Kannada Rajyotsava 2014

The stats on ಅಲ್ಲಿದೆ ನಮ್ಮ ಮನೆ indicated today was the day with the highest number of hits in the last 7+ years! A quick look showed most of the people were searching for the phrase “Kannada Rajyostava” reached my post from 3 years ago. It’s then I found that I never posted an audio of the Varna (my composition in Raga Madhuvanti) that I promised to do in that post.

Anyway, let me cut the chaff. A Varna is a musical composition that generally has a romantic theme, and the words go as a conversation between two friends, where in the nAyika is telling about her lover to her friend. Varnas are set to music such that they give a very good overview of the various musical phrases any given raga accommodates. Generally sung at the beginning of a concert in multiple speeds, a Varna is often employed by performers as a quick way of ‘getting to the form’ when on stage.

The lyrics of a large number of Varnas are in Telugu, but that does not mean there aren’t any Varnas with words in other languages such as Kannada, Tamizh or Samskrta. Since this is Kannada Rajyotsava, I am sharing a Varna I composed, with it’s sahitya lines in Kannada.

True to the style of Varnas, the lyrics stick to a romantic format. The Varna is in raga Madhuvanti, a northern import to Karnataka sangeeta, and is set to   2 kaLe Adi tALa.  The lines are are inspired by a shloka of Bilvamangala in his classic Krishna Karna Karnamrta.

Pallavi:

ಗೋಕುಲವೆಲ್ಲಾ ಕೊಳಲಿನ ಇನಿದನಿಯಲಿ ತುಂಬಿದನೇ ||
gOkulavellA koLalina inidaniyali tumbidanE

(Translation: He filled Gokula with the melodies his flute)

Anupallavi:

ಅನುಪಲ್ಲವಿ: ಆಕಳ ಮಂದೆಯ ಕಾಯುತ ಗೋಪಿಯರ ತಾನು ಗೆಲಿದನೇ || ಗೋಕುಲವೆಲ್ಲಾ||

AkaLa mandeya kAyuta gOpiyarellare gelidanE

(Translation: The cowherd, won over the hearts of all gopis)

CharaNa:

ಚರಣ: ಮಾತೇ ಮಧುವಂತಿದೆ! ಸಖೀ, ಇವನ || ಮಾತೇ||

mAtE madhuvantide! sakhi ! ivana || mAte||

(Translation: His speech is like honey! Oh my dear!)

The charaNa line was totally my imagination, to include rAga name “madhuvanti” (technically called the ragamudre),

You can listen to a recording of the Varna, played on the flute by Vidwan Vijay Kannan:

https://soundcloud.com/hamsanandi/a-varna-in-madhuvanti

For those of you interested in the notation, click the following links:

A-Varna-in-Madhuvanti (Kannada version)

A-Varna-in-Madhuvanti (Notation in English)

ಎಲ್ಲ ಕನ್ನಡಿಗರಿಗೂ ಕನ್ನಡ ರಾಜ್ಯೋತ್ಸವದ ಶುಭಾಶಯಗಳು!

-neelanjana

Kannada Rajyotsava 2011

Rajyotsava. Novermber 1st. A day no Kannadiga would forget. Last year, on Rajyotsava, I posted this video of Vidwan Ragavan Manian singing a varna in Kannada language that I composed. That varna had the sAhitya taken from a well known vacana of Basavanna – ನಾದಪ್ರಿಯ ಶಿವನೆಂಬರು. You can  click here for the notation of that varNa in rAga nAgaswarAvaLi.

This year too, I am posting another composition of mine which I did a while ago, since it has gone through some “quality testing”! This too is  a varna with lyrics in Kannada. No audio or video this time, because I don’t have one worthy of posting :-).

This varNa in rAga Madhuvanti, and set to Adi tALa. And, this time, the sAhitya lines are mine, although indirectly, they are inspired by a shloka of Bilvamangala in his classic Krishna Karnamrta.

Varnas generally have very limited sAhitya, and often have romantic themes. This one is also not an exception, and you could think the lines as being said by one gopika girl of Gokula to another.

Pallavi:

ಗೋಕುಲವೆಲ್ಲಾ ಕೊಳಲಿನ ಇನಿದನಿಯಲಿ ತುಂಬಿದನೇ ||
gOkulavellA koLalina inidaniyali tumbidanE

(Translation: He filled Gokula with the melodies his flute)

Anupallavi:

ಅನುಪಲ್ಲವಿ: ಆಕಳ ಮಂದೆಯ ಕಾಯುತ ಗೋಪಿಯರ ತಾನು ಗೆಲಿದನೇ || ಗೋಕುಲವೆಲ್ಲಾ||

AkaLa mandeya kAyuta gOpiyarellare gelidanE

(Translation: The cowherd, won over the hearts of all gopis)

CharaNa:

ಚರಣ: ಮಾತೇ ಮಧುವಂತಿದೆ! ಸಖೀ, ಇವನ || ಮಾತೇ||

mAtE madhuvantide! sakhi ! ivana || mAte||

(Translation: His speech is like honey! Oh my dear!)

The charaNa line was totally my imagination, to include rAga name “madhuvanti” 🙂

Here is the notation of the Varna for those interested:

A-Varna-in-Madhuvanti (Kannada version)

A-Varna-in-Madhuvanti (Notation in English)

-neelanjana