Description
Pahadi is one of the most popular rags in light music. It dominates dhuns and film songs.
The name “pahadi” literally means “of the hills”, and implies folk music of the Sub-Himalayan region of the Indian subcontinent. Kashmiri folk music is often cited as being the inspiration, but there does not appear to be a consensus in this matter.
Pahadi is extremely flexible. Any note, komal, tivra or shuddha, may be thrown in. This flexibility makes it easy to perform, but hard to pin down. It is difficult to pin down the form of Pahadi in the same way that it would be difficult to pin down the amorphous spectral form of a ghost.
We can however make a few observations. In general, Pahadi’s core resembles Bhupali in its ascending structure, yet Bilawal in its descending form.
One extremely common characteristic is that it spends a lot of time in the upper portion of the mandra saptak (lower register), and lower portion of the madhya saptak (middle register).
The mood of Pahadi is also flexible. However it is generally used to convey a romantic or erotic theme.
Arohana
(general discussion of arohana) – (general discussion of notation)
Avarohana
(general discussion of avarohana)
Jati
Audav – Sampurna – (general discussion of jati)
Vadi
Sa – (general discussion of vadi)
Samvadi
Pa – (general discussion of samvadi)
Time
Any Time – (general discussion of time and rag)
That
Bilawal That – (general discussion of that)
Drone
Either Sa /Pa or Sa/Ma– (general discussion of drone)