On the occasion of Ganesha pooja, this article is dedicated to Lord Ganapathy, the remover of all obstacles.  This is a guest post / re-post by Sri K V Ramprasad, popularly known in the blog world as hamsanandi and neelanjana. In his own words, he is a ಕನ್ನಡಿಗ. Musicphile. Bibliophile. Astrophile. Blogophile. Twitterphile, Thyagarajaphile, Dr. M Balamuralikrishna) BMKphile. He has written a book Hamsanada, and blogs here at Neelanjana. Wish you a very happy Ganesh Chaturthi!!

 The Vaatapi Ganapati Temple

Ganesha, the remover of all obstacles, has been celebrated through the works of many composers. One of the most popular songs about Ganapati is Muttuswamy Dikshita’s song in Hamsadhwani raga, ‘vAtApi gaNapatim bhajEham’. Even if you have attended a handful of concerts, it is very likely that you have listened to this composition.

Vatapi Ganapati Temple in Badami fort

Muttuswamy Dikshita (1776AD-1835AD) has composed about 400 compositions, most of them in Samskrta. Notably, he has composed many songs with geographic references which make it possible to locate the specific temple or deity he is singing about. A majority of his compositions are about the Gods and Goddesses of temples located in the delta region of river Kaveri.

Chalukya king  ruling from Badami (then called Vaatapi), Pulikeshi II invaded Pallava kingdom. In retaliation, in 643 AD, Pallava king Narasimha Varma invaded the Chalukya kingdom and laid siege on the Chalukya capital and defeated Pulikeshi.  During that time, a general of Pallava army by name Paranjyoti  (who became one of the 63 saints later on in his life , and became well known as Siruttondan) took away the Ganapati idol from the temple atop the fort in Vaatapi, and installed it in his hometown of Tiruchchengattangudi.

A view of Badami fort; Vatapi Ganapati temple can be seen at the left-center of the picture

This temple is being (mistakenly) referred to as the ‘Lower Shiva temple’ now. There is no idol inside.

As the idol came from the city of Vatapi, it came to be called as Vaatapi Ganapati, even after it’s relocation to Tiruchengattangudi.

Later on a similar idol installed in the Tyagaraja temple at Tiruvaroor as well, and this was also referred by the same name Vaatapi Ganapati (perhaps because of the likeness of features).

The famous hamsadhwani composition, Vaatapi Ganapatim Bhajeham of Muttuswamy Dikshita is about the idol located in the Tiruvaroor temple.

-neelanjana

This post was originally published at Neelanjana.

Vaatapi Ganapatim Bhajeham is a post from: Indian Music

Indian Music :Learn about Indian Music - Getting to know a little more about Indian music, musicians and instruments

On the occasion of Indian Independence day, 15th August 2012, I share with you all two of my tracks, which are really close to my heart.

1. Vande Mataram

I had done this track about a month ago and it was one that I really loved doing. I had always loved the Vande Mataram song and used to often play it during the functions in my college days but it was only last month I had the idea to make a proper recording and give my own arrangement . Do check it and give your shares and likes!!

2.  Vaishnav Janato

This track was said to be Mahatma Gandhi’s favorite. After listening to my vande mataram  track my senior Kamalesh da! wanted me to record this song for his parents, especially his dad who loves this song. So I had done it for him. I had not uploaded it but then this being our independence day I thought it would be nice to share it with all you dear people! I did the arrangements with cellos, pizzicato strings, harp sections and tanpura also

Do check out both and give your comments, likes and shares!!!

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°Happy Indian Independence Day! 15th Aug 2012°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

Happy Independence day India :-) is a post from: Indian Music

Indian Music :Learn about Indian Music - Getting to know a little more about Indian music, musicians and instruments

This article is a guest post / re-post by Sri K V Ramprasad, popularly known in the blog world as hamsanandi and neelanjana. In his own words, he is a ಕನ್ನಡಿಗ. Musicphile. Bibliophile. Astrophile. Blogophile. Twitterphile, Thyagarajaphile, Dr. M Balamuralikrishna) BMKphile. He has written a book Hamsanada, and blogs here at Neelanjana.

The Ragas to which the Gopis Danced….

Whenever I listen to certain Indian flautists (like Hariprasad Chaurasia or S Shashank),  I hear a thur-thur-thur sound in the way they blow.  This normally happens at the drut – or fast phrases. I have no better way of  describing it!  Listen to this short recording of Hariprasad Chaurasia on youtube. You can distinctly hear the sound I am indicating by the phrase thur-thur-thur at several places. As just couple of examples, I would mark around the the  2 min 25 second, and 5 min 6 second  mark, just to tell you what I am talking about.

I was thinking this was a  novelty of some flautists (because I don’t think every flautist uses such a technique).  That was only till I came across a song  that was written more than five centuries ago! Oh boy, How wrong our inferences could be!

This is a song written by Purandara Dasa, acknowledged as a pioneer in Karnataka Sangeetha. The title of this blog happens to be the opening line (pallavi) of one of his songs. It goes like

tutturu toorendu battisa raagagaLannu chittaja janaka tanna koLalallUdidanu

“Krishna, the father of Manmatha,  played 32 raagas on his flute with a sound of ‘thur-thur-thur’ “

Now do you see why I said this technique could not be all that new? Krishna is described by Purandara as playing his flue this way. Nobody has seen Krishna playing his flute. But Purandara must have see other flautists around his time ( 1480 AD – 1564 AD) producing such sounds on their flutes, and this of course, he has attributed to Krishna. So far so good.

But this song is also significant in other ways. Purandara dasa is said to have composed hundreds of thousands of compositions. Now, we have just over a thousand of his compositions available. Although Purandara Dasa is called as the “pitAmaha of Karnataka sangIta”, most of his original tunes are lost.  There is pretty little information available on how many of his compositions were sung. However, being the musician he was, some of his compositions talk about various musical aspects, although indirectly.  And this song, tutturu toorendu, is one of them.

For a long time, Indian music was supposed to have 32 major rAgas. This has showed up even prior to Purandara dAsa. Basavanna, a social reformer from Karnataka (1134-1196 AD) has this in one of his vachanas (saying):

ಎನ್ನ ಕಾಯವ ದಂಡಿಗೆಯ ಮಾಡಯ್ಯ
ಎನ್ನ ಶಿರವ ಸೋರೆಯ ಮಾಡಯ್ಯ
ಎನ್ನ ನರಗಳ ತಂತಿಯ ಮಾಡಯ್ಯ
ಬತ್ತೀಸ ರಾಗವ ಹಾಡಯ್ಯ
ಉರದಲೊತ್ತಿ ಬಾರಿಸು ಕೂಡಲಸಂಗಮದೇವ!

Here is the text transliterated:

enna kAyava daMDigeya mADayya
enna shirava sOreya mADayya
enna naragaLa tantiya mADayya
battIsa rAgava hADayya
uradalotti bArisu kUDalasangama dEva

And here it is translated:

Make my body the fretboard,
Make my head resonator
Make my nerves into the strings
Sing thirtytwo rAgas
Play intensely, Oh koodalasangama dEva*!

* : Koodala sangama – A place at the confluence of Krishna and Malaprabha rivers in Karnataka.

It is the same 32 raagas which Purandara dasa refers to in this song “tutturu toorendu’ too. – “Krishna played 32 rAgas”. (battIs = 32).  However, he does not list out all the 32 raagas in this song. How unfortunate for us?

First lets see what he says in one of the stanzas of tutturu toorendu:

ಗೌಳ ನಾಟಿ ಆಹೇರಿ ಗುರ್ಜರಿ ಮಾಳವಿ ಸಾರಂಗ ರಾಗ ಕೇಳಿ ರಮಣಿಯರತಿ ದೂರದಿಂದ

ಫಲಮಂಜರಿ ಗೌಳಿ ದೇಶಾಕ್ಷಿ ರಾಗಗಳನು ನಳಿನನಾಭನು ತನ್ನ ಕೊಳಲಲೂದಿದನು

gouLa nATi AhEri gurjari mALavi sAranga  rAga kELi ramaNiyarati dUradinda
phalamanjari gauLi dEshAkSi rAgangaLanu naLinanAbhanu tanna koLalalUdidanu

“When the maidens from listening from afar, the one with a lotus in his navel, played raagas like gouLa, nATi, AhEri, gurjari, mALavi, sAranga, phalamanjari, gouLi and dEshAkShi”

So, we have the following  9 distinct rAgas listed in this song. However, it falls  short of the required 32!

1. gouLa
2. nATi
3. AhEri
4. gurjari
5. mALavi
6. sAranga
7. phalamanjari
8. gouLi
9. dEshakshi

Luckily for us,  there are at least two other songs (that I know of) in which he lists out some of the raagas (melodies) that were vouge in his time.

Here is a stanza from another song that starts as ನಳಿನಜಾಂಡ ತಲೆಯ ತೂಗಿ – “naLinajANDa taleya toogi”:

ಮಾರವಿ ದೇಶಿ ಗುರ್ಜರಿ ಭೈರವಿ ಗೌಳಿ ನಾಟಿ ಸಾವೇರಿ ಆಹೇರಿ ಪೂರ್ವಿ
ಕಾಂಭೋಜಿ ಪಾಡಿ ದೇಶಾಕ್ಷೀ ಶಂಕರಾಭರಣ ಮಾಳವ
ವರಾಳಿ ಕಲ್ಯಾಣಿ ತೋಡಿ ಮುಖಾರಿಯರಳಿ ವಸಂತ ಬೌಳಿ ಧನ್ಯಾಸಿ
ಸೌರಾಷ್ಟ್ರ ಗುಂಡಕ್ರಿಯ ರಾಮಕ್ರಿಯ ಮೇಘ ಕುರಂಜಿಯು ಪಾಡಲು ನೋಡಿ!

mAravi dEshi gurjari bhairavi gauLi nATi sAvEri AhEri pUrvi
kAmbhOji pADi dEshAkSi shankarAbharaNa mALava
varALi kalyANi tODi mukhAriyaraLi vasanta bauLi dhanyAsi
saurASTra guMDakriya rAmakriya mEgha kuranjiyu pADalu nODi

Now, let me list out the rAgas from here, discounting the ones that have been listed before:

10. mAravi
11. dEshi
gurjari 
12. bhairavi
gouLi 
nATi
13. sAvEri
AhEri 
14. pUrvi
15. kAmbhOji
16. pADi
dEshAkshi 
17. shankarAbharaNa
18. mALava
19. varALi
20. kalyANi
21. tODi
22. mukhAri
23. vasanta
24. bouLi
25. dhanyAsi
26. sourAShTra
27. guMDakriya
28. rAmakriya
29. mEgha
30. kuranji

Whew! We are so close to the magical number 32!

Now, to conclude, here is a stanza from the last song – which starts as ಅಂಗನೆಯರೆಲ್ಲರು ನೆರೆದು – ’anganeyarellaru neredu’

ಪಾಡಿ ಮಲಹರಿ ಭೈರವಿ ಸಾರಂಗ ದೇಶಿ ಗುಂಡಕ್ರಿಯ ಗುರ್ಜರಿ ಕಲ್ಯಾಣಿ ರಾಗದಿ ತಂಡ
ತಂಡದಲಿ ನೆರೆದು ರಂಗನ ಉಡಿಯ ಘಂಟೆ ಘಣ್ ಘಣ್ ಘಣ್ ಘಣಿರೆಂದು ಹಿಡಿದು ಕುಣಿಸುವರು

pADi malhAri bhairavi sAranga dEsi guMDakriya gurjari kalyANi rAgadi taMDa
taMadali neredu rangana uDiya ghaNTe ghaN ghaN ghaN ghNirendu hiDidu kuNisuvaru

If you look carefully, you’ll notice there is only one name that has not appeared before.

31. Malahari

So, the internal evidence from these compositions is giving a list of 31 rAgas (probably out of the legendary 32 – this is but my speculation) that were in vogue in the 15th-16th centuries. The set of 32 rAgas was not a static list, and over the centuries, new rAgas gained popularity, and some went outdated. The evidence from these three compositions also shows that the rAga kalyANi, was adopted by composers like Purandara Dasa , although the text writers continued to shoo it away because of its foreign origins, and kept saying that the rAga is not fit for compositions for another two centuries!

But the golden rule in Music is “If it is melodious, it stays“. Kalyani has passed the test of time. Composers who came in the 18th-19th centuries explored all facets of this rAga, and today it has became one of the major rAgas of Karnataka Sangeetha .

-neelanjana

PS: When I was looking through Purandara dAsa’s compositions, I found another pada – ರಂಗ ಕೊಳಲಲೂದಲಾಗಿ (ranga koLalalUdalAgi) which also describes Krishna playing flute, and mentions two rAgas, namely: rAmakriya and mEgharanjani. mEgharanjani is not listed in the other 3 compositions I wrote about earlier ! So this is making it to 32 now 

The sAhitya of this song is as follows:

ranga koLalanUdalAgi mangaLamayavAytu dhare
jagangaLu chaitanya maretu anga paravasahavAduvu

tIDida mAruta mandamatigaiye bADida baralu phalagonchalu biDe
pADalollavu aLikulangaLu bADida mAmara chiguroDeya

hEDigonDavu jANakki giLi mAtADade kAlegundidavu kOgile
ODATa vairava biTTu khagamR^iga gADha nidrAvashavAduvu

nALina champaka nAga punnAga pATila shAvantige kunda bakuLavu
mAlati jAji parimaLagonDitu nIlAngananghrige eragidavu

dAma vanamAli shIvatsa kaustubha svAmi purandara viThThala rAyanau
nAma kriyE mEgha ranjini pADe sama vEdanamu namu ennE

Some more rAgas may show up in compositions if I look through.. May be some other time!

-neelanjana

This post was originally published at Neelanjana.

Ragas of Sri Krishna is a post from: Indian Music

Indian Music :Learn about Indian Music - Getting to know a little more about Indian music, musicians and instruments

Hi

I am introducing a new category here, the Expert’s Corner. Here I would try to include articles written by guest authors who are well known in the blogworld for not only their deep interest and passion for Indian Music but also for taking time to analyze certain aspects of it as well. I hope this would be a nice platform for interested authors who want to reach out to the world and share their point of view through this website. You can ‘contact me‘ if you wish to write an article here.

Cheers!!

Click here for browsing articles listed in this category.

Expert’s Corner is a post from: Indian Music

Indian Music :Learn about Indian Music - Getting to know a little more about Indian music, musicians and instruments

Hi all,

Here is my recent composition. I have called it the ‘Thirteenth Step’. It is more or less based on natabhairavi scale with a hint of saramathi. The rhythm cycle is quite a complex one of 13 beats. The normal compositions that one encounters are mostly based on 3/4/5/7/8 beat. This has come out pretty decent I feel but the flute parts could have been better I feel retrospectively. Anyway here is it…

Also I have been collaborating a bit, thanks to twitter and here are a few of those.

The following two are compositions by Ramprasad anna. (Twitter: @hamsanandi; Blog: http://neelanjana.wordpress.com/)

This is on the raga rAmakriyA/pantuvarAli/kAsirAmakriyA (S  R1  G3  M2  P  D1  N3  S’….S’  N3  D1  P  M2  G3  R1  S). I had sung this!!! after more than 5 years I think

This one is a bindumAlini piece which I played on flute. Bindumalini is a janya raga based on the melakArtha raga ChakravAham.

More of his compositions can be found in his Soundcloud channel: http://soundcloud.com/hamsanandi

The following is LGJ’s Desh Tillana sung beautifully by Varsha Ramann, a pune based law student. (Twitter: @varsharamann; Blog: www.varsharamann.wordpress.com). I mixed the track and played a little flute accompaniment here and there

More of her music you can find at: http://soundcloud.com/varsha-ramann

Do listen and leave your comments!!

Cheers!!

PS: my soundcloud channel is http://SoundCloud.com/indian_music_fan

Thirteenth Step is a post from: Indian Music

Indian Music :Learn about Indian Music - Getting to know a little more about Indian music, musicians and instruments

In the last post, the first part on the raga nalinakAnthI, we had seen about the scale and basic handling of the raga, how it is close and different to a sister raga kedAram and how it is a beaauoootiful raga. Now as in this post, we will see about some of the compositions made in this raga, how its similar and not so to the hindustani raag Thilak khamod.

Thilak Khamod and Nalinakanthi

First we will see about these two ragas. Here are two versions of Thilak Khamod.

The first is by Smt. Veena Sahasrabuddhe.

This one is on the Sarod by Sri. Wajahad Khan.

 
One can note the following about Tilak Khamod. It is a beautiful raga. It is also a (kind of) happy raga (to me though it creates a sense of longing too). In portions, it sounds similar to nalinakAthi. For comparison, listen to the naLinakAnthI played by MSG little down the (article look for **)

So if you had a keen ear, you would have noticed that there are portions of thilak khamod that are not at all like nalinakAnthI. Of course, I do understand that equivalent does not mean equal. But in my humble opinion, thilak khamod sounds more like the raga Desh.

 
The presence of the swara ‘da’ D2 in large dosage along with the appearance of N2 in thilak khamod makes me think so.

Compositions in NalinakanthI

Now we will see nalinakAnthi from the point of view of the compositions based on it.

Manavinaalakimchara – NalinakAnthI – Adi tala(8 beat cycle) – Sri Thyagaraja Swamy

The first composition that we see is none other than Sri Thyagaraja Swamy’s manavinaalakimchara. Easily one of the most popular kriti of the saint composer, he appeals to his mind to understand Lord Rama^[1].

This is Smt. MS Subbulakshmi rendering the song.

This is Sri. MSG rendering on the violin in typical MSG ‘ishtyle’ (**)

Ok, its been given that ‘Manavyalakinca’ is wrong and Manavinaalakinca is correct. So point noted, excuse my lack of telugu knowledge among other things.

Well, in that song, Thyagaraja swamy addresses his mind as a manifestation that is separate from himself asking it to understand him who knows the secrets of Lord Rama. He further goes to say how a human being must lead life like the Lord Rama did in his human form.

The choice of naLinakAnthI for this song seems to be in line with my idea that this raga indeed has an inherent feel of longing (raga nalinakAnthI) .

By Rajmohan Sir’s suggestion (Twitter: @yrskmohan) Chembai’s Masterpiece version and Mandolin Srinivas’ version(mp3).

The next song is my favorite varnam of Sri LGJ.

NeEvé gatIyanI – naLinakAnthI – Adi – Varnam – Sri Lalgudi G Jayaraman

Here is the master’s own rendition of the varnam.

Its such a beautiful and happy ‘varnam’. Some of the most beautiful portions of this recording (that I love) are described below.

>> The swarams starting 1.08 onwards is total bliss. When singing this, Smt Visakha Hari, during LGJ’s 80th birthday celebrations, gave a super analogy which I am giving here. Listen from 1.15 to 1.26. It sounds like how a host in a marriage (in India) invites the guests who arrive. First he sees a close friend coming into the hall. He goes to him and says warmly ‘welcome’ which is like the first part of the swaras;

S G3 R2 M1 G3 R2 S N.3 P. N.3 S G3 ;

Then other close friends come, and he runs to them and welcomes

R2 M1 P S’ N3 P M1 G3 R2 S G3 R2 M1 ;

Soon all the guest pour in and it goes..

N3 P P M1 M1 G3 G3 R2 S G3 R2 M1 P ;

so the host runs pillar to post trying to welcome everyone…

M1 G3 R2 M1 …  N3 P M1 P … S N3 P N3 R2 …. S N3 P1 M1 G3 R2 S N.3

That was excellent, wasn’t it? The complete swara (above 4 combined) is played below.

>> The beautiful styles with which LGJ plays the charanam (2.15 – 2.45 and then on); ‘mArakOtI rUpa Sundara’ with the mA of mArakOtI and pa of rUpa being swara-poruthham (refer to Ranjani article , Sada saranga nayane of MSS).

>> The swaram starting from (3.34 – 3.46) is played without the Sa throughout and still it sounds so balanced and fantabulous!! The swarams are as follows.. (Sa = S, R = R2, G = G3, M = M1, Pa = P, N = N3)

N P N – M P N

-M N P N -R M P N -R N P M P

-R P -M N -P R’ -N G’ R’

-M’ G’ R’ N P M G R

-G’ R’ N P M G R

-R’ N P M G R

-N. P. M G R -N P M’ G’ R’ -N P M G R

I have given it the way the swaras are played. The entire swara is like a cascade of waterfall. The intricate rhythm patterns are made to sound easy by the adroit choice of swaras. When I had the chance to play this to LGJ, he was happy and actually said his favorite part of this varnam was this swara!!! My fav part of this swara is the ending on how cleverly he uses the octaves to play the same N P M G R. Simbbllyy Sooper!!

Some other beautiful classical compositions include the NeE pAdamE gatI by GNB (here is a recording of Mandolin Srinivas), Nata jana pAlinI by Tanjore Sankara Iyer (here is a recording of Sri Neyveli Santhanagopalan)

 Cinematic compositions in Nalinakanthi

When one has to talk about naLinakAnthI in cine music, the first song Must be endan nenjil neengAdha from the movie Kalaingan composed by the maestro Ilayaraja. The song was sung by Sri Yesudas and Smt S Janaki. It is a super-hit song

The song is a beautiful nalinakAnthI and this was (to my knowledge) the only nice song from that film. The other songs were only so-so .

Deva’s manam virumbuthe seems also to be nalinakanthi and its also quite a popular number.

It is a totally different matter that Deva has based the song very similar to the Thyagaraja Swamy’s manavinaalakinchara and ripped off the interludes and most of the accompanying parts from Sri L Subramaniam’s album Motherland and just changed the swaras little here and there (to change the raga from a jOg to naLinakAnthI), added a sarangi here and there. But still its a very enjoyable number .

One would have heard the above Motherland piece in the old Doordarshan Surabhi, for which the piece was used.

Other instances of nalinakanthi feature in ARR’s song Kandukonden kandukonden from the movie of the same name though its not nalinakanthi all throughout.

The song noothana nee noothana(karka kasadara) and the interlude parts of Ingivalai(Ninaithu Ninaithu Parthen) are also based on naLinakAnthI.

Do drop me a message if you come across other songs based on this raga so that I can include it here.

Footnote

1.  For Laughs : Nalinakanthi Kuthu song by Thenga pals

2. A sequel to my Beauty of Nalinakanthi here in soundcloud

Next Post                                                                                                              Previous Post

Raga Nalinakanthi Part 2 is a post from: Indian Music

Indian Music :Learn about Indian Music - Getting to know a little more about Indian music, musicians and instruments

Hi all,

After quite some time, I am updating this section of the site. Here is my flute cover of the ARR songs, en kAdhalE from the film ‘Duet’ followed by lukka chuppi from the film ‘Rang De Basanti’.

This track I recorded using my new Audio Technica AT2020 USB microphone. The mix and processing was done on Mixcraft. I played the keys also. This is the first time I am playing proper chords on the keyboard. Do listen and share it

I have uploaded the song in Soundcloud.

You can visit my page @ http://soundcloud.com/indian_music_fan

My Music : Flute Cover of En Kadhale and Lukka Chuppi is a post from: Indian Music

Indian Music :Learn about Indian Music - Getting to know a little more about Indian music, musicians and instruments

The next raga we will see about is a beautiful, romantic and easily one of the most pleasant ragas in carnatic music, nalinakAnthI. This raga is also a personal favorite of mine. There have been many classical compositions and quite a few semi-classical and film songs based on this raga. I have heard people sometimes say that the hindustani raga, thilak kHamOd, is an equivalent to nalinakAnthI, but well except in some parts I don’t think it is similar. I will provide a comparison between both in the next part of the article.

Ok…..the scale of nalinakAnthI is as follows, (you may play it with the keyboard in this page, basics of indian classical music)

S    G3   R2   M1   P    N3    S’ –  C   E   D   F  G   B   C’

S’   N3    P    M    G3    R2    S — C’   B   G  F   E   D   C

Some of the first things that one can notice is the vakra (zig-zag) nature of the ArOhanam or the ascending scale. This raga has only the major scale notes as its parent janaka/melakArtha raga is sankarAbharanam, the major scale raga. It also resembles very closely to a sister raga which comes from the same sankarAbharanam, namely kedAram. The scale of kedAram is similar to nalinakAnthI but for the first four notes of the ArOhanam. The scale of kedAram is as follows,

S    M1   G3   M1   P    N3    S’ –  C   F   E   F  G   B   C’

S’   N3    P    M    G3    R2    S — C’   B   G  F   E   D   C

Though the scale difference may seem very small, one can actually feel the difference when both the ragas are sung properly .  I will explain in the following section on the handling of the raga how the two are different.

Handling of the raga;

For nalinakAnthI, the mood is easily set by its vakra phrase, the S G3 R2 M1. As seen earlier, the descending scale or the avarOhanam is same as kedAram. So what sets the two apart?

In kedAram, the ascending scale has no Rishabam, Ri (R). Its first four swaras are S M1 G3 M1. This  formation gives rise to the availability of a gamakA on M1, which is absent for nalinakAnthi. This can be understood better by listening to the recording below.

One can note that in kedAram the gamaka on M1 allows the possibility of singing M1 very close to G3, whereas in nalinakAnthI, the M1 is mostly sung flat or with very little gamakA. Hear it below.

So when we sing and want to hold the note on M1, in nalinAkanthi it is held flat while in kedAram its with the gamakA.

Next, we come to the descending scale. Well, the scale is exactly the same. But not the way it is sung. One very cool concept of how the ascending scale affects the descending scale can be seen in the case of these two ragas. The avarOhanam is sung for both the ragas below.

Note that because of the possibility in kedAram to go back to M1 from G3 ( S N3 P M1 G M3…. is a valid phrase in kedAram but not for nalinakAnthI) the descending scale M1 is sung closer to G3 with the gamakA. Still the M1 can also be sung flat whereas in nalinAkanthI M1 holds its place intact with almost no ornamentation or gamakA to it. Thus, in the avarOhanam, for kedAram, the M1 may or may not have gamakA but in nalinakAnthI its without gamakA.

So I hope you now have a basic idea as to how the handling of the ragas leads to the difference between the two ragas.

Beauty of NalinakAnthi

Well, the post being on nalinAkanthi let us focus more on it. What makes nalinakAnthi sound so charming? If you do not believe me, please listen to the following clip and you will feel a sense of freshness.

What makes this raga sound so? Is it the skippy nature of its arohanam formation, S G3 R2 …. R2 M1 G3? Or is it because it sounds beautiful when sung at slow or fast pace? Or is it the fascinating possibility that we can portray sketches of the raga and stop it on all the swaras present in the raga, S, R2, G3, M1, P, N3 without making the rendition sound unbalanced?

We should though note that, we can hold the note on G3, only when we traverse the ascending scale. But the .P N3 S G3 phrase seems to give such a settling feel but with a sense of longing. Well, looks like nalinakAnthi due to all the above qualities, is all beauty and grace much like its name!

Compositions in the raga

In carnatic music, Saint Thyagaraja’s famous manavinaalakinchara is easily the most famous composition in this raga. Sri GN Balasubramaniam also has set one of his popular composition nE pAdhamE gathI in this raga. I love the varnam of Sri LGJ. In cine music, the king Ilayaraja’s evergreen enthan nenjil from the film Kalaingan is the most famous song set in this raga.

Well, in the next part, we will see more on the raga from compositions point of view and also why I feel thilak khamod is not exactly an equivalent to nalinakAnthI.

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Raga Nalinakanthi Part 1 is a post from: Indian Music

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For the first post under my musical musings, I want to write about a thought I had about the ragas sankarAbharanam and sarasAngi. I was doing some review for my next post that I am writing about the raga nalinakAnthi when I started to think about its parent, sankarAbharanam. The scale of sankarAbharanam  is as follows.

S    R2    G3    M1    P    D2    N3    S’    —-    C    D    E    F    G   A    B   C’

S    N3    D2    P     M1    G3    R2   S    —–   C’   B   A    G    F    E    D    C

It is a major scale raga and well….generally major scale is associated with a happy feel to it. When you think about this, in western music, the mood is created by the chords and harmonies more than the actual tune which is like the backbone of Indian classical music. I mean, western music is harmony based while Indian music is melody based. So a mood in a western ensemble performance could be created by chord progressions, while for Indian music, the tune does the job.

Now listening to the following sketch of sankarAbharanam, one do tends to get a happy feel, that the world is a nice place to live in . Next consider sarasAngi.

The scale of sarasAngi is as follows,

S    R2    G3    M1    P    D1    N3    S’    —-    C    D    E    F    G   G#   B   C’

S    N3    D1    P     M1    G3    R2   S    —–   C’   B   G#    G    F    E    D    C

Listen to this brief sketch of sarasAngi. True to its name, which means surrendered, sarasAngi evokes that mood*. One can feel that plea for mercy present inherently in this raga.

Now we see that the two raga scales differ only in the Da. So, the difference in mood between two ragas can be attributed to the difference in the Da and the changes it brings forth to the handling of the neighbouring swaras. Stripping the scale off the Da and playing only within the realm of scope offered by the remaining 6 notes namely, N3 S R2 G3 M1 P which is common for both the ragas, (though not a correct way of analyzing as a swara tends to influence on the nature of the adjacent swaras because of gamakA and sometimes even on swaras that are further apart, I feel it does make sense here as the scale of the two ragas played as it is without gamakA also tends to create the feeling of happiness in sankarabharanam and surrender in sarasangi respectively), the feeling of hope is created. A hope that something good happens. To make this point clearer I will play the same tune first in sankarAbharanam and then in sarasAngi and you will notice the stark contrast of how hope can turn to happiness or hope can become a plea for mercy.

In Sankarabharanam

Same in Sarasangi

Well the tune has the swara pattern as follows.

- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – | – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – ||

S , , , , , NS R, N, S , , , | S , , , , , NS R, N, S , SN|| — hope is created

D , , , , , MP D, M, P, G, | M , , R , , , , –GMPDNR || — The Da is introduced in this line

I have played it with ‘E’ as the tonic note Sa.

Well, what is my point here? Ha!! You see that the swara ‘Da’ which is called Daivata (which also incidentally means God) is the decider on whether hope turns into happiness or a surrender. No wonder they say, Man proposes and God disposes. Seems to be true in case of SankarAbharanam and sarasAngi too!!!

* : Thanks to @hamsanandi, i came to know sarasAngi does not mean Surrendered;

Musical Musings: Sankarabharanam and Sarasangi is a post from: Indian Music

Indian Music :Learn about Indian Music - Getting to know a little more about Indian music, musicians and instruments

Continuing from the previous post, in this one, we will see about ranjani from some compositions point of view. I had mentioned towards the end of the last post that there were not many compositions that I knew about, but after some digging around I have got some compositions, recordings which I would share here and we will see if ranjani is indeed the ‘one who gives happiness’ .

Ranjani and The Trinity

The Trinity of carnatic music have as I have mentioned in previous post(s) are responsible for the major portion of the songs popular today. That said, it is amazing though that only Sri Thyagaraja Swamy has composed one song in ranjani. The song is called DhurmArga charA and set to the 3/8 rupaka tala(carnatic music) rhythm scale. In this kriti, Sri Thyagaraja swamy puts down the yes-men who put their knowledge on scale for money and wealth. He criticizes them and calls to Lord Rama as the embodiment of virtues and says he can only worship Him and not the kings and wealthy men. Well, for such a mood, I suppose ranjani fits the bill perfectly. With its ability to express anger and bhakti, the two important feelings that Thyagaraja Swamy feels in this song, ranjani makes us, the listener feel the emotions that the composer felt while he created the song. The following audio clip(s) has dhurmArgachara sung by Madurai Mani Iyer who was famous for popularizing many ragas, one among them being ranjani.

and this by Sri Nednuri Krishnamurthy with mridangam accompaniment by Sri Tanjavur Upendran and violin by Sri Kandadevi Alagiriswamy.

This is an instrumental version  of the same song played by two of my favorite artistes, Mandolin U Srinivas and Dr N Ramani on flute. I think they played only once together, in the United States long time back. Ramani Sir first gives a sketch of the raga in 5 min raga alapana followed by the song neraval and kalpanaswaras (I will explain about these terms in the Glossary page soon). A must-listen, this one!!

The way Ramani Sir uses the N2 of the raga is sheer bliss, even at the start of the raga alapana(00:17-00:20), this phrase keeps making an appearance and actually makes one want to delve deeper into oneself and creates a meditative mood.

Other Compositions

Other famous compositions in ranjani includes a popular varnam ambOruha pAdamE by Sri G N Balasubramanim. Here we have his disciple, Tanjore S Kalyanaraman Sir singing it.

The following is a very nice clip in which Sangita Kalanidhi R K Srikantan Sir first explains about the raga ranjani and then sings a varnam, Nive Nannu which actually sounds similar to the previous varnam. As he talks in kannadA I was not able to understand fully but whatever I understood was nice

One other composition of Sri G N Balasubramaniam is the famous ranjani Niranjani (played here by the Mysore brothers, Nagaraj and Manjunath on the violin). The next audio clip is that of MS Subbulakshmi singing the kriti sadA sArnaga nayanE by H Yoganarasimhan. The lyrics are in sanskrit.

The beauty of the song lies in the opening itself with the way the swaras and lyrics are combined.

lyric: (stanza: Pallavi) sadA sAranga nayanE shrI sadAsHivadayItE mAmava

TimeStamp:(03:44-03:46) and (03:57-03:59)

The words sadA are sung with the sa in tune to the swara Sa and dA tuned to the swara Da (D2). It is simple to create lyrics that have an inherent swara-sounding pronunciation but the difficulty lies in the fact that,

1. The lyric must make sense.

2. The tune should sound nice.

3. The tune should adhere to the way the raga must be handled.

All these are easily satisfied by the above and hence I wanted to share it here.

The following video-mp3 is the tune that made me start liking ranjani. I heard this when I was a child. The album is sruthilayA by Sri Karaikudi R Mani. This ensemble was done in 1986-87 and was a rhythm oriented one, the first of its kind. The flute was played by Ramani Sir. G Harishankar, TV Vasan and Srirangam Kannan formed the remaining main percussion accompaniments. The beautiful tune and the inherent rhythm contours actually create magic and no wonder sruthilaya was a huge success then.

The youtube link is : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-zKxkZgurc.

This is only a clip of the entire piece which is actually a ragamalika(a garland of ragas, literal meaning) interspersed with tani-avartanam(percussive solos).

In Cinema

In cine music, I have not been able to find many compositions set in this except for this malayalam song,

But there are many songs in the parent raga of ranjani, dharmavathi. Maybe because of its inherent classical nature (?) composers seem to have avoided (:-p ??) ranjani??

Anyway, if any of you get some song set in this raga, please do tell me.

With that, we have seen a bit about Ranjani. Until the next raga, ciao!!!

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Raga Ranjani Part-2 is a post from: Indian Music

Indian Music :Learn about Indian Music - Getting to know a little more about Indian music, musicians and instruments