The raga Kafi is an important raga of Hindustani classical music. This raga corresponds to Kharaharapriya in Carnatic music.
Pandit Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande’s classification of the Ragas has ten different logical groups, consisting of various closely related ragas; Kafi is one of them. The raga Kafi is the principal one, which essentially describes the nature of the Kafi. It is not quite an ancient raga. According to Pandit Bhatkhande, the name of the raga first appears in the Raga Tarangini of Lochana Pandit, who lived in the Mithila district around the fifteenth century (common era).
Raga Kafi has a direct lineage with the folk music of India. Folk music in Tappa, Hori, Dadra, Kirtan and Bhajans from different parts of India have been composed in this raga form for ages.
The phrases below and termination in R are characteristic of the raga. S R g M P D n. S, RgMP, M P D (M)g R
S S R R g g M M P - - D M P g R R n D n P D M P S n D P M G R S.
M P D D n S - S R g R S N D S - S R S n D n D P M P D P g - R - R n D n P D M P S n D P M g R S
Pandit Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande’s classification of the Ragas has ten different logical groups, consisting of various closely related ragas; Kafi is one of them. The raga Kafi is the principal one, which essentially describes the nature of the Kafi. It is not quite an ancient raga. According to Pandit Bhatkhande, the name of the raga first appears in the Raga Tarangini of Lochana Pandit, who lived in the Mithila district around the fifteenth century (common era).
Raga Kafi has a direct lineage with the folk music of India. Folk music in Tappa, Hori, Dadra, Kirtan and Bhajans from different parts of India have been composed in this raga form for ages.
Jati
Kafi is a sampoorna-sampoorna or heptatonic raga, with komal (soft) Gandhar(g) and Nishad(n).Arohana
Sa Re ga Ma Pa Dha ni SaAvarohana
SnDPMgRSVadi & Samavadi
Pancham(P) is the vadi swara and shadaj (sa) is the samavadi swara.Pakad
A typical improvisation of Kafi starts as nD,PmgR *, SS RR gg mm P, P m g R, g m P g - R.The phrases below and termination in R are characteristic of the raga. S R g M P D n. S, RgMP, M P D (M)g R
Chalan
The typical chalan of the raga can be illustrated as follows:S S R R g g M M P - - D M P g R R n D n P D M P S n D P M G R S.
M P D D n S - S R g R S N D S - S R S n D n D P M P D P g - R - R n D n P D M P S n D P M g R S