NOTES ON THE MINQAR-I MUSIQAR RECORDINGS
Sept and Nov 2022
Gats to Play on the Sitar
from The Minqār-i Mūsīqār (317-25, Composition nos. 62-76)
Interpreted and recorded by Allyn Miner
The sitar, relatively easy to play, was a choice instrument for anyone looking to enjoy a basic version of rag music in early twentieth century India. Instructional books like the Minqar offered access to gats, short compositions containing the basic melody of a rag, upon which longer performances are built. The notations in the Minqar represent some of the favorite rags of the time as taught in the Baroda school of Hazrat Inayat Khan’s grandfather, Maula Bakhsh.
Rags often change over just a few generations in scale, phrasing and popularity. One can find details about rags as played today in many sources online. I suggest starting with the Raga Guide, link below.
Diacritics are given for rag names to help in pronunciation. A list of technical terms with their diacritics is included at the end. The recordings were done with QuickTime Player and a Shure MV51 microphone on a MacBook Air. iTablaPro gives the tabla background.
Notes on the Recordings
62. Kālingṛā, gat, middle speed
- Recorded in tīntal 70bpm
- This rag is not as common today as it once was. There are two sargams for it in the Minqar.
63. Gauṛ Malhār, gat, middle speed
- Recorded in tīntal, 80bpm
- Versions of this rag differ somewhat. A thumri in it found in the Minqar (169) and I use it to interpret the phrases in the gat.
64. Sārang, gat, middle speed
- Recorded in tintal, 65bpm
- Sārang is a family of rags, the primary of which is typically considered to be Brindāvani. Two different versions of Sārang are found In the Minqar. The Dhrupad (142-4) uses both Ni’s like the Brindāvani played today. The Gat (318) uses only komal Ni, a Sārang most often known as Madhamād. The Maihar School of Ali Akbar Khan, however, calls this version Brindāvani.
65. Miyān kī Malhār, gat, middle speed
- Recorded without tabla
- The distinctive use of komal and shuddh Ni are defining characteristics of this rag. Since these characteristics appear in all versions that we know I have interpreted some Ni’s as misprints and played them as they are typically found in this rag: komal Ni with Dha and shuddh Ni with Sa.
66. Jaijaivanti, gat, middle speed
- Recorded in tintal, 85bpm
- A vocal composition (195) serves as a model for phrasings of this rag. Komal Ga is used there, as it is today, after Re and before Sa. I interpret the Ga in the first line of the gat in this way.
67. Kāfī, gat, middle speed
- Recorded in addha tal, 165bpm
- This was clearly a favorite rag then as it is now. There are seven songs and three sargams in the book and The Complete Recordings of 1909 includes one of them. The main difference from modern Kāfī is the shuddh Ni before Sa. This is often found in older versions of the rag, so I play it as notated.
68. Alaiya Bilāwal, gat, fast speed
- Recorded in addha tal, 145bpm
- The emphasis on the lower Ni in the first line is not typical to modern versions of this rag, which emphasize the upper half of the octave. The phrase P N D N S is still characteristic today.
69. Gārā, gat, fast speed
- Recorded in tīntāl, 150bpm
- Today this rāg is played with komal as well as shuddh Ga and Ni. Only shuddh notes appear in the gat, however. Since other early sources describe Gārā as using exclusively shuddh notes I have chosen to play it as written.
70. Tilak Kāmod, gat, fast speed
- Recorded in tintal, 170bpm
- A nice gat in a rag beloved among sitar players. It includes a repeating interlude often heard in instrumental versions of thumri-based rags.
71. Sindhūṛā, gat, fast speed
- Recorded in tintal, 165bpm
- Clearly there were several versions of this rag. The scales of the two songs in the Minqar differ from each other and from the gat. The Dhrupad (147) has shuddh Dha and both Ni’s like most versions of Sindhūra heard today. The Hori (173) is notated with komal Dha and Ni. It is to be heard on CD 2, track 7 in The Complete Recordings of 1909 where the Dha sounds ambiguous. The gat reads shuddh Dha and komal Ni. I record the gat as it is written.
72. Pīlū Barwā, gat and tora, fast speed
- Recorded in tintal 160bpm
- This was an interesting gat to interpret. Rag Pīlū always has both Ga’s and Ni’s, shuddh in ascent and komal in descent. Some versions also use an occasional komal Re and Dha. A song in Pīlū Barwā in The Complete Recordings of 1909, CD2, track 11 uses both Ga’s and Ni’s in the typical way. There is a touch of komal Dha as well, and the Re is ambiguous in some phrases. I interpret the gat with a touch of komal Re before Sa and a komal Dha before low Pa because I believe it is intended here. I play the ascending Ga in the toṛā as shuddh, as is typical in this rag.
73. Bhairavī, gat and tora, fast speed
- Recorded in tintal, 155bpm
- A nice gat that includes what would be today called an antara. A shuddh Ni appears in the toṛā but I believe it is a typographical error and have played it as komal.
74. Rāmkalī, gat and tora, middle speed
- Recorded in tintal, 75bpm
- Three sargams as well as the gat appear in the Minqar. Modern Ramkali differs somewhat, having additional phrases and scale tones.
75. Jogiyā, gat and tora,middle speed
- Recorded in tintal, 68bpm
- This famously sad rag is played with the same scale today.
76. Pūrbī, gat and tora, middle speed
- Recorded in tintal, 150bpm
- The distinctive use of shuddh and tivra Ma is still characteristic of this rag, but today it is played using komal Dha.
References/Sources
Bor, Joep et al Raga Guide pdf https://archive.org/details/ragaguideasurveyof74hindustaniragassvarnalataraoetalled.joepbar
Inayat Khan: The Complete Recordings of 1909, posted on Youtube by SufiLab,
Miner, Allyn with Pir Zia Inayat-Khan. The Minqar-i Musiqar: Hazrat Inayat Khan’s classic 1912 work on Indian musical theory & practice. New Lebanon, New York: Sulūk Press and Omega Publications, 2016.
Terms
- addhā: also called Panjābī tāl, a sixteen-beat rhythmic cycle
- komal: flat
- sargam: the Indian solfege: Sā Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Nī; also a composition for learning the basic phrases of a rāg
- shuddh: natural
- tīntāl: sixteen-beat cycle
- tīvra: sharp
- toṛā: variation or other lines of a gat
Notes on Minqar recordings Sept 2022
Reading notations often requires making interpretations or modifications, especially when creating an instrumental version of a song as in the tracks that follow. Some notes on the choices I made are below.
9. Astai Devgandhār p159 tintal 120bpm
- For an instrumental rendition one might choose to add more strokes
- Rag Devgandhar is typically sung with both Ga’s
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gLTeABf5hY
- The Minqar composition doesn’t have shuddh Ga. This might be a different version, or it would have come in improvisations.
13. Thumri Bihārī p165-6 Dadra 130bpm
- Repeats and instrumental strokes are flexible
14. Thumri Kāfī p167-8 Tintal 140bpm
- I stay close to the strokes/words as written.
- This version of Kāfī sounds like what would today be called Pīlū.
22. Ghazal Husaini Kānaṛā p183 Addha tal 140 bpm
- In Kānaṛā rags the Ni is sometimes ambiguous as to whether it is komal or shuddh, often sung higher when going to Sa. I play them as komal. This rag is not very well known today.