Raga Appreciation

[Indrajith]

Hi all,
It will be nice to appreciate ragas
0. Raga Lakshana
1. The song in the raga & Why
2. Describing subtle areas & Minute points of the raga
3. Gamakas, How & Where to use them
4. The history/annecdotes behind it
5. Interesting points to note on the raga regarding the "Near by" ones.
6. Swara prastharams that are really scintillating
7. Gruhabedhams on the raga
8. Important Janya ragas & its resemblances
9. Hindusthani equivalents
Etc.

Lets see if we can start with some nice ragas. I shall really appreciate your participation in this thread. Please make sure that you put the emphasis on the raga and not on the songs alone.

Shall we start with Thodi / Kharaharapriya ?

[baroque]

[tscii:a34230d204]Good morning Mr.Indrajith, Please start with Kamboji if you don't mind. My day started with great zest with “kaana kan kodi vendum...” Papanasam Krithi. The swaras in this raga lend to great graces!! Niraval singing in this raga is very appealing!! Who can forget
‘Kuzhaloodhi manamellam...’ Oothukadu venkata kavi!!! soulful rendering by Maharajapuram Santhanam with thani aavardhanam etc.
How about “ O ranga sayee...” Thiyagaraja krithi by MSS!!!
Koniyadina napai.... Veenai kuppayyar is grand piece!!!
Please educate us with your knowledge. Music is Divine!! Very excited about this thread! Great day, Sir! Vinatha.[/tscii:a34230d204]

[RR]

Good topic, Indrajith! I'll contribute with as much as I can. Lakshman should help us with the list of compositions.

[viggop]

What raga are we starting with? :D

[Indrajith]

There we go, Lets start with kambodhi. I have very little knowledge & Experience in the arena of Carnatic music and
So requesting every one to pitchin with their contributions.

Kaambodhi........... Ma ga Pa da saaaaaaaaaaaa.....!! :)

[Indrajith]

[tscii:05030274a9]In all through our discussions we shall follow the following
scale notations.

Sadjamam-----------------------Sa
Suddha Rishabam (Komal)--------Ri1
Chathusruthi Rishabam (Tivra)--Ri2
Shatsruthi Rishabam------------Ri3
Suddha Gandharam---------------Ga1
Sadharana Gandharam------------Ga2
Anthara Gandharam--------------Ga3
Suddha Madhyamam---------------Ma1
Prati Madhyamam----------------Ma2
Panchamam----------------------Pa
Suddha Dhaivatham--------------Da1
Chathusruthi Dhaivatham--------Da2
Shatsruthi Dhaivatham----------Da3
Suddha Nishadam--------------- Ni1
Kaisiki Nishadam---------------Ni2
Kakali Nishadam----------------Ni3
Invoking God & Guru,Lets start this discussion about Kambodhi.
Sorry for the long post, let me try to keep it small hereafter.
In this I have discussed mostly about the technical aspects of the raga
with not much emphasis on Raga elaboration and singing. Being my first effort
I think you people will understand and excuse me for that. I will improve.

Kambodhi as the name suggests might have been originated from the region called
Kambhoja the north eastern part of Indian subcontinent. It has references that
runs back to centuries.

Kambodhi is a sampurna bhashanga raga. A raga is called Bashanga raga if they
take a foreign swara in either arohanam, avarohanam or both (from somether melakartha).
The number of Bhashanga ragas used in Carnatic music is 26 and kambodhi tops the list
and the next being Bhairavi (Its my take). A sampoorna raga is the one with all 7 swaras.
The note “ni” is omitted in the Arohanam, thus making it an Shadava- Sampoorna(6-7) ragam.

Kambodhi is a Janya raga from Harikambodhi (Mela 28). The raga lakshanam is as follows
There are 2 schools of Kambodhi one being the Dikshitar and another the venkata mahi.
Kambodhi has earlier been treated as a Mela Raga but Venkatamahi has put it under Mela 28.

Subbarama Dikshitar gives the ArOhaNa/avarOhaNa as

Arohana : Sa R12 Ga3 Ma1 Pa Da2 Ni2 Da2 Sa
Avarohana : Sa Ni2 Da2 Pa Ma1 Ga3 Ri2 Sa.

Venkatamahi says

Kamboji Raga Sampurna carohe ga ni vakrita |
nishada kakaliyukta kvacit sthana prayujyate ||

Where he says that Ga and Ni are vakra in Arohana.

But, Widely practiced one is is

Arohana : Sa Ri2 Ga3 Ma1 Pa Da2 Sa
Avarohana : Sa Ni2 Da2 Pa Ma1 Ga3 Ri2 Sa.

And here we go, the first hair-pin curve
Kakali Nishadham(Ni3)is used as an anya svaram (Eka Anyasvara Bashanga Ragam).
Kakali Nishadham is very rarely used (alpa prayogam)in the phrases like “Sa Ni Pa Da Sa”.
Kakali Nishadham is a Vishesha Prayogam and it cannot be rendered as Dheergam.
If we over do the Nishadha Prayogam or use it in various other phrases it might
land us in to Hari Kambodhi the parent raga.We can say the raga relies in the upper
part of the scale from pa to sa. Muthuswamy Dikshitar uses Ni3 in his songs in the
avarohana prayogas and it is rarely seen in Thyagaraja kritis.

The Raga has the following

Chaya Swaram: ma, dha and ni
Nyasa Swaram: ga, ma, pa, dha
Dheerga Swaram: ga, pa, dha
Gamaka Swaram: All Swarams.


When it come to singing the raga Ma, Da, and Ni are the jiva swaras.
When it comes to Gamaka, this is a sarva svara gamaka varika rakti raga, means that
all the swaras can handle gamaka. Long Karvai on the P and D and the kampita gamaka
on the M are really enchanting.Daatu swara pryogams like "da ga ri ga sa ri da ri sa ni da pa",
"ri pa ma ga sa", "ri ma ga sa", and "da ga ri sa" are
a speciality of this ragam
Ga ma pa ma ga ri ga sa ri ga when sung in 3 sthayi is electrifying. Means that
this raga is wonderful while rendering in mandra, thara sthayis too. particularly,
when it goes down to Mandhra sthyai Dhaivatham, it leaves us spell bound.

Kambodhi is a Moorchanakara Raga, that is, it admits graha bedham.
When the dhaivatam is taken as shadjam, the graha bedham results in the ragam Desiya Thodi.
under Mela 8. Conversely, the ga moorchana of Desiya Thodi gets
back to kambodh.

In Tamil Music, the derivation of the name has been given as Kamboothi,
which perhaps later became Kambodhi. The Tevaram pann takkesi the name for kambodhi.
In Malayalam music and kathakaLi songs, Kambodhi is called as kamodari.

As we can see this raga finds place in every form of songs, let it be varnam, virutham,
padam, krithi, thillana, what else & what not? This can be sung at any time in a concert.
Generally, this raga is classified as a raga to be sung in the evening.This raga is very
much suited for singing RTPs. Best one will be Parimala ranga pathe by M Mani Iyer.

This raga is handled by vocalists( How to name?), Nadaswara vidwans( how can we forget TNR pillai's),
flutists (Mali Mali Mali), Violinists ( Let me tell you Kunnakkudi gave a decent Kambodhi in Music Academy)

My take for the best will be the Maragatha Vallim. I just don't know why....
Come on in....[/tscii:05030274a9]

[Nitya]

Excellent write-up, Indrajith. I look forward to the next raaga analysis!

[RR]

IMO, One should hear Mani Iyer/TVs for agmark kambhoji. 'paramaLa rangapathe' RTP, as Indrajith pointed out, is a great one.

I have a Q: what prayagos differentiate this raga from Harikambhoji?

It was interesting that this janya raga pushed the parent behind and went onto become very popular.

[Indrajith]

if you sing pa da ni sa / da ni sa ni da pa , it will lead to harikambodhi. This prayogas are conciously added while singing swaras every now and then to make us feel it is harikambodhi. Even the composers have repeatedly used these prayogams to give that feel in their songs.
As you can see that the nishadham being used in the arohana prayoga, whereas it is barred in kambodhi. se cannot sing pa da ni sa but can do pa da ni da sa. GNB used this pa da ni da prayogams while singing his RTP in kambodhi to stress on the point that da ni can be used but you cannot go directly to sa from there.

In avarohana prayogams too we stress on ni2 in harikambodhi. But in the case of Kambodhi we can use the ni3 too at times.
So the swaras from pa to sa is the core for differenciating these two ragas, if it goes pa da sa then it should be kambodhi and in case of
pa da ni sa it should be Hari-Kambodhi.

[RR]

That clarifies, thanks.

The 'homosynonym' series kambhodhi,kambhoji,kaamboothi,etc. in interesting. In hindustani, the thaat corresponding to Harikambhoji is called Khammaaj. There is also a raag called Kamod but this is quite different and belongs to Kalyan thaat.

Is there a thillana in Kambhoji? I don't remember listening any..

[RR]

What's raga appreciation without audios.. Here are some Kambhoji's for you: http://www.musicindiaonline.com/l/1/m/ragam.9/

[Indrajith]

RR,
Cool work. Thanks for the audio.

As far as I know there are only few thillanas in Kambodhi and none has attained the master piece status in thillana arena. It might be because this raga gives excellent scope for long & big compositions and thus the present/recent past composers are scared to compose one in this raga. Though there is one Nadanai (Composed by Smt. Nagamani S. Rao), they are mainly used in Dance performances and does not carry any value on vocal performances. Violin & Flute are the best to perform thillanas. You can see that to sing thillana you need not have excellent tala & Jathi ngyanam. Fery few singers are performing thillanas now days as they are just "replay" guys with not much knowledge in handling those. At this point I should mention the greatness of Mali(flute) in handling difficult thalas. Now I could see seshagopalan doing his best to cope up.

[baroque]

[tscii:7a2f291d28]

Wow!! Fantastic work Mr.Indrajith!! Thanks RR for the link- kamboji compositions. I enjoyed the serenity of kamboji in Muthuswamy Dikshitar’s magnificent slow krithi ‘sri subramanyaya namaste...’ .
My favorite ‘sarasijanabha...’ Swati Tirunal varnam, beautiful piece, enjoyed
m,g,s,n,p,d,s in pallavi sa . ra. si . . . ja . . . na . . . . running around with
g , , m g g r r s , r g s r s n d p d saa sa, p d s ree ri, d s r gaa ga, s r g ree ri, d s r saa sa etc... etc...
Phrases like mgs, pdm, mgpds are sparkling!!
Thanks! Vinatha.
[/tscii:7a2f291d28]

[baroque]

Enjoy!!!
sarasijana... kamboji and more gems
at
http://www.swathithirunal.org/

[baroque]

[tscii:f57482cd11]
http://www.musicindiaonline.com/l/3/s/album.18/instrument.3/

Great!! Enjoyed the sringara rasa(love mood) of kambhoji in ‘kuzhaloodhi manamella....’ to karunai (pathos nnu vaichukkalamaa??? or devotional???) of Kambhoji in “Thiruvadi charanam...”-Gopalakrishna bharathi.


[/tscii:f57482cd11]

[Lakshman]

Indrajith:

>As far as I know there are only few thillanas in Kambodhi ...

I found only one tillAnA in kAmbhOji, by Poochi Iyengar. Do you have information on any others?

[Indrajith]

I don't know if there are any popular ones in Kambodhi. But I have seen people in my town practicing dance with some thillanas on it, but I dont think it is worth mentioning it as I strongly feel that they are just written and tuned by people out there for their convenience and lacks great musical value.

[viggop]

Indrajith
what is the meaning of these terms? Chaya swaram,Nyaya swaram and Dheeraga swaram.

Chaya Swaram: ma, dha and ni
Nyasa Swaram: ga, ma, pa, dha
Dheerga Swaram: ga, pa, dha

I assume by this
Gamaka Swaram: All Swarams.
you mean that all 7 notes can be used for singing gamakams?

WHat is meaning of the term "stayi"?

[Indrajith]

viggop,

chaya swarams are the swaras which are responsible for the characteristic melody of a raga. Naysa swarams where the performer can stay or the swaram on which the raaga can end. Dheerga Swarams are those which can be played on long notes.


Stayi means octave. There are 5 sthayis Viz., Anumandra, Mandra, Madhya, Tara, and Atitara. A singer can sing almost 3 stayis(Mandra, Madhya, Tara).Though, Yesudas tries some with his false voice.Even a phrase with same swaras like sa sa sa sa ri ri ri ri or like sa ri sa, ri ga ri is also called as stayi.I have never heard any singer singing these 3 stayis with ease. Might be Balamurali looks okie.Parveen Sultana is a jewel when she sings in Tara stayis. Generally the singers scope is likefrom Mandhra Stayi Panchamam to Tara stayi Panchamam. Instruments like Violin etc. can be played in 5 stayis.

Hope I made myself clear.

[Indrajith]

Regarding Gamakams, Yes you assumed it right. All the swaras can be used with gamakams, i.e. All swarams can oscillate.
This concept of playing anuswarams in a row to achieve gamakams are really a cool one in Carnatic music.

[Indrajith]

I would like to share some more information regarding Gamakam.

Take any Sampoorna raga ( for our ease) for experimenting. :)

when we sing the gamaka like sa ri ga ma, singing adjasent ascending swarams then we call it as AROHANA gamakam.

AVAROHANA gamakam is simillar to the AROHANA gamakam but with descending swarams like sa ni da pa.

DAATU (DALU) gamakam is sung with jumping swarams like Sa Pa, Sa Ma, Sa Ga, Sa Ri.

When it is like Sa Sa Ri Ri Ga Ga Ma Ma ( Janta swarams) then it is called as SPOORITHA gamakam.

KAMPITHA gamakam is singing 2 non-adjasent swaras touching the intermediate swara and it is sung in a series of 3 or 4 times Ma Ri, Ma Ri, Ma Ri touching Ga or Pa Ga,Pa Ga,Pa Ga using Ma.

AHATHA gamakam is like the SPOORITHA gamakam only but the second swara in the pair will take a stress and the first is short and light. Both the swaras should be sung in the same stayi.

PRATHYAHATA gamakam is simillar to AHATHAM but sung to the descending pair of swaras like Ma Ma Ga Ga Ri Ri Sa Sa.

TRIPUCHCHA gamakam is the NEXT swara will join the PREVIOUS swara in pairs in the same stayi.
The example would be like Ri Sa Sa Ga Ri Ri Ma Ga Ga Pa Ma Ma Da Pa Pa.

ANDOLA gamakam will be the swinger from swaram to swaram denoted by a long note Sa Sa Pa,Pa Sa Ri Sa Ma,Ma - Sa Ri Sa Ga,Ga.
( Comma indicates that it is played as a long note with a FULL Swing)

MOORCHANA gamakam is singing the Arohana starting from different swaras like SaRiGaMaPaDaNi - RiGaMaPaDaNiSa - GaMaPaDaNiSaRiGa. This should be sung in madhyama kalam. The last note is usually a long note.


So I was referring to Kampitha gamakam in Kambodhi.( Long Karvai on the P and D and the kampita gamaka on the M are really enchanting.Daatu swara pryogams like "da ga ri ga sa ri da ri sa ni da pa", "ri pa ma ga sa", "ri ma ga sa", and "da ga ri sa" are a speciality of this ragam.)

Moorchana gamakams will be festive in Hamsadhwani, TRIPUCHCHA gamakam is generally sung in slow Nadai/Gathi, Andola gamakams will sound good in ragams like Hamir Kalyani.

[Indrajith]

Apanyasa is same sangati is sung in tara and madhyama sthayi. Kambodhi extensively uses this in prayogams like da sa ri ga ma ga... in mandhra, madhyama, tara stayis is really cool. Will write more about the sangathis in next posts.

[Indrajith]

Though the discussion about kambodhi is in progress I would like to leave it to poll, which raga we shall discuss next.....

ReethiGowla
Sahana
Bindumalini
Shanmukhapriya

Pitch in...

[Nitya]

Indrajith, in response to your query, I'd say Bindhumalini. Reason? It sounds exactly like Malayamaarutham to me, except maybe a tad less emphasis on Dha2.

[RR]

Indrajith,
Any raga is ok with me (so long as you'll cover them all ultimately :smile2: ).

Nitya, I thought Bindumalini is quite distinctive in terms of the feel. But I haven't heard many songs - couple TNS, 1 BMK and 1 instrumental. Any RTP's?

[rajraj]

Indrajith,
It will be nice if you could deal with ragas that have a lot of compositions so that people can listen to a variety of songs and discern.
Bindumalini does not have that many compositions. Even Thyagaraja has composed only one in that raga. I don't think Dikshithar and Shyama Sastri have any in that raga unless they called it by a different name.
Just a suggestion!

[viggop]

Sahana/Shanmukapriya is my wish :-)

[Srini]

I would vote for Sahana :)

Nithya: I thought bindumalini and malayamarutham are very different from each other. I've heard shri thygarajar's 'entha mootho entha sogaso' in bindu. It sounds very different from others in malayamarutham like 'malaya maru' (varnam) or 'sitranchiru kalai' (tirupavai).

As far as I know, valaji is very much related to malayamarutham. Malayamarutham sans 'ri' is valaji. Can you explain please?

[Indrajith]

Lets go with sahana as of now and see if anyone comes up with some other raga later. I have appealed to all you people that I am not the only one who will write things out here about ragas. ( I am sure that someday or other I will show up my ignorance.

:idea:
So who is taking up Sahana Raga Appreciation?

[RR]

We need an escape clause. If no one volunteers, Indrajith will take over..

[Indrajith]

3 more days to go.... to come up with sahana... ;)

[baroque]

[tscii:7f7e6ced66]Lots of information!! thanks a lot!!!

Beautiful Sahana - karuna rasapradhana raga(pathos)
I recall my favorite, very emotive ‘Vandanamu raghunandana setu bandana bhakta candana rama....’ I indulge in this krithi for ever!!
R.......R long karvais and R...G RSN many beautiful phrases!!! I am all ready with my ears sharp to learn!! :D [/tscii:7f7e6ced66]

[viggop]

Mukhari is another raga depicting pathos.

[viggop]

more about Kambodhi at sangeetham.com

http://www.sangeetham.com/others/archive.php3?combo_title=kAmbOji&combo_date=&butt_archive=Ok&%24combo_title=mOhanam&%24combo_date=&idval=&fea=raaga+appreciation

[baroque]

[tscii:bd47f3d1da]Viggop,
When I mentioned
Beautiful Sahana - karuna rasapradhana raga(pathos) , I should not have emphasis as ‘pathos’.
In “vandanamu raghunandana aa
sEtu bandhana bhakta chandana” Sahana raga in beautiful slow movement with elegant simplicity brings devotion.
In Sivan composition “Chittam Iranga ...”

“Chittam Iranga denaiyaa sendil velaiyaa nin.....
Bhaktark kirangum dheena bandu enrunnai nambi...” The singer literally begging for karunai, sympathy!!
Very aesthetic Sahana with catchy phrases with proper gamakas reflects devotion, karuna and other rasas!!!
[/tscii:bd47f3d1da]

[Indrajith]

Preparing the write up. will post it by tomorrow( IST. ;))

[Nitya]

This is my understanding of Sahaana's defining characteristics:


1. Gaandhaaram is between Sadhaarana and Anthara. It can be rendered with or without gamakam.

2. Kaishiki Nishaadam is always oscillated, and therefore not prolonged-- not alpa, but not prolonged.

3. Suitable nyasa swaras are Ri2, Dha2, Ma1 in descent, and of course Sa and Pa. Ga3 is not a suitable nyasa swara.

I'll leave it to Indrajith to fill in what I've missed. :roll:

[Nitya]

Indrajith?? Have you forgotten??

[shree_nav]

A LITTLE FILM INFO ON SAHANA..
THE SONG SWAPNANGAL..

FROM KAVYAMELA
IS BEAUTIFULLY DONE
BY DAKSHINAAMOORTHY SWAMI..
IN RAAGAMALIKA..
PALLAVI AND FIRST ANUPALLAVI IS IN SAHANA..
REST IS IN SHANMUKHAPRIYA..

[Indrajith]

Sahana is a recent inclusion in terms of carnatic music history.
This is a ranjakatva ubhaya vakra raga. Means which is asthetic and pleasing.
The Arohana and avarohana are as follows

Arohanam Sa1 Ri2 Ga3 Ma1 Pa Ma1 Dha2 Ni2 Sa2
Avarohanam Sa2 Ni2 Dha2 Pa Ma1 Ga3 Ma1 Ri2 Ga3 Ri2 Sa1

From the above one can notice that the arohana and avarohana have vakra prayogams.
The Gandharam in this raga is specially named as Trisanku Gandharam, which is neither sadharana gandaram nor anthara gandaram. It is somewere inbetween those 2. Sahana is considered a derivative of the 28th melakarta or a derivative of the 22nd melakarta due credits to the Trisanku Gandharam.This raga is learnt by listning than academically.

The Sadharana Gandhara is used as alpathvam ( not freely/frequently used).Most of the songs use the Antara Gandhara while few use the Sadharana Gandhara.Rather this raga is a bit restricted in the sense it has to be Alapana, gamakas, swaraprastaram should be limited and this is called Mithathavam. ( Ref. Bahuthvam, Mithathvam, Alpathvam).

This raga relies heavily ont he gamakas and cannot be sung with out gamakas. kampita gamakam and pratyahata/Dhattu gamaka swaras are extensively used in rendering.

Rishabham & Nishadham are used with gamakams while rendering and it is mostly the pivot of many songs in this raga.

Chaya Swaram: Ri Ni
Nyasa Swaram: Ri Ni Dha Pa
Dheerga Swaram: Dha Ma
Gamaka Swaram: Ri Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni
(generally Ga is used with out gamaka to create a pathos (it is what they claim))

This raga being a ranjakatva raga is generally rendered in a very slow pace.stay on each and every swara and deliver gamaka and move. this raga requires lots of effort to make the listener feel the Bhava of the raga, so the singer must "ripe" to sing compositions on this raga.

Songs like Vandhanamu, Giripai,Ee Vasudha etc from Thyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar's compositions like Sri Kamalambikayam, Abhayambayam are great numbers to listen and there are no songs in this raga by Syama sasthri.
Papanasam Sivan has done Sri Vathapi Gananapathiye which is a notable number to start the concert with.

Generally this raga is not taken up for elaboration ( Main piece) in concerts. It will be used as one of the thukkadas sung at last. But nowdays people have a habbit of shocking others starting the concert with sahana.

This raga sounds good on instruments like Veena ,flute and violin than vocal ( Its my personal opinion though).GNB has a very rough sahana while M.D.Ramanathan has a softcorner for sahana and performs at great ease. ( Might be that suits his pace of singing)
For me the best bet in this raga would be Ee Vasudha...

pour in........

[Indrajith]

Hi,
I am sorry for the late posting. I was down for some time and occupied for quite some time. I think i have not done enough justice for this raga explanation and notes. Will try to cope up in my coming post. I did not have time to sit and prepare the write up and edit.

Nitya ,
Man you have given the ove all picture in 4-5 lines. I appreciate that.

shree_nav,
Though I am not against discussing film songs in this post, I really appreciate your efforts and I would expect more inputs and posts from you regarding the classical music stuffs.

[Indrajith]

Helloooooooooo!!! anybody there?

[RR]

Sahana is a beautiful raga that IMO is best suited for classical renditions (rather than light, e.g film songs - where most of its beauty seems to be missed.). Though instrumentals sound good (Ravi kiran's is memorable), I tend to favor vocals. MDR's is good!

Can you explain more about "kampita gamakam and pratyahata/Dhattu gamaka " ?

[Nitya]

Better late than never, Indrajith.


For the next raaga analysis, I suggest Jonpuri. You don't have to take my suggestion: I'm just throwing it out there.

[Indrajith]

Bindumalini means a girl wearing a garland of Pearls. The raga in deed feels like one. It is a jan ya raga of the 16th Melakartha Chakravagam. Previously it is practiced under 17th ( Suryakantham) and later GURUS decided it to be under 16th. It is a Minor Raga but has ample scope to be sung as a MINI main in concerts. ( I heard a 40 mins Bindumalini aalapana from one singer(? He claims he is not as he never took up classes for carnatic) in a village near Thanjavur. Awesome. Then I felt the scope it offers for singing and composing.

It is a ubhaya Vakra Shadava Shadava upanga raga with vakraswaras offering great scope for singers imagination. Arohanam is Dha Varja and avarohanam is Ma Varja.

Arohanam: Sa Ga3 Ri1 Ga3 Ma1 Pa Ni2 SA
Avarohanam: SA Ni2 SA Dha2 Pa Ga3 Ri Sa

Antara Gandharam and Kaisiki Nishadam are chaya swaras of this raga.

Bindumalini has no corresponding raga in Hindustani. Both Ahir Bhairav and Bibhas are simillar to this. This raga allows tristhayee sancharams.
Regarding the vakra prayogams this is Eka svara vakra raga. Ga being the vakra swara in the arohanam and Ni in the avarohanam.

Entha Muddho Entha Sogaso is the only song as far as I know which is set to this raga. Are there any other vagyeyakkaras who composed on this raga?

This is a lighter raga like Revathi, Sivaranjani or any other of that type. So this does not involve rigorous gamakams. This can be thought of like Malayamarutham which does not rely heavily on gamakams like Thodi or Bhairavi. Simply by playing the notes and pauses at Ni & Ga can make this raga more appealing for the lighter People.

This has a very filmy structure, I mean that Pausing at Ni & Ga at higher octaves & all those stuff.
But this raga has to be played like continuous notes like on instruments like Flute Or Saxaphone Or Violin to get the feel. Or Let me put it this way If this raga ( not song) can be played on Jalatharangam, it can very well be played on Keyboard too.

[RR]

I've heard TNS do a detailed piece on Bindumalini. He uses this raga in ragamalika too. Sounds like one of his favorites.

Good writeup.

[Indrajith]

I have been reading some books about classical music and got some points I would like to share with you all for the betterment of our understanding classical music.

Lets start with defining a raga, Raga can be thought of as an Idea. It is an individual entity. There are swaras in raga and they are like runs of a ladder.
In western music they call it as a Note or Tone. Note can be seen as a theoritical concept. Note is what is written and Tone is what is heard.

Music have scales and there are 2 scales viz., Minor and Major. Major scale can be mapped to our Dheera Shankarabharanam and Minor scale loosely maps to Natabhairavi or Keeravani. Western music has another scale also which can be mapped to Gowrimanohari on the raise and Natabhairavi on the fall.

Scales can be mapped to Melas in our music. Mela can be thought of as a group of swaras. Ragas are children of melas. Shankarabharana Mela gave shankarabharana Raga. Kannada , Atana, Bilahari all fall in to Shankarabharana Mela. Bhairavi is from Nata Bhairavi Mela.

We came to know about ragas only around 7th century from the recorded texts. Brihatdesi quotes

"...yo asou dhwani visheshascha
Swara varna vibooshithaha
ranjako jana chitthanaam... "

Then comes Varnams. There are 4 Types of varnams viz .. Aarohi, Avarohi, Sthayee, Sanchari. We shall try to understand it using a simple correlation.
What we can do is like we can stay in a place...it is called Sthayi. Where "Stha" means stand ( Like Sthanam). We can move up.. called aarohanam or can move down called avarohanam. we can go up and down which is sanchari. if we stay in a swara it is called as Sthayi and usages like sa ri ga ma is called arohanam and pa ma ga ri is called avarohanam. Parayogams like sa ri ga ma pa ma ga ri are called sanchari.

The one which is made of swaras and has these 4 varnams in it is called as a raga and should be pleasing to ears. The term raga is called as Jathi earlier. In Tamil we call it as Pan. There are 23 notable Pans in Tamil Nomenclature.

There are 3 classifications in classical music ragas, Suddham- Which means it is a suddha raga ,chayalakam - Which is of another raga's Style or sayal, Misram - which are got by adding Anya Swaras.

A good example of Suddha ragam would be Shankarabharanam. Misra ragam example would be sivaranjani. And coming to Chayalakam or Sayal, ie. one raga having resemblences of another raga is a bit topic to be discussed.
So what is the point all about the Related Ragas? 2 or more ragas can have the same swaras and yet far apart. There are nuances which makes them world apart. They can be use of Gamakam, Jaaru, Doubling of swaras ( Usage of Janta Swaras), Staying in a swara for a longer time or Shorter time, Alpathvam, Bahuthvam & so on.

We shall discuss about this further in coming posts. We shall be able to differenciate between ragas and appreciate them better.

Note: Most of this post is based on Books & Lectures By Prof. S.Ramanathan

[rajraj]

indrajith,
I think C major is Sankarabharanam. There are other major scales. You might want to verify.

[Indrajith]

In music theory, a diatonic scale is a seven-note musical scale comprising five whole-tone and two half-tone steps, in which the half tones are maximally separated. Diatonic scales are a fundamental building block of the European musical tradition. It is sometimes used to refer to all the modes, but is generally used only in reference to the major and minor scales.The major scale begins on the first note and proceeds by steps to the first octave. It should be kept in mind that most longer pieces of common practice music change key, but this leads to a hierarchical relationship of diatonic scales in one key with those in another. The minor scale may also be considered as the sixth mode of a major scale, with its tonic starting on the sixth degree of the major scale. Alternately the major scale may be viewed as the third mode of the minor scale.

As there are basically C Major and C Minor I took the liberty of calling all other scales are nTh degree change of C# or C Minor, which is another scale and this one is not acceptable to many people. In classical music terms we can say that C Major is the one and we obtain all other scales by Moorchanas & Grahabedhams.

Yes, C major maps to Shankarabharanam. I will correct. And Raj Raj , thanks for pointing out.

[Indrajith]

Amruthavarshini does not find a place in most of the musical granthams. It has been called as Seelangi in Ghanabhaskaram & the same is named as SmaraRanjani in SwaraprastharaSagaram both being mentioning that this is a janya of 65th mela Mechakalyani. There are versions where raagam is considered as a janyam of the 66th Melaraagam Chithrambari.

This is a prathimadhyama counterpart of Gambheeranaatta. Where Arohanam Sa Ga3 Ma1 Pa Ni3 Sa,Avarohanam Sa Ni3 Pa Ma1 Ga3 Sa and it is janyam of chalanata, which is the 36th raga in the melakartha list. So theoritically speaking the prathimadhyama counterpart of Ghambheera Nata ( Janya of 36 chalanata), Amruthavarshini should have been a janyam of 72nd melakartha the Rasikapriya. But it has been listed only under 65th mela in ancient scripts.

If you look the scale, it could be the janyam of Gamanashramam or Kalyani or Rasikapriya or chithrambari theoritically.
Look at the arohana avarohana of the listed ragas will tell us that S G3 M2 P N3 S -S N3 P M2 G3 S will be same,

53. Gamanasrama S R1 G3 M2 P D2 N3 S - S N3 D2 P M2 G3 R1 S
65. Mechakalyani S R2 G3 M2 P D2 N3 S - S N3 D2 P M2 G3 R2 S
66. Chitrambhari S R2 G3 M2 P D3 N3 S - S N3 D3 P M2 G3 R2 S
72. Rasikapriya S R3 G3 M2 P D3 N3 S - S N3 D3 P M2 G3 R3 S

So, we are bound to get confused. The point to be noted is that the Ga the Gandharam of Amruthavarshini is sung with a kampitha Gamakam where the Ga is oscillating.
That's the key. Am I Missing anything?

[kamala]

Thanks to the newsletter from the hub, i happened to to see a posting on raga amirdhavarshini. I am neither a singer nor a music literate. But i would like to share a few points about this raga.

The musical trio Muthuswamy Dikshitar has given a wonderful krithi in this raga. There is a famous incident attached to the making of the krithi in this ragam. "Anandhamridhagarshini amruthavarshini". When he was passing throug the village Ettayapuram in thirunelveli District, there was an acute drought. Since he was wellknown for his powers , people in the village requested him to get rains in. At their request Sri Muthuswamy Dikshitar sang the above song in the Amirdhavarshini ragam.

When he sang the line varshaya varshaya varshaya it started rainging heavily flooding the village and he had to sing the same song with the slight modification . Instead of varshaya varshaya varshaya, he used sthambaya sthambaya he sang to stop the rains.


If my understanding is right he was the founder of the raga.

There are lots of miracles that have taken place and are still taking place by singing and chanting his krithis.

Infact there is an organisation doing research on his krithis and have succeeded in curing various diseases and also energise the system thereby ensuring good mental and physical health. Two articles published in Economic times and Deccan Herald carry more details on the miraculous power of Dikshitar kritis. If anyone needs more information on this, i will be happy to provide.

[Indrajith]

Thanks for the comments kamala.

-- If my understanding is right he was the founder of the raga.

No, he is not the founder or discoverer of that raga. Because the song is the famous one from the carnatic trinity it is boomed. It has been there before his time too but called as seelangi.

Amruthavarshini brings rain.. Hmm.. The anecdote sounds impressive and does not impress me over the anthara gantharam we have there... :) just kidding !!!

[Srini]

Indrajith:

How about one of these raagas for the next session:

1. Dharbaar
2. Hamsanadham
2. Panthuvarali

Regards,
Srini.

[viggop]

Indrajith
Dikshitar always includes names of ragas in his Krithis.What did he include in this AMrithavarshini kriti?Did he call that "Seelangi"?

I think we should ask the music folks this music season not to sing Amrithavarshini.Too much rains and cyclones already! :-)

[Indrajith]

Sorry for not being active for all these days. I was caught up.
viggop,
Dikshithar has named it only as amruthavarshini, in his song "aanandhamruthakarshini amruthavarshini" rite?


Srini,

we shall enter in to dharbar. Sooner...:)

[Srini]

Eagerly awaiting Dharbaar!!!! :)

[Srini]

Anybody out there?????

[rathipatipriya]

Dear Classical Music lovers,

I'm not an expert in music but appreciate classical music very much. I greatly enjoying this discussion very much.

Thank you.

rathipati

[Raikkonen]

Welcome rathipatipriya

[coolcrave]

can anyone point out the differences found between Navaroj, Kurinji and Neelambari..thanks

[ab_123]

Very informative post. I am not very knowledgeable, but would like to learn.

I know that certain ragas are to be sung at certain times of the day, but how much truth is there to the belief that certain ragas cause certain reactions?

E.g.

Megha Raagam = rain (Example of BalamuraliKrishna)
Deepak Raagam = fire (Infact someone went to the extent of saying that singing this raagam could cause a burning sensation, and that is why there are no songs that are taught in this raagam ). :?

[Indrajith]

Hi Guys,

I am really sorry that I was not available all these days. I dont want to put in some excuse for my laziness.... Okie.. I was a bit lethargic.

I would have loved to see someone (Sudhama) picking it up and taking forward. But I trust we need to move on and wait.. I am starting to type in my first post after a long time... :)

[Tia]

btw since vakra ragas are classified into "ubhaya vakras" aswel....whatttttttt is a ubhaya vakra? :| theory exam 2moro...last minute revision
pleasee help :cry2:

[always]

Well from my knowledge:-

Ubhaya vakra raga is one in which both aarohana and avrohana is a vakra raga.

[Tia]

awesome :D
thought it was
got it in the exam :D
thankyouuuuuuuuuu always

[always]

your welcome. Hope you did well :)

[Indrajith]

Now, Back, Which Raga shall we pick up to start with again?

Mohanam
Shivaranjani
Sankarabharanam
Varali
YadhukulaKamboji

???

[Meera-ssg]

varaaLi, I would like to know more songs. Talk about famous kruthis and raaga lakshana.

Thanks,
meera.

[Indrajith]

Its long long time since I came here. Just was searching for something on Gamakas and landed up to my own posts :) I feel bad when I see that I had not stood up to my promises.. :)