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Thaat · one of Bhatkhande’s ten

काफ़ीKafi

Komal Ga and komal Ni: a warm, folk-hearted scale, with one of the largest families of raags.

66 madhya
About these soundsMeend makes the harmonium and santoor sounds itself. They aren’t recordings of real instruments, so they sound close, but not quite the same. They are here to let you hear how the swaras go.The tanpura and tabla are recordings of real ones.
SRGMPDNकाफ़ी

Tap a swara to hear it

Its swaras
S R g M P D n
What sets it apart
Komal Ga and Ni
How bright
-2, two steps below Bilawal
In the West
The Dorian mode: a minor scale with its sixth raised
In the South
Kharaharapriya, the 22nd melakarta

Kafi lowers two swaras of Bilawal, Ga and Ni, to komal: Sa Re komal-Ga Ma Pa Dha komal-Ni. The result is warm and earthy rather than dark: the scale of countless folk songs, of the horis of Holi, and of a great family of raags, from Bageshree's midnight longing to the monsoon's Malhar.

Its swaras

Aaroh and avaroh
SRGMPDNS
SNDPMGRS

Komal Ga gives Kafi its colour: soft, a little wistful. But Dha stays shuddh, and with it the upper half of the scale stays open, so Kafi never feels heavy. Its two halves mirror each other, Sa Re komal-Ga Ma and Pa Dha komal-Ni Sa, and that balance is part of its ease.

In threes, up and down
SRGRGMGMPMPDPDNDNS
SNDNDPDPMPMGMGRGRS

All ten alankars in Kafi, to hear in your Sa →

How bright it is

Two komal swaras: two steps below Bilawal, beside Bhairav and Todi.

  1. +1Kalyan
  2. 0BilawalMarwa
  3. -1KhamajPurvi
  4. -2BhairavKafiTodi
  5. -3Asavari
  6. -4Bhairavi
Brighter at the top: a step up for tivra Ma, a step down for each komal swara.

On the circle of thaats

Kafi sits between Khamaj and Asavari: raise its Ga and it is Khamaj; lower its Dha too and it is Asavari.

MaNiGaDhaReMa, NiGaDhaReMaSRGMPDNकाफ़ीKalyan+1Bilawal0Khamaj-1Kafi-2Asavari-3Bhairavi-4Todi-2Purvi-1Marwa0Bhairav-2
Each thaat a swara from the next, the swara that changes on the line between them. Between Bhairavi and Todi two change; Bhairav stands outside, a swara from Purvi.

Its raags

Kafi's family is one of the largest: Kafi itself, sung in the hori of Holi; Bageshree and Bhimpalasi, raags of longing; Brindavani Sarang and the Sarangs of midday; Miyan ki Malhar and the raags of the rains; Pilu, Dhanashri, Abhogi, Bahar and Sindhura; and Patdeep and Shivranjani, which Meend's library places here too. Raags of Kafi are sung at every hour, though many belong to the night.

In the West and the South

In Western music it is the Dorian mode: a minor scale with its sixth raised, heard in much folk music.

In Karnatic music it is the 22nd melakarta, Kharaharapriya.

Practise it

Tune komal Ga carefully: hold Sa, then Re, then find komal Ga close above Re, a semitone under shuddh Ga, against the tanpura.

Re, komal Ga, Ma: hold each until it is still
R–––G–––M–––G–––
A Kafi phrase
SRGMP–MGRS

To make the ten thaats a daily riyaz, Meend has them ready: begin a riyaz of the thaats.

Questions

Which swaras are komal in Kafi thaat?

Ga and Ni. The others are shuddh.

Which raags are in Kafi thaat?

Kafi, Bageshree, Bhimpalasi, Brindavani Sarang, Miyan ki Malhar, Pilu, Dhanashri, Abhogi, Bahar and many more.

Is Kafi thaat the same as the Dorian mode?

Its swaras are the same as the Dorian mode, and as Karnatic music's 22nd melakarta, Kharaharapriya.