Gowlai - Vaiyathu Vaazhveergaal

வையத்து வாழ்வீர்காள் நாமும் நம் பாவைக்கு
செய்யும் கிரிசைகள் கேளீரோ பாற்கடலுள்
பைய துயின்ற பரமனடி பாடி
நெய்யுண்ணோம் பாலுண்ணோம் நாற்காலை நீராடி

மையிட்டெழுதோம் மலரிட்டு நாம் முடியோம்
செய்யாதன செய்யோம் தீக்குறளை சென்றோதோம்
ஐயமும் பிச்சையும் ஆந்தனையும் கை காட்டி
உய்யுமாறெண்ணி உகந்தேலோர் எம்பாவாய்


Raagam: Gowlai
Arohanam: S R1 M1 P N3 S
Avarohanam: S N3 P M1 R1 G3 M1 R1 S

Like mentioned in yesterday's post, Gowlai is the second raaga of the Pancharatna Krithis (Dudukugala). The other popular krithis in Gowlai is Pranamamyaham and Sri Mahaganapathi Ravathumam.

This is also a vakra raga with the GMRS prayogam. It is a janya of the 15th Melakartha Mayamalava gowla. MMG has been already discusssed on this blog. I am not aware of many cine songs in this raga except one by IR "Vedham Nee Iniya Naadham nee", though the janaka raga MMG has been very extensively used in film music.

Naatai - Margazhi Thingal

Also posted at vrangasayee.blogspot,com

மார்கழித் திங்கள் மதிநிறைந்த நன்னாளால்
நீராடப் போதுவீர்! போதுமினோ நேரிழையீர்!
சீர்மல்கும் ஆய்ப்பாடி செல்வச் சிறுமீர்காள்
கூர்வேல் கொடுந்தொழிலன் நந்தகோபன் குமரன்
ஏரார்ந்த கண்ணி யாசோதை இளஞ்சிங்கம்
கார்மேனிச் செங்கண் கதிர்மதியம் போல் முகத்தான்
நாராயணனே நமக்கு பறை தருவான்
பாரோர் புகழப் படிந்தேலோ ரெம்பாவாய்!



Raagam: Naatai Janya of 36th Melakartha Chalanaatai (This is the last raga of the suddha madhyama group).
Arohanam: S R3 G3 M1 Pa N3 S
Avarohanam: S N3 P M1 G3 M1 R3 S

This a vakra raga due to G3 M1 R3 S, For explanation on what is vakra ragam please see http://raagamudra.blogspot.com/2009/08/janya-raga-classification.html

Naatai is one of the 5 Gana (Heavy) Ragas and the first of the raga in the Pancharathna Krithis. (I may post about Pancharatna Krithis at a later date, will link this to that post then). It is interesting to note that the firs 5 pasurams of Andal Thiruppaavai as sung by MLV amma are set in the 5 raagas of Pancharatha Krithis (namely, Naatai, Gowlai, Arabhi, Varali and Sree). I would like to think this is not a mere coincidence. I tried to find a pattern for the rest of the raagas of thiruppaavai and couldn't. Maybe someone can help me spot it.

Jagadhanandakaraka, the first PR Krithi is set in Naatai. The most famous composition in Naatai is probably Mahaganapathim. You can see a filmy version of this in the movie "SindhuBhairavi". Narumugaiye from Iruvar, is set in Naatai.

Amrithavarshini

Literally, the meaning is 'one who showers amrit, the elixir of immortality.' It is a combination of two words: amrit and varshini.

Different schools of music place the origin of this raga under different melas. One school places this raga as the janya of the 39th mela Jhalavarali. But the present day Amritavarshini does not have any resemblance to the 39th mela. There are no compositions in this type of Amritavarshini.

The present day Amritavarshini could be placed as the janya of the 65th mela Mechakalyani. Or the 66th mela Chitrambari. It can be fitted to either of these melas as the raga does not have a Dhaivata. As the note Dhaivata is the only difference between Mechakalyani and Chitrambari, in the absence of that note, it could belong to either of these melas.

But the practice is to choose the earlier of the two ragas in case of such a dilemma.

Amritavarshini as it is sung today has the following Aarohana and Avarohana:

S G3 M2 P N3 S
S N3 P M2 G3 S

It is an Audava raga and is very melodious. It does not give scope for treatment as a major raga in a concert. One reason could be the absence of major compositions in the raga.

The very popular and frequently heard ones are Muthuswamy Dikshitar's 'Anandamritakarshini' in Adi Tala and Muthiaha Bhagavatar's 'Sudhamayee' in Rupaka Tala.

The raga is a hot favorite for ragamalika swara singing in ragam-taanam-pallavi.

There is a popular anecdote about this raga. It is said that while visiting Ettayapuram, a small village in Tamil Nadu, the great composer Muthuswamy Dikshitar was anguished to see the drought-hit arid land and people facing severe water shortage. Moved by their plight, Dikshitar looked up to the sky and burst forth in praise of the goddess in this raga. He beseeched Devi to bring rain and alleviate the plight of the drought-hit people.

He addressed the Devi as 'Anandamritakarshini, Amritavarshini'. When he sang 'Salilam Varshaya Varshaya', meaning 'let the rain pour', it is said the sky opened up. There was such a torrential rain that the place got flooded. He had then to plead 'Sthambhaya Sthambhaya', meaning 'stop, stop'.

This incident has given rise to the practice of musicians gathering together to sing this composition when there rains fail.

Wonderful rendition by T S Sreekumar


A unique Vocal+violin concert by a single person.


Film Music


Another Amrithavarshini

Hamsadhwani

HAMSADHWANI, a Janya Ragam from Melam 29 Dheerasankarabharanam
is an audava-audava (Pentatonic scale)
Arohana: S R2 G3 P N3 S
Avarohana: S N3 P G3 R2 S

The Rasa associated with this Ragam is "Vira" (Bravery). Majority of the compositions in Hamsadhwani are on Lord Ganesha and the rest (well almost) are on Lord Rama. Hamsadwani features as a Ragam in many Ragamalikas. An Anecdote: Once, Tiger Varadachariar, a renowned musician of yesteryears, was listening to a poorly rendered hamdashwani by some musician, and he quipped: This is not Hamsadhwani - but Himsa dhvani!! (Sound of torture).

Famous compositions in this raga are
Vatapi Ganapathim, Vinayaka, Raghunayaka.

Vatapi Kalpanaswaras by Aishu


A Tamil Film Song


A Song from the albunm Colonial Cousins


A Punjabi Pop in Hamsdhwani !!!

When is a scale a raga?

Here are some basic rules for calling a given scale a raga

1. The raga has its origin in a scale called ‘thaat’ or ‘mela’.

2. There should be at least 5 notes in a raga.

3. The 2 forms of a note i.e. flat and sharp, should not come in succession in a raga.

4. A raga has both ascending and descending (aaroha and avaroha) order of notes.

5. A raga should have the note ‘sa’ i.e. ‘do’ of the solfa notation.

6. A raga should have at least one note from ‘ma’ and ‘pa’, i.e. ‘fa’ and ’so’ of the solfa notation.

7. A raga should have both ‘vadi’ and ‘samvadi’ notes.

8. A raga should have an aesthetic value.

Janya Raga classification

What is a janya raga?

It is a "derived" raga from one of the 72 Melakartha ragas. This derivation may be by

1. Excluding one or more sware from the "parent" or the janaka either in aarohana or avarohana or both
2. Including one or more swaras that do not belong to the parent. Such swaras are called anyaswaras.
3. Reordering the swaras differing from their natural flow.

1. Exclusion of Swaras: When this happens we end up with ragas having 6 or 5 swaras in either arohanam or avarohanam or both. A raga that has 7 swaras is called a sampoorna raga. By definition all Melakartha ragas are sampoorna ragas.
A raga with 6 swaras is called a Shadava Raga. A raga with 5 swaras is called a Audava raga. A raga can have different number of swaras in Arohanam and avarohanam. Therefore you can have sampoorna-shadava or shadava-sampoorna, sampoorna-audava or audava-sampoorna, shadava-audava or audava-shadava, sampoorna, shadava-shadava or audava-audava ragas (phew!!!)
Examples:

Sampoorna: Any melakartha raga like Shankarabharanam or Kalyani.
Shadava Sampoorna: Kambhoji. Janya of Harikambhoji (28th Mela).
Audava Sampoorna: Saveri (Janya of Mayamalava Gowla 15th Mela)
Shadava Shadava: Sriranjani (Janya of KH Priya 22nd Mela)
Audava Shadava: Malahari (Janya of MMG 15th Mela).
Audava Audava: Mohanam (Janya of HariKambhoji 29th Mela)

2. Including Anyaswaras: A raga that is "faithful" to its parent is called a Upanga Raga and one that uses foreign swaras are Bashanga ragas. All of the above janyas mentioned are upanga ragas. The Bashanga ragas may have one or more anya swaras.

Example:
Bhairavi (janya of natabhairavi 20th Mela). D2 is used as an anyaswara in the arohana. It is a sampoorna raga with D2 in arohana but D1 in avarohana.
Begada (janya of Shankarabharanam 29th Mela). Uses N2 in the avarohana.

3. Reordering of swaras: A raga where the swaras are sung in a different order every time they occur. Such ragas are called Vakra Raga (or twisted ragas)

Example:
PurviKalyani (Janya of 53rd Mela -Gamanshrama). S R1 G3 M2 P D2 P S | S N3 D2 P M2 G3 R1 S
Sahana (28th Mela's Janya) S R2 G3 M1 P M1 D2 N2 S | SN2SD2N2D2PM1G3M1R2G3R2S :)

Simmendra Madhyamam

ārohaṇa: S R2 G2 M2 P D1 N3 S
avarohaṇa: S N3 D1 P M2 G2 R2 S

This is the 57th Melakartha. It has very few janyas so it's not as popular as a parent (or janaka) raga. By its own merit, it is often sung as a main piece in concerts and also quite often used on Ragam Thanam Pallavi. More on Ragam Thanam Pallavi in a later post.

It is very closely related to Shanmukapriya (56th mela) and differs from it only in the N. This causes it to be confused with Shanmukapriya more often than not if the musician is not careful about bringing out the N3 in the rendition.

Rendition of SM on Sax
http://www.musicindiaonline.com/p/x/pJX00I5jZS.As1NMvHdW/

Songs in SM from Films


Listen to the violins and the flute at the beginning

Karaharapriya

This is the 22nd Melakartha.

It's scale is
Aarohana: S R2 G2 M1 P D2 N2 S
Avarohana: S N2 D2 P M1 G2 R2 S

This is a very important and melodious melakartha and also important because it gives rise to a lot of janya ragas. Kharaharapriya has been decorated with compositions by many composers. All except the Dikshitars, including Muthuswami Dikshitar,[1] have composed songs in this rāgam. Thyagaraja has composed many in this rāgam. Muthuswami Dikshitar, one of the three most important composers in Carnatic music, has not composed kritis in Kharaharapriya, but has composed kritis in a closely related ragam Harapriya, which bears stark similarities to Kharaharapriya.[3] A few of the popular compositions are listed here.
Chakkani rajamargamu, Pakkala nilapadi, Mitri Bhagyame, Rama ni samana, Nadachi Nadachi and Rama neeyata by Thyagaraja
Moovasai konda thiruman by Muthiah Bhagavatar
Senthil andavan, Srinivasa Thava Charanam by Papanasam Sivan

This is often sung as a main piece in concerts and is very conducive for elaborate alapana and kalpanaswarams. Karaharapriya in Hindustani system is called the Kafi thaat.

Here's a carnatic piece sung by great MS. Play close attention to the rag alapana at the beginning. Such a wonderful KHPriya


Nice demo of KHPriya on Keyboard. Not as faithful due to the inherent limitation of playing carnatic on keyboard but nevertheless, a good rendition.


Some movie songs in this raga

Kalyani

It is the 65th Melakartha and arguably the queen of ragas. It is the most important Pratimadhyama raga. It is also known as Mecha Kalyani to conform to the Katapayadhi system (More on Katapayadhi later). It's scale is

Arohana: S R2 G3 M2 P D2 N3 S'
Avarohana: S' N3 D2 P M2 G3 R2 S

Looking at the scale it looks like it differs from Shankarabharanam only in M. However, the swaraprayogas of Kalyani are very different from that of Shankarabharanam and they are poles apart in their distintive ways. Kalyani is also considered a very auspicious raga and a evening raga in general. This corresponds to Rag Yaman in Hindustani and to the C Lydian scale in Western Classical Music (Thanks Rajesh for pointing this out).


Here's a link to a mandolin rendition of Kalyani Varnam Vanajakshi
http://www.musicindiaonline.com/p/x/jUI0qkU-Wd.As1NMvHdW/

Here's a link to a very beautiful Krithi in Kalyani
http://www.musicindiaonline.com/p/x/b4p23skYgd.As1NMvHdW/

Shankarabharanam

This is the 29th Melakartha and one of the main ragas in Carnatic Music. It is also a very important janaka raga (that is a lot of ragas are derived from it). It is usually sung either as a varnam or a main krithi with elaborate raga alapana. The placement of swaras in Shankarabharanam make it very conducive for alapana and numerous swaraprastharas (using swaras during a krithi to bring out the raga). Shankarabharanam literally means "jewel of Lord Shiva" and is considered to be favorite raga of the deity. It's scale is
Arohana: S R2 G3 M1 P D2 N3 S'
Avarohana: S' N3 D2 P M1 G3 R2 S

The placement of it swaras makes it resemble the C major scale very closely.

Some Carnatic compositions in this raga are Swara raga sudha, Saroja dhala nethri. Here's a link to a thillana in Shankarabharanam
http://www.musicindiaonline.com/p/x/rUp2f7tONS.As1NMvHdW/
Here's a pseudo western piece but played Carnatic style in Shankarabharanam.
http://www.musicindiaonline.com/p/x/bUI09vl5wd.As1NMvHdW/

Movie Songs in Shankarabharanam

Classification of ragas - the Melakartha system

The fundamental classification of ragas are as Melakartha ragas and Janya ragas. Melakartha are the fundamental ragas. For a raga to be termed as Melakartha raga, it has to be a sampoorna raga (i.e., has all the 7 swaras appearing once and only once and in the same order both in aarohana and avarohana). This begs a question, if there are only 7 notes (from our earlier lecture, we saw that there were 7 notes S R G M P D N) then how many melakartha can be there?
Well, the 7 notes are not just limited to 7 frequencies but to variations between them.



Consider one octave from the above image, that is from one C to another C. You will notice that there are 12 keys (7 white and 5 black). These 12 keys form the 12 swarasthanas. Each of the swarasthana is a variation of the 7 fundamental notes. M or madhyama has 2 variations, R, G, D, N have 3 variations each, S and P are fixed notes. We will denote the variations using subscripts 1,2 or 3. They are arranged on the 12 swarasthanas on a overlapping scale as follows.
1. S
2. R1
3. R2 = G1
4. R3 = G2
5. G3
6. M1
7. M2
8. P
9. D1
10. D2 = N1
11. D3 = N2
12. N3

Now this becomes a simple process of choosing 1 each of R G M D N to form a melakartha along with the S and P. We see that there are only 6 combinations of R and G that are possible - R1G1, R1G2, R1G3, R2G2, R2G3, R3G3 (The others are either meaningless because R2 is same as G1 etc or are one of the above six R2G2 == R3G1). Similarly D and N also have 6 combinations. Along with 2 variations of M, they give rise to a total of 6 X 6 X 2 = 72 Melakartha ragas. They start with Kanakangi as the 1st Melakartha with a scale of S R1 G1 M1 P D1 N1 S and end with Rasikapriya as the 72nd Melakartha with a scale of S R3 G3 M2 P D3 N3 S.
The Melakartha ragas are arranged in 12 groups of 6 ragas each. The first 6 groups have M1 and the last 6 groups have M2. The first group starts with R1G1 and the next group has R1G2 and so on. Within each group the order goes as D1N1, D1N2, D1N3, D2N2, D2N3, D3N3. That is the sort order is basically M, RG group, DN group.
Given the Melakartha number it is possible to find out it's scale and vice versa. For ex 56th Melakartha means, this is in M2 group (since 56 > 36), it is in the 10th group (that is the 4th of the M2 ragas) and it is the 2nd within the group. That is it's scale will be S (R2 G2) M2 P (D1 N2) (This is the famous Shanmukapriya).

Another example:
What is the Melakartha number of S R2 G3 M1 P D1 N2 S
R2 G3 is the 5th group and D1 N2 is the 2nd raga in that group which means the number will be 4*6+2 = 26 (This is the raga Charukesi).
Here's a link to the Melakartha classification and the scales of all the 72 ragas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melakarta#Table_of_Melakarta_ragas

The ragas represented as piano keys can be seen at
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Melakarta_ragams_(svg)

A page with links to sample of ragas on the keyboard
http://www.carnaticindia.com/melakartha_ragas.html

Demos of various melakarthas
http://www.musicindiaonline.com/music/carnatic_vocal/s/artist.105/ Look for Melakartha in the title.

Day 1 notes

There are 7 notes in Carnatic Music - they are shadja (S) rishaba(R) gandhara(G) madhyama(M) panchama(P) dhaivatha(D) nishada(N). A set of these seven notes consitute an octave. There are usually 3 octaves (Mandra sthayi -lower, madhyasthayi-middle and thaarasthayi - upper). The frequency of the notes double from octave to another. The frequency at which you sing the adhara shadja ( the S of the middle octave) is called the sruthi or the pitch. A drone or tambura is used to help the musicians maintain the pitch. Common male pitches range from 1-3 and female pitches range from 4-6 or 6.5. A pitch of 1 corresponds to adhara shadja at middle C of the piano (440 hz). A pitch of 5 corresponds to G, 5.5 is G# and so on.

A concert usually begins with an invokation to Lord Ganesha and/or a varnam (more about varnam later). This is followed by krithis of alternating fast/slow short/long krithis. Thillanas and thukkadas are sung towards the end before finishing the concert with a piece or small verse in Madhyamavathi.

All beginner lessons are in a raga called Mayamalava gowla. The scale of any raga is expressed as the arohana (ascend) and the avarohana (descend). For Mayamalava gowla it is SRGMPDNS and SNDPMGRS respectively. The arohana and avarohana need not be symmetric. EX. Bilahari is a raga where arohana is SRGPDS and avarohana is SNDPMGRS. In such a raga PMG (use of M when descending from P to G) will be allowed but not GMP.

A krithi or main song in Carnatic Music is structured as Pallavi (Opening), maybe followed by Anupallavi, followed by 1 or more Charanams. For film music the in between spaces are filled with interludes of background music(BGM).
The main constituents of a krithi are lyrics (known as sahityam), the beats/rhythm (known as tala) and the tune in form of notes (swaras). (A raga is the scale on which the tune is based). The most common tala is adi tala. It consists of 8 beats per cycle (structured as 4 + 2 + 2). The format is 1 beat + 3 counts, 1beat+1flip, 1beat+1flip. A beat + count is called lagu and a beat + flip is called a dhrutham. So adi tala has 1 lagu and 2 dhruthams. At the 1st tempo, we sing 1 swara per beat as follow

S R G M |P D |N S ||(where I indicates a change from lagu to dhrutham, and || the end of the tala.)

In 2nd tempo this becomes
SR GM PD NS |SN DP |MG RS ||

And in the third tempo it becomes
SRGM PDNS SNDP MGRS |SRGM PDNS |SNDP SNDP ||

Here are links to the songs that we heard today in Mayamalavagowla




And here's the link to Vathapi Ganapathim by the one and only MS amma
http://www.musicindiaonline.com/p/x/KUf2mNSWIS.As1NMvHdW/