A Complete Guide To The Bilawal Thaat In Indian Classical Music.

As defined by the IAST, Thaats are heptatonic scales; they are also known as frets on stringed instruments, like the sitar and veena. Bilawal thaat is a mode of the Hindustani music. Bilawal Thaat is the most popular thaat in Pakistani classical music too. It’s also one of the most commonly used thaats in Indian classical music and Western Classical music. Bilawal Thaat is a raga in the Guru Granth Sahib, the primary scripture of Sikhism. The Bilawal thaat can be played using either Shuddh Vadi, i.e., natural note or Shadav, i.e., flat fifth tone in the lower octave and Madhyam in the upper octave.

What is thaat?

Ragas are derived from thaats, the combinations of swaras, and a thaat maintains a raga from the combination of thaats. Combinations of thaat can create many ragas. Typically, in north Indian and south Indian classical music, there are 10 thaats and 52 thaats, each controlling lakhs of ragas. But in North Indian or Carnatic classical music, this raga structure does not apply to all ragas. All ragas may not be categorised under these thaats. This is disputed, and is a matter of opinion.

Since the 7 Swaras (Shudha) appear in Aroh and Avaroh, the Raag Bilawal was originally from Bilawala Thaat, so it’s known as Ashraya Raag. Therefore, it would be an easy song for any Indian classical music student to learn.

Traditionally, Hindustani music consists of ten different thaats. Bilaval is one of the most basic of the ten, and the notes that are in it are shuddha, or they are all natural scales. These days, Bilaval isn’t performed very often as a raga, but the small variation called Alhaiya Bilaval is quite common.

Bilaval has several Ragas including:

There are more than thirty ragas in this style according to the Hindustani Sangeet Shastra method. The main ragas in this style are listed as follows:

Alhaiyya-Bilawal, Bihag, Devagiri-Bilawal, Yamani-Bilawal, Hemkalyan, Maluha -Kedar,  Jaldhar-Kedar, Shukla-Bilawal,  Kakubh-Bilawal, Nat-Bilawal, Kamod-Nat, Pat-Bihag, Nat-Bihag, Kedar-Nat, Mand, Deepak, Durga, Deshkar, Bihag, Hansadhvani ,Maluha Kedar, Rasranjani, & many more etc.

How Bilawal thaat is different from other Thaats?

The Bilawal thaat is different from other thaats that are used for daily naats. Bilawal thaat is used for singing sad and melancholic naats. It was created on the pattern of Miyan ki Todi. This thaat contains some very beautiful raags which are suitable for sufi music.

Carnatic music has a melody called Sankarabharanam which corresponds to the Carnatic melody, Bilaval. The pitches in the tune are all natural, or shuddha, with flat or sharp intervals as part of the pattern. This happens with shuddha pitches in the interval pattern of Bilaval thaat.

Sri Guru Granth Sahib is a religious book of 60 raga compositions from northern India. From page 795 to page 859, the composition in this raga is spread across 64 pages. The raga has a strict set of rules that define how many notes can be used together to create a tune. Bilaval is the third-fourth raga in the series.

Its geographic location and characteristic sound make the Bilawal Thaat scale one of the best choices if you’re looking for an improv scale that represents North Indian music.

As a result, the Bilawal Thaat scale is most often used in melancholy, romantic, or scary music. The minor third in the scale fits the scale into the group of Minor scales, making it an ideal choice for all of the previously listed genres of music.

Conclusion:

The Bilawal thaat of Indian classical music is a set of notes that are used in North Indian Classical Music. It is popular for Milad and Hussain songs and during weddings. However, you can use the Bilawal thaat to create any kind of song in Indian Classical Music.