Kapi (raga)

Carnatic music
Tanjavur-style tambura
Concepts
Śruti Svara Rāga Tāḷa Mēḷakarta Asaṃpūrṇa Mēḷakarta
Compositions
Gītaṃ Svarajati Varṇaṃ Kr̥ti Kīrtana Rāgaṃ Tānaṃ Pallavi Tillana
Instruments
Melody Sarasvati Vīṇā Veṇu Nādasvaraṃ Goṭṭuvādyaṃ (Citra Vīṇā) Violin Percussion Mr̥daṅgaṃ Ghaṭaṃ Morsing Kanjira Thavil Drone Tambura Shruti box
Composers Glossary
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Kāpi is a popular rāga in Carnatic music, the classical music of South India.^[1] Kāpi is a janya rāgam of Kharaharapriya with a meandering vakra scale. Typically performed at slow and medium speeds, it is capable of inducing moods of devotion, pathos and sadness in the listeners. Kāpi is different from the Hindustani raag and thaat Kafi. The equivalent raag in Hindustani is Pilu.

Kāpi is an audava-vakra sampoorna rāgam with an ascending pentatonic scale and a descending scale with seven notes, but not in a descending order. Use of Kakali Nishadam and Anthara Gandharam make it a Bhashanga Raagam.

• ārohaṇa : S R₂ M₁ P N₃ Ṡ^[a]
• avarohaṇa : Ṡ N₂ D₂ N₂ P M₁ G₂ R₂ S^[b]

The presence of different nishāda swarās (N₂ and N₃) lends a distinctive quality to Kāpi, along with the fact that it uses a set of vakra swarās (N₂ D₂ N₂).

There is also a mild presence of shuddha daivatham (D₁) that renders an invaluable feeling of devotion to the raagam. This, and the presence of Anthara Gandharam (G₃) makes it difficult to pinpoint the exact nature of the avarohana of the raagam.

In the song Jagadhodharana composed by Sangeeta Pitamaha Sri Purandara Dasa, the note Suddha Dhaivatham (Dha1) also occurs as a foreign note(anya swara)

Kapi ragam gives the feeling Devotion, Sentiment and happiness

Some of the popular compositions in Kāpi are:

• Jagadoddhārana Adisidaleshode, Bannisi gopi^[2] - Purandaradasa
• Mee Valla Gunadosha Memi, Intha Sowkhya - Thyagaraja
• Venkatachalapate Ninu Nammiti - Muthuswami Dikshitar **
• Viharamanasa Rame, Smarasi Pura, Sree Madhavamanu - Swathi Thirunal
• Enna thavam seydanai Yashoda - Papanasam Sivan
• Bhaja maadhavam anisham - Mysore Vasudevacharya
• Maya Gopabala - K C Kesava Pillai
• Jaanaki ramana dasaratha nandana - Vanamaamalai Jeeyar Swami
• Javo Mat Thum (Upaakhyanam) - Swathi Thirunal
• Chinnanchiru Kiliye (First two stanzas) - Subramanya Bharathi
• Kurai Ondrum Illai (Two charanam verses) - Chakravarti Rajagopalachari
• Karthikeyanai - Mayuram Viswanatha Sastri
• Aravinda Padamalar - Ambujam Krishna
• Charanamule Nammiti - Bhadrachala Ramadasu
• Kanaka Simham - Kalyani Varadarajan
• Kanna Vaa Manivanna Vaa (First two verses) - Ambujam Krishna
• Nee mattume en nenjil nirkirai - Perumal Murugan and K Arun Prakash

** Kāpi of Muthuswami Dikshitar is quite different from the traditional Kāpi and often cited as karNATaka Kāpi

The Moorchana of Kāpi as per Venkatamakhin is S R2 G2 M1 P D2 N2 S/ N2 D2 P M1 G2 G2 R2 S

Songs listed below are composed in Raga Pilu (raga) which is Hindustani equivalent to Raga Kapi (raga)

Songs listed below are composed in Raga Pilu which is the Hindustani equivalent of Raga Kapi.