- Abheri
Abheri ( _ta. ஆபேரி) is a
raga (musical scale) inCarnatic music (South Indian classical music). It is aJanya raga (derived scale), whoseMelakarta raga (parent, also known as Janaka) isKharaharapriya , 22nd in the 72 "Melakarta" raga system."Bhimplasi" (or Bheemplas) of
Hindustani music sounds pretty close to Abheri "Ragas in Carnatic music" by Dr. S. Bhagyalekshmy, Pub. 1990, CBH Publications] "Raganidhi" by P. Subba Rao, Pub. 1964, The Music Academy of Madras] .Structure and Lakshana
Its IAST|ārohaṇa-avarohaṇa structure (ascending and descending scale) is as follows (see "swaras in Carnatic music" for details on below notation and terms):
*IAST|ārohaṇa : S G2 M1 P N2 S
*IAST|avarohaṇa : S N2 D2 P M1 G2 R2 S(Chathusruthi Rishabham, Sadharana Gandharam, Suddha Madhyamam,Chathusruthi Dhaivatham, Kaisiki Nishadham)
In addition to these
swara s, there aregamaka s which also form part of Abheri, like any other raga in Carnatic music.The ascending scale is same as that of
Udayaravichandrika raga (also known as Shuddha Dhanyasi), while the descending scale is that of Kharaharapriya raga.There are some differing views on swaras in the scale of Abheri. It is considered a "Bhashanga" raga (scale has an anya swara, that is a note which is not in the parent melakarta raga, in this case Kharaharapriya raga), with introduction of Suddha Dhiavatham (D1) in some phrases of the raga . A different view is that this raga is a janya of
Natabhairavi (which has D1, suddha dhaivatham, in place of D2), with D2 being the anya swara (external note) .Popular Compositions
A very popular composition in the Abheri raga is "Nagumomu Ganaleni", a kriti by
Thyagaraja , one of the three eminent composers in Carnatic music. Another well known composition is "Bhajare Re Manasa", a kriti written byMysore Vasudevachar .Muthuswami Dikshitar has composed "Veenabheri" in this raga.There are many "thukadas" (or short songs, that are sung towards end of a Carnatic concert) composed in this raga. This raga has been extensively used in movie songs/ movie music.
Related rāgams
This section covers the theoretical and scientific aspect of this rāgam.
Abheri's notes when shifted using
Graha bedham , yields 3 other janya rāgams, namely, "Mohanakalyani", "Kedaragowla" and "Arabhi" (if we consider the Kharaharapriya based scale). Graha bedham is the step taken in keeping the relative note frequencies same, while shifting the Shadjam to the next note in the rāgam. In case of Janya ragams, only notes that occur in both ascending and descending scale are taken for this change. For further details and an illustration of Graha bedham refer Graha bedham on Sankarabharanam.References
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