Raga

The melodic framework of Hindustani (North Indian) classical music: a raga is neither a scale nor a tune but a codified melodic personality, specifying an ascending and descending pitch set, characteristic phrases, emphasised and resting tones, and a prescribed emotional colour and time of performance. The performer improvises within these rules, unfolding the raga from slow unmetered alap through increasingly rhythmic sections to virtuosic climax, accompanied by tanpura drone and tabla. Masters such as *Ravi Shankar*, *Ali Akbar Khan* and *Vilayat Khan* define its recorded canon.