"Short Takes: Malkauns" by Rajan P. Parrikar
Anita Thakur
the highly acclaimed and melodious Raga Malkauns. This raga has a
large terrain for elaboration. Rajan writes:
"Malkauns lends itself to varying degrees of interpretation and
complexity. To the novice it presents a welcoming, friendly facade. To
the great vidwAns and the masters, it reveals a compass as vast as the
Serengeti plains, a lifelong melodic hunting ground in which to
exercise and slake the creative daemon".
Rajan's commentary guides us through the highways and bylanes of the
raga. Included are clips of riveting music of the great masters of
Indian music for whom words of introduction other than their names
would be superfluous.
Please join us at:
http://www.sawf.org/newedit/edit09162002/musicarts.asp
Rajan P. Parrikar's archive is located at:
http://www.sawf.org/rajan
"Globalization and Indian Classical Music" by Balwant N. Dixit
continues in this issue:
http://www.sawf.org/newedit/edit09162002/gcolumn.asp
SAWF is committed to bringing to its worldwide audience of music
lovers the very best in India's musical tradition. Find the SAWF
repository at:
http://www.sawf.org/music
Anita Thakur
an...@sawf.org
South Asian Women's Forum (SAWF)
http://www.sawf.org
'Linking Hearts, Connecting Minds'
naniwadekar
Anita Thakur <anit...@hotmail.com> wrote -
>
> In this edition of "Short Takes", Rajan P. Parrikar puts the focus on
> the highly acclaimed and melodious Raga Malkauns. This raga has a
> large terrain for elaboration.
>
http://www.sawf.prohosting.com/malkauns/jha_kaunsspeak.ram
In the 'kaunsspeak' clip, Jha Sahab says that there is no other raag
this big in currency, and adds that even Todi and Yaman can't
compete with it. He says no artist remains untouched by Malkauns
though the same artist's Yaman may not come out sweet. But is there
general agreement about this opinion among other scholars across
the spectrum? I think the fact that some great singers don't sing
Yaman very well suggests that Malkauns has more inherent and more
easily capturable sweetness. But Yaman and Todi loom larger in
classical music. References to them in discussions and literature are
more common compared to Malkauns.
In Pune, concerts which start after 9 PM are not uncommon, but the
current trend (especially in Delhi in the late 1980s) is towards concerts
which start around 6:30 PM and end by 11 PM. Partly due to this
reason, I have heard Yaman far more often than Malkauns.
Even in light music, keeping Bhairavi, Pahadi, Khamaj aside, Yaman,
Bageshri, Des and Megh (probably even Darbari) are found far more
commonly than Malkauns. I wish I had started documenting but recently
I have been struck with just how frequently the Megh scale was used
in Hindi Film Music in the 1940s.
I tried a couple of searches.
Hits for 'malkauns or malkosh or malkans' in rmic archives : 719
Same search but with author=parrikar : 47 hits.
Hits for 'yaman' in rmic archives : 1,050
Same search but with author=parrikar : 85 hits.
Hits for todi in rmic archives : 1,320
(But many of these could be for other Todis.)
Hits for 'malkauns or malkosh or malkans' in rmim archives : 389
Hits for yaman in rmim archives : 475
I am surprised. I would have expected Malkauns to have at most 25%
hits compared to Yaman.
- dn
Ajay Nerurkar
> In the 'kaunsspeak' clip, Jha Sahab says that there is no other raag
> this big in currency,
Jhasaab's point was that in Malkauns every swar is equally important and is
related to every other swar, and this is what distinguishes it from the
other big enchiladas of HCM. He was not making an absolute comparison of the
three raags in question in any way; that would be a wholly futile exercise.
His other insight was that Malkauns has something to offer both the novice
and the veteran. Its pentatonic scale and straightforward movement mean it
can be easily conjured up by the tyro, but it also has a profundity that can
be plumbed only by the experienced musician.
--
Ajay Remove Ramanujan's number to reply
PS: I have carefully avoided mentioning any competitor raag in my response,
to do my bit to bump up Malkauns' Google rating, but if you ask me, the raag
starting with 'Y' is the real test of a vocalist's ability.
Praful Kelkar
> In this edition of "Short Takes", Rajan P. Parrikar puts the focus on
> the highly acclaimed and melodious Raga Malkauns. This raga has a
Kishori claims this is "instrumental" raag - been ka raag, which may
or may not be totally true. However, ZM Dagar's Malkauns is obviously
one of the finest.
Praful
naniwadekar
Ajay Nerurkar <ajayne...@yahoo1729.com> wrote -
>
> His other insight was that Malkauns has something to offer both the novice
> and the veteran. Its pentatonic scale and straightforward movement mean it
> can be easily conjured up by the tyro, but it also has a profundity that
can
> be plumbed only by the experienced musician.
>
is rather too general. Not that it is not true about Malkauns. It is just
that the very apparent and accessible sweetness in Malkauns (or
Kalavati, Sohini, Hamsdhwani, et al) may bail out both the novice
and the veteran, some of whom may flounder in Yaman.
>
> Jhasaab's point was that in Malkauns every swar is equally important and
is
> related to every other swar, and this is what distinguishes it from the
> other big enchiladas of HCM. He was not making an absolute comparison of
the
> three raags in question in any way; that would be a wholly futile
exercise.
>
It is true enough that Ramrang has offered two remarks about Malkauns
which distinguish it from other big raags. But he didn't stop there.
I don't mean to take his words too literally but I do think there are
other raags which offer both a truer test of a singer's ability and greater
satisfaction to the listener.
- dn
shri kanekal
> or may not be totally true. However, ZM Dagar's Malkauns is obviously
> one of the finest.
>
> Praful
A couple of other instrumental renderings I have enjojyed - Usman Khan
on the alurkar label (Sawai gandharva fest) an older RS alap in which the
master of mandra saptak shows his stuff. ON the carnatic front MSG on AuVidis
does the sAmaJavaragamana brilliantly. Havent heard ZM. Is it commercially
available ?
Shri
buh...@ecn.ab.ca
: praful...@yahoo.com (Praful Kelkar) wrote in message
: > or may not be totally true. However, ZM Dagar's Malkauns is obviously
: > one of the finest.
: A couple of other instrumental renderings I have enjojyed - Usman Khan
: on the alurkar label (Sawai gandharva fest) an older RS alap in which the
: master of mandra saptak shows his stuff. ON the carnatic front MSG on AuVidis
: does the sAmaJavaragamana brilliantly. Havent heard ZM. Is it commercially
: available ?
the only recording of dagar-saheb i've heard playing malkauns isn't
commercially available. there are a couple of recordings of him playing
panchamkauns, however.
ajb
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Andrew Buhr buh...@freenet.edmonton.ab.ca
Savour the Irony! http://freenet.edmonton.ab.ca/~buhrger
Abhay Phadnis
news:e2aaf7e1.02091...@posting.google.com...
A Malkauns by ZM Dagar is available for download on mp3.com:
http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/115/zia_mohudhin_dagar.html
Warm regards,
Abhay
>
> Shri
Surajit A. Bose
1) Chandrakauns (Malkauns ang): This is sometimes stated to be a
creation of B R Deodhar's, isn't it? Any idea about the veracity of the
statement?
2) Ditto Harikauns and Sarahung?
3) Two Kauns variants not included in your discussion are Nabhakauns and
Suryakauns. Could you discuss their chalan briefly? The former has been
recorded by Padma Talwalkar, IIRC. Are there any commercially available
recordings of the latter?
Thanks again,
-s
Vijayendra Rao
Gangubai Hangal singing Kedar, Kalavati and Puriya Dhanashri. It was
obviously recorded several years ago - and the power and majesty of
her voice are at their prime.
Biju
Rajan P. Parrikar
Very quickly -
#1: Yes, some years ago when I met Dinkar Kaikini he mentioned
the Deodhar connection re. the modern Chandrakauns.
#2: I am not sure about the Sarahang connection of Harikauns.
Chandrasekhar Naringrekar (senior student of ZM Dagar the beeNkAr
and for a while on the faculty at Kala Academy in Panjim, Goa)
has also recorded Harikauns on Surbahar. I have heard it long ago and
cannot remember now if it is the same type as wielded by Amir Khan.
IIRC, Subbarao also mentions Harikauns (which makes the case for Sarahang
even weaker).
#3: Nabhkauns was brought forth by (if I correctly remember) Sunil
Bose of Kolkotta. Its takes the higher shade of nishAd in Arohi
prayogas and the lower in avarohi prayogas (i.e. Chandrakauns-like
in Aroha and Malkauns-like in avaroha.
More later.
Warm regards,
r
Rajan P. Parrikar
r
VPG
>
> http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/115/zia_mohudhin_dagar.html
>
> Warm regards,
> Abhay
This is indeed a very good net CD. Does anyone know any other good
netCD - ICM or good Hindi or Marathi songs which can be purchased from
MP3 website? I was trying to search, but most were mail orders. Thanks
in advance.
V
ChristianAMR
> > In the 'kaunsspeak' clip, Jha Sahab says that there is no other raag
> > this big in currency,
> related to every other swar, and this is what distinguishes it from the
> other big enchiladas of HCM. He was not making an absolute comparison of the
> three raags in question in any way; that would be a wholly futile exercise.
> His other insight was that Malkauns has something to offer both the novice
> and the veteran. Its pentatonic scale and straightforward movement mean it
> can be easily conjured up by the tyro, but it also has a profundity that can
> be plumbed only by the experienced musician.
In the same vein , from Parrikars site :
" The signal characteristic of Malkauns concerns its nyasa locations: each one of its swaras is considered apposite for nyasa. No other raga has this attribute. The implication being, you cannot go wrong in Malkauns. With five locations available for nyasa, the vistar area extends far and wide, overcoming the limitations of a restricted tonal space inherent to pentatonic ragas. "
-----
Meetkalakar , echoing medieval traditions :
" The name Malkaush is derived from the combination of Mal and Kaushik, which means he who wears serpents like garlands – the god Shiva. However, the Malav-Kaushik mentioned in classical texts does not appear to be the same as the Malkauns performed today. The raga is believed to have been created by goddess Parvati to calm lord Shiva, when he was outraged and refused to calm down after Tandav in rage of Sati's sacrifice. " "
ChristianAMR
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urZY_I2YpKs - Bandish ( madh-dr teent ) and Tarana ( dr ekt ) - Anjali and Nandini Gaikwad