Bahar
बहार
S R S M P M g M D N S' | S' n P M g M R S .N S
Origins & Context
Raag Bahar is a Kafi thaat raga of Hindustani music, performed at any hour in spring and otherwise at night, that uses komal Ga and both forms of Ni. Komal means lowered, shuddha means natural, and a thaat is a parent scale. Re, Ma, Pa and Dha are shuddha. It is also written Bahaar or Bahar Kanada. The AUTRIM project of the National Centre for the Performing Arts and the University of Amsterdam hears in it the joyous atmosphere of spring.
In this notation, lowercase is a komal note, a dot the lower octave and an apostrophe the upper. The aroha, or ascent, is S R S M P M g M D N S'. Re and Pa appear in it only inside turns, S R S and M P M, and count as left out of the ascent. The avaroha, or descent, is S' n P M g M R S .N S. The vadi, the most prominent note, is Ma, and the samvadi, its partner, is Sa, as David Courtney gives them. AUTRIM also names Sa and Ma as the prominent notes. Courtney ties the raga's character to shuddha Ni going up and komal Ni coming down.
Rajan Parrikar calls Bahar a Kanada type with its own raganga. AUTRIM hears the Kanada turn g M R S, shared with Darbari Kanada, at a different pace. It also shares n D N S with Miyan ki Malhar, which moves slowly and stays low.
KalaSudha presents Hindustani musicians in concert and releases their recordings. Its academy teaches ragas online and in local workshops, and each course is built by its instructor with KalaSudha.
Technical Details
Melodic structure and movement patterns
Aroha (Ascent)
S R S M P M g M D N S'
Avroh (Descent)
S' n P M g M R S .N S
Pakad (Catch Phrase)
S M, P M g M, n P M, M n D N S', n P M, P M, g M R S
Additional Notes
Phraseologies
Key for these phrases: lowercase letters are komal notes, a dot puts a note in the lower octave, and an apostrophe in the upper.
David Courtney writes that Bahar cannot be performed in a straight line; it moves in turns, so the pakad matters. He counts six notes up and seven down. In the catch phrase S M, P M g M, n P M, Ma is the note the line returns to, and alap phrases rest on it.
Rajan Parrikar finds that komal Ni dominates. Shuddha Ni comes only in set phrases such as M n D N S'. The AUTRIM project adds that Re is left out of the ascent but often returns in rising phrases in the upper octave, and that the raga is worked out mainly in the upper half of the octave and above.
Common Phrases
Around the World
Global connections and equivalent scales
With Sa on C, Bahar uses C D E flat F G A, with both B flat and B. George Howlett gives the jazz Dorian mode with a double seventh as its translation: Dorian has B flat, and Bahar adds B.