Two weeks back, I wrote about ragas, moods and the myths surrounding some of the ragas. Indian Classical Music is unique not only because of the raga system but also because of the way the swaras are used. In Hindustani Music, there are raags that have similar aroh/avaroh but still sound different. This is because of what is called as the ‘pakad’. The sequence of swaras used in a particular raag will be different from that of the other despite the aro/avaroh being the same.One finds this in Carnatic Music too though the number of such ragas(having same aro/avaroh) is comparatively less. But Carnatic Music is unique in another way. The stress given to a particular swara (or swaras) in some ragas giving the ragas their special identity is found only in Carnatic Music..For example, the ‘ga’ of ‘Todi’ is very special and is neither a sadharaNa gandhara or a antara gandhara.It is not the vivadi ‘ga’ too. In fact, a musician is considered to be really great if he /she masters the Todi ‘ga’. In a similar vein, the ‘ri’ of Saveri is unique too and it is very close to the ‘sa’(hence the name ‘sa’ve ‘ri’). The madhyama of Saaveri is special too and both these swaras sound different from Mayamalavagowla, the parent raga of Saaveri. The ‘ga’ of Sahana is different too and is said to be somewhere between the sadharaNa and antara. This ‘ga’ is called the ‘trisanku ga’. About an year back, in a forum very close to my heart, I had written about the difference between Kalyani and ShankarbharaNam in terms of the stress in the swaras. Examples galore and I shall go into more details in my forthcoming posts. But before going further, it may not be out of place to talk about a myth surrounding a popular raga. ‘VaraLi’ is a raga that evokes very deep emotions. It is also one of the five ‘gana ragas’(heavy ragas) and Saint Tyagaraja composed the fourth kriti of his ‘Pancharatna kritis’ in VaraLi. The ‘madhyama’ of VaraLi is considered to be very unique and it takes years of practice to master this swara alone.Moreover, some of the ‘prayogas’ are not that easy to sing. Therefore, a guru teaches this raga only after he/she is convinced that the sishya is indeed ready for it. But what happens if the ‘guru’ himself(herself) finds the raga tough to sing? Isn’t it logical for him(her) to keep away from this raga totally? This is what happened over a period of time and because of this, a story was spread that if ‘varaLi’ is taught to a student, the latter will separate from the former! Nothing can be far from truth than this. If this is the case, how is it that we see varaLi being rendered with aplomb by some great musicians? Are they self-taught? A great raga being reduced to this status because of some nefarious elements! Let us now look at a raga which is away from all these controversies. Gowrimanohari is a sampoorNa raga and is a raga that evokes compassion.Like its pratimadhyama counterpart Dharmavati, this raga too evokes a kind of nostalgic feeling especially in film music. The raga as a scale is present in WCM as well where it is known by the name ‘Melodic Minor’. Raaja sir has used this raga to suit many varied occasions and today, and in some of the forthcoming posts, we shall look at his usage of this raga with major focus of the swaras used in the construction of the song. BhooplaLam isaikkum from Thooral Ninnu Pochchu(1982), is the song for today’s analysis. Rendered by Yesudass, Uma RamaNam and chorus, the song is a classic example of how the raga can be used in a romantic duet without in anyway compromising on the classicism. The Pallavi starts with the ascending notes- sa ri ga- but the greatness of the composition lies in the ‘podi sangatis’. The phrase ‘isaikkum’ in the Pallavi is packed with swaras(ga2pama1paga2ma1ga1) while the second phrase in the second line in the charaNam(‘jaadai’ in the first one and ‘koyil’ in the second one) has six notes packed-Ri2SaRi2Sani3sa- in just one cycle of Tisram. As if this is not enough, the second phrase in the third line(‘neerada’/’sangeetam’) has 9(ni3dha2padha2ni3Sadha2pama1). But the clincher is the last line where there is a seamless shift. The swaras ‘dha1’ and ‘ga3’ appear. The most beautiful phrase is the ‘nananana..’ humming where swaras go as ‘jantai’(in pairs)- ri2ri2 ga3ga3 ma1ma1 papa dha1dha1 pa. There are two ways of looking at this. Viewed from a Carnatic Music perspective, there is a change in the raga. The raga can be either Sarasangi or Charukesi-since there is no ‘ni’. Before getting into what this raga could be, let us view this from the western classical point. As per WCM theory, Sarasangi scale is called as Harmonic Minor while Charukesi is Melodic Major. That is Sarasangi directly corresponds to Keeravani while Charukesi corresponds to Gowrimanohari. Therefore, the raga after the scale shift should logically be Charukesi. Moreover, the ‘nanananana….’ sounds more like Charukesi though the ‘ni’ is absent. The prelude and the interludes are marvellous too. The keys, strings and the chorus in the prelude pierce our hearts. The first interlude has the brass flute and the strings that give a Western shade, the keys that sound somewhat folksy and the Indian flute that plays Gowrimanohari. The second interlude is very interesting. First, the tuned percussion plays ‘ta a a’ and ‘ta ki –‘. The flute joins in the second cycle and it covers the raga in different octaves to the accompaniment of the tuned percussion.In between, the leit motif is played (the same one which appears in the beginning of the song). In the second half, the chorus takes over and the strings follow suit while the sharp percussion changes to a normal one playing ‘ta ki ta’. Gowri with Manoharam-nanananananananananana… soundcloud/raja4376/thooral-ninnu-pochu-bhoopalam
Posted on: Sun, 13 Jul 2014 11:42:28 +0000
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