Kanara

Kanara ( ਕਾਨੜਾ ; also Kanada) is an India musical raga (composition) that appears in the Sikh tradition from northern India and is part of the Sikh holy scripture called Sri Guru Granth Sahib or SGGS for short. Every raga has a strict set of rules which govern the number of notes that can be used; which notes can be used; and their interplay that has to be adhered to for the composition of a tune. 
==Raga History==
Raga Kanada originated in South India. Darbari (or courtly) Kanada was created by India's greatest musician, Tansen, in the 16th Century, the profound mood and spirit of this great raga is not equaled. Raga Darbari Kanada is assumed by many to be North India's greatest raga. There are a number of ragas in the Kanada family of ragas.
Kanada is a group of ragas in Hindustani classical music.
Kanada is derived from Karnata, which implies that the raga is originally from the Carnatic music (South India) tradition.[1]. According to Kaufmann[2] "Carnatic" refers to a name of a former province in the South between the Eastern Ghats and the Coromandel coast, today included in the Madras Presidency.
Ragas in this group belong to different thaats, but particularly to the Asavari or Kafi thaat.
They share the following characteristics:
 1. komal ga and komal dha are vakra (zigzag) in descend and are used in phrases like gMR and dnP
 2. The basis of all Kanada scales is the scale of Sarang: S R M P (N or n). Even if the notes differ in one or two places, the performers avoid the notes g and d in fast passages, thus establishing the Sarang character.
The following ragas belong to this group:[2]
 1. Abhogi
 2. Adana kanada
 3. Asavari
 4. Bageshri kanada
 5. Darbari kanada
 6. Desakh (Devsakh, Deshakya)
 7. Husseini kanada
 8. Kafi kanada
 9. Kausi kanada (Kaushik kanada)
 10. Nayaki kanada
 11. Shahana kanada
 12. Sugharai kanada
 13. Suha kanada
In the SGGS, the Sikh holy Granth (book) there are a total of 31 raga compositions and this raga is the twenty-eighth raga to appear in the series. The composition in this raga appears on a total of 25 pages from page numbers 1294 to 1319.
The modern name for this raga appears to be "Kanada", probably a matter of transliteration from its original name. Under the Kanara spelling this raga was prevalent in the classifications of 16th and 17th centuries. However, in one instance, Kanara and Kanada both appear in the same ragmala. This would indicate that at one time these were two distinctly different ragas. Kanara was used by Guru Ram Das and Guru Arjan for 69 hymns, a var plus numerous slokas. In the Ragmala, Kanara is a putra of Dipak. The modern Kanada is one of a group of many Kanada ragas which are combinations of Kanada with other ragas; one of the most popular is Darbari-Kanada classified under the Asavari thata. Assigned to the night hours, its mood is quiet and full of majesty. Darbari-Kanada is performed in slow tempo and is a popular concert form today. The details of this raga:
* Aroh: Sa Re Ga, Ma Pa, Ni Sa
* Avroh: Sa, Ni Pa, Ma Pa, Ga Ma Re Sa 
* Vadi: Pa 
* Samvadi: Sa
==Shabads in Kanra Raga==
* Sajjana Sant Aao Mere
* Everyone must listen Baba Mohinder Singh's Jorhi play on Kanra
* Man Japo Ram Gopal
==See also ==
* Ragas in the SGGS
* Kirtan
* Raga
* Taal
==External Links==
* Gurmat Sangeet Project
* Raj Academy of Asian Music
* Sikhnet: Shabad for Printing
Category:Raga
Category:Kirtan
Category:Glossary of Sikh Terms
Category:Sikhism