Begada
H. Murty
--
Dr. H. Murty
Srini Pichumani
AhA ! you whetted my appetite with a question about bEgaDA.
Pardon me for going a little overboard while answering your
request.
As the saying "bEgaDA mIgaDa" (Begada (is the) cream) goes,
it is an exquisite raga, and one that provides great relish.
It is also quite a sphinx of a rAga i.e. defies any easy or
simplistic attempts at being bracketed into categories -
particularly due to the varied intonations of the svara N.
The M1 is quite idiosyncratic (as Lalita Ramakrishna says in
her book "The Varnam: a special form in Karnatak music").
Nominally, the scale is given as
S G3 R2 G3 M1 P D2 P S
S N* D2 P M1 G3 R2 S
But there is a glaring D N S in the "inta calamu" varnam
itself.
Here are the pieces I have heard in this raga:
1. inta calamu jEsitE - varNam - vINa kuppier
2. dayAnidhe - varNam - shyAmA shAstrI
3. maracitluNDE - varNam - paTNam subrahmanya iyer
4. nAdOpAsanA - kriti - tyAgarAjA
5. gaTTi gAnu - kriti - ...
6. nIvErA kula dhanamu - kriti - ...
7. nI pada pankajamula - kriti - ...
8. tanavAri tanamu - kriti - ...
9. sAmikki sari - kriti - ...
10. lokAvana catura - kriti - ...
11. sundari nannindarilO - kriti - ...
12. vallabhA nAyakasya - kriti - muttusvAmi dIkShitar
13. tyAgarAjAya namaste - kriti - ...
14. shrI mAta: shiva vAmAnke - kriti - ...
15. shankarI nIvEyani - kriti - subbarAya shAstrI
16. kalayAmi raghurAmam - kriti - svAti tirunAL
17. abhimAnamenneDu - kriti - paTNam subrahmanya iyer
18. anudinamunu kAvumayya - kriti - paTNam subrahmanya iyer (?)
19. cidambaram araharAvenRu - kriti - gopAlakrShNa bhArati (?)
20. innum pArAmugam EnO - kriti - pApanAsam shivan
21. maduram pazhagiya azhagiya - kriti? - ???
Am sure that there are padams, jAvaLis, etc... in Begada
RTPs in Begada are also quite common.
-Srini.
n...@amber.ithaca.com
Some Krithis that I can remember now are :
a) vallabhA nAyagasya
b) shankari nEvE
c) nAdOpAsanA
d) vA murugA
mu...@cip.physik.uni-dortmund.de
....
: It is also quite a sphinx of a rAga i.e. defies any easy or
: simplistic attempts at being bracketed into categories -
: particularly due to the varied intonations of the svara N.
Maybe we should wait till Begada makes it to the Raga of the week, but
I can't help asking this now- Is the Kakali Nishada used here and if so
how? Would also like to add the following 2 kritis of Papanasam Sivan
GAna Rasamudan (beautiful lyrics) and
VisAlakshi NAyakan
in the Begada list. I have also heard Shri S Rajam sing a Kotiswara
Iyer Kriti, Isan Kanaka Sabesan. This is set in what percussionists
call an "Edanjal" Kalapramanam.
muthu
Srini Pichumani
uni-dortmund.de> wrote:
>
>Maybe we should wait till Begada makes it to the Raga of the week, but
>I can't help asking this now- Is the Kakali Nishada used here and if so
>how?
Prof.S.R.Janakiraman demonstrated this in a lucid manner while
he visited Detroit in 93. He sang various phrases involving
the N; the "S N D P S" phrase was one of those in which N3 was
distinctly used. The N in the "D N S R S" phrase of the
"inta calamu" varNam (corresponding to "pan . . . ta" of the
lyric) is also raised enough that I suppose it can be called
N3.
The caveat of course is that with ragas like this (unlike, say,
Hamsadhvani) you need a "dense" description to convey any real
flavor. This would include many prayogas which have gotten
dropped due to over-standardization, changing views on raga
lakshana, or increasingly rigid raga lakshana, etc. or else
which lurk around under the name of "ArSha" prayogam, prAcIna/
pazhaya piDi, ...
-Srini.
K.R. Subramanyam
am presuming it has!). As I had mentioned in a lighthearted manner some time
back this is a raga that defies attempts to "scientify" it...
The use of kakali nishada is particular interesting. Srini has already
mentioned some of the phrases where it is used. I am still doubtful if kakali
nishada is used as an independent note with a distinct frequency. The usage is
very subtle and those of you who play instruments will probably agree with me
that, although ostensibly the note being played is nishada, in reality it is
merely a jantaiswara of the shadja masquerading as nishada. In other words the
kakali nishada frequency is not produced in a distinct fashion (I personally
find it jarring when somebody produces a distinct kakali nishada while playing
such phrases). This is similar to the use of kakli nishada and anthara
gandhara in Arabhi.
I wonder if it has something to do with the 22 sruthi concept....Will anybody
enlighten me please?
KRS
Srini Pichumani
<k...@almaak.usc.edu> wrote:
>
>Begada is a facinating raga and I am happy the discussion
>has shifted to it (I am presuming it has!).
Not really. I seem to have started a discussion on Begada
in a mundiri-koTTaish manner. (i.e. impertinently) ;-)
>The use of kakali nishada is particular interesting. Srini
>has already mentioned some of the phrases where it is used.
SRJ also sang the phrase "R N D P S" twice; in his own words,
the first used "a touch of kAkali ni i.e. N3", and the second
used the very low N3 (which may be called N2 by some) which
is NOW the patent N in Begada as in phrases like P D P N D D P.
On another occasion, he sang a phrase with the kAkali N, adding
that it was rare, and that "it may even be avoided", thus
indicating a certain ambivalence for such archaic or rare usages.
>I am still doubtful if kakali nishada is used as an
>independent note with a distinct frequency.
If you are thinking of a stature for N3 similar to that in,
say, kalyANI, yes, your doubt is very valid.
But then, isn't it the case that even in Shankarabharanam,
such an independent stature for N3 is not quite possible, or,
at the least, would be jarring.
>The usage is very subtle and those of you who play instruments
>will probably agree with me that, although ostensibly the note
>being played is nishada, in reality it is merely a jantaiswara
>of the shadja masquerading as nishada.
Enharmonic equivalence (I like the ring of this phrase - heard
it first from Art Levine on this very newsgroup) in action !!!
>I wonder if it has something to do with the 22 sruthi concept.
Yes. In a manner of speaking, that is.
It does have to do with shrutis (tones) and svaras (notes),
even if we don't care about the 22 stuff. Throw in svarasthAnas
(note positions) too for verbosity sake :-)
Since the post-Sangita ratnakara period (> 1250 AD or so),
the positions of S/P became immutable so that, even in theory,
the earlier variations in S intonation with accompanying
nomenclature like cyuta-Shadja (i.e. a lowered S) were
dumped on the lower svara N, giving rise to names like
cyuta-shadja-nishada.
Thus, in theoretical and practical discourse, anything
intoned lower than the S in a subtle or overt manner has
come to be regarded and verbalized as a N. Same is true
in the case of P and M.
-Srini.
ps: A general comment here: I have observed various vidvans
talk about or demonstrate subtle differences between ragas, or
shrutis employed in certain phrases, or about janaka/janya
relationships - each employing their own rhetorical devices.
Everyone of them will split hairs over minute differences on
certain occasions, while they will tend to gloss over variations
on other occasions. While this can be maddening at times, it
certainly adds to the richness of the whole experience...
pps: Last summer, an "uncle" of mine who is 80+ played Begada
on the flute and said with full attendant rhetoric "this is
not the garden variety Begada you hear these days... this is
strongly Shankarabharanam based, an older style". I think
his whole bombast was based on the M/N usages.
K.R. Subramanyam
post, I am still not sure if the kakli ni in Begada is comparable to that in
Sankarabharnam. Clearly the kakali ni in Sankarabharnam is higher than say
Kalyani and is often sung in conjunction with shadja. But I feel these phrases
in Begada are more akin to the use of the kakali ni in Arabhi, which I feel is
even more subtle.....almost as if there is an attempt to brush past the note
without acknowledging it....is it merely my imagination or have others felt
similarly? Once again clarification from Srini will be welcome!
P J Narayanan
>mentioned some of the phrases where it is used. I am still doubtful if kakali
>very subtle and those of you who play instruments will probably agree with me
>that, although ostensibly the note being played is nishada, in reality it is
>kakali nishada frequency is not produced in a distinct fashion.
>This is similar to the use of kakli nishada and anthara
>gandhara in Arabhi.
>I wonder if it has something to do with the 22 sruthi concept....Will anybody
>enlighten me please?
>KRS
Begada is indeed quite an enigmatic raga. The kakaLi niShAdam occuring
at the Shadjam position is quite in conformity with Sankarabharanam,
its parent ragam. niShAdam is essentially at Shadjam in
Sankarabharanam. Arabhi is another case in point.
I find most janaka-janya assignments mere matter of notation, with
scant musical basis. [Musicality wasn't stressed much obviously when
they "decided" early this century that any raga with multiple possible
parents will be considered the janyam of the earliest mELakartA
rAgam...] Janya rAgams of shankarAbharaNam -- bEgada, Arabhi,
nIlAmbari, bilahari and kEdAram in particular -- display discernible
inheritance from it musically more than any other janaka rAgam in my
opinion, while being distinct and lively on their own. Rendered well,
these fascinate me most with the possibilities they contain.
PJN
PS :- bhAvayAmi raghurAmam can be found listed as sAveri/Adi or
sAveri/jhampa in books. Semmangudi set it to the current
7-raga/rUpaka format. Prof. V. R. Krishnan, a disciple of
Semmangudi, who sang last year at Pittsburgh for the swAti
tirunAL day, told me he was the first one to sing it in the
current format on AIR in 1948 or so.
--
---
Robotics Institute, CMU p...@cs.cmu.edu
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
---
Mohan Ayyar
(Srini Pichumani) writes:
>
>Prof.S.R.Janakiraman demonstrated this in a lucid manner while
>he visited Detroit in 93. He sang various phrases involving
>the N; the "S N D P S" phrase was one of those in which N3 was
>distinctly used. The N in the "D N S R S" phrase of the
>"inta calamu" varNam (corresponding to "pan . . . ta" of the
>lyric) is also raised enough that I suppose it can be called
>N3.
>
According to the version I know:
P D P S N S G R
Pan.. ta . . me. . . .
In the same varnam, what is the position of 1st N in the final set of
swaras (charanam section)
N,,, ,,DP DM,P GRGM | P etc ?
Is this the same N3 you refer to?
Mohan Ayyar