This is a Live session where Nitin Amin shares his expertise and explains in great detail Raga Khamaj.
An interesting thing about ragas like Kaafi, Khamaj, Pahadi is that they have been termed as kshudhra or “Inferior” ragas. This is a sad fact which is so because khayals and dhrupads are not normally sung in these ragas. These are generally seen as ragas for “Light” or popular music.
However, we tend to forget that these are the folk melodies that have actually sown the seeds for the so-called bigger ragas. Khamaj also finds its origins in folk music and gives rise to a lot of ragas. Bhatkhandeji classified Khamaj as one of the 10 thaats. It is also classified as a Raaganga as well as a Raga.
Jhinjoti is one of the ragas that came out of Khamaj, there is raga Tilang, raga Gawati and many such ragas belong to the Khamaj thaat. An advancing listener will be able to identify the shuddha Nishad in a very distinctive manner when Khamaj is presented as a raga.
At 23:15 of this video, you will learn how different renditions of the use of raga khamaj are strikingly similar when looked closely.
The structure of the Raga is quite exquisite and the movement of the swaras, the aaroha and avroha are explained brilliantly halfway through the video.
This video is intended for the advancing listener of Hindustani Classical Music. If you have any questions regarding the nuances of Raga Khamaj or would like to discuss more, we at Ragasphere would be more than happy to resolve your query.
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