Can someone post an article on Sarasangi Ragam
Babu Srinivasan
I recently listened to Mandolin U. Srinivas' rendition of Sarasangi.
I am not familiar with the ragam and I guessed it as "close to
Charukesi". I found out from the Melakarta chart that only 1 note is
different in these 2 ragams. I like this ragam much more than Charukesi.
Can someone post an article on this ragam including compositions and
if possible some vocal/violin/flute CDs that have a song in this
ragam?
Thanks
Babu
Srini Pichumani
In article <epczq2q...@Eng.Sun.COM>, Babu Srinivasan
Sarasangi is certainly in a difficult position since
Carukes'i is much more popular via the kritis "ADa mODi
galadE" (Tyagaraja) and "krpayA pAlaya" (ST; music by
Muthiah Bhagavatar ?)... still, there are a few compositions
in it like Tyagaraja's "mEnu jUci", "jaya jaya padmanAbha
murArE" (ST; don't know if it was set to sarasAngi originally).
U.Srinivas probably played the latter kriti in SarasAngi...
if you carefully listen to the pallavi, in the second half
of the very first Avarta of the tALam (Adi), it will become
clear that it is not cArukes'i... since it shows the uttarAnga
or the upper tetrachord with the N3 clearly.
____________________________________________________
There is a "trick" composition in this scale by Balamurali.
which goes like
hanumA, anumA O manamA
hanuma nAmamE sukham anumA...
I heard this from Balamurali a while ago (this was a
home recording... with no tambura or s'rutipeTTi in
the background)... and recently there was a news item
that he sang it at the AnjanEya temple in Nanganallur,
Madras... where he was "re-united" with his classic
accompanists, MSG and TVG, after a long hiatus.
The feature in this composition is that every "ma" is a
svarAkSara... it makes for some interesting and quixotic
musical phrases... particularly in the anupallavi where
is there is a somewhat forced leap upto the tAra sthAyi
madhyamam.
I call it a "trick" composition because the ma by being
predominant throughout the composition takes over the
role of AdhAra s'ruti from the sa... and thus the whole
composition has a strong Dharmavati touch to it... Balamurali's
own akAram phrases at some points in the rendition reinforce
this feeling.
Here is a story to go with this composition that I heard
from a nettor (who lurks around this newsgroup ;-)).
_____________________________________________________
> Q: mimmalini chinnappuDu kOti(monkey) karichinadani
> chadivAnu. nijamEnA?
Is it true that a monkey bite you in your childhood?
> BMK: laughs. karavalA. nEnu BZA lO oka vaRSham vacchi
> velisina sAyantram DAbA mIda ADukunTunDaga "current pass"
> avutunna "light pole" paTTukunTE shock tagili paDipOyAnu.
> appuDu hanumanthuDu nannu tana vaDilOki tIsukoni vaLLantA
> nimirADu. hanumanthuDi mIda oka pATa rasAnu:
BMK: No, it did n't bite. In Bezawada, after a rainy day,
I was playing in the evening on the terrace of the house
and got electric shock, when touched the electric pole.
Then Hanuman came and took me in his laps and gently browsed
(I have to look for a better word here!) my skin. I composed
a song on Hanuman
________________________________________________________
-Srini.
K.R. Subramanyam
While one reason for the apparent unpopularity of Sarasangi is that there
aren't too many kritis. Anothe reason is probably because it is a classic
case of a "mongerel" melakarta....it is just too close and appears to be
a hodge-podge of many other popular melas. It is interesting to see what
ragas emerge when we change just a single note in Sarasangi:
Note Changed Ensuing Raga
R Mayamalavyagowla
G Kiravani
M Latangi
D Sankarabharnam
N Charukesi
Because of its close affinity to so many old and popular ragas it is very
difficult for a musician to give it a unique identity. Try humming Sarasangi
and you'll find yourself tresspassing the territory of Sankarabharnam, Latangi
and Charukesi at the very least. Hence Sarsangi has not got the status of a
"gana" raga although it does seem to have a fairly pleasing combination of
notes.
For this raga to gain stature musicians will have evolve a distinct and
aesthetic pattern of gamakas and prayogas that seem to add character to it..
I am not saying it can't happen....ragas such as Dharmavati have been developed
fairly recently.
At the expense of sounding like a broken record I'll repeat: a raga is NOT
a scale or a collection of notes. If it were then there is no reason why the
scale cannot be permutated (I'll not use a term like 'explored' since playing
around with notes in a scale is NOT raga exploration)..a raga needs a separate
identity that evolves over time through introduction of unique gamakas and
prayogas. In the case of Sarasangi unfortunately (or fortunately!) its
neighbouring ragas developed powerful identities and thus made it difficult
for it to develop its personality.
Two other ragas that suffer from the same syndrome: Natta Bhairavi (too close
to Thodi, Bhairavi, Karaharapriya and Kiravani) and Harikambothi (too close
to Sankarabharnam, Kambothi, Nattakuranji, etc). Harikambothi is a classic
case of a sacrificing "mother"--like Kunti she fades in the glory of her
progeny...i.e., the janyas of Harikambothi overshadow the janaka raga.
KRS
Dakshin
In article <51no93$q...@almaak.usc.edu>,
K.R. Subramanyam <k...@almaak.usc.edu> wrote:
>
>Try humming Sarasangi
>and you'll find yourself tresspassing the territory of Sankarabharnam, Latangi
>and Charukesi at the very least.
>
>aesthetic pattern of gamakas and prayogas that seem to add character to it..
Apparently, Mandolin U.Srinivas has done something like that.
Dakshin
--
Dakshin Gandikota
Rm. 1D-260N, AT&T Labs
6200 E.Broad St.
Columbus, OH 43213 614-860-6006
venkataraman_chander
T.N.Seshagopalan in his concert here in the San Jose area devoted a substantial
part of his concert to Sarasangi. After a stunning alapana for about 10 minutes,
he sang Patnam Subramania Iyer's sarasangi piece in Roopakam. His kalpana swaras
brought out the essence of Sarasangi very well, too.
Cheers,
Chander.
Sanjeev Ramabhadran
In article <51no93$q...@almaak.usc.edu> k...@almaak.usc.edu (K.R. Subramanyam) writes:
>While one reason for the apparent unpopularity of Sarasangi is that there
>aren't too many kritis. Anothe reason is probably because it is a classic
>case of a "mongerel" melakarta....it is just too close and appears to be
>a hodge-podge of many other popular melas. It is interesting to see what
>ragas emerge when we change just a single note in Sarasangi:
>
>Note Changed Ensuing Raga
>
>R Mayamalavyagowla
>G Kiravani
>M Latangi
>D Sankarabharnam
>N Charukesi
>
>Because of its close affinity to so many old and popular ragas it is very
>and you'll find yourself tresspassing the territory of Sankarabharnam, Latangi
>"gana" raga although it does seem to have a fairly pleasing combination of
>notes.
>
This is an interesting point, because its Hindustani equivalent,
Nat-Bhairav, is not that uncommon a raga (note that when I say
equivalent I of course mean only the notes of the scale, as Nat-Bhairav
has a `chalan' which is hardly a straight, sampoorna ascent and
descent).
With the popularization of Charukesi in the North, I still think
Nat-Bhairav is more popular up north. That too, I have the opposite
experience as Mr. Subramanyam - when I try to hum in Charukesi for a
while, I find myself slipping into Nat-Bhairav...I guess it's a matter
of background.
BTW, does anyone know what the Hindustani raga is called with the same
scale as Nat-Bhairav but a straight ascent and descent (just as there is
a raga called Gandharipriya that supposedly corresponds more closely to
Dharmavati than the raga Madhuvanti does)?
Sanjeev Ramabhadran
Mohan Ayyar
Srini Pichumani <sr...@quip.eecs.umich.edu> wrote in article
<51mkeo$i...@news.eecs.umich.edu>...
>
> Sarasangi is certainly in a difficult position since
> Carukes'i is much more popular via the kritis "ADa mODi
> galadE" (Tyagaraja) and "krpayA pAlaya" (ST; music by
> Muthiah Bhagavatar ?)... still, there are a few compositions
kripaya pAlaya is supposedly Swati Tirunal's composition.
In sarasAngi, there is a nice varnam which Yesudas has sung.
I don't know the composer though.
The rAga simhavAhini (a janyam of sarasAngi) seems more popular
probably due to ThyAgaraja's composition 'nenarunchi nA'. It has
been rendered by D. K. Jayaraman (and his discples) and a number
of instrumentalists.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Mohan Ayyar
Sydney, Australia
mo...@geko.net.au
Carnatic Corner:
New articles on TN Seshagopalan, Mani Krishnaswamy, etc.
Image Gallery has also been updated. See -
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Bhargavi Sarma
Mohan Ayyar<mo...@geko.net.au> wrote
>The rAga simhavAhini (a janyam of sarasAngi) seems more popular
>probably due to ThyAgaraja's composition 'nenarunchi nA'. It has
>been rendered by D. K. Jayaraman (and his discples) and a number
>of instrumentalists.
The keertanam in simhavahini is 'nenaruncharA'.
'nenarunchinAnu', also a composition of Thyagaraja is in the ragam
mAlavi.
s srinath
> While one reason for the apparent unpopularity of Sarasangi is that there
> aren't too many kritis. Anothe reason is probably because it is a classic
> case of a "mongerel" melakarta....it is just too close and appears to be
> a hodge-podge of many other popular melas. It is interesting to see what
> ragas emerge when we change just a single note in Sarasangi:
> Note Changed Ensuing Raga
> R Mayamalavyagowla
> G Kiravani
> M Latangi
> D Sankarabharnam
> N Charukesi
> Because of its close affinity to so many old and popular ragas it is very
> difficult for a musician to give it a unique identity. Try humming Sarasangi
> and you'll find yourself tresspassing the territory of Sankarabharnam, Latangi
> and Charukesi at the very least. Hence Sarsangi has not got the status of a
> "gana" raga although it does seem to have a fairly pleasing combination of
> notes.
> For this raga to gain stature musicians will have evolve a distinct and
> fairly recently.
> At the expense of sounding like a broken record I'll repeat: a raga is NOT
> a scale or a collection of notes. If it were then there is no reason why the
> scale cannot be permutated (I'll not use a term like 'explored' since playing
> around with notes in a scale is NOT raga exploration)..a raga needs a separate
> identity that evolves over time through introduction of unique gamakas and
> prayogas. In the case of Sarasangi unfortunately (or fortunately!) its
> neighbouring ragas developed powerful identities and thus made it difficult
> for it to develop its personality.
> Two other ragas that suffer from the same syndrome: Natta Bhairavi (too close
> to Thodi, Bhairavi, Karaharapriya and Kiravani) and Harikambothi (too close
Lakshman Ragde
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