Komal Rishabh Asavari
Surajit A. Bose
I recently heard a cassette of Kankana Banerjee singing Komal Rishabh
Asavari (Rhythm House 240 352). She distinctly takes komal nishad in the
aroha; the sangat ni-re-sa appears not just in the opening alap but also
in some sargam passages during the gat. Is this a feature of the raga? I
thought that nishad was not taken in the aroha of Asavari, and that the
omission of the nishad was what differentiated this raga from Jaunpuri.
Of course, since Kankanaji is singing the Komal Rishabh variety of
Asavari, it doesnšt sound like Jaunpuri at all. But I donšt recall having
heard any other performer take the nishad in the aroha even when the
rishabh is komal. (Certainly itšs not what my guru taught me.) Actually
Išve heard Komal Rishabh Asavari far more often than Shuddha Asavari, and
I wonder whether it is in fact the more common variety, even though
Bhatkande says otherwise.
Any comments or guidance will be helpful. Thanks!
Surajit Bose
WARVIJ
More people certainly are singing the Komal-Re
version of Asavari nowadays; certainly a change
from Bhatkhande's time.
My own guru showed me a bada khyal in Shuddh-Re
Asavari which included the ascending Ni as part of
a very brief bol-taan at the end of both asthai and
antara. When I asked about it he said, more or less,
"it's allowed, but only once every couple of concerts."
Warren Senders
Original music blending Indian and Western traditions;
Hindustani vocal music -- Khyal & Thumri --
"Beauty in music is too often confused with something
that lets the ears lie back in an easy chair."
-- Charles Ives --
For info (617) 643-0206
Warren Senders
PO Box 38-1634, Harvard Square
Cambridge, MA 02238-1634
Rajan P. Parrikar
Briefly -
The use of komal nishad in the ascent of Komal Rishab Asavari (KRA)
is not encouraged and the taar shadja is approached from the
komal dhaivat itself. Often it'll be: P d (n)d (n)d S"
However, in the faster passages and taans this restriction is
often dropped and it is not uncommon to find a quick PdnS"
movement.
Incidently, KRA itself comes in a few local deviations. The most
common one is to replace the shuddha rishab in Asavari by its
komal counterpart. But this is not the only show in town.
Prof. Allaudin Khan of Maihar (I hear that his boy teaches music
somewhere in northern California) has a far more (IMO) interesting
version of KRA (it is better to refer to the rAga as just
Komal Asavari and you'll see why) where both the rishabs are used.
In the ascent you have the Asavari-like R M P d M P etc but in
the descent the komal rishab is used as M g r S (if I remember it
correctly - it has been a long time). This variant therefore retains
the essential body of Asavari but the komal rishab in a special cameo
appearance lends a most beautiful flavour. Compare this with Raga
Gandhari (also an Asavari-ang rAga) where an identical set of notes i
s used!
Adios,
r
ps: Has anyone seen the article ("State of the Arts") in this months'
in-flight magazine of United Airlines ("Hemispheres") that laments the
decline of western classical music in this country?
ChristianAMR
" Kalana parat mohe " ?