You are currently browsing the category archive for the ‘Hindustani music’ category.
Today is the first day of Vasanta – the spring season. Although spring can’t arrive in an instant, for the calendar, we need to have an official start of spring, and that is the Vernal equinox. From today, the days get longer everyday, till the summer solstice. In India, spring is associated with koels singing in mango trees, and the smell of jasmine flowers.
In California, there is no dearth of flowers during spring!
Unfortunately, there aren’t that many singing birds. But to make up for that deficiency, I’m posting here a recording – of my composition, sung beautifully by “Arvind”.
Arvind, is known as IndianMusicFan on Twitter world, and his website is http://www.aboutindianmusic.com/
Click on the play button to listen to the composition.
The composition is in rAga kAmavardhini, that is also known by other names as Kashi Ramakriya & Pantuvarali. You can read why this rAga has so many names, in this old post here.
Your feedback & comments on the composition are welcome!
-neelanjana
In 2009, I posted a swarajati that I had composed during Navaratri. Last year too, I posted another swarajati, in ranjani raaga, during Navaratri. Now to continue the tradition, I am posting another swarajati that I composed sometime back – This is in raaga BindumAlini.
You can download a PDF file, by clicking here: bindumaalini
An audio track is available here – played on the flute, by @IndianMusicFan. Click on the play button to listen to the composition.
http://soundcloud.com/hamsanandi/bindumalini
Your comments and feedback welcome.
-neelanjana
I find this title song of T N Seetharam’s teleserial Mukta Mukta quite catchy, in spite of not being very upbeat.
The song is written by H S Venkatesha Murthy, and is quite powerful. I like the last stanza which tells about the never-ending battle between the good and the evil.
ಮಣ್ಣ ತಿಂದು ಸಿಹಿ ಹಣ್ಣ ಕೊಡುವ ಮರ ನೀಡಿ ನೀಡಿ ಮುಕ್ತ
ಬೇವ ಅಗಿವ ಸವಿಗಾನದ ಹಕ್ಕಿ ಹಾಡಿ ಮುಕ್ತ ಮುಕ್ತ
ಹಸಿರ ತೋಳಿನಲಿ ಬೆಂಕಿಯ ಕೂಸ ಪೊರೆವುದು ತಾಯಿಯ ಹೃದಯ
ಮರೆಯುವುದುಂಟೆ ಮರೆಯಲಿ ನಿಂತೇ ಕಾಣುವ ಕರುಣಾಮಯಿಯ
ತನ್ನಾವರಣವೇ ಸೆರೆಮನೆಯಾದರೆ ಜೀವಕೆ ಎಲ್ಲಿಯ ಮುಕ್ತಿ
ಬೆಳಕಿನ ಬಟ್ಟೆಯ ಬಿಚ್ಚುವ ಜ್ಯೋತಿಗೆ ಬಯಲೇ ಜೀವನ್ ಮುಕ್ತಿ
ಇರುಳ ವಿರುಧ್ಧ ಬೆಳಕಿನ ಯುಧ್ಧ ಕೊನೆಯಿಲ್ಲದ ಕಾದಾಟ
ತಡೆಯೇ ಇಲ್ಲದೇ ನಡೆಯಲೇ ಬೇಕು ಸೋಲಿಲ್ಲದ ಹೋರಾಟ
The tune is quite similar to the title song for Mukta, earlier teleserial from T N Seetharam. But to me, this song has shades of Shree; Shree of Hindustani kind, that is – particularly in the abrupt transitions from Panchama to Rishabha 
. It also reminds me of another well known Kannada bhaavageethe, deepavu ninnade, gaaLiyu ninnade by Ke Es Na.
The singers are M D Pallavi, and Vijay Prakash – Yes, the same Bollywood singer who comes from Mysore, and is known for ‘Jai Ho’; I definitely prefer this voice to C Ashwath’s (who sang the title song for the first Mukta series).
-neelanjana
Whoever named raaga Hamsadhwani probably did not pay attention to the facts that Swans do not have an attractive voice! Take a look at the following videos to hear how exactly swans sound! Not very melodious!
But one good thing about raga Hamsadhwani is that unlike many ragas, its history can be traced quite accurately.
Ramaswamy Dikshita (1735AD-1817AD), father of Muttuswamy Dikshita is credited with the creation of this pentatonic raaga. However, this may be partly true. The Ragalakshana appendix to Chaturdandi Prakashike mentions Hamsadwani. Although the main text of Chaturdandi was composed by Venkatamakhi (~1650 AD), the Ragalakshana appendix was added by is grand-nephew Muddu Venkatamuchi couple of generations after Venkatamakhi. He describes Hamsadwhani as a pentatonic raga, born of Shankarabharana mEla omitting ma and da. (S R G P N S – S N P G R S). The current form of Hamsadwani is exactly the same.
This brings the time when Hamsadhwani first appeared around the beginning of 18th century. It is likely that Ramaswamy Dikshita was one of the early composers who popularized it, and hence the credit that goes in his name.I wonder why it took as late as 18th century to come up with this very attractive pentatonic scale. However, once it became popular, there was no going back!
18th century composers Tyagaraja and Muttuswamy Dikshita, each comosed two compositions in this raga. It can be safely said that the composition Vatapi Ganapatim Bhajesham of Muttuswamy Dikshita is the most famous composition in this raga. Listen to Dr M.Balamuralikrishna singing this compositon.
With this composition, Hamsadhwani raga became a natural associate of Ganapati, and there are a number of nice compositions in this raga with Ganapati as the theme. Vandenishamaham of Mysore Vasudevacharya, Gam Ganapate of Muttaiyya Bhagavatar, Vara Vallabha Ramana of GNB, Gajavadana Beduve of Purandara Dasa – all these come to mind. Listen here to – Gam Ganapate of Muttaiah Bhagavatar – This is from a concert here in the bay area (Veena-Jyothi Chetan; Mridanga- Ramesh Srinivasan)
During the 20th century saw many raagas from Karnataka sangeetha were adapted to Hindustani. How could they leave out a very appealing raaga like Hamsadhwani? Not only did they adapt the melody, but also the popular composition Vatapi Ganapatim Bhajeham!
Listen here to Rashid Khan, who sings a beautiful Alap followed by “laagi lagan”. You can’t miss the similarity to Vatapi Ganapatim Bhajeham.
For whatever reason, Hamsadhwani does not seem to have inspired kannada film music composers as much as some other raagas have. I can just think of a few Kannada film songs – ಇನ್ನು ಗ್ಯಾರಂಟಿ from ನಂಜುಂಡಿ ಕಲ್ಯಾಣ and ಮೀನಾಕ್ಿ ನಿನ್ನ from ರಣಧೀರ. If you are aware of any other songs, post a comment.
-neelanjana
It was almost noon by the time Saraswati finished her daily pooje. She observed she was singing aloud when she was doing mangalaarati to the deities. If her husband was home, she would only mumble the song to herself. In reality, she was quite a good singer, but lacked the confidence to sing in front of him because he was indeed very well versed in music. That was the cause for the hesitation to sing before him. He might say a thing or two about her sangatis. Or he might even bring the tamboori, and show how to sing those sangatis to sound better. That’s why the walls of their ancestral home heard Saraswatis singing voice only when Srinivasa was away. She often wondered if he could dedicate himself to music if not for the family business. Saraswathi just thought how nice it would have been to listen to his singing all day. It was several months since he had touched his tamboori. His singing was so overpowering and made her emotional that she would feel that Lord Krishna’s brindavana was right here at Kshemapura. The only other person she new who had a comparable voice was that of Vaikuntha Dasa of her hometown.
Saraswati felt very strange at thinking Belooru as her hometown even after being married for almost twenty years and living in Kshemapura! It reminded her that she had not visited her parents for couple of years. She was indeed worried when there was a talk of her marriage, and when she knew the suitor was from the hilly rainy country. Her hometown was a real beauty. Such a peaceful and tranquil town with the three hundred year old Chennakeshava temple as the anchor for all activities in the town! What to do? Once a girl gets married, she has to think her husband’s home as her own. She was indeed very happy when she arrived in Kshemapura first time. So green! But when the rains arrived she was terror struck at the force of the torrential rains that would not budge for four or five months! But now she preferred the rainy season since she saw more of her husband at home doing his music practice. As she went into the kitchen, Saraswati started counting how many more months till Ashadha arrived.
****
Srinivasa looked at the pendant Nagachari gave. Yes, it was looking good. May be few less emeralds would have made it look even better. He started to write the pattern for the necklace to match this pendant. Then noticing that Nagachari was still waiting, Srinivasa reminded him that the work should be finished soon because it had to get to the Palace before the festivals. As Srinivasa was completing his sketch, he thought of the hours he was spending at his store these days. Hebana was almost eighteen. It was time for him to take more responsibility in the business, Srinivasa thought. May be then he would have some time to pursue his first love, music.
Srinivasa’s father had trained him to be a jeweler right from the days he was a young lad. But among Srinivasa’s children, only little Madhvapati shows interest in coming to the store. Madhwa often watched has father designing the jewels, and also attempted to some of his own. The older two boys were not coming to the store even once in a bluemoon! May be it was time to make sure they come somewhat regularly, or else it might spell problems! But as Srinivasa recollected that he never came to the store regularly as a young boy, he thought all was not lost with Hebana and Abhinava yet.
In fact, Srinivasa’s father was quite lenient. He even had told his wife not to distract Srinivasa with household errands if he was practicing music, or studying all those books related with music and poetry. But Srinivasa still remembered what he had told one day : “Seenappa, I have seen the plight of musicians who depend on the kings and landlords. Thankfully, you have a business to carry on. Practice music as much as you want, but do not leave our family business. Keep your music to please yourself” Srinivasa had indeed followed his advice to the word. With riches that allow him to lend money to kings and chieftains, why should he leave the gold and gem business and stand at the doorsteps of the king? ‘Now, I am the king of my business or my music’, Srinivasa thought but when he remembered that it was amost three weeks since he touched his tamboori, it was not so pleasing. As he was sensing the unpleasantness of this, Madhwapati came in from the inner room to show a pattern he had sketched for an ear ring, and helped Srinivasa’s mind to dwell on something else.
****
It was the usual time when Abhinava would sit for his music practice. Father was very strict when it with music. Whether he taught any new lesson or not, the kids had to do their practice like a ritual. They had to practice all the varases daily in three speedszZ! Of the three brothers, Abhinava had the best voice. Although Srinivasa never explicitely said anything, Abhinava knew that he was always giving some extra attention to his lessons.
Abhinava suddenly remembered the comment Venkatesha, his friend from across the street had made sometime ago. “Ha! Your dad seems to have a lesson plan no other music teacher in this world has! I wonder how you would manage to sing with a teacher like him !” – he had remarked in front of all his friends when they were playing. Abhinava was felt angry, as well as humiliated.
Next day he had gathered courage to ask his father: “Appa, Is it true that you are teaching us in some new way that no other music teacher follows? Other kids make fun of me for that”
Abhinava remembered that Srinivasa did not even blink at this remark, let alone get angry. He had told calmly: “Yes. No other teacher teaches with the system I am teaching you and your brothers. You know what? I made these excercises myself so that it helps in making you musically aware much faster than you other wise would be. Why shoud you worry? I am sure that this system works well, and that is why I teach this way. Stop worrying, and sing Sri Gananaatha”
Saraswati was sure that Abhinava’s mind was wandering somewhere else. She softly patted his back, and asked him if he forgot what to sing next. Abhinava came back from his thoughts and started to sing the prabhandha in devagaandhara raga that his father had taught a few weeks earlier.
****
(to be continued)
Recent Comments