The voice within

 Farz raga is the janya raga of 15th melakartha mayamalavagowla.  It's a shadava sampoorna raga. Apart from shadja and panchama, the shuddha rishabha, antara gandhara, shuddha madhyama, shuddha daivatha, and kakali nishada are the swara sthanas. The speciality of this raga is that the alapana can be limitless. Some of the famous kritis are: neelayatakshi by Shyama shastri, pannagashayana by swati tirunal maharaja, Paramaatmani by tiruvattiyur thyag Iyer, Thillana: thanomthanana  by Ramanad Srinivas Iyer References: history of South Indian music by Ranga Ramanuja AR, fundamentals of raga and tala by Ghosh N

The term devotional music doesn't have a particular definition. The language and cultural variation in India is very vast and the interpretations of Devotional music leads to fantastic diversity. Often performed at gatherings, Devotional music is commonly described as "Bhajan" all over India. "Gurubani" in Punjab, "Keertan" in Bengal, "Dasara Sahitya" in Karnataka, "Tevaram or Tirupugazh" in Tamil Nadu, "Ram charit manas" in Uttar Pradesh etc. Devotional Music are often a contribution to Gods and Godesses, or expression of feelings towards spirituality. The technical perfection of "taala" and "raga" are not mandatory in Devotional songs but the perfection increases the depth and evokes the spiritual feelings. It's said that pronunciation of the lyrics is of utmost importance. The contributions by Pandit Onkar Nath, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Pandit D.V. Paluskar, Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan created ...