'Dha'& 'Ni' are flat
Prime note is 'Ma'
Arohana (ascent)- Sa Re(f) Ga(f) Ma Pa Dha(f) Ni(f) Sa(h)
Avrohana (descent)- Sa(h) Ni(f) Dha(f) Pa, Ma Ga(f), R(f) Sa

2. Raga Malkauns
5 notes are used 'Re' & 'Ra' are excluded from the raga
'Ga' 'Dha' & 'Ni' are flat
Prime note is 'Ma'
Arohana (ascent)- Sa Ga(f) Ma Dha(f) Ni(f) Sa(h)
Avarohana (descent)- Sa(h) Ni(f) Dha(f) Ma, Ga Ma Ga(f) Sa

Glossary(f)- Flat note, (s)- Sharp note, (h)- high scale, (I)-Low scale
Sa-(c), Re-(D), Ga- (E), Ma-(f), Pa-(G), Dha-(a), Ni-(b)

The 10 thaat-s are: Bilwal, Kalyan, Khamaj, Bhairav, Purvi, Marwa, Kafi, Asavari, Bhairavi and Todi.

Although entire ragas in themselves, the thaat-s provide a framework for the system as a whole. The notation of a thaat, which describes its musical framework, is quite different from the characteristic arrangement and progression of notes during rendition through a raga. It is exposition that gives a raga its pakad (peculiarity) and chalan (character). Every thaat consists of seven notes or swara-s but with different characteristics (chalan).