Thaat Kafi (Audio CD)

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

The Kafi thaat consists of seven notes where the 3rd note 'Ga' (gandhar) & the 7th note Ni (nishad) are komal (flat). The ragas belonging to the kafi thaat bear characteristic resemblance to the musical scale of thaat, but have distinctly 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 Kafi is the prime raga of this thaat.

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

1. Raga Brindabani sarang
Five note raga as 'Ga' & 'Dha' are not used
All notes are regular
Prime note is 'Re'
Arohana (ascent)- Ni(l) Sa, Re Ma Pa Ni Sa(h)
Avarohana (descent)- Sa(h) Ni Pa Ma Re Ni(i) Sa

2. Raga Bageshri
Five notes in the ascent and six notes in the descent
'Ga' and 'Ni' are flat and all other notes are regular
Prime note is 'Na'
Arohana (ascent)- Sa Ma Ga(f), Ma Dha Ni(f) Sa(h)
Avarohana (descent)- Sa(h) Ni(f) Dha, Ma Ga, Ma Ga(f), Re Sa

3. Raga Gaud Malhar
All seven notes are used
Both flat and sharp 'Ga' and 'Ni' are used
Prime note is 'Ma'
Arohana (ascent)- Sa Re Ga Ma, Re Pa, Ma Dha Sa(h)
Avarohana (descent)- Sa(h) Dha Ni Pa Ma Pa Ma Ga Re Sa

4. Raga Hamsdhwani
All seven notes are used
All notes are regular
Prime note is 'Sa'(h)
Arohana (ascent)- Sa Re Ga Re, Ga Pa, Ni Sa(h)
Avarohana (descent)- Re(h) Sa(h) Ni Pa, Ga Re, 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).