"There’s something called Raga music; when you dance to it, you can apparently put yourself into a trance. What’s it like?" A question from Claire from Blackpool.

Raga is a classical Indian music form. The word “raga” means tone, feelings and mood, and also joy and pleasure. This is why it is said that that which colours (the spirit with joy) is a raga - "Ranjati iti Ragah".

In classical Indian music, the various melodies and tone sequences with which the musician improvises are known as ragas. The outward form of a raga is composed of three elements. The first movement is called “alap”. In this movement the structure of the raga is developed: slowly, tone by tone, starting with at a lower pitch then progressing to higher ones. In the second movement, the “gat”, the percussion instruments come in.

The piece ends with a fast “jhala“. A raga performance can last several hours, during which trances and ecstatic states are quite likely.

Created: 04:37 PM | Author: Jörg Dahlmann | Category: Current questions  |  Comments [0]