Tell me what helped and what's missing. It goes straight to the person building this and stays private. It's anonymous: no name or email needed. Want news of new ragas and packs? Use the email sign-up at the bottom of the page.
RĀGĀKIT
Sunrise · Devotion · Carnatic
Mayamalavagowla
Peace, devotion
MIDI files
Files are in Sa = C and loop on whole bars. Drag them onto a track in your DAW. The WAV uses the instrument you picked above. Free to use in your releases, royalty-free.
Plays the raga's ascent (aroha) and descent (avaroha), which often skip or zigzag through notes. Tap any key to hear it.
Good to know
Traditionally the first raga taught to Carnatic music students, a practice credited to the composer Purandara Dasa.
A 7-note raga, called sampurna in classical terms.
Show 2 more
Its notes are the same as the double harmonic major scale.
It is melakarta #15, one of the 72 parent scales of Carnatic music.
Spotted a mistake? Corrections from musicians are very welcome in the feedback box below.
Movement
Aroha (up)
SrGMPdNSC D♭ E F G A♭ B C
Avaroha (down)
SNdPMGrSC B A♭ G F E D♭ C
Notes of Mayamalavagowla
Sargam
S
r
G
M
P
d
N
S
Western
C
D♭
E
F
G
A♭
B
C
Solfège
do
ra
mi
fa
so
le
ti
do
Signature phrase
SrGMPdN,NdPMGrS
C D♭ E F G A♭ B · B A♭ G F E D♭ C
A phrase that marks this raga's character. Singers add gamakas (ornaments) that a keyboard can't show, so treat the MIDI as the shape and add your own bends and feel.
Practice singing
RāgāKit sings each note in sargam (Sa, Ri, Ga, Ma…), then listens while you sing it back. Turn on the Drone for a steady Sa, and use headphones if you can. Your voice is analysed on this device only: nothing is recorded or sent.
–
flat
sharp
Sing any note…
Chords that fit
Every chord uses only this raga's notes. Ragas are traditionally played over a drone, so these are for fusion, film and accompaniment. Tap a chord to hear it.
Home chords: they contain Sa, so they sit best under the melody
Other chords for movement
Why these chords fit
Mayamalavagowla uses the same notes as C double harmonic scale, so these are the chords that scale naturally gives you. What makes it a raga is how the melody moves through those notes.
Every chord is built only from the raga's own notes (for example C = Sa – Ga – Pa), so it won't clash with the melody.
The chord on Sa, C (Sa – Ga – Pa), is major: a bright, settled home.
Its altered notes are komal Re and komal Dha. Chords that contain them (D♭ and E) carry the raga's colour: use them for mood, then return to a home chord.
Home chords contain Sa, so they agree with the tanpura drone and feel settled. The others move away from Sa and pull back toward home, which is what makes a loop feel like it's going somewhere.
A simple loop to start:C → D♭ → E → C
Fusion: genres that fit
Suggested from the raga's notes and mood. Start here, then break the rules.
AmbientFree or 60–80 BPM
Long pads on Sa and Pa, lots of reverb, a few notes at a time.
Cinematic / film scoreFree or 60–90 BPM
Strings or a pad on the drone, let the melody build slowly.
Progressive metal90–180 BPM
Low riffs on Sa, fast runs through the aroha, odd time signatures.
Tell me what helped and what's missing. It goes straight to the person building this and stays private. It's anonymous: no name or email needed. Want news of new ragas and packs? Use the email sign-up at the bottom of the page.
Sa is set to C. Lowercase sargam (r g d n) means komal or flat; M' means tivra or sharp Ma. Solfège uses movable do, so do is always Sa. A dot below a note means the lower octave; a dot above means the upper octave.