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Rag Kafi

by David Courtney working tools

Ragmala Painting of Kafi (17th century)
Ragmala Painting of Kafi (17th century)

Description

Rag Kafi is the primary rag in Kafi That.  There are many popular film songs in Kafi rag including “Biraj Me, Holi Khelat Nand Lal”.  It is a sampurna-sampurna rag that is very straightforward in its execution.

As is typical of the highly problematic vadi / samvadi theory, there is disagreement concerning the vadi and the samvadi.  Some suggest that the vadi and the samvadi are Pa and Sa respectively.  However, many are of the opinion that it should be Ga for the Vadi and Ni for the samvadi.



Its characteristics are shown below.


Arohana

Ascending structure for Rag Kafi

(general discussion of arohana)(general discussion of notation)


Avarohana

Descending structure of Rag Kafi

(general discussion of avarohana)


Jati

Sampurna – Sampurna – (general discussion of jati)


Vadi

Disputed – (general discussion of vadi)


Samvadi

Disputed – (general discussion of samvadi)


Time

Evening – (general discussion of time and rag)


That

Kafi That – (general discussion of that)


Drone

Sa – Pa – (general discussion of drone)


Popular Songs

Film songs in Rag Kafi


For more information check out “Elementary North Indian Vocal: Vol 1” and “Elementary North Indian Vocal: Vol 2”



Selected Video



Other Sites of Interest

Indian Classical Music: Tuning and Ragas

Modes and Ragas: More Than just a Scale

Emotional responses to Hindustani Raga music: The role of mus­ical struc­ture

Automatic Raga Recognition in Hindustani Classical Music

Patrick Moutal. A Comparative Study of Selected Hindustānī Rāga-s based on Contemporary Practice

Automatic Tonic Identification in In­dian Art Music: Approaches and Evaluation