INDIAN MUSIC FORUM ARCHIVES: Indian Music Forum: A couple questions

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Jerry (Nov 27, 2001 04:18 a.m.):
Maybe someone can help with these.
First question is simple - what does 'mishra' mean. As in 'mishra kafi' for example. How is this raga going to differ from Kafi?
Second is more of a tip when listening to ICM. I am aware that there are certain key phrases that are fingerprints of each given raga. But I find them hard to identify just by listening to the raga. Is there a site or source for hearing these fingerprints first so they might be more easily identified? Also, how do listeners approach the vadii/samvadi. Do you listen for these notes particularly?
Maybe I could phrase my question mopre simply by just asking 'what do you listen for when you listen to a raga for the first time?'
Thanks
Jerry

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Hi Jerry;
First, I believe Mishra is a region in India, and they play Kafi there slightly different from the standard form. Therefore, Mishra indicates a variation on the standard will be present. I'm fairly sure of this, but if I'm wrong, someone please feel free to correct me.
Second, catch phrases are called pakards, something like a main theme, and they are fixed to identify any rag. There is a very good 4-disk CD along with booklet available on amazon.com called India's Ragas or something like that(check their listings). Its a good source for hearing the pakards for dozens of the primary rags.
Third, the vadi is just the tonic or main note of the rag. Its also the first note of a bar or measure (gat or taan), and beats begin and end on the vadi. All music has a vadi. Samvadi is a note that complements the main tonic note. You can look at it like a bridge, or a variation to the tonic, but works with it. Almost all songs have a samvadi also.
You may not hear the pakard when listening to a rag the first time. You will probably have to listen to the same rag played by different people to finally hear it. That's basically developing an "ear", and that takes time. But hey, its a lot of fun isn't it? But anyway, try the CD and book I mentioned. Should help.

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Russ (Nov 27, 2001 11:51 a.m.):

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Jerry (Nov 27, 2001 04:18 a.m.):
Maybe someone can help with these.
First question is simple - what does 'mishra' mean. As in 'mishra kafi' for example. How is this raga going to differ from Kafi?
Second is more of a tip when listening to ICM. I am aware that there are certain key phrases that are fingerprints of each given raga. But I find them hard to identify just by listening to the raga. Is there a site or source for hearing these fingerprints first so they might be more easily identified? Also, how do listeners approach the vadii/samvadi. Do you listen for these notes particularly?
Maybe I could phrase my question mopre simply by just asking 'what do you listen for when you listen to a raga for the first time?'
Thanks
Jerry

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Hi Jerry;
First, I believe Mishra is a region in India, and they play Kafi there slightly different from the standard form. Therefore, Mishra indicates a variation on the standard will be present. I'm fairly sure of this, but if I'm wrong, someone please feel free to correct me.
Second, catch phrases are called pakards, something like a main theme, and they are fixed to identify any rag. There is a very good 4-disk CD along with booklet available on amazon.com called India's Ragas or something like that(check their listings). Its a good source for hearing the pakards for dozens of the primary rags.
Third, the vadi is just the tonic or main note of the rag. Its also the first note of a bar or measure (gat or taan), and beats begin and end on the vadi. All music has a vadi. Samvadi is a note that complements the main tonic note. You can look at it like a bridge, or a variation to the tonic, but works with it. Almost all songs have a samvadi also.
You may not hear the pakard when listening to a rag the first time. You will probably have to listen to the same rag played by different people to finally hear it. That's basically developing an "ear", and that takes time. But hey, its a lot of fun isn't it? But anyway, try the CD and book I mentioned. Should help.

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I would just like to add my share of knowledge. By no means, I understand ICM in depth.
1) "Mishra" word, in my opinion comes from Sanskrit Language which means "Mix/Mixture". Even though I do not precisely know what Mishra Kafi means, I would think that its Kafi Raag with mix of some other Raag notes.
2) The name of the 4-CD ICM book is "Raga Guide". I have my copy of it and I would certainly recommend it. The publisher/record company is Nimbus Records. The CDs have 74 samples of Ragas currently in use. The ragas are rendered by 2 vocalists( Shruti Sadolikar and Vidyadhar Vyas ) and 2 Instrumentalists( Flute by Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia, Sarod by Pt.Buddhadeva DasGupta). Each raga sample is on an average 4-5 minutes with Indian and Western notations. Approx price is US$50-60.