Raag Des | Veena Sahasrabuddhe

Raag Des | Veena Sahasrabuddhe

Desh or Des is a Hindustani classical music raga which belongs to the Khamaj thaat. This raga is very similar to raga Khamaj.

The raga is of audava-sampurna nature, i.e., in its arohana (ascent) only five notes are used, whereas the avarohana (descent) uses all the seven notes. Shuddha Ni is used in the arohana, while Komal Ni (represented as ni below) is used in avarohana. All other swaras are shuddha.

Arohana: Ni Sa Re, Ma Pa Ni, Sa.
Avarohana: Sa ni Dha, Pa Dha Ma Ga Re, Pa Ma Ga, Re Ga Ni Sa.
Pakad: Re, Ma Pa Ni, Sa Re ni Dha Pa, ma Ga Re
The vadi swara is Re
The ascent in this raga is a step by step pentatonic movement which goes like this: Sa, Re, Ma Pa, Ni Sa’.

Samayam (Time): The raga is to be sung during the second quarter of the night (9PM to 12AM).

Re is very prominent, quite a few times the singer rests on Re, making it a centre to the melody. The Meend from Ma to Re via Ga is one of the most vital features of the raga. The arohana via shuddha Ni, and the transition from Re to komal Ni in the avarohana form an important part of the melodies in this raga. Further, Desh is quite close to neighboring ragas like Tilak Kamod, and hence requires skillful rendition to separate itself.

Desh has been used in a few patriotic compositions. Vande Mataram, the national song of India, is the most well-known. The popular old Doordarshan video Baje Sargam, that featured many respected Indian classical singers, is also based on Desh.

Veena Sahasrabuddhe (14 September 1948 – 29 June 2016) was an Indian vocalist and composer of Hindustani classical music from Kanpur. Her singing style had its roots in Gwalior gharana, but it also borrowed from Jaipur and Kirana gharanas. Sahasrabuddhe was known as a singer of khyal and bhajan.

Veena Sahasrabuddhe was born in a musical family. Her father Shankar Shripad Bodas was a disciple of vocalist Vishnu Digambar Paluskar. She began her early musical education under her father, and then under her brother Kashinath Shankar Bodas.[citation needed] She also learned Kathak dancing in her childhood. Sahasrabuddhe's musical mentors included Balwantrai Bhatt, Vasant Thakar, and Gajananrao Joshi. Later she also trained briefly under Gaansaraswati Kishori Amonkar.

She had a bachelor's degree in vocal performance, Sanskrit literature, and English literature from Kanpur University (1968), a master's degree (Sangeet Alankar) in vocal performance from A.B.G.M.V. Mandal (1969), and also master's degree in Sanskrit from Kanpur University (1979). A.B.G.M.V. Mandal conferred on her a doctorate in vocal music (Sangeet Praveen) in 1988. For some years she was the head of the department of music at SNDT Pune campus. She performed all over India and in several countries around the world.

Her father Shankar Shripad Bodas was a contemporary of Omkarnath Thakur and Vinayakrao Patwardhan, and one of the earliest students of Vishnu Digambar Paluskar who founded the famous Gandharva Mahavidyalaya. Bodas was specially invited by Paluskar to move to Kanpur from Mumbai and spread music. Bodas and Shanta migrated to Kanpur in 1926, founded a Sangit Samaj and began teaching students, inviting other performers and propagating music. The Paluskar tradition was essentially in the Gwalior Gharana style and temperament of singing. Kanpur was an industrial town without any notable cultural life, particularly classical music. Until then, Uttar Pradesh had other places such as Banaras and Allahabad where music thrived. Veena's mother Shanta was also a singer and taught music in local schools in Kanpur. Veena grew up in this musical atmosphere at home. In addition to training from her father, she also trained with her brother Kashinath.

Veena Sahasrabuddhe gave her last concert on 2 December 2012. She was diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy. She died on 29 June 2016.

Awards
A prize in Vocal Classical category in a national competition for artists under age 25, conducted by All India Radio (1972)[citation needed]
Uttar Pradesh Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1993)[citation needed]
Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (2013)[citation needed]
Akhil Bharatiya Gandharva Mahavidyalaya Mandal (ABGMV) confers posthumously the Honorary Degree " संगीत महामहोपाध्याय " (2019) [2]