Ragas
Concept of Ragas In the traditional music of India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, raga, often spelled rag (in northern India) or ragam (in southern India), is a melodic framework for improvisation and composition that is derived from Sanskrit and means "colour" or "passion." A raga's foundation is a scale with a predetermined set of notes, a particular arrangement for their appearance in melodies, and distinctive musical themes. A scale can be used to represent the fundamental elements of a raga (in some cases differing in ascent and descent). The performer aims to create a mood or atmosphere (rasa) that is particular to the raga in question by employing just these notes, accentuating specific degrees of the scale, and moving from note to note in ways peculiar to the raga. Several hundred ragas are now in use, and thousands more are theoretically possible. The classification of ragas plays a significant part in Indian music theory, and for South Asian performers, r