Good Bye 2008

As the year is coming to a close, I would like to wish all the visitors here a very happy year 2009 ahead!

The financial meltdown of the past year has caused havoc in almost everyone’s lives. Since the situation is so bad now, my hope is that it can only get better. May be that is the way of looking at the glass as half-full 🙂 rather than half-empty.

This was my first (full) year as a blogger. I was little surprised to see I made than 60 blog posts here this year! May be little too much, considering I tend to write only about a few things that interest me. On the other hand, blogging got me the friendship with a lot of like-minded people. I would definitely consider a blessing of the year 2008!

-neelanjana

Last Conjunction Of 2008

As the year is coming to a close, we can witness the last planetary conjunction for the year.

Jupiter and Mercury are coming closer in the evening sky. Normally Mercury is a very elusive planet to find, not because it is faint but because it is always very close to the horizon whenever it is visible – early morning or early evening. In the absence of a marker star or planet to locate Mercury, it could be a hard find. And that’s what makes this conjunction interesting.

Jupiter and Mercury are very close in the evening sky now, and if you watch just after the sunset from a location with a clear view of the western sky, you should be able to spot the planets without much difficulty.  Venus is a little higher in the evening sky too shining brightly. Mercury now has an apparent magnitude of -0.7. To give a comparison, except for Sirius, the brightest star visible to the naked eye, no other star in the night sky appears  much brighter than this.  The  proximity to Jupiter makes it easy to spot the planet. That’s all. And of course,  the twilight  might make it appear little fainter than what a -0.7 magnitude object should look like.

Here are a few screen-shots taken using Stellarium.  This is taken for an observer in south Karnataka, India (about 13degrees North). However, if you are somewhere else, the same timings should work for you too; but remeber that the Moon is the fastest moving body in the Sky. So the relative position of the Moon (with respect to the planet pair) might be different than what these pictures show.

Here is the evening sky of 12/30/2008.  (about 15 minutes after sunset)

Evening Sky - 12/30/2008 ; Just after sunset.

Here is the evening sky on 12/31/08; About 15 minutes after sunset.

12-31-08; Evening sky

Evening sky on new year's day - 2009

Notice the relative movement of Mercury and Jupiter. Also notice the crescent moon moving out of the view (in the screenshot)  as it goes higher in the sky. In the sky, of course, it would appear larger and higher.

I managed to get a glimpse of the planets last night, since the clouds moved away from the western horizon just in time.  Tonight, it is to be seen how the weather god Varuna, c0-operates :).

If you have clear evenings the next few days , do not forget to head out right after sunset and check out!

-neelanjana

Graha Bheda – A Beginner’s Guide

The first time I came across the phrase ‘graha bheda‘ was in  a book called Sangeetha Darpana by Prof. Ramaratnam. For someone who exactly knew the aarohana and avarohana of three or four raagas, a detailed discussion of graha bheda, it’s possibilities and limitations were too much to swallow. What? Getting Kalyani from Shankarabharana and todi?

Luckily, I had the luxury of having my grandma’s old harmonium at my disposal. Using that, and testing out some of the things in that book, I was able to make sense of what the professor was saying!  But over the years, and after becoming a somewhat serious listener of Indian music, I am glad to say  the topic excites me today, as much as it did so many years ago.

To cut a long story short, I was asked to present about some topic that could be of interest to students of music at Mahati School of Music in Cupertino, CA last week. And I chose to talk about graha bheda, as used in Karnataka sangeetha.

I tried to intersperse it with some examples which I sang myself, and some examples from professional performing artists. I could not cover all the clips I had, and also some of  the other points that I wanted to bring up for want of  time, but the participation of kids during the presentation was really very encouraging, to say the least.

Here is a recording of the lec-dem. It is about 50 minutes long, and starts around the 3rd minute marker.I did not have time ( or patience) to edit it,  and so it is posted as it is 🙂

Comments are welcome, more so if they are in the form of other nice graha bheda examples!

-neelanjana

It’s snowing up the hills!

Last night it was pretty cold. This morning on the way to work I saw snow dusted over the hills nearby. Snow is down to about 1500 feet on Mission peak. And the radio says it’s been snowing all the way down to 1000 feet on Santa Cruz mountains.

Snowfall on the Mission peak happens just twice or thrice each winter, and normally in late in the season. This year it may prove to be otherwise. Time will tell.

Anyway, with the current drought situation, any snow and rain is definitely welcome!

-neelanjana

The Jeweller of Kshemapura

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)