Hindustani / Ragas / Shankara

Raag Shankara

Shankara is a Bilawal-thaat raag, given its full colour in the 2nd prahar of the night. It uses five swaras on the way up and six coming down, taking a vakra (winding) path rather than a straight line. Phrases centre on Gandhar - the vadi, or king swara - answered by Nishad as samvadi.

Swars: Rishabh and Madhyam Varjya in Aaroh. Madhyam Varjya in Avroh. All Shuddha Swaras.

Raga Shankara

2nd Prahar of the Night (9PM to 12AM)
Bilawal thaatAudhav - Shadhav VakraVadi: GandharSamvadi: Nishad
SGPNDṠ
ṠNPGPDPGPRGRS

Pakad: G P N D Ṡ N · D P G P · R G R S

Sargam is written with Sa on C: komal swars are lowercase, teevra Ma is M̄, ʼ before a swar marks the lower (mandra) octave and Ṡ / ʼ after marks the upper (taar) octave. The synth plays plain notes - the gamak, meend, and andolan that bring a raag to life are what you learn in class with an expert.

Film songs in Raag Shankara

7 Hindi and regional film songs composed on Raag Shankara, with film, year, singer and music director. Hearing the raag in songs you already know is the fastest way to internalise its mood - tap a tile to play.

Bemuravvata Bewafa (a.k.a. Dard-E-Dil Dard)Susheela (1966)Mubarak Begum · music: C. Arjun
Bolo Bolo Kanha Bolo ChaliyaChaliya (1960)Runa Laila · music: Kalyanji, Anandji
Desh - Pardesh (a.k.a. Ye Desh - Pardesh)Desh Pardesh (1978)Kishore Kumar · music: Rajesh Roshan
Jhanana Jhan Jhana Ke Apni PayalAashiq (1962)Lata Mangeshkar · music: Shankar Jaikishan
Main To Deewani HuiVansh (1992)Lata Mangeshkar & Suresh Wadkar · music: Anand Milind
Payal Ki Jhankaar (a.k.a. Dekho Kanha Nahin Manat Batiyan)Payal Ki Jhankaar (1980)Sulakshana Pandit, Yesudas · music: Rajkamal
Rumajhuma Rumajhuma Chala TihariTansen (1943)K.L. Saigal · music: Khemchand Prakash

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