Rag Marwa is considered to be the most fundamental rag in Marwa That. It is an evening rag that is quite popular. This rag is unusual in that the tonic is not harmonically well defined; there is no pancham (5th) and the madhyam is tivra rather than shuddha (i.e., there is no natural 4th). It is this harmonic imbalance that gives marwa its peculiar character. Considering this imbalance, rag marwa has a surprisingly simple structure. Re is the vadi and Dha is the samvadi. It is shadav - shadav due to the total exclusion of pancham (the 5th). One well known song in this rag is "Payalia Banwari Bhaje". Marwa's characteristics are:
Shadav - Shadav - (general discussion of jati)
Evening - (general discussion of time and rag)
Marwa That - (general discussion of that)
Sa - Dha - (general discussion of drone)
For more information check out "Elementary North Indian Vocal: Vol 1" and "Elementary North Indian Vocal: Vol 2"
© 1998 - 2021 David and Chandrakantha Courtney
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