Kanada
कानड़ा
Origins & Context
Raag Kanada is a family (raganga) of Hindustani ragas joined by one movement: a return to Sa through komal Ga and Ma, written g M R S. Komal Ga, the lowered third, is sung very low and oscillated. The AUTRIM project of the National Centre for the Performing Arts and the University of Amsterdam names this oscillating flat Ga between Re and Ma the family's main feature. George Howlett adds that the family typically belongs to the late night and almost always leaves out tivra Ma, the raised fourth. It sometimes pairs the closing phrase with (n)d n P; a note in brackets is a grace note, touched lightly. The family straddles thaats, or parent scales: Darbari Kanada and Adana sit in the Asavari thaat, while Howlett lists Shahana, with shuddha Dha, among Kafi thaat forms. The name is also written Kanara or Kanhra.
Darbari Kanada is the most important raga of the group, as AUTRIM puts it, and Rajan Parrikar notes it is often called Shuddha Kanada. Legend credits Miyan Tansen, at the court of Akbar, with reworking an older Kanada into Darbari; AUTRIM reports it as Walter Kaufmann's suggestion. Adana shares Darbari's notes with a lighter tread. Parrikar writes that it drops Ga on the way up, centres on the upper octave and does without much of Darbari's meend, or glide, work. AUTRIM calls Adana a sprightly counterpart and says it is not uncommon to perform it after Darbari. Parrikar's elemental Kanadas also take in Suha, Sughrai, Nayaki and Shahana. Howlett hears the Kanada phrase in Bageshri, Bahar, Abhogi and Miyan ki Malhar too, though not in every Bageshri.
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
Pakad (Catch Phrase)
g M R S
Additional Notes
Phraseologies
Notation: S R G M P D N, lowercase for a komal note, a leading dot for the lower octave and an apostrophe for the upper; a note in brackets is a grace note. The AUTRIM project names the oscillating flat Ga between Re and Ma, in the phrase g M R S, as the main feature of the family. George Howlett prints the family's closing phrase as (M)g M R with an oscillating ati-komal ga, lower than the usual komal Ga, sometimes paired with (n)d n P in the upper half and with glides from n down to P; in Darbari, he adds, the ga is oscillated from Re. Rajan Parrikar prints n P (M)g as the plain phrase that captures the essence of the Kanada raganga, with (M)g (M)g M (S)R, S and n n P M P n (M)g beside it, and holds that the true Kanada character emerges only with the right intonation, grace notes and meend. In Darbari, AUTRIM writes, the oscillation on Ga and Dha is slow and subtle, and musicians generally hold the Ga very flat, as AUTRIM reports from Shah's Kanada Ke Prakar (1972). Parrikar notes that Adana has no oscillated Ga, and that many performers place its Ni between komal and shuddha.
Common Phrases
Classifiers
Swara geometries, relationships, and classifications
Raganga (Family)
Around the World
Global connections and equivalent scales
With Sa on C, the notes of Darbari Kanada, S R g M P d n, are C D E flat F G A flat B flat. David Courtney writes that in Darbari the minor third (komal Ga) and the minor sixth (komal Dha) sit much lower than usual, the ati-komal Ga just above the natural second. Courtney writes this of Darbari; it is not stated for the family.