My musings on Carnatic music

50 articles for 2019-2020 34 of 50 Corona and Conjoining of ragas ! The WW virus enabled me to catch up with Veena Recitals by Maestro Mysore Doresamy Iyengar and when the Master started a song i hesitantly placed the raga as Bilahari and was second guessing the Krithi. Would have wished Paridaana Meechite of Patnam for the gaiety way the swaras run and rush and stop and walk. But something wasnt right and as is the practice of yours truly, i presumed the worry is needless since it is out of syllabus. Imagine i could hear the lyrics of Bhuvaneswariye.. in Mohana Kalyani and kicked myself of the callous way i registered the Avarohana Swaras . And as a practice to be more careful in future thought should write this small note... Mohanam is the janya of 28th melakartha Harikambodhi. Since Ma and Ni are absent , it can be the theoritically be called janya of Kalyani also. Subbarama Dikshatar has classified Mohanam as a janya of Shantakalyani in SSP Mohanam ...

Kaakka Thoppu and Kondi Thoppu 24 of 50 ! As an immigrant to chennai when i was a young dreamy eyed youngster, i had the great honour of knowing locations named Kaaka Thoppu and Kondi Thoppu. Thoppu in Tamil means verdant field and Kaakaa is crow..so one could at least fill the gap and pat one self. But what on earth is Kondi Thoppu ? And india being a country of myriad languages and dialects it makes it tough for even the creator of the street name to remember after a hiatus... Thiruvarur which had the distinction of having been the birth place of Mumoorthiys of CM also has the largest Ther (Wooden chariot to carry the Lord) in the country. Procession of Ther is a feast for the eyes especially during Brahmotsavam Its the name of the family of Deva Dasis (Rudra Ganikaigal - ) which had the unique privileges starting from Cholas Rule in South india and particularly at Tyagesas Temple at Thiruvarur . Thiruvarur Kamalam from the Kondi LIneage was a contemporary of ...

50 Articles for 2019 Number 16 part 01 May Rama bestow an Iphone 11 on me... Our talented admin  Sheela Raman  put out a request for me to resume writing this series with a carrot dangling that if i or anyone completes the 50th she will bestow a brand new Iphone 11.! Hence the renewed enthusiasm to write. The Ramayana Theme in Carnatic music is something intriguing and can be split into songs in praise of Rama, Ramayana Story set to music and indirect references to stories based on the same. Lets briefly touch each of them Tyagaraja : Emphasises Rama's musical proficiency by addressing him as Ragarasika (Ninnuvina Sukhamugana) Sangitha Rasika ( Sri RAghuvaraprameya) and Rasika Siromani (Dasarathe) Other characters who are made mention are (Anjaneya and bharatha) Vinasakoni, four ladies (Ahalya, Kausalya, SAbari and Swayamprabha) in Enduki Chalamu, (Chamara the Deer) Vachama Gocharame . We can conclude that Tyagaraja was proficient in other interpretations of Ramaya...

50 articles for 2019-2020 33 of 50 Structure of Krithis part 2 Annamayyas krithis dont have an Anupallavi passage and His Samkeertanas have multiple charanas. While Puradaradasa's compositions have mixed variety as in some have anupallavi passages and some dont. Thiagaraja Swami and Syama Sastry compositions have multiple charanams and its not a LH thumb rule since there are uni charana compositions too. We can conclude that due to lack of evidence of a structure for Krithis as a standard, the brilliants minds explored many formats. We must mention a Margadarshi. A pre trinity composer Sesha Ayyangar composed in Sanksrit, His kritis have triple charanams, and he experimented with the traditional pallavi-anupallavi-caraNam structure of kritis. The famous musician Shatkala Govinda Marar brought with him a collection of the songs of Margadarsi Sesha Iyengar and sang many of them before the king, Swati Tirunal. Impressed by their novelty, adopted them as models for ...

50 Articles for 2019 Number 04 Topic: nishAdhAntya rAgams (also madhyama shruti, certain rAgams sung together in rAgamAlikAs) 'anta' in sanskrit means an end. nishAdhAntya rAgams are those scales which culminate in the nishAdham. The scales do not go further up into the tara stAyi shadjam or any swarams in the upper octave. Similarly, on the descent, the rAgam is not sung below the mandara stAyi nishAdham. In fact, the scale includes the mention of the mandara stAyi nishAdham, without ending at the shadjam itself. The rAgam will have only one octave. Examples of nishAdhAntya rAgams are: cencuruTTi (janya of HarikAmbhOji 28) - N2 S R2 G3 M1 P D2 N2 - N2 D2 P M1 G3 R2 S N2 cittaranjani (janya of kharaHarapriyA 22) - N2 S R2 G2 M1 P D2 N2 - N2 D2 P M1 G2 R2 S N2 nAdanAmakriyA (janya of mAyAmALavagowLa 15) - S R1 G3 M1 P D1 N3 - N3 D1 P M1 G3 R1 S N3 punnAgavarALi (janya of HanumatODi 8 ) - N2 S R1 G2 M1 P D1 N2 - N2 D1 P M1 G2 R1 S N2 One main aspect is that these rAgams...

50 Articles for 2019 Number 15 BHASKAR GANESAN · WEDNESDAY, 6 MARCH 2019 · Rasa (Aesthetics) and the Rasika ! I have two friends in CMF who when meeting always greet each other as "Akka how are you" (loosely Elder sister how are you...placing for posterity their lesser age compared to the person opposite) and promptly the greeted will respond “fine” how are you "Akka". Unless both were born at the same exact date time second and micro second and not as twins, it brings to logic one should be older ! None concedes space in this oft repeated drama ! Rasa the aesthetic flavour in our music has been mentioned in Bharatha”s Natya Sastra and refined by the Kashmiri Saivite scholar Abhinavagupta....which can be said that which evokes the feeling in the audience which cannot be explained. Must place on record here that natya Sastra covers music ... the terse statement is tatra vibhāvā-anubhāva vyabhicāri saṃyogād rasa niṣpattiḥ । (tran...

50 articles for 2019-2020 Article 35 of 50 GovindarajaSwamy and Gummakambodhi Yes yes of late my aritlcles resemble some archaelogical find but i can assure my sea of readers ( less than 10) it is unintentional. When visiting the magnificient temple of Nataraja in Chidambaram i used to wonder how come there is a Govindarajaswamy temple in the Siva Complex and answered myself it could be the syncretic nature of our 3 arms of Hinduism Decade ago i was captivated by Sanjays rendition of Govindarajena rakshitoham sada by Muthuswamy Dikshtar , the raga name easily merging in the Sahitya...the final lines of the Vibhakthi being mEca bauLi rAgENa santOshitEna I have to visit what readers already know as in the beautiful Bowli raga with the following Arohana and Avarohana ārohaṇa: S R₁ G₃ P D₁ Ṡ avarohaṇa: Ṡ N₃ D₁ P G₃ R₁ S Curiosity be served with some food... Venkatamakhin enumerated without describing this raga. I will just run thru the references which speak of Mecha...

50 Articles for 2019 Number 17 Hanuman has bestowed a toy Iphone 11 In the annals of broken verbal contracts this must go as the sterling one...admin Sheela Raman has now downgraded the gift to toy IPhone 11 . So i hope it has AAA batteries and i wont end up spending to buy the same. Venkatanathan R added a worthy list of songs on Rama for my article number 16 and i place my thanks here and now. This is the spirit with which we should either write or add to the published articles. Azhwars were Vaishnavite saint poets who lived in south india (7th - 9th century) and their hymns are called Pasuram-s and Prabhandam-s. A great Vaishnavite commentator Peria Vachan Pillai has culled the Ramayana story from these hymns of the Saint poets and has composed a long tamil poem called Pasurappadi Sri Ramayanam (Ramayana according to Hymns) which is usually sung as a Ragamalika . h ttp://www.acharya.org/sloka/pap/pr.pdf Arunagirinathar a saint poet who was chiefly devoted ...

50 articles for 2019-2020 31 of 50 addendum GauriManohari When i was answering at all ends viz to admin Sheela Raman who is saying this article wasnt complete and attributed a wonderful tag called bongu , another friend Meenakshi Vidyasagar commented it lacks the usual nuisances... and yet another tweeting it is too short...an erudite member highilighted that Garuda Gamana is a Prakshipta Krithi of Saint Thiagaraja. Now that requires a separate article which will follow soon. A big thanks for the gent and if he identifies himself here a surprise prize for him... 🥳

50 Articles for 2019 Number 15 4 Allied Ragas Shri / Madhyamavathi / Manirangu / Salagabhairavi Caveat : To whose who know to identify am awe struck with your capacity . This primer is for whose who wish to ! All the four above are janyas of Kharaharapriya and to touch briefly the Aro and Ava. Shri Sa ri ma pa ni sa and Sa ni pa dha ni pa ma ri ga ri sa An audava - Sampoorna raga with 5 notes in the Aro and seven in the ava and descent being eccentric makes it a Vakra Raga. The Raga provides a grandeur like nothing we have heard. My tamil friends would recollect with glee that a song like Muthukkalo Kanngal (Nenjirukkumvarai by TMS) is based on raga Shree. Now the range truly seems amazing...Muthukkalo Kanngal , Thithipadho Kannam upto MDs Shri Kamalambikay ..... Madhyamavathi Sa Ri Ma Pa Ni Sa and Sa ni Pa Ma ri Sa A close cousin or niece of Shri Raga with variations being Gandhara and Dhaivata being omitted in the Ava unli...

50 Articles for 2019 Number 08 Groups ! 1 of 2 We live in times where being a member of Whatsapp or FB or telegram makes us be members of like minded (atleast in theory) folks. FB CMF is a group unparalleled ! Any surprise that our Vaggeyakaras also grouped up on particular Deities and composed group krithis ! All the members of the Trinity have composed on Varadaraja Perumal temple of Kanchipuram and the songs are MD's sAranga kriti varadarAjam upAsmahE. Shyama Sastris varNam in Ananda bhairavi, sAmi nI rammanavE and Tyagarajas swarabhUShaNi song, varadarAja ninnukOri. No Shiva Temple in Kanchi Vicinity has a seperate shrine for Ambal as consort due to the powerful presence of Bangaru Kamakshi and all other temples face Kamakshi Temple. Deities (should we even use the word lucky) that have been invoked by all the members of the trinity are Goddess Kamakshi of Kanchipuram, Goddess Dharmasamvardhini of Tiruvaiyyaru and Goddess Nilayatakshi of Nagapattinam. We see groupis...