Surdasi Malhaar/Sur Malhaar

Many believe that this raga was invented by Saint poet Surdas while others claim that its creator is Surdas, son of Ramdas who was a court musician of Emperor Akbar (16th century). There is another equally popular version of this Monsoon melody, belonging to the Malhaar group of ragas.

Thhaat (parent scale)

Kafi

Jaati:

Audav-Shaadav (5 notes in ascending formation -6notes in descending formation)

Vaadi:

Madhyam (M)

Samvaadi:

Shadja (S)

Swaras:

Omits Gandhaar (G) completely, touches Dhaivat (D) deviously in the descent only deploys both Shuddh and Komal Nishaads (N and n), rest shuddh swaras.

Aaroh (ascent):

S R M P N S’ (Western Notes: C D F G B C)

Avaroh (descent)

S’ n D, M P n D P, M R N.S (Western Notes: C A# A, F G A# A G, F D B C)

Key phrases:

S, R S, N.S, n.D.M.P.N.S, S R M P, M P n D P, M M P, N S’, R’n d M P, M R S  

Time:

Midnight, or any time during Monsoons

The use of Dhaivat (D) differentiates it from Sarang. The repeated use of meend-linked Madhyam-Rishabh (M-R) accentuates the Malhaar-ang (feature). The second version, adopted by Senia Rampur musicians sees this raga as Audav-Sampoorn (5-notes in ascent and 7 notes in descent) because they employ Komal Gandhaar (g) as well.

Bibliography

1.       Bhatkhande V.N. (1919-1937) ‘Kramik Pustak Malika Vol 1-6’

2.       Abhinav Geetanjali by Pandit Ramashray Jha ‘Ramrang’

3.      The Oxford Encyclopaedia of the Music of India

Links

1.      Ustad Faiyaz Khan (vocal)

2.      Pandit Bhimsen Joshi (vocal)

3.      Pandit Radhika Mohan Maitra (sarod)

4.      Pandit Nikhil Banerjee (sitar)

5.      Pandit Venkatesh Kumar (vocal)

Hindustani, Kafi, Midnight, Monsoon, Sur Malhaar, Surdasi Malhaar