- Published on
Malashree - The raga that shouldn't exist
- Authors
- Name
- Rizan Bhandari
- @rizan
Consider this: you are allowed to play three notes; tonic, major third and perfect fifth. Would you call it a scale?
It's exactly what raga Malashree is. It's strange if you know that a raga traditionally needs to have at least 5 notes (which is what we expect in Western music as well; pentatonic scales have five notes).
Playing raga Malashree
In the key of C, you play the raga like C E G C'. It's simple on paper, but you're actually super limited.
Many players add ornamentation with a 7th and sharp-4th (B and F# in the key of C). So, in practice, the raga looks more like:
Ascending: C E G B C'
Descending: C' (B) G (F#) E G E C
What about chords?
We don't really play chords for classical ragas; we play over a drone track (like Tanpura)
If you're into fusion, try:
| Classical notations | Notes | Quality |
|---|---|---|
| Sa Ga Pa | C E G | C major |
| Sa Ga Pa Ni | C E G B | Cmaj7 |
| Sa Ga Ma Pa Ni | C E F# G B | Cmaj7#11 |
| - | E G B | Emin |
Hear how the raga sounds:
Trivia
Malashree is considered a samik raga; near-extinct ragas with just three notes.
Here in Nepal, Malashree tune is a household name related to a popular festival. I think the Malashree dhun played here is closer to the Kafi-thaat form than the three-note raga common in Indian classical music.