Desh
देश
S R M P N S' | S' n D P D M G R G .N S
Origins & Context
Raag Desh is a Khamaj thaat raga of Hindustani music, performed late at night, that uses shuddha Re, Ga, Ma, Pa and Dha with both forms of Ni. Shuddha means natural and komal means lowered, so Desh takes shuddha Ni going up and komal Ni coming down. A thaat is a parent scale. It is also written Raag Des or Raga Desh, and the name means country.
In the notation here, lowercase marks a komal note, a dot the lower octave and an apostrophe the upper. The aroha, or ascent, is S R M P N S', leaving out Ga and Dha. The avaroha, or descent, is S' n D P D M G R G .N S, winding back through Dha and closing on lower Ni before Sa. The vadi, the most prominent note, is Re, and the samvadi, its partner, is Pa. Rajan Parrikar calls the coupling of Re and Pa vital.
Parrikar writes that Desh takes all its material from Sorath, a raga now nearly extinct, and that Tilak Kamod works with the same raw material. David Courtney adds Khamaj to the ragas Desh brushes against, and Darbar places it among the monsoon ragas. Parrikar opens his essay with Vande Mataram in Desh, the setting that All India Radio broadcast each morning.
KalaSudha releases Desh recordings, such as a studio recording of Desh on sitar and tabla, and presents Hindustani musicians in concert. Its academy teaches ragas online and in local workshops.
Technical Details
Melodic structure and movement patterns
Aroha (Ascent)
S R M P N S'
Avroh (Descent)
S' n D P D M G R G .N S
Pakad (Catch Phrase)
D S M G R, G .N S S, R M P N, S' R' n D P
Tanpura Tuning
P - S - S - .S
Additional Notes
Phraseologies
Key for these phrases: n is komal Ni, a dot puts a note in the lower octave and an apostrophe in the upper.
Desh rises on shuddha Ni, as in R M P N reaching upper Sa, and falls on komal Ni, as in S' R' n D P. Parrikar sets out that split: shuddha Ni in the ascent, komal Ni in the descent.
Phrases close on G .N S, touching Ga and lower Ni before Sa, and D S M G R drops from Ma through Ga to Re. Courtney writes that a pure Desh is hard to sustain, because its notes lie close to other ragas, while dadra and thumri accept the borrowing.
Common Phrases
Recordings & Performances
Listen to master musicians perform this raga
Videos
Classifiers
Swara geometries, relationships, and classifications
Swara Geometries
Around the World
Global connections and equivalent scales
With Sa on C, Desh uses C D E F G A B flat B, both sevenths, the scale George Howlett lists as the bebop dominant. In the ascent alone it uses C D F G B.
Bebop dominant
C D E F G A Bb B C
George Howlett gives the bebop dominant as 1 2 3 4 5 6 b7 7. With Sa on C, it holds every note Desh uses, both sevenths included.