Saggi

An i n t e r e s t i n g c o m p a r i s o n b e t w e e n a m o r n i n g
raga w ith an e ve n in g o n e u s in g grap h ical s tatis tics

by So u bh ik Ch akrabo rty,* Rayalla Ran gan ayaku lu ,** Sh ive e Ch au h an ,**

S a n d e e p Sin gh S o lan ki,** Kartik Mah to **

*Departm ent of Applied Mathem atics

**Departm ent of Electronics and Com m unication Engineering
Birla In stitute of Technology (Mesra, India)
soubhikc@yahoo.co.in

§ Ragas in Indian classical m usic are suitable
for rendition at specific tim e periods. There are
som e exception s though such as Bhairavi
which fit at any tim e of the day. Such
exceptions are called Sadabahaar ragas. The
present paper m akes an interesting com parison
between a m orn ing raga (Ahir Bhairav) with
an evening raga (Yam an) using graphical
statistics.
§ Nella m usica classica indiana l’esecuzione di
un raga è destinata a un preciso m om ento
della giornata. Il Bhairavi invece appartiene a
un gruppo di raga, chiam ati Sadabahaar, che
possono essere eseguiti in qualsiasi m om ento.
Il contributo presenta un interessante
confronto tra un raga del m attino (Ahir
Bhairav) e un raga della sera (Yam an) da un
punto di vista statistico.

In tro d u ctio n
Ragas in Indian classical music are suitable for rendition at specific time periods.1, 2
According to Kumar Prasad Mukherji, a well known musicologist, the idea of
rendering a raga at a designated time is credited to Bishnu Narayan Bhatkhande and
it is fascinating to know that the concept is as old as 1920 ! A highly appreciated book
by Mukherji is The lost W orld of Hindustani Music.3 There are some exceptions
though such as Bhairavi which fit at any time of the day. Such exceptions are called
Sadabahaar ragas. The present paper makes an interesting comparison between a
morning raga (Ahir Bhairav) with an evening raga (Yam an), using primarily
graphical statistics, based on two vocal recordings each of one minute duration by the
same artist (Sa set to natural C) and recorded in the Laptop at 44.10 0 KHz, 16 bit
mono, 86 kb/ sec mode. We first describe the fundamental musical features of these
two ragas before moving to the analysis part (Table 1).

1 SCHMIDT-J ONES (August 8, 20 0 8).

2 CH AKRABORTY et al. (October 25, 20 0 8).
3 M UKHERJ I (20 0 6).

«Philom usica on -lin e» – Rivista del Dipartim en to di Scien ze m u sicologiche e paleografico-filologiche – e-m ail: philom usica@un ipv.it
< h t t p :/ / ph ilom u sica.u n ipv.it > – ISSN 18 2 6 -9 0 0 1 – Cop yr igh t © 2 0 0 9 Ph ilom u sica on -lin e – Un iver sit à degli St u di d i Pavia
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Ta ble 1. Fun dam en tal m usical features of raga Yam an an d raga Ahir Bhairav .

Raga Y a m a n * Raga Ah ir Bh a ir a v
Not specific, generally taken
Th aat as
Kaly an
(a specific way of grouping ragas)
Mishra Bhairav
Aro h
N RGm PDNS Sr GMPDn S
(ascent)
Aw aro h
S NDPm GRS S n DPMGr S
(descent)
Jati Sam pooorna-Sam poorna**
Vad i Sw ar
G M
(m ost im portant note)
Sam va d i Sw a r
N S
(second m ost im portant note)
Prakriti
Restful
(nature)
Pakad
N RGRN RS Sr GMGMr n Dn r S
(catch)
N yas Sw ar
RGNP M and S
(Stay notes)
First phase of night
Tim e of rendition Morning
(6 PM to 9 PM)

*Am ir Khusru created this raga.

**Seven distinct notes allow ed in ascent and descent; how ever, since there are only 12
possible notes, som e notes have to be com m on betw een ascent and descent.

S R G M P D N
Sudh Re Sudh Ga Sudh Ma Sudh Dha Sudh Ni
Sa Pa
r g m d n
(always Sudh) (always Sudh)
Kom al Re Kom al Ga Tibra Ma Kom al Dha Kom al Ni

Norm al type n ote belon gs to m iddle octave

Italic n ote belon gs to the octave just lower than the m iddle octave
B o ld n ote belon gs to the octave just higher than the m iddle octave

Co m p aris o n o f Ah ir Bh a ir a v an d Y a m a n u s in g grap h ical s tatis tics

Ragas are n ot m erely about fixed notes and typical n ote com bination s. How these
n otes an d note com bination s are used is also im portant. The Varnalankars
(m usical orn am en ts) with which n otes and n ote sequen ces are decorated can be
arohi (ascendin g tran sition), aw arohi (descen din g tran sition ), sanchari (m ixed
tran sition ) an d sthay i (no tran sition or stay on a n ote). It is held that the
em otions of the raga are em bedded by these tran sitory and n on -tran sitory pitch
m ovem en ts between n otes. 4 Solo Explorer 1.0 software, a wave to m idi con verter

4 CH AKRABORTY et al. (October 25, 20 0 8).

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 An interesting com parison betw een a m orning raga w ith an evening one

an d an autom atic m usic tran scriber, was used exten sively crosschecked by
ingenious MATLAB program s to generate the relevant m usical features such as
onset, fun dam ental frequency an d hence pitch, n otes, transitory and n on -
tran sitory pitch m ovem ents. See the two typical sam ples from this software one
for each raga (Figure 3 an d 4). This yielded Tables 2 and 3. Those kn owin g
western m usic but new to In dian m usic are referred to Indian Classical M usic.
Tun ing and R agas 5 an d the references cited therein .

Ta ble 2 . Tran sitory & n on -tran sitory pitch m ovem en ts for Ahir Bhairav .

Risin g Fallin g Mixed No

Tran sition s Tran sition s Tran sition s Tran sition
12 12
Con v ex Con cav e Linear Con v ex Con cav e Linear 07 19
04 04 04 01 08 03

Ta ble 3 . Tran sitory an d n on -tran sitory pitch m ovem en ts for Yam an .

Risin g Fallin g Mixed No

Tran sition s Tran sition s Tran sition s Tran sition
64 69
Con v ex Con cav e Linear Con v ex Con cav e Linear 18 9
04 08 52 12 16 41

I n t er p r et a t ion
The risin g an d fallin g transition s are equal for Ahir Bhairav . They are also n early
equal for Yam an . We conclude that these two ragas can n ot be classified as Arohi
or Aw arohi v arna ragas as the tendency to ascen d an d the ten den cy to descen d
are equal. However, these tran sition s for Yam an are rem arkably higher than the
correspon ding tran sitions in Ahir Bhairav . This suggests that although both the
ragas are of restful nature, the even ing raga Yam an is com paratively less restful
than the m orn in g raga Ahir Bhairav . It can be argued that we expect som e
m ovem en t in the even ing and peace in the m orn in g. Thus this fin din g could be
valuable if it can be taken to objectively suggest that on e raga is a m orn ing raga
an d the other on e is n ot! This claim is further supported by the fin din g that the
n on -transitory m ovem ents in Ahir Bhairav are about twice those of Yam an
indicatin g m ore stay on the n otes in the form er.

5 SCHMIDT-J ONES (August 8, 20 0 8).

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Notice that m ost of the rising an d fallin g tran sitions in Yam an are lin ear
whereas in Ahir Bhairav , the fallin g tran sitions are m ostly concave while the
rising tran sition s are uniform ly distributed as linear, con vex and concave. This
suggests that the n otes were ren dered in a straighter m ann er an d n ot m uch in the
form of a glide (m een d) in Yam an.
Mixed tran sitory m ovem en ts are m ore in Yam an again suggestin g less restful
n ature.
Non -tran sitory m ovem ents are about twice in Ahir Bhairav com pared to that
in Yam an indicating greater stay on the notes. This is expected in a m ornin g raga
as m orning is m ore peaceful than evenin g. See also Figures 1 and 2 for
con firm ation of this fact from another an gle.

R em a r k
We also m ade a count of hats (shaped roughly as « ^ ») and valleys (shaped
roughly as « V ») but their m usical m ean in gfulness is under investigation . We
next provide the inter onset interval (difference between two successive onset
tim es) graphs for Ahir Bhairav and Yam an respectively (Figures 1 an d 2). N otes
are said to be in rhy thm if the inter onset in terv al tim es are equal.

Figu re 1. Figu re 2 .
Ahir Bhairav in ter on set in terval graph. Yam an in ter on set in terval graph.

I n t er p r et a t ion
The level of the peaks in Figure 2 are m ore alon g a horizon tal lin e for Yam an
in dicatin g m ore rhythm ic properties am on g n otes probably because the artist
ren dered a bandish (gut com position ) after a brief alaap (in troductory
description of the raga). H owever, the heights of the peaks for Ahir Bhairav in
Figure 1 are certainly greater indicating greater stay on notes con firm in g previous
fin din g depicting peace expected in a m ornin g raga.

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 An interesting com parison betw een a m orning raga w ith an evening one

Figu re 3 . Figu re 4 .
Solo Explorer sam ple for Ahir Bhairav . Solo Explorer sam ple for Yam an .

Au d io s am p le : raga Yam an and raga Ahir Bhairav.

A ck n ow led g em en t
All the authors than k Dr. Purnim a Chakraborty (Departm ent of Perform ing Arts,
Ban aras H in du Univ ersity , Varan asi, In dia) for the two vocal ren dition s.

Co n c l u s i o n
Although our aesthetic sen se in relatin g ragas to different tim e periods of the day
is im portant, they are also subjective. The stren gth of graphical statistics as an
objective tool for the purpose cann ot be thrown away especially if the listener
cann ot hear but can see. We stron gly em phasize m usic teachers to use this an d
sim ilar strategies for such han dicapped group of listen ers.

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Biblio grap h y

SOUBHIK CHAKRABORTY – SANDEEP SINGH SOLANKI – SAYAN R OY – SHIVEE CHAUHAN – SANJ AYA
SHANKAR TRIPATHY – KARTIK M AHTO (October 25, 20 0 8), A Statistical Approach to
Modeling Indian Classical Music Perform ance, Cornell University Library
<http:/ / arxiv.org/ abs/ 0 80 9.3214>.
KUMAR P RASAD M UKHERJ I (20 0 6), The lost W orld of Hindustani Music, Oxford, Oxford
University Press.
CATHERINE SCHMIDT-J ONES (August 8, 20 0 8), Indian Classical Music. Tuning and Ragas,
«Connexions» <http:/ / cnx.org/ content/ m 12459/ 1.6>.

So u bh ik Ch akrabo rty, a statistician, is a Reader in the Applied Mathem atics Departm ent
of BIT Mesra, Ranchi, India, with 30 international publications in Algorithm s, Statistical
Com puting and Music Analysis, twelve years teaching experience, an ACM and IEEE
Reviewer (Computing Reviews/ Transactions on Com puters respectively); also a harm onium
player (North Indian Classical).

Rayalla Ran gan ayaku lu , an M.E. student of Instrum entation and Control in the
Electronics and Com m unication Engineering Departm ent of BIT Mesra, Ranchi, India, has
authored four international papers in m usic analysis with the present research team and is
doing a project in a related topic guided by the fourth author.

Sh ive e Ch au h an is a B.E. student of Electronics and Com m unication Engineering at BIT

Mesra, Ranchi, India. She has authored five international papers in m usic analysis with the
present research team . She loves to play classical tunes (North Indian ragas) on the
electronic synthesizer.

San d e e p Sin gh Solanki, an M.E. (Instrum entation and Control), is a Lecturer (Selection
Grade), Departm ent of ECE, BIT Mesra, Ranchi, India with 14 years experience in teaching
and industry, 19 publications (13 international) in audio signal analysis and autom ation, life
m em ber of ISTE and IE, about to subm it his Ph.D thesis.

Kartik Mah to , an M.E. (Control System s), is a Senior Lecturer in the Electronics and
Com m unication Engineering Departm ent of BIT Mesra, Ranchi, India with 11 years of
teaching experience having authored 6 international papers in audio signal analysis. He is
doing a Ph.D. on m usic analysis guided by Soubhik Chakraborty.