You are currently browsing the category archive for the 'Music' category.
Sewa International Presents
A Violin Concert by Anuradha Sridhar
accompanied by Shriram Brahmanandam on the Mrdanga.
Date: Friday, 20th November @7:30 pm Venue: Quainlan Community Center, Cupertino, CA
For tickets, you can leave a comment here, or purchase online at: www.indolink.com/sewa
Take this opportunity to reach out the flood victims, and enjoy the wonderful music.
All proceeds will be used for the benefit of affected people.
Karnataka Flood Relief Concert
-neelanjana
95th Monthly Concert Invitation
Under the series of “Udyana Nada Sindhura” the academy has organized a grand concert and invites all the music lovers to attend the event.
Vid. Tejasvi Raghunath - Flute
Vid. Redappa - Violin
Vid. Anoor Anantha Krishna Sharma - Mrudangam
Vid. B J Kiran Kumar - Khanjeera
Date & Time: 01.11.2009 (Sunday) from 5. 30 PM to 8.00 PM
Place:
YOGASHREE YOGA KENDRA,
1 Phase, 2nd Main Road, Girinagar,Bangalore – 560 085
(Nearest landmark Sita Circle Indian Oil Petrol Bunk)
ALL ARE WELCOME
If you are into south Indian music, then you might be aware of the common name confusions. I mean the raga names – Tyagaraja’s Manohari versus Muttuswamy Dikshita’s Manohari, for example. Melodically very different, but share the same name. On the other hand, Tyagaraja’s dArini telusukonTi (Shuddha Saveri) and Muttuswami Dikshita’s Sriguruguha tArayASu mAm (dEvakriya) have the same melodic structure. And as if to make matters worse, Tyagaraja has another dEvakriya, and Muttuswami dikShita a different Shuddha sAvEri (EkAmrEsha nAyike)!
Most of this happened because many manuscripts that contained Tyagaraja’s composition did not have raga names in them, or had them in some encoded form. When these were copied, and re-copied in the years after Tyagaraja, the scribes who copied these manuscripts assigned raga names very likely based a book they had access to. This resulted in many names unheard till then being assigned to some of these compositions, some compositions were even assigned to two different ragas (rasALi/vanAvaLi, dundhubhi/divyamaNi, Srutiranjani/Kantamani, dEvAmrtavarShini/nAda chintAmaNi etc). Tyagaraja’s school dominated the music scene of the later 19th and 20th centuries, these variations in names stay put.
This reference book these scribes referred to was most probably the ‘Sangraha Chudamani’ – written by one Govindacharaya. Although he got some of the facts wrong, and went against traditional music terminology, the usage of such terms has stayed on even till now as part of the musical vocabulary of Karnataka sangeetha.
So when I found out from the Guruguha blog that the text of Sangraha Chudamani is online on DLI’s website, I went ahead and read some parts of the text. Reading from the DLI site was not a very user friendly experience. Since the book is in public domain anyway, I thought it would be a good idea to post a .pdf version of the book for those who might be interested. Thanks Sunil for creating the PDF files!
Here are links to the first four parts of the book on Scribd (There are 16 PDF files). While the introduction is in English,the main body of the book is in Samskrta. Links for the remaining parts are available on the right hand side under the “From the same publisher’ menu, when you are browsing any of the following pages :
Happy reading!
-neelanjana
Last two years, I wrote a series of articles on my Kannada blog in Sampada: ನವರಾತ್ರಿಯ ದಿನಗಳು and ಸಂಗೀತ ನವರಾತ್ರಿ. This time, I thought it would be a good idea to do something different, since time is a commodity in short supply these days 
Instead of writing about a well known musical compositions, I have chosen to write about a brand new one, still very fresh! Did you say how do I know that it is really brand new?
Because this is a composition I came up with last week, when I was humming to myself as I was waiting outside my kid’s swim class! After some final dressing up, and after getting the nod of approval of some people whom I hold in very high regard musically, it is now before you as a finished product – A Jatiswara in rAga nAsAmaNi.
To listen to this jatiswara click here. (Played by violinist K R Sathyapraksh)
Raga nAsAmaNi is not a very well known rAga. According to the asampoorna mELa scheme, it occupies the place of 70th mELakartha. In the sampUrNa mELa scheme, the 70th mELa is called as nasikabhushaNi, and nAsAmaNi considered to be born out of this mELa. There is one composition of Muttuswamy Dikshita in nAsAmaNi (Sri ramA sarasvatI sEvitAm) and one composition (mAra vairi ramaNi) of Tyagaraja (although somewhat disputed, because of the missing signature) in nAsikabhushaMi. There are compositions of Dr M Balamuralikrishna, and Koteeswara Iyer in Nasikabhushani as well. There might be others, but not that well known.
But why did I compose a jatiswara in nAsAmaNi, of all the rAgas? I don’t really know, except that it just happened so! And this is my first attempt at doing something like this – so I’m keen to hear from you. If you have any sort of comment, or any type of feedback, feel free to write a comment.
I’m very glad to share the notation of the jatiswara with the musically inclined visitors to ಅಲ್ಲಿದೆ ನಮ್ಮ ಮನೆ.
If you attempt singing/playing it and send a recording, I can post it here too
I wish a very happy Navaratri season to all visitors.
-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
Program Details:
-neelanjana
No! This post is not about the famous story ರಂಗನ ಹಳ್ಳಿಯ ರಾಮ by Masti Venkatesha Ayyangar! Masti is one of the finest short story writers Kannada has seen. May be I will talk about Masti some other time – but today, I will sing a totally different tune
Sometime ago, I was listening to a talk show on the radio, where Papanasam Ashok Ramani was talking about different composers from Tamizh Nadu.
Arunachala Kavi (Birth:1711AD), and his well-known “En PallikonDIrayya” was one of the compositions he spoke about.
Click here to listen to ‘yEn paLLikkonDeer ayya’ sung by N C Vasantakokilam – On Sangeethapriya
Bird’s Eye View of Srirangam Temple (Courtesy: Google Maps)
Watch Neiveli Santhanagopalan singing this composition:
Here is my translation (of the mOhana section) of the song in Kannada. My Tamizh vocabulary is not in line for this composition of 18th century, and so no wonder I had to take the help of the lyrics and meanings of this song posted on www.karnatik.com to do this translation!
ಏಕೆ ನೀ ಪವಡಿಸಿದೆಯೋ ಶ್ರೀ ರಂಗನಾಥಾ
ಏಕೆ ನೀ ಪವಡಿಸಿಹೆಯೋ? || ಏಕೆ ನೀ ಪವಡಿಸಿಹೆಯೋ? ||
ಅರಳಿದ ಕಮಲದ ಕೊಳದ ಬದಿಯಲಿ
ಹರಿಯುವೆರಡು ಹೊಳೆಯ ನಡುವೆ ||ಏಕೆ ನೀ ಪವಡಿಸಿಹೆಯೋ? ||
ಕೌಶಿಕನ ಆಣತಿಯನಾಲಿಸಿದಕೋ? ಕಡು
ರಾಕ್ಷಸಿಯ ಅಂಬಿನಲಿ ಕೊಂದುದಕೋ?
ಈಶನ ಬಿಲ್ಲನು ಮುರಿದುದಕೋ?
ಪರಶುರಾಮನ ಗರುವವನಳಿಸಿದಕೋ? || ಏಕೆ ನೀ ಪವಡಿಸಿಹೆಯೋ? ||
ಜನಕ ಸುತೆಯೊಡನೆ ಕಾಡುದಾರಿಯ ಸವೆಸಿದಕೋ?
ದೋಷವಿರದ ಗುಹನೊಡನೆ ಗಂಗೆಯ ದಾಟಿದಕೋ?
ಚಿತ್ರಕೂಟ ಮಲೆಯಲಿ ನೆಲೆ ನಿಂದುದಕೋ? ಮಾರು
ವೇಷದ ಮಾರೀಚನ ಬೆನ್ನಟ್ಟಿದುದಕೋ? ||ಏಕೆ ನೀ ಪವಡಿಸಿಹೆಯೋ? ||
ಮಡದಿಯ ಎಲ್ಲೆಡೆಯೂ ಹುಡುಕಿದಕೋ? ಏಳು
ಗಿಡಗಳನೊಂದೇ ಬಾಣದಿ ಬೀಳಿಸಿದುದಕೊ?
ಕಡಲಿಗೆ ಸೇತುವೆ ಕಟ್ಟಿ ದಾಟಿದುದಕೋ? ಲಂಕಾ
ಕೆಡಹಿ ಲಂಕೆಯ ರಾವಣನ ಸದೆಬಡಿದುದಕೋ? || ಏಕೆ ನೀ ಪವಡಿಸಿಹೆಯೋ ||
(The song is about Sri Ranganatha in Srirangam and it could as well apply to Ranagatha at Sriranga pattana – Both temples are located on islands in river Kaveri)
The moment I set up translating ‘En paLLikondeerayya’, I could not help noticing the striking similarity with a song of Purandara Dasa (Birth – 1485 AD).
Vitthala of Pandharpur
(Image taken from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Syayambhuvithoba.jpg)
This song ponders on why Vitthala in Pandarapur, on the banks of river Bheema, is left standing with his hands on his waist. He wonders, if it is becuase he is too tired after playing with friends; Or tired running around homes of gopikas to steal butter at their homes or is it due to the fatigue after killing wicked demons. The list goes on.
Listen to Vidyabhushana sing kaTiyalli karaviTTanu:
ಕಟಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಕರವಿಟ್ಟನೊ ಪಂಢರಿರಾಯ ಕಟಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಕರವಿಟ್ಟನೊ ||ಪಲ್ಲವಿ||
ಗೊಲ್ಲ ಬಾಲಕರೊಡಗೂಡಿ ತಾ ಬಂದು
ಗೊಲ್ಲತಿಯರ ಮನೆ ಕದ್ದು ಬೆಣ್ಣೆಯ ತಿಂದು
ಬಲ್ಲಿದ ತೃಣಾವರ್ತ ಮೊದಲಾದ ಅಸುರರ
ಮೆಲ್ಲನೆ ಕೊಂದಾಯಾಸದಿಂದಲೋ ?
ಮುದದಿಂದ ವ್ರಜದ ಹದಿನಾರು ಸಾವಿರ
ಸುದತಿಯರಾಳಿದ ಮದದಿಂದಲೊ
ಮದಗಜಗಮನೆಯರ ಮದದಂತಕ ಕೃಷ್ಣ
ಒದಗಿ ಮಾವನ ಕೊಂದ ಆಯಾಸದಿಂದಲೊ?
ರಾಜಸೂಯಯಾಗದಲ್ಲಿ ರಾಜೇಶ್ವರ
ರಾಜರು ಮೊದಲಾದ ಸುರರೆಲ್ಲರು
ಭೋಜನವನು ಮಾಡಿದೆಂಜಲು ಮೊದಲಾದ್ದು
ರಾಜೀವಾಕ್ಷನು ಎತ್ತಿದಾಯಾಸದಿಂದಲೋ ?
ಸುರಪ ತನಯಗೆ ಸಾರಥ್ಯವ ತಾ ಮಾಡಿ
ಭರದಿಂದ ಚಕ್ರವ ಹಿಡಿದುದರಿಂದಲೋ
ಪರಿಪರಿ ವಿಧದಿಂದ ಕುದುರೆಗಳ ತಾ ತೊಳೆದು
ಪರಿಪರಿ ಕೆಲಸದಿಂದಾಯಾಸದಿಂದಲೋ ?
ಪ್ರೇಮದಿಂದಲಿ ಬಂದ ಭಕ್ತರು ತನ್ನ ಚರಣ
ಕಮಲಯುಗ್ಮವ ಮುಟ್ಟಿ ಭಜಿಸುತಿರೆ
ಮಮತೆಯಿಂದಲಿ ಅವರ ಭವವ ಕಳೆವೆನೆಂದು
ಕಮಲನಾಭ ಶ್ರೀ ಪುರಂದರ ವಿಠಲನು ||
While Purandara dasa came in couple of centuries before Arunachala Kavi, here is another song which came in after Arunachala Kavi, but sharing the same theme.
Yes, I am refering to ‘ElAvatAramettitivo’ of Tyagaraja (Birth- 1747 AD). In this composition, Tyagaraja wonders why Rama might have taken an incarnation, and took birth as a human.
Listen to Ariakudi Ramanuja I singing this composition on Music India Online:
Here is my attempt in translating this song to Kannada:
ಏಕೆಂದವತಾರವನೆತ್ತಿದೆಯೋ?
ಏನದು ಕಾರಣವೋ? ರಾಮನೆಂ||ದೇಕವತಾರವನೆತ್ತಿದೆಯೋ?||
ಕಾಳಗವನು ಮಾಡಲಿಕೋ? ಅಯೋಧ್ಯಾ
ಪಾಲನವ ಮಾಡಲಿಕೋ? ರಾಘವ ನೀ ||ನೇತಕವತಾರವನೆತ್ತಿದೆಯೋ?||
ಯೋಗಿಗಳಿಗೆ ಕಾಣಿಸಲಿಕೋ? ಭವ
ರೋಗಗಳ ದೂಡಲಿಕೋ? ಶತ
ರಾಗ ರತ್ನ ಮಾಲಿಕೆಯ ರಚಿಸಿದ ತ್ಯಾಗ
ರಾಜನಿಗೆ ವರವೀಯಲಿಕೋ ನೀ || ನೇತಕವತಾರವನೆತ್ತಿದೆಯೋ?||
These three composers were separated in space, and time – but the commonality of the theme is definitely striking.
This post started off with a song on Ranga, and ended with a song on Rama – making the title quite apt 
What do you think?
-neelanjana
I knew I forgot something. How did I forget 4th of May happens to be Tyagaraja’s birthday? Stuff happens, but I guess it was somewhere in the back of my mind. Otherwise I would not have remembered even now! Anyway, better late than never.
Any time is a good time to listen to some nice compositions of good old Tyagaraja. So off we go.
First, a feast of Kalyani. In my opinion, Tyagaraja must have played an important role in making this ‘alien’ raaga into one of our own, by composing 30 compositions in it – giving it the same status as the other big two – Shankarabharana, and Todi.
Instead of listening to the oft-repeated nidhi chAla sukhamA or E tAvunarA, here is another lesser known, but equally grand compositon – kAruvElpulu sung by Sri SRJ. I had written about this composition in another post earlier too.
Poor Venkatamakhi should eat his own words saying -”there are millions of rAgas like kalyAni, which are not fit for compositions such as geeta, thAya and prabandha” when he listens to this composition
Tyagaraja seems to have used dEshAdi tALa profusely. In my observation, most of his compositions in this tALa follow a general pattern. Pallavi mostly starts off the first part of madhya sthAyi, exploring parts of mandra sthAyi and madhya styAyi in different sangatis. Anupallavi typically goes from the middle of the madhya sthAyi, all the way to the middle reaches of tAra sthAyi. In many kritis, the landing in the anupallavi is on upper shadja. The charaNa comes back to madhyasthAyi, typically taking off from the madhyama, or panchama. I could give many examples, but I will limit it to three or four here.
First one is ‘atukArAdani balka’ in manOranjani, played on the flute by Sri Tejaswi Raghunath. The pallavi of the song takes off from the middle sa. Anupallavi starts with madhya sthAyi da, and goes all the way to tAra ma, and the charana takes off from madhya panchama.
Next is ‘Ora jUpu’ in kannaDa gouLa sung by Sri Sikkil Gurucharan. You can make similar inferences here too.
The next is ‘brova bhArama’ – another popular composition of this sort sung by Sri Vijaya Siva.
Finally, another such popular composition in a pratimadhyama rAga – ‘bA gAyenayya’ played on the flute by Sri VK Raman.
Why did Tyagaraja follow this pattern? I don’t know, but I find these compositions somewhat easier to learn. Was this his intent? Might be, may be not. I don’t know. But my guess is as good as any!
Tyagaraja passed away in his 80th year, and by known accounts, continued composing till his last days. And his spirit of exploring the unknown and new must have stayed with him till the very end.
Here is ‘Paramatumudu velige’ in Vagadheeshwari, which is one of his last compositions, and probably the first ever composition in this raga, sung by Dr Nagavalli Nagaraj.
Enjoy the clips! As I said, any day is a good day to remember Tyagaraja through his compositions. Isn’t it?
-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
Today is February 13th, Friday. Ever since Jesus was crucified, the poor Friday, and the number 13 have been become associated with misfortune. Jesus had 12 of his disciples with him on his last supper (that makes it 13 at the table) and the day he was put on the cross was a Friday. So Friday the 13th is seen as an indication of evil by many believers.
Anyway, I do not fall into the category of those who are worried about what might happen on Friday the 13th. I wonder if there are people who are already associating last nights’ plane crash at Buffalo as one of the Friday the 13th effect.
In many of these beliefs, it is the human psych that is at work. If you are worried that something would go wrong, there is probably a good chance that your mind is somewhere else worrying, rather than concentrating on what you are supposed to be doing. Right? In that case, probably you would end up making more mistakes than you normally would, and perhaps the outcome would not be what was desired.
For those who are worried about Friday the 13th, I prescribe this dose of Purandara Dasa:
This is a small composition (ugaabhoga):
ಇಂದಿನ ದಿನವೇ ಶುಭದಿನವು
ಇಂದಿನ ವಾರ ಶುಭವಾರ
ಇಂದಿನ ತಾರೆ ಶುಭತಾರೆ
ಇಂದಿನ ಯೋಗ ಶುಭಯೋಗ
ಇಂದಿನ ಕರಣ ಶುಭ ಕರಣ
ಇಂದು ಪುರಂದರ ವಿಟ್ಠಲ ರಾಯನ
ಸಂದರ್ಶನ ಫಲವೆಮಗಾಯಿತು!
इंदिन दिनवे शुभदिनवु
इंदिन वार शुभवार
इंदिन तारॆ शुभतारॆ
इंदिन योग शुभयोग
इंदिन करण शुभ करण
इंदु पुरंदर विट्ठल रायन
संदर्शन फलवॆमगायितु!
Today is an auspicious day;
Today is the best day of the week;
Today’s star is a good star;
Today’s yoga is good;
Today’s karaNa is good too.
Now that I have seen the
Good Lord Purandara Vitthala,
Today, indeed is a very good day!
Purandara Dasa was a Haridasa. His ultimate aim was to have a darshana of his Lord. We are mere mortals, may not be so blessed.
But, I am sure if we just do what are supposed to do with right spirit and effort, I have no doubt this would be a good day as any other day could be.
-neelnajana
(Pictures from Google images)
Recent Comments