The Music of Hindostan c11.207

c11.207

But they avoid putting either of these notes on the drone if the *Rāg* which is being sung omits it. Thus, for *Bibhās* they would tune the Ma to Ga, in spite of the ‘thick’ effect of a major Third so low in the compass; for *Malkos*, in which there is no Pa and the Ga is an E, and neither this nor E would be available on the drone (which must be as consonant as possible), the Pa string would be tuned in unison with the Ma string; and it is only for the European that the re-inforced Fourth of the scale upsets the tonality. The strings of the tambura are long and sonorous, and the Fifth overtone (Ga) comes out very clearly from the fundamental whatever the other strings may be; and this still further adds to the dissonance of the Fourth. It is curious, too, that the B♮ and D♭ of *Bhairav*, and the B♭ and D♭ of *Toḍi* should be sung, and evidently with special pleasure, against a C drone¹; it recalls the cadence of the Organum: