Thaat Bilawal (Audio CD)

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This album features vocal renditions of the popular ragas belonging to the Bilawal thaat by the legends of classical music.

Bilawal Thaat

The Bilawal thaat consists of seven full notes (shuddh swara-s). The ragas belonging to the Bilawal thaat bear characteristic resemblance to the musical scale of the thaat, but have distinctly unique features of their own in terms of the arrangement of notes as well as the time of the day they are associated with. Raga Bilawal is the prime raga of this thaat.

Pattern of swara-s in the thaat- Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni

1. Raga Shukla Bilawal
All seven notes are used
Both the flat and sharp 'Ni' are used
All other notes are regular
Prime note is 'Ma'
Arohana (ascent)- Sa, Ga Ma, Re Pa, Dha Ni Sa(h)
Ararohana (descent)- Sa(h), Ni Dha, Ni Dha Pa, Ma Ga Ma Re Sa

2. Raga Bilawal
Prime raga of the thaat
All seven notes are used
All notes are regular
Prime note is 'Dha'
Arohana (ascent)- Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sa(h)
Avarohana (descent)- Sa(h) Ni Dha Pa Ma Ga Re Sa

3. Raga Shankara
Five notes in the ascent and six notes in the descent
'Re' and 'Ma' don't feature in the ascent; 'Ma' doesn't feature in the descent
All notes are regular
Prime note is 'Ga'
Arohana (ascent)- Sa Ga, Pa, Ni Dha, Sa(h)
Avarohana (descent- Sa(h) Ni Pa, Ni Dha, Ga Pa, Ga Re Sa

4. Raga Durga
Five notes are used as 'Ga' and 'Ni' are excluded
All notes are regular
Prime note is 'Ma'
Arohana (ascent)- Sa Re Ma Pa Dha Sa(h)
Avarohana (descent)- Sa (h) Dha, Pa Ma Re Sa

Glossary(f)- Flat note, (s)- Sharp note, (h)- high scale, (I)-Low scale
Sa-(c), Re-(D), Ga- (E), Ma-(f), Pa-(G), Dha-(a), Ni-(b)

The 10 thaat-s are: Bilwal, Kalyan, Khamaj, Bhairav, Purvi, Marwa, Kafi, Asavari, Bhairavi and Todi.

Although entire ragas in themselves, the thaat-s provide a framework for the system as a whole. The notation of a thaat, which describes its musical framework, is quite different from the characteristic arrangement and progression of notes during rendition through a raga. It is exposition that gives a raga its pakad (peculiarity) and chalan (character). Every thaat consists of seven notes or swara-s but with different characteristics (chalan).