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
SGPND
NPGPDPGPRGRS

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

Hear the raag in songs you already know - the fastest way to internalise its mood. Tap a tile to play.

Bemuravvata Bewafa (a.k.a. Dard-E-Dil Dard)Chaliya (1966)Mubarak Begum
Bolo Bolo Kanha Bolo ChaliyaChaliya (1960)Runa Laila
Jhanana Jhan Jhana Ke Apni PayalVansh (1962)Lata Mangeshkar
Main To Deewani HuiPayal Ki Jhankaar (1992)Lata Mangeshkar & Suresh Wadkar
Payal Ki Jhankaar (a.k.a. Dekho Kanha Nahin Manat Batiyan)Tansen (1980)Sulakshana Pandit, Yesudas
Rumajhuma Rumajhuma Chala TihariTansen (1943)K.L. Saigal
Desh - Pardesh (a.k.a. Ye Desh - Pardesh)Aashiq (1978)
Kishore Kumar

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