Desh Raag

For an Indian who has spent the memorable and nostalgic parts of his childhood waking up unwillingly to the sounds of Vande Mataram being played on radio, raag desh should not really be something unheard. This Bankim Chandra's masterpiece is set to the mellifluous tunes of deshraag and although many varieties of the song came during subsequent years, the one that endears to my heart certainly is the original one. Part of the charm of the original track lies in the inherent beauty of raag desh itself. I have started listening to eastern classical music in a pretty engrossed way lately and to say that I have been overwhelmed by the immense beauty and depth of the music would be grossly understating the fact. I would like to believe that I have developed a preliminary understanding of the field but I am certainly not blind enough to claim anything more. Nevertheless, here is my understanding of a raga with special emphasis on raga desh:

I read in a book recently, "To say that a raga consists of notes would be like saying that a painting consists of paints and a poem consists of words". As incomplete as this description is, a raga does consist of a set of notes but that is not even begining to tell the full story. For those who are comfortable with the Indian musical notation, desh raag consists of the following notes:

आरोह (Ascent) :
सा रे म प नि सा'
अवरोह (Descent):
सा' नि(कोमल) ध प म ग रे सा

As can be seen, गंधार (ग) and धैवत (ध) are not used in ascent whereas a flat निशाद (नि) is used in place of शुद्ध नि in descent. If you just play out the आरोह on a keyboard you would be able to make out the underpinnings of Vande Mataram. The beauty of the raga emanates from the various sur combinations in particular the potent role assigned to रिशभ (रे). A raga also outlines some rules or directions in which a set of notes within that raga should be played. These combinations play pivotal roles in evoking the feelings a particular raag is supposed to evoke. Some of these combinations for desh raag are:

रे म प ध म ग रे, प (म ग रे)

रिशभ in this raag serves as the center of melodic gravity. The intonation of ध म ग रे is crucial and (म ग रे) refers to a changing the sur from म to रे in one continuous sweep, just grazing past ग. This can be done only in continuous or stringed instruments like flute or sitar or violin etc. but I am trying my best to replicate the effect on a synthesizer.

रे नि(कोमल) ध नि(कोमल) ध प, रे म प नि, नि, सा', रे', नि(कोमल) ध प, ध म ग रे
सा रे म प नि(कोमल) ध प, रे प म ग रे, (रे)ग, नि सा

I think my limited understanding does not allow me to speak any further in the subject. The only thing I would like to say is that listening to great masters play and playing some of this myself is almost a mystical experience. The beauty of this music can not be described in words and can only be experienced. Unlike western classical, there is a soul to our music, a throbbing life which permeates every composition, a live heart which resonates with every note and I cannot really expound on it enough for it is too personal for lengthy discourses.