Classical Illayaraja - 8
Lakshminarayana
Classical Illayaraja - 8
------------------------
South Indian classical music has got an excellent treasure of superb names.
Most of the raga names seem to be sanskrit derivatives. Even though there
are some Thamizh equivalent names for ragas such as sankarabharanam, nobody
uses them. Ki.Veeramani is probably very sad about this. Maybe, Vairamuthu
has some plans like translating all the raga names into Thamizh as he tried
translating Thyagaraja's 'nee dhayaradha' in sindhubhairavi movie as 'un
dhayavillaya' (if only Ki.Veeramani was ready to fund the project, from the
5 lakh ruppees that he got for perpetrating the deeds of thandhai Ee.Vae.Ra.
Periyar, from selvi.Jayalalitha). Alternatively, Ki.Veeramani may get some
-what sensible and appreciate the high-level idiocy in trying to translate
the proper nouns in raga names. And he may rather to encourage a lower level
of idiocy by goading his clan to replace all the sanskrit sounding sounds
like 'ksha', 'jha' etc in all the ragas to their Thamizh equivalents and then
accept the raga names. Then, shanmukhapriya would be called as danmukapriya
(as Vibhishanan in Valmikiramayanam became Vibidanan in Kambaramayanam)!
Some ragas seem to follow the first, middle and last name system! The only
difference is, you don't give a space between the first and last name. For
example, kalyani has a first name (which is commonly omited), and that is,
'mesa'. This mesa helps in identifying the number and position that it occu-
pies in the melakartha scale. While there is no dearth of names, for some
unknown reason, there is lot of repetition in naming the ragas. Thus you have
mohanakalyani, amirkalyani, yamunakalyani and so on. In this case, the above
said ragas are all 'DNA' testified offsprings of kalyani. But there are some
other unrelated ragas that have common last names. For example, the ranjani
group of ragas. We have ranjani, janaranjani, mararanjani, megaranjani,
sivaranjani, karnaranjani and so on. Of these, mararanjani is the 25th mela
ragam. Ranjani, janaranjani, sivaranjani, karnaranjani are janyams of the
59th, 29th, 22nd and 22nd melams respectively. See, how unrelated they are!
Unlike the ranjani group, some of the bhairavi ragams are indeed genitically
related. In this group we have nadabhairavi, bhairavi, sindhu bhairavi,
ananda bhairavi, salakabhairavi and so on. Ofcourse, there are other few
bhairavis like ahir bhairavi (the hindhusthani equivalent of chakravagam)
which are not related to the above said bhairavi group.
Nadabhairavi is the 20th melakartha ragam. While it is such an important raga
in the western music (the C minor scale), its importance is completely under-
-mined in our music. The fecundity of nadabhairavi has been fully exploited
in carnatic music to get innumerable janya ragams which are commonly sung,
while the parent ragam has become totally ignored. There are not very many
keerthanais in nadabhairavi. But in cinema music this C minor scale is the
supreme king. Probably one third of all the cinema songs are set in nadabhai-
-ravi scale. Illayaraja has scored countless songs in this scale. None of
them is classical. So, even though one might know thousands of these songs,
he might not be able to identify the nadabhairavi ragam when sung in the
classical sadas! Some examples for the songs in this scale would be
kannae kalaimanae (moonram pirai), kalyana malai (pudhu pudhu arthangal),
illam kuyil paadudho (brahma), rakku muthu raaku (yejamaan), ennulae ennulae
(valli- what a song!), then paandi seemayilae (nayagan) etc....A.R.Rahman's
chandralekha (thiruda thiruda) is another fantastic example of the C minor
scale. In many of these songs, the music directors tend to present a hybrid
by incorporating Da2, and Ni3 usages. Illayaraja, who is known for his very
minimal deviation from the chosen scale, also seems to enjoy presenting an
(expected) vagary of occasional Da2 and Ni3 usage in these songs.
Bhairavi is a major 'gana' ragam. It is a sarwaswara bashangam. Thus the
aroganam is that of karaharapriya and the avarohanam - nadabhairavi! Hence
you could call it as the janyam of either karaharapriya or nadabhairavi.
However, since it is more closely related to karaharapriya (sanchara-wise),
it might be appropriate to call it a janyam of karaharapriya, with a
reduced daivatham in the avarohanam (from Da2 to Da1). The movements of
bhairavi have got a very powerful quality to evoke a gloomy mood. It is
much worse than subhapanthuvarali (the raga which is oft used in the
cinema for sad situations - a very 'light' one when compared to bhairavi).
For a guy who daringly ventures into the bermuda triangle of classical music,
that is, the rare vivadhi ragas such as kanakangi, bhaavani etc, it is a kind
of surprise why Illayaraja so far did not bother to touch upon the greatest
of all the janya ragas, BHAIRAVI, in atleast one of his songs. Even in his
classical music albums like the 'how to name it', I don't remember there is
any bhairavi piece. On the contrast, MSV has tried bhairavi twice (as far as
I know) in cine-music. Both of them are excellent. They are 'oru puram
parthal midhilayin mydhili' (the second charanam in the song 'adhisaya ragam'
in the movie aboorva ragam. MSV says that the rest of the song is set in
some vague ragam called as mahathi); The second bhairavi that MSV gave was
'thirupaarkadalil pallikondayae' (swamy iyyappan). What a lovely song! What
an unbelievable classical presentation of the essence of bhairavi! What a
marvelous rendition by K.J.Yesudoss! You have to enjoy this song atom by
atom (anu anuvai rasikanum!) There is no doubt that the ultimate classicism
in carnatic music lies with few ragas like bhairavi, thodi, sankarabharanam,
begada, karaharapriya and kalyani etc. The ascendency in the scale of
knowledge and performance of even the classical musicians would be evaluated
by the critics according to the mastery and proficiency that they show in
handling these ragas. Such is the weightage that a ragam like bhairavi deems
from the purely classical people. Illayaraja miserably failed in this aspect.
There was a wonderful opportunity recently for him to handle bhairavi. That
is, in the movie 'moga mull'. The author of that book Thi.Janakiraman, writes
pages about this great ragam. In the novel, he actually writes few paragraphs
of just bhairavi swaras alone, and about the beauty of those swaras. This he
writes in the context when the hero Babu and his friend Rajam sit in the
kumbakonam public park and listen to the bhairavi ragam broadcasted in the
park radio. Since so much emphasis was given to this ragam in the story, I
was lead to believe that the director Gnana might have told Illayaraja and
got a superb bhairavi song. But, alas! There was just a small piece of re-
recording in bhairavi alone, that too, bhairavi varnam, when Babu's music
master Ranganna teaches music to his disciples. Thats all.
Mukhari and husseni are ragas very closely related to bhairavi. Though it
is generally said that mukhari is the apt ragam for gloomy mood, perhaps
bhairavi suits more to such a situation than the former. Cinema musicians
have preferred to use sivaranjani or subhapanthuvarali for sad situations
than bhairavi or mukhari, probably because of the terrific gamakam involved
in these ragas. Too much of gamakam and cinema music don't go together!
However, MSV has taken a shot at mukhari too, in two songs: vada malarae
thamizhae (ambikapathy?), pogathae en kanava (veera pandia katta bomman).
I have not heard both these songs. But have heard people say that they are
very good mukharis.
Ananda bhairavi is a fantastic ragam. It is a sharp contrast to bhairavi.
As the name indicates, ananda bhairavi does not have a sad quality like
bhairavi. It brings 'aanandam' to the listener. It is traditionally used
in real 'mangalakaramana' situations. During the celebration of marriage
occasion, when the bride and the groom sit in a swing and play 'oonjal',
there is a kalyana sampradhaya song. That is 'ponnoonjal aadinaalae'! The
ragam is ananda bhairavi! You should have listened to that song, to appre-
ciate how pleasant it is, particularly when a group of 'maamis' sing this
song in an early morning muhoortha schedule! It will even make the father of
of the bride who is performing a 'dowri' kalyanam, lacrimate due to aanandam,
forgetting all the sufferings he had to go through to perform the marriage.
Illayaraja has given two ananda bhairavis so far. The first one came in
rajni's ragavendrar. The situation is: Manorama sings this song humouring
lakshmi, who develops an affair with the ragavendra (future swamy). That
song starts like: parthalae theriyadho naeku, adiyae sarasu....The second
ananda bhairavi that Illayaraja gave came in sridhar's 'iniya uravu pootha-
dhu'. The situation is: the heroine (nadhia) or somebody gets pregnant and
the 'thozhiyar' crowd sings this song (during valaikapu?). The song starts
like 'muthu poalae muthu poalae pillai vara poaran kattil melae..' Both those
ananda bhairavis were good ones. Look, he has used the ragam to suit happy
occasion in both the instances! Mangalakaramana situations!
Ananda bhairavi is one unique ragam in carnatic music. It defies the general
grammer that regulate the structure of all ragas! We know that there are 12
(normally) definable swaras in an octave (from lower to upper Sa). They are
Sa, Ri1, Ri2 (Ga1), Ri3 (Ga2), Ga3, Ma1, Ma2, Pa, Da1, Da2 (Ni1), Da3 (Ni2)
and Ni3. If you count in terms of the number of individual swaras considering
each of them seperately (like Ri1, Ri2, Ri3, Ga1, Ga2, Ga3 and so on), then
you would say that there are 16 swaras in an octave. Of these 12 swaras, we
use almost all the swaras in ananda bhairavi. The 'namkevastha' arohanam and
avarohanam of this ragam is Sa Ga2 Ri2 Ga2 Ma Pa Da2 Pa Sa; Sa Ni2 Da2 Pa Ma1
Ga2 Ri2 Sa. But there is much much more than this arohanam and avarohanam.
You have Ga3, Da1 and Ni3 proyogams in this ragam. You can use Pa Ni2 Sa
prayogam. With so much of bashangam, it looks as if it is very ungrammatical.
Yet, it follows perfect grammer of its own, that define its raga-lakshanam.
Ga3 and Da1 is mostly used in making Ga3 Ma1 Pa Da1 Pa sancharam. Ni3 is
used in making Da2 Ni3 Sa Ga2 Ri2 Ga2 Sa sancharam. In short ananda bhairavi
typifies the purely aesthetic hallmark achievement of carnatic music.
Recently, Thamizh cinema music has got two more ananda bhairavi additions,
from the now very famous Deva and Rahman. Deva's one is 'konja naal poaru
thalaiva' in the movie aasai. Hariharan has sung this song. It is a great
piece. Superb job by hariharan. Look at the way the gamakam of gandaram is
used in this song. Katcheri type of gamakam in a cinema song! Yet, it seems
that this song has become a big hit! A welcomable change in Thamizh cinema
music! In this song the lyricist (vaali?) says 'thaenara paalara paanja en
kannukula' to indicate what a visual delight the heroine's beauty is! Look
how he is crossing the gustatory (taste) and visual sesory modalities! How
can honey flowing into the eye give any pleasant sansation? Perhaps we should
not look at a poetic usage from the scientific stand point of view! Then he
says 'dhesiya kodi poalae poththi vachchaen nenjukkulae'! What an atypical
analogy to indicate the preciousness of the heroine to the hero!
Rahman's ananda bhairavi is the song 'mettu poadu' in the movie Duet. Prabhu
and ramesh aravind sing this in a light music concert. It is a fantastic song.
Rahman has used this ragam in a very intelligent manner. The song starts like
Sa Sa Sa Ri2, Sa Sa Sa Ri2, Ri2 Ma1 Ga3 Sa, Ri2 Ma1 Ga3 Sa, Sa Sa Ri2 Sa.
Look at the way he uses Ga3 in the begining of the song itself! Classically
when you sing ananda bhairavi, when you descend like Pa Ma1 Ga3, there is a
caveat right at the Ga3 "don't go any further down"! But Rahman goes further
down to Sa from Ga3! In this poor grammatically ungrammatic ragam, what can
you say about this usage? When you listen to the song it is so illusory and
sounds perfectly ananda bhairavish! Intelligent musicians can re-define
raga lakshana! Perhaps this is one instance. I don't know if classicists will
agree with the way the ragam has been used in this song. Vairamuthu's lyrics
is just wonderful in this song. He advises the janatha to achieve success like
the tender roots of a germinating seed inside a hard rock (paaraikul verai
poalae vetri kolga)! What a powerful analogy to boost one's confidence to
achieve success! Maybe, I could add 'dinosaurai poalae tholvi adayadheer'
(don't attain failure like the dinosaurs)! One of the theories for the
extinction of the dinosaur family is that the females could not bear the
weight of the males during mating! What a stupid reason for such a mammoth
species to perish and become extinct! Shame, Shame, Shame...!
-Lakshminarayanan Srirangam Ramakrishnan,
Department of Vision Science,
University of Houston College of Optometry,
Houston, Tx 77204.
Ramasubramanian Ramakrishnan
I have not saved the Classical Ilayaraja series. As far as I can remember,
I disagree with many of your raga classifications. We can discuss them
thro' email if you are interested.
|>
|> Some ragas seem to follow the first, middle and last name system! The only
|> difference is, you don't give a space between the first and last name. For
|> example, kalyani has a first name (which is commonly omited), and that is,
|> 'mesa'. This mesa helps in identifying the number and position that it occu-
|> pies in the melakartha scale. While there is no dearth of names, for some
|> unknown reason, there is lot of repetition in naming the ragas. Thus you have
|> mohanakalyani, amirkalyani, yamunakalyani and so on. In this case, the above
|> said ragas are all 'DNA' testified offsprings of kalyani. But there are some
|> other unrelated ragas that have common last names. For example, the ranjani
|> group of ragas. We have ranjani, janaranjani, mararanjani, megaranjani,
|> sivaranjani, karnaranjani and so on. Of these, mararanjani is the 25th mela
|> ragam. Ranjani, janaranjani, sivaranjani, karnaranjani are janyams of the
|> 59th, 29th, 22nd and 22nd melams respectively. See, how unrelated they are!
I think trying to find some relation between ragas with the names is like
trying to predict Mr. Sivasubramanian's behaviors from observing Mr. Subramanian's
and Mr. Balasubramanian's.
|>
|> Unlike the ranjani group, some of the bhairavi ragams are indeed genitically
|> related. In this group we have nadabhairavi, bhairavi, sindhu bhairavi,
|> ananda bhairavi, salakabhairavi and so on. Ofcourse, there are other few
|> bhairavis like ahir bhairavi (the hindhusthani equivalent of chakravagam)
|> which are not related to the above said bhairavi group.
There is no ahir bhairavi. It is the hindustani raga "ahir bhairav" which
came into carnatic and is related to hindustani bhairav (equivalent of
mayamalavagowla).
|>
|> Bhairavi is a major 'gana' ragam. It is a sarwaswara bashangam. Thus the
|> aroganam is that of karaharapriya and the avarohanam - nadabhairavi! Hence
|> you could call it as the janyam of either karaharapriya or nadabhairavi.
|> However, since it is more closely related to karaharapriya (sanchara-wise),
|> it might be appropriate to call it a janyam of karaharapriya, with a
|> reduced daivatham in the avarohanam (from Da2 to Da1). The movements of
|> bhairavi have got a very powerful quality to evoke a gloomy mood. It is
|> much worse than subhapanthuvarali (the raga which is oft used in the
|> cinema for sad situations - a very 'light' one when compared to bhairavi).
I think a lot of 'classic' ragas are lost for ever in film music since they
did not interest Ilayaraja and others of his time. Ilayaraja was happy with
his pentatonics and some melakarthas. Look at the ragas that someone like
MSV/Ramamoorthy picked and Ilayaraja/Rahman do nowadays.. Oh, yeah rahman
attempted some Anandabhairavi. Some other recent music director took a shot
at ranjani. I am not sure if I even want to associate the name of these
ragas with these attempts. It's nice music and demonstrates how a scale
of a raga differs from the raga itself, I guess :)
|> -Lakshminarayanan Srirangam Ramakrishnan,
Subu
Dr.S.N.Piramanayagam
Some Deverajan, who has also given music for Annai Velankanni and
many other Malayalam movies.
Also, is another song in Swamy Aiyappan (shabhari malaiyil vanna
chandrodayam Dharma shastavin sannidhiyil abhishekam) in Anandha
Bhairavi ragam?
Your articles are very interesting to read and I really appreciate
them. Keep it up.
(S.N. Piramanayagam)
S.N. Piramanayagam
Department of Information Engineering
Shinshu University
500 Wakasato, Nagano 380. Japan.
-----------------------------------------
e-mail : pr...@edserve.cs.shinshu-u.ac.jp
-----------------------------------------
na8371400-Chandramouli
> Mukhari and husseni are ragas very closely related to bhairavi. Though it
> is generally said that mukhari is the apt ragam for gloomy mood, perhaps
> bhairavi suits more to such a situation than the former.
>
My three most favourite ragams are the trio Mukhari, Husseni and Bhairavi.
I never understood why Mukhari is usually associated with Gloom and Sad mood.
I think it is the Tamil movies who probably propogated the myth by adding the
words "Mukhari Ragam" in the lyrics of sad songs ( which are not set in
Mukhari....) To me, all the three ragas evoke a sense of Devotion and Prayer.
One only has to hear "Sivakama Sundari", the beginning of Charanam, "Kelaa yo",
especially by K.V. Narayanaswamy.
I got introduced to Huseni relatively late from a song in the Thiruppavai sung
by Bombay Sisters. First, it sounded like Anandha Bhairavi to me but later figured
out the uniqueness of Huseni. Semmangudi's "Emani..." is a master piece.
As far as Bhairavi is concerned, it is the heavy weight of the trio. It is so
complicated and extensive, it is hard to put one specific emotion to it. I have
heard many folk songs in some-what diluted Bhairavi which indicate Joy and there
are many many classical pieces which indicate Bhakthi.
> I have observed that Thodi creates a typical 'pulambal' mood. I am no expert
> in Classical music, but I have listened to many musicians rendering this raga,
> and no performance has ever satisfied me. The feeling that the raga
> is used only for complaining (very loud wailing, just as small children
> would do, when they want sweets) is so overwhelming, that I have started
> hating the raga. I hear so many people claiming that Thodi is a such beautiful
> raga, that it only increases my frustration. Any comments?
>
I can see how Thodi can come across as "pulambal" at first listening. It
might be due to the presence of numeours "flat" notes in its scale. It is
pretty heavy and not easy listening for beginners. But once
you hear a handful of good performances in Thodi, you will start appreciating
the depths of the raga.
I would suggest listening first to performances on an
instrument, especially flute. I caught on to Thodi long time back based on a
catchy half a minute flute alapana that AIR used to play to fill time at the
top of the hour. ( Does anyone remember hearing this? This was in the
early seventies. AIR used to play just this one piece again and again as
a filler. I never cared to ask at that time who was playing that. I would really
like to know.)
Another good way to appreciate Thodi is to start with its "very diluted" relative
Sindhu Bhairavi. "Venkatachala Nilayam" comes to mind as a "easy listening"
piece and it is a very catchy and enjoyable piece.
Chandra
cha...@psp.att.com
Srikanth Gopalan
number of times, can tell the difference easily. Here is a really bad
mix-up that haunts me no end- Bhairavi and Maanji. Could someone
clearly outline what the difference between these two are? (Srini?)
-Srikanth
K.R. Subramanyam
>-Srikanth
Let me tell you an interesting annecdote that Samjay Subramaniam told me ...
Somebody asked Tiger Varadachary how Manji sounded, i.e., what was its
"swaroopam". Tiger's reply was, "Well, go and hear any contemporary musician
sing Bhairavi. That's how Manji sounds!".
KRS