Hameer

Hameer is a nocturnal Hindustani classical raga nominally placed in Kalyan thaat. All the shuddha swaras (natural notes) along with teevra madhyam (F#) are used in it. Generally, its vaadi swar (the most used, principal note of a raga on which a pause may be taken) is dhaivat (A Natural) and the samavaadi swar (the secondmost used important note assisting the vaadi swar) is gandhar (E Natural). However, some exponents consider the vaadi swar to be pancham (G Natural) as Hamir is mainly sung in the upper half of an octave and is nocturnal."Pancham" is not taken in the "aaroh" but is taken in "avroh".Its jati is "Shadav Sampurn". "vadi Svar" is 'Dhaivat(Dh)' & 'Samvadi Swar' is 'Gandhar

Ascent and Descent of Notes in Hameer

In the ascent, all natural notes are used sometimes with F#. In the descent,both of the madhyamas are used. A beautiful feature during the descent is the series of the swaras 'Pa ga ma re sa' (G E F D C). At times, Komal Nishad (ni) (B Flat) is also used as in 'Dha ni Pa' during the descent .The general ascent and descent of the notes is :

                  Sa Re Sa, Ga Ma Dha, Ni Dha Sa
                  C  D  C, E  F  A, B  A   C

                  Sa Ni Dha Pa, ma Pa Dha Pa, Ga Ma Re Sa
                  C  B  A   G, F# G  A   G, E  F  D  C

Scholars do not permit the use of teevra madhyam in this raga and consider it to have emanated from Bilaval. But today the F# has become a part of the Raga in question. A special characteristic feature of this raga is the specific way in which the dhaivat (dha) is sung or played with a touch of upper nishad (ni) at the beginning. This raga is very popular due to its melodious, appealing nature.The time to sing this raga is 2nd prahar of night i.e. 9:00pm-12:00 night.

Notes

References

• Bor, Joep; Rao, Suvarnalata (1999). The Raga Guide: A Survey of 74 Hindustani Ragas. Nimbus Records with Rotterdam Conservatory of Music. p. 76. ISBN 9780954397609.