Gruhabedham - the varying hues

This week I was fortunate to come across two different videos both incidentally by my favorite duo Ra-Ga (Ranjani Gayathri).

The first one was a lec dem on this topic by Gayathri (of Ra-Ga) that took place on 16th Dec 2016 at Music Academy. I had read about it in the hindu and though I was in Chennai at that time, I couldn't attend it in person. Thankfully they had posted the video of the same and I was able to watch. It gave a whole new perspective on gruha bedha and several examples of the not so common transformations. Especially transformations from sampurna to audava ragas are something I didn't hitherto think were under the purview of GB. I lack the musical prowess to follow along at the same speed at which she was transforming. What I lack in musical talent, I am intending to make up with my software skills by building an app for recalculation GB combos easily (some day....)

Here's the wonderful video

Today I had the fortune of listening to their concert on youtube as well. They had taken Hamir Kalyani for a RTP elaboration. One of the ragas they had sung Kalpanaswaram in was Abhogi ( or should I say Valaji or both). Confused? Listen to it and decide yourself.

God willing, I will be able to write an elaborate konaar notes on these two videos someday. For now enjoy the originals.

Anatomy of a concert

I thought I had already written about this earlier but for some reason I cannot find it so no harm in writing once more.

This post is dedicated to my son. We were recently at a Carnatic concert and while he enjoyed the music, he couldn't quite grasp the structure of the concert so I promised him that I will write a post about it explaining everything.

DISCLAIMER: As I have noted in several other posts, a vast majority of Carnatic rendition is manodharma music which literally means "that which feels right to the heart". Unlike Western classical where the structure is more or less rigid, Carnatic music gives a lot of creative freedom to the musician. This means that any attempt at "defining the structure" will be incomplete at best. Below, I present a more or less accepted structure. This by no means is bounding.

For the purpose of this post I give below 2 links So you can use that as a reference to understand the structure.

Any concert can be divided into three parts - Introduction, Main Course, Culmination.
Introductions consists of invokation pieces on Ganesha, Varnam, a small song, a slightly longer song in a "deeper" raga etc. The Main Course usually consists of 1 or 2 main pieces that the musician elaborates and shows his/her mastery of the piece/raga etc. These are usually in ragas with a lot of scope for improvisation. Some of common ragas in this category are Shakarabharanam, Mohanam, Kalyani, Karaharpriya,  Shanmukhapriya,  Todi, Kambhoji, Simmedramadyamam, ... well the list is kind of long. While it is common to see main pieces sung in these ragas, some musicians have taken up rare ragas to do the main piece as well. Culmination is the last part where the concert is nearing the end. Unlike Movies (or some western recitals), the grand finale is not really at the end of a Carnatic Concert, it occurs in the middle. The last part is mostly winding down. You can imagine a concert to be almost like a mountain/plateau where the introduction slowly build up, the main course maintains that high altitude and the culmination makes way for a beautiful descent.

Introduction:
As mentioned every concert usually starts either with invokation to Ganesha or a Varnam or both. If the musician decides to sing both, it will usually be a varnam followed by the ganesha song. A varnam is a "beginner" piece and acts as a good warm up for the musician. More on varnam here. Ganesha song because he's considered the remover of obstacles so it is customary to invoke him for a successful concert. (Just writing about this reminds me that I should write a post on divinity in Carnatic music, maybe some day). This typically is followed by one or two short krithis followed by a slightly longer one with a wee bit of alapana to provide a taste of what's coming. The songs themselves may either be popular or in popular ragas that peps up the audience.

Main course:
Usually this consists on 1 or 2 LONG songs and/or a Ragam Thanam Pallavi (or RTP as its fondly called by aficionados) These usually run anywhere between 15 mins to 45 mins/1hr per song. There are usually 1 or 2 short and swift numbers in between them to break the momentum a bit.

Now the question is are the songs really that long? The short answer is NO. The same song can be sung in 3-4mins too so why does rendering it during the main course of a concert make it so long? Because the musician embellishes and uses this as an opportunity to show off his talents. As mentioned earlier, these pieces are sung in ragas that have LOTs of scope for improvisation. Each main piece starts with a raga alapana. This is where the musician lets the audience "know" the raga without the song itself but bringing out several nuances of the raga. This can be as elaborate as time/talent permits. This is followed by the alapana by the violinist. Usually the alapana by the accompaniment is shorter than the main vocalist but nevertheless i have seen concerts where they outshine the main singer even with a short alapana.
This is followed by the song itself. The song like any other consists of pallavi, anupallavi and charanam (or multiple charanams). Each line is sung several times not only for emphasis but also to bring out the beauty of the raga and the emotions. Towards the end of the song, the singer chooses a particular line for "neraval". Neraval is a technique by which the singer sings the same line several times each time with a little extra.  If you have ever seen a parotta master or a cook knead parotta dough or roti dough and how they continuously pound on it until it becomes super soft and pliable, that is what neraval does to a line. (Music Purists are probably going to flame me right now but I think this imagery works really well to explain Neraval). At the end of it the singer has pretty much stretched the line to its max such that it readily gives way to Kalpanaswara. Kalpanaswara literally means swaras of imagination. The singer sings several intricate patterns of swaras all adhering to the raga (or the scale) and culminating with the neraval line.

RTP: Sometimes in lieu of a LONG song, singers may decide to perform an RTP. It consists of 3 sections Ragam - Thanam and Pallavi. Ragam is nothing but raga alapana as before, but the alapana for RTP tends to be a little longer than for the other songs. This is one of the indications that the singer is going to sing a RTP instead of regular song. The next section is thanam. The best explanation of thanam is that it's percussion beats but sung not played. This also adheres to the raga. This is followed by a pallavi - usually only 1 line is sung (not the entire song) but the same line is repeated with Neraval and kalpanaswaram. Sometimes the singer also sings the same line in multiple ragas finally returning to the original raga of the RTP. (Note: this is not a requirement but most singers do anyways to showcase their skill/mastery of the ragas).

Culmination
This section is sometimes called Thukkada (or tiny pieces). Now that the grand finale (the long piece or RTP) is over, the singer finally winds down. Sings a few short pieces. These are usually fast/peppy numbers or bhajan or abhang, sometimes a short krithi preceded by a tamil virutham or sanskrit sloka.


Links to concerts:
http://www.sangeethamshare.org/kasturi/UPLOADS-0001-0200/097_SemmangudiSrinivasaIyer/?p=kasturi/UPLOADS-0001-0200/097_SemmangudiSrinivasaIyer


http://www.sangeethamshare.org/manjunath/Carnatic/Audio/UPLOADS-301-600/453-suDha_raghunAThan-vocal--2006/

Aarabhi - Ongi Ulagalandha

ஓங்கி உலகளந்த உத்தமன் பேர் பாடி
நாங்கள் நம் பாவைக்குச் சாற்றி நீராடினால் தீங்கின்றி நாடெல்லாம் திங்கள் மும் மாரி பெய்து ஓங்கு பெறும் செந் நெல் ஊடு கயலுகளப் பூங்குவளைப் போதில் பொறி வண்டு கண் படுப்பத் தேங்காதே புக்கிருந்து சீர்த்த முலை பற்றி வாங்க குடம் நிறைக்கும் வள்ளல் பெரும் பசுக்கள் நீங்காத செல்வம் நிறைந்தேலோர் எம்பாவாய்



Ragam: Aarabhi
Arohanam: S R2 M1 P D2 S
Avarohanam:S N3 D2 P M1 G3 R2 S

Aarabhi is the janya raga of 29th Melakartha Dheera Shankarabharanam. The most popular composition in this raga is probably Sadinchane which is the third of the Pancharatna kriti of Saint Thyagaraja. It's a raga that suits veera, roudra or bhibatsa rasa. 
The nishadha is minimal in Arabhi and some compositions such as Sadinchane avoid it completely and instead uses phrases such as  SSdpm instead. 

Arabhi hasn't been widely popular in film music. Some popular ones include Mannavane Mannavane from an old Vikram movie. 

Here are some links:
Sadinchane

http://download.tamiltunes.com/songs/__P_T_By_Movies/Puthupatti%20Ponnuthaye/Madurai%20Vazhum%20-%20TamilWire.com.mp3

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.

Western Scales Part 1

Though this is not really a part of Carnatic music per se, some understanding of Western scales actually helps a lot in understanding light Classical and Film music and even some advance concepts in Carnatic. We will briefly discuss the Western scales.

We will begin with the Western notes. Like the S R G M (but quite unlike it too), are the Western notes of C, D, E, F, G, A, B. It is similar in the sense that there are also 7 notes and 5 half notes (sharps) in the Western music making a total of 12 similar to Carnatic music. And this is where the similarity ends at least theoretically. While the adhara shadja can be fixed at any frequency and will therefore determine the rest of swarasthanas, the notes in WCM (Western Classical Music) are fixed. That is the middle C is always at a fixed frequency (typically tuned by a piano) and so are the rest of the notes. The white keys on a piano are always the full notes (C, D, E, F etc) and the black keys are always half notes (#s like C#, D# etc). They never change. While going through some of these scales it might be easier for you to visualize them on a piano so here's an image to help you


Note that C is always to the left of the group of 2 black keys and never anywhere else. Recall from our earlier discussion that, unlike the Western C, the adhara shadja can be pegged at any position to the convenience of the singer or the artist.

Will continue with major/minor scales in a different post

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