| Hindustani Classical Music | |
|---|---|
| Concepts | |
| Shruti · Swara · Alankar · Raga | |
| Tala · Gharana · Thaat | |
| Instruments | |
| Indian musical instruments | |
| Genres | |
| Dhrupad · Dhamar · Khyal · Tarana | |
| Thumri · Dadra · Qawwali · Ghazal | |
| Thaats | |
| Bilaval · Khamaj · Kafi · Asavari · Bhairav | |
| Bhairavi · Todi · Purvi · Marwa · Kalyan |
The raga Kafi is an important raga of the Hindustani classical music.
Pandit Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande’s classification of the Ragas has ten different logical groups, consisting of various closely related ragas; Kafi is one of them. The raga, Kafi, is the principal one, which essentially describes the nature of the Kafi. Kafi is not quite an ancient raga. According to Pandit Bhatkhande, the name of the raga first appears in the Raga Tarangini of Lochana Pandit who lived in the Mithila district around the fifteenth century (common era).
Raga Kafi has direct lineage with the folk music of India. Various folk musics (Tappa, Hori, Dadra, Kirtan, devotional songs) from different parts of India are continuously being composed in this raga form for ages.
Nowadays, quite a few variations of Kafi exists. Contamination with 'vivadi' swaras are judiciously being used to increase the listening pleasure. This sort of 'forced' contamination has given rise to Mishra Kafi. Hence, a 'pure' form of Kafi is seldom heard in recent performances.
Contents |
Kafi is a sampoorna-sampoorna or heptatonic raga, with 'komal'(soft) Gandhar(g) and Nishad(n).
SRgMPDnS
SnDPMgRS
Pancham(P) is the vadi swara and Rishab(R) is the samavadi swara.
A typical improvisation of Kafi starts as nD,PmgR *, SS RR gg mm P, P m g R, g m P g - R.
The phrases below and termination in R are characteristic of the raga. S R g M P D n. S, RgMP, M P D (M)g R
The typical chalan of the raga can be illustrated as follows
S S R R g g M M P - - D M P g R R n D n P D M P S n D P M G R S.
M P D D n S - S R g R S N D S - S R S n D n D P M P D P g - R - R n D n P D M P S n D P M g R S
Various distinguished ragas like Bhimpalasi, Bageshree, Vrindavani Sarang are associated with this raga. Few important tributaries of this raga are Sindhura, Barwa, Neelambari and Piloo.
Evening and the first part of Night.
The raga is suitable to be performed in any season.
The principal rasa for this raga is shringar.
Ulhas Kashalkar, Raga Kafi, 2001;
Ulhas Kashalkar, Raga Kafi, 2000;
Ulhas Kashalkar, Raga Kafi (Concert), 2001;
Shobha Gurtu, Thumri, Raga Kafi, 1987;
Siddheshwari Devi, Thumri, Raga Kafi, 1983;
Debashish Bhattacharya, Raga Mishra Kafi, 1996;
probably the oldest recording is of Abdul Karim Khan (1905)
1. Hindustani Sangeet Paddhati and his concise commentary, A Comparative Study of Some of the Leading Music Systems of the 15th, 16, 17th, & 18th Centuries by Pandit Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande.