raga of the week
Pramila N Srinivasan
Hello!
Seems like some people are still interested in the "raga of the
week " discussions! So I will make another attempt to revive it!
The ragas that have already been discussed and summarised are:
anandhabhairavi
hamsadhwani
mayamalavagowla
bageshri
hamsanadham
naata
begada
harikambodhi
shankarabharana
kaanada
The above are available with me and are on Subu's web page
I believe.
To start off again, may I suggest Raga Rithigowla?
Here are some basic startoff points:
Please append, discuss, either in this format or others,
and I will summarise in the end.
Raga: Rithigowla
Arohanam : S G2 R2 G2 M1 N2 D 2 M1 N2 N2 S
Avarohanam: S N2 D2 M1 G2 M1 P M1 G2 R2 S
Melakartha/Janya :22
Janya of : Kharaharapriya
Upanga/Bhashanga: Bhashanga (due to foreign shuddha dhaivatha in
.
s d d m )
Characteristic/Good Phrases:
npnns
.....
Compositions:
Janani ninnu vina - chapu - Subbaraya Shasthri
BalE BalEndu Bhooshani - adi - thyagaraja
References:
Regards
Pramila
Chitra Rangan
Some more phrases:
Gmnns
ndM(with a jaaru on the Ma)
Gmp.m.grs
Some more compositions:
Paripaalayamaam - Roopakam - Swati Tirunal
Ninnuvina Marigaladha - Adi(tisra gati) - Syama Sastri
Regards, Chitra.
Sriram Devanathan
In article <4f3snq$p...@mozo.cc.purdue.edu>, pra...@sample.ecn.purdue.edu (Pramila N Srinivasan) writes:
|>
|> Seems like some people are still interested in the "raga of the
|> week " discussions! So I will make another attempt to revive it!
(stuff deleted)
|> The above are available with me and are on Subu's web page
|> I believe.
|>
|> To start off again, may I suggest Raga Rithigowla?
|> Here are some basic startoff points:
|> Please append, discuss, either in this format or others,
|> and I will summarise in the end.
|>
|>
|> Raga: Rithigowla
|>
|> Arohanam : S G2 R2 G2 M1 N2 D 2 M1 N2 N2 S
|> Avarohanam: S N2 D2 M1 G2 M1 P M1 G2 R2 S
|>
|> Melakartha/Janya :22
|> Janya of : Kharaharapriya
|> Upanga/Bhashanga: Bhashanga (due to foreign shuddha dhaivatha in
|> Compositions:
|>
|> Janani ninnu vina - chapu - Subbaraya Shasthri
|> BalE BalEndu Bhooshani - adi - thyagaraja
|>
|> References:
Just to add my favourites to the list of compositions;
Tatvamariya tarama
Ninnu vina mari galada
Paripalayamam
Dwaitamu sukhama Adwaitamu sukhama
Sriram
N.Sivakumar
I am Seriously thinking whether the suddha dhaivatham is later inclution
because if we notice the song,'Janani ninnuvina' and the Chittai swaram
in that song, suddha dhaivathamhas not been used at all.
And Rithigowla stands unique even without the suddha dhaivatham which
only gives the Ananda Bhairavi flavour to this Ubanga raga.
Welcome any opinion.
BTW, can any one post the full chittai swaram of "Janani ninnuvina"?
Thanks,
Sivakumar. N.
rajagopalan
: Raga: Rithigowla
: Arohanam : S G2 R2 G2 M1 N2 D 2 M1 N2 N2 S
: Avarohanam: S N2 D2 M1 G2 M1 P M1 G2 R2 S
: Upanga/Bhashanga: Bhashanga (due to foreign shuddha dhaivatha in
: .
: s d d m )
can someone post or email the places where this phrase occurs?
on a related issue, someone had commented to me that the close ragam
anandabhairavi has changed its flavour from being close to bhairavi to
becoming close to ritigowlai in the past generation.
-rajagopalan
email: sr...@bellcore.com
ramakr...@mail.utexas.edu
>Chittai swaram in that song, suddha dhaivathamhas not been used at all.
>
Well, muttusvAmi dIkShitar, a contemporary of tyAgarAja, used shuddha
dhaivata - to the exclusion of other dhaivatas - in his nIlOtpalAmbA
kRtis in rItigauLa. shuddha dhaivata also features in his
interpretations of AbhErI, shuddha sAvEri etc.
----------------------------------
L Ramakrishnan
ra...@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu
http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~ramakris
----------------------------------
Srini Pichumani
<ramakr...@mail.utexas.edu> wrote:
>"N.Sivakumar" <snat...@infosoft.com> wrote:
>>I doubt the Bhashanga status of Rithigowla.
>>
>>I am Seriously thinking whether the suddha dhaivatham
>>is later inclution because if we notice the song,
>
>Well, muttusvAmi dIkShitar, a contemporary of tyAgarAja, used shuddha
>dhaivata - to the exclusion of other dhaivatas - in his nIlOtpalAmbA
>kRtis in rItigauLa. shuddha dhaivata also features in his
>interpretations of AbhErI, shuddha sAvEri etc.
rItigauLa is an interesting case... historically,
it has been associated with the 20th mELa in the
works of Venkatamakhi, Shahaji, Tulajaji, GovindAcArya...
and in other earlier/contemporaneous works has been
referred to as belonging to s'rI mELa or as having
pancas'ruti dhaivatam... the latter term having
been consistently used by a few writers for referring
to D2... i.e. catuss'ruti dhaivatam in current usage.
Now, in the "earlier" kanakAmbarI nomenclature, the
20th mEla was Bhairavi and rItigauLa belonged to
this mELa... in the "later" kanakAmbarI nomenclature
however, (nArI)rItigauLa itself became the 20th mELa,
with the "nAri" prefix chosen as per kaTapayAdi sankhya...
This nomenclature is called "later" since it is
significantly different from the former, and has
proper kaTapayAdi prefixes for all the 72 mELas...
in this, it seems to have been inspired by the 72
sampUrNa melakarta kanakAngI-ratnAngI scheme devised
by GovindacAryA in his Samgraha CuDAmaNi (~ mid 1700s).
The author of this "later" kanakAmbarI nomenclature
was most probably Muddu Venkatamakhi (a grandson of
Venkatamakhi) who lived in TiruviDaimarudUr (aka
mAdhyArjunam)... from him, Ramaswami Dikshitar
(1735-1817), the father of Muthuswami Dikshitar,
learnt the details of the 72 mEla system...
Probably, nArIrItigauLa was preferred for the 20th
mEla since D2's important role in BhairavI made its
positioning as the 20th mELa an uncomfortable choice...
clear demarcation of rAgas into mELa/rAganga ragas,
upAnga ragas, bhASAnga ragas, was becoming a strong
theoretical concern by then...
In any case, (nArI)rItigauLa, once it occupied the
20th mELa position, became exclusively identified
with s'uddha dhaivatam... this was probably a
"back-formation"... a case of sangIta s'Astra
affecting prayoga... we certainly have other examples
in Carnatic music... e.g. the 72 melakarta system itself.
(nArI)rItigauLa has continued as such in the Dikshitar
tradition... Dikshitar's
s'rI nIlotpala nAyike
is sung/played in this manner by members of the
Kallidakuricci family, and artistes like Smt.Kalpagam
Swaminathan who learnt from Kalli. Anantakrishna Iyer.
Balamurali has sung this kriti in more mainstream
rItigauLa... it is also very beautiful and evocative...
---------------------------------------------------------
From a practical sense, various scholars (Sambamurti, SRJ,
etc...) have pointed out that the D in mainstream rItigauLa
is to be intoned flatter than D2... they throw in a term
tris'ruti dhaivatam here ;-)... also, the s'uddha dhaivatam
occurs in phrases like P D D M... it is there in the crucial
aTa tALa varNam "vanajAkSa" of vINa Kuppier... it is important
to note that such varNams are considered by most to be a
compendium of rAga lakSaNa...
Even so, the s'uddha dhaivatam is endorsed only half-heartedly...
and it is suggested that it may be dropped completely without
detriment to rAgabhAva...
The flip side of this is that at least a few people whose
musical sense I respect have mentioned upon hearing (nArI)
rItigauLa that even exclusive usage of s'uddha dhaivatam
is not very detrimental to the overall rAgabhAva... one of
these persons actually surmised it a-priori long before any of
us heard the nArIrItigauLa version... yes, yes, all this is
subjective, but there it is...
--------------------------------------------
-Srini.
Balaji
>
< parts of interesting post by srini deleted... >
>---------------------------------------------------------
>
>From a practical sense, various scholars (Sambamurti, SRJ,
>etc...) have pointed out that the D in mainstream rItigauLa
>is to be intoned flatter than D2... they throw in a term
>tris'ruti dhaivatam here ;-)... also, the s'uddha dhaivatam
>occurs in phrases like P D D M... it is there in the crucial
>aTa tALa varNam "vanajAkSa" of vINa Kuppier... it is important
>to note that such varNams are considered by most to be a
>compendium of rAga lakSaNa...
>
Interestingly, I gather from a lec-dem by S Ramanathan
that narayanagauLa and rItigauLa were considered as 'parambarai
sotthu' (ancestral property) of the vIna kuppaiyer clan ! Also
in the same lecture S Ramanathan talks of the peculiarity of
rItigauLa's nishadam. Says its called the 'septimal ni' in
scientific jargon and happens to be an overtone of the AdhAra
shadja and demonstrates very beautifully the peculiar resonance
of the nishadham and the shadjam by singing the nishadham again
and again. I am struck by the beauty of this ni ! rItigauLa has
always been a very beautiful raga, but such nuances seem to
highlight the raga even better ! SR goes on to say that the
effect is very prominent while tuning the tambura, and for a
new tambura, the septimal ni is so powerfully heard that it could
actually confuse the listener/tuner. In his own words, 'appadiyE
ALai mayakkidum' !! A couple of months ago, when I was visiting
Srini Pichumani, he gave a demonstration of this effect on the
tambura. Truthfully speaking, I heard the nishadham on and off,
more off than on ! :-) But somehow after listening to the lec-dem,
I would like more discussion on this in the net. To start some
discussion, here are some questions :
Other than rItigauLa and surati, what other ragas have this nishadam ?
Are these swaras recognised as seperate entities under the 22 swara scheme,
or are they clubbed under the generic kaisiki nishAdham ?
How is it different from the kaisiki nishAdham of (say) karaharapriya ?
In general, what are the other overtones that can be discerned as being
higher harmonics of shadja and panchama ?
How about other swaras like gandhara, rishaba etc...? Do these manifest
better in the tAra sthAyi than in madhya sthAyi ? (I think it would.. )
Srini and other knowledgeble nettors, could you throw more light on these
peculiarities of swaras and srutis ?
balaji/...
g.ba...@hqs.mid.gmeds.com
ps: I am awed by S Ramanathan's erudition ! Does anybody have lec-dems/concerts
available by this wonderful man ? Willing to trade with lec-dems/concerts by
other wonderful people ! :-) Please email.
---
*****************************************************************************
Guntur Balaji (8-535-6772) \\\\\\\|/// 44171, Bayview Ave., #50103
Fatigue Synthesis, VSSA \\ ~ ~ // Clinton Twp., MI 48038
Midsize Car Division, GM (| @ @ |) 810-783-4087
_____________________________oOOo-(_)-oOOo___________________________________
Srini Pichumani
Balaji <xzm...@vssa.hqs.mid.gmeds.com> wrote:
>
>S Ramanathan talks of the peculiarity of rItigauLa's
>nishadam. Says its called the 'septimal ni' in
>scientific jargon and happens to be an overtone of
>the AdhAra shadja and demonstrates very beautifully
>the peculiar resonance of the nishadham and the
>shadjam by singing the nishadham again and again.
>I am struck by the beauty of this ni !
The "septimal" N as he calls it is the overtone from
the mandra (lower octave) shadja string, rather than
the tonic or AdhAra shadja... that is what he also
mentions... to be exact, it is just that this N is
better perceived from the mandra string's resonance...
due to the mandra string's material, its thickness,
and its "wound" nature, this overtone has a decent
amplitude... muRukku tanti, as they call this wound
string in Tamil...
It is from this same string that you can hear the G3
also clearly... assigning rough numbers to these svaras,
if you normalize the tonic to 1, the mandra S is 1/2,
the G3 is 5/2 i.e. it is the G3 of the tAra sthAyi, and
the N is 7/2 i.e. it is also in the tAra stAyi which is
between 2-4, 1-2 being the madhya sthAyi. [I say rough
cautiously since auditory phenomena need not be as
ideal as you theoretically expect, and since I don't
have any empirical measurements... I am wary of the
Jairazbhoys and the Levys as I should be ;-)]
>SR goes on to say that the effect is very prominent
>while tuning the tambura, and for a new tambura, the
>septimal ni is so powerfully heard that it could
>actually confuse the listener/tuner.
He says that the mandra S could very well be in perfect
tune... but the overtone N confuses you so much that
you keep unnecessarily increasing the tension on the
mandra S string and get it out of tune...
>Other than rItigauLa and surati, what other ragas
>have this nishadam ?
Here is a conjecture of mine... I think Balamurali
hit upon Mahati... S G3 P N* S
S N* P G3 S
consciously or unconsciously because of this overtone
in the background... if you just play the mandra string
by itself or sing the mandra S yourself, you can very
clearly hear this "septimal" N... G3 is there too...
there surely are more... but these say "Present, Sir"
rightaway !
Some explanation is needed here... many of these
overtones are out there... but people never perceive
them or want to perceive them... I have even asked
fairly eminent musicians about the overtones they hear
from a tambura and come up short... only people like S.R.
have investigated and talked about it clearly, while
taking the musical context, and the voice, traditional
instruments into account.
One reason for musicians not wanting to perceive
these so much is probably that it would impede the
musical flow... after all, keeping your tambura tuned
normally, you cannot sing G2 rAgas at all if you let
the G3 overtone consume you... you would feel it to
be quite jarring... sometimes, on CDs, like the one
where Ravishankar has played BhupAli tODi (Car. bhUpALam)
the tambura is miked so strongly that the result is quite
terrible... the strong G3 in the ambience keeps clashing
with the G2 he has to use.
>Are these swaras recognised as seperate entities
>under the 22 swara scheme, or are they clubbed
>under the generic kaisiki nishAdham ?
For practical reasons, they are clubbed under the
same kais'iki N... there is no point in giving
every tone we hear the status of a separate note...
The correct intonation has to be learnt directly...
maRRavai lakSiyattil aRindu koLga, being the standard
injunction i.e. know the rest thru practical learning/
listening.
>higher harmonics of shadja and panchama ?
A "kAkali" N can definitely be heard from the P string.
I have mentioned this before on the net... that if you
listen to the tamburA carefully, there is a nice "vivAdi"
effect right there for you... just from its regular
strumming... between the "septimal" N from the mandra
string, the "kAkali" N from the P string, and the tonic
from its own string... since this the order in which
they are strummed is
P(lower), S, S, S(lower)
and it is cyclical...
>I am awed by S Ramanathan's erudition !
This is an aside... but, in my opinion, the Music Academy
of Madras redeemed itself to some extent from various
ignominies by honoring him.
-Srini.
ps: It is very interesting to note that historically
the G3 svara or the S-G3 interval was not given any
particular importance... the Pythagoreans didn't
recognize any samvAda there... the nATyas'Astra and
the people that followed it didn't either... it is
only in the CilappadikAram that it is discussed
to some extent.
Prof.Lewis Rowell conjectures that the strings used
in ancient times, made from gut, were not particularly
conducive to overtone production.
Srini Pichumani
to change the title to a more relevant one...
-Srini.
-------------------------------
WARVIJ
>>>[I say rough
>cautiously since auditory phenomena need not be as
>ideal as you theoretically expect, and since I don't
>have any empirical measurements... I am wary of the
>Jairazbhoys and the Levys as I should be ;-)]
Can't talk about Carnatic ragas; can talk about overtones. Due to
the fact that tamboura strings necessarily have *thickness* (:-)) the
higher harmonics will in fact go successively sharper. It depends on
the string manufacture as well. I've heard a double-bass string which
had a strong harmonic on a very flat Re two octaves up -- this rendered
it unusable! (and double-bass strings cost about $80 a pop so that was
no joke!).
Why worry about being wary of Levy? My take on his work is that
he simply says, in effect: "people's intonation varies according to
circumstances." The rest of it is debunking the fixed-intonation
propagandists.
I feel a bit of an outsider in a discussion of Carnatic ragas -- please
do excuse my bumptiousness!
Warren Senders