Raag Durga

I came across a beautiful composition from Bandish Bandits S2 - Sakhi Mori. It's a composition in Raag Durga. I had never heard of this raga before, but I was able to recognize the notes of the song. It's from the Bilaval thaat, a.k.a., the Ionian mode. However, it sounded so different. It sounds nowhere close to Ionian mode. Even the major/minor chords from the mode don't fit well.

Raag Durga has the following notes: 1, 2, 4, 5, 6.

The 3rd is missing. The 3rd. It's one of the most important notes in the major scale. Yet, it is missing in Raag Durga. That's what makes it very different. Major songs are meant to give you a happy/neutral vibe. Mixolydian is supposed to make you feel nostalgic. Lydian is supposed to make you feel hopeful. However, this raga, just by eliminating the 3rd, made me feel everything at the same time.

This is where I realize that I should probably stop drawing parallels between Indian and Western music. Indian music is very different—it has evolved from its own roots. There are 5,000 ragas, each with its own identity. Each conveys different human emotions.

The world of music is so deep that the more I dive into it, the more I realize I know nothing. There are people who practice music religiously—days and nights—for 40 years and are still only able to master a handful of ragas. But that's just a glimpse. That's just Indian music. There are thousands of other styles of music around the world. It's hard to even imagine anyone who would achieve 0.01% of all the music known to humanity. Ultimately, each one of us would only be a drop completing the ocean.