Define raga What will be an ideal response? ...

[olgavictoria]

Define raga
 
  What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

Discuss the musical function of the alapana, kriti and tani avartanam sections in a Carnatic music performance.
 
  What will be an ideal response?

[Madisongo23]

Answer to Question 1

 The word is from the Sanskrit word for coloring, dyeing, tingeing or that which colors the mind.
 a kind of expressive entity with a musical personality all its own, a portfolio of characteristic musical gestures and phrases
 a collection of notes, a scale, intonation, ornaments, pillar tones (the tonal center, sa, and the tone a perfect fifth above the tonal center, pa); the basic parent/mother scale of a raga has seven tonessa, ri, ga, ma, pa, da, niby lowering or raising the scale degrees of ri, ga, ma, da, or ni up to 72 different raga scales may be produced.

Answer to Question 2

 The alapana is a free-flowing introduction to the raga in which the song is set.
 The kriti is the composition which presents the songa melody with wordsin a specific raga and tala; the song may actually be sung by a vocalist or played instrumentally on a solo instrument such as a veena.
 The tani avartanam is a featured drum solo that leads to the return of the melodic soloist and conclusion of the composition.