lavanis
Achyut Joshi
Achyut
ashwini_...@unc.edu
Achyut Joshi <as...@duke.edu> wrote:
> What exactly sets a lavani apart from a normal song?
>
> Achyut
>
Very briefly, a lavani is essentially an erotic song, in the folk genre of
Maharashtra, predominantly (or originally?) rural. Explicit in depicting
female sexual desire, although the explicitness varies between individual
songs. There are two kinds of lavani performances -- one in which the
performer sits and sings with some facial and hand movements -- called
Baithakichi lavni and the other type that is accompanied by a dance. (I am
not terribly clear on the distinctions between the two forms, but apparently
there is sufficient difference for them to qualify as two distinct styles.
Ashok Ranade, the musicologist, has done work on the differences in the two
styles of lavani). The performers (main) are always women but accompanied by
men on the instruments who, in addition to playing the instruments try to
enhance the aura of sensuality in the lavani performance by flirtatious
interludes with the woman performer.
I read recently that the composers of the lavanis have been mostly men and
the performers mostly *low caste* women. If you remember the play "Ghasiram
Kotwal", you would recall how brilliantly it depicts the use of this form to
satiate upper caste male desire during the pre colonial Peshwa period in
Maharashtra.
Ashwini.
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Hrishi Dixit
Achyut Joshi wrote:
>
> What exactly sets a lavani apart from a normal song?
>
LavaNi is a very specific kind of Maharashtrian folk music that I think
traces its origins to the 15th/16th century. It was predominantly intended
to provide entertaining respites to battle-weary Maratha soldiers (the
other such medium was the 'powaDa', which is still rather popular in
rural Maharashtra). So visually speaking, a lavani is quite an indentifiable
entity, with it's own specific dance steps, settings and general ambience.
Musically speaking, it is a rich confluence of words and rhythm, performed
by a group of singers/dancers on stage, and is generally accompanied by some
rather potent 'dholak' - the lavani beat is quite unique, and can be recognized
very easily, though a lot of percussionists like to throw in their own
variations. The other distinguishing feature of the lavani (though I don't
think it is an invariant) is the "o~o~o ji-ji-ji-jiiiii".
There's also a variant of the lavani called 'baiThaki-chi lavaNi' which
means a 'seated' lavaNi, i.e. it is not generally accompanied by the
furious dancing that goes with its conventional sibling. I've heard a
beautiful instance of this - 'kaa ho dharilaa mazwar raag, mazwar raag'.
Not sure who sang it, though, but I hope it's Lata :-)
To add to the list of Lata lavaNis posted recently, there is a gorgeous Vasant
Desai composition in Shantaram's 1951 classic 'Amar Bhoopali' (of the
'ghanshyaam sundaraa shridharaa' fame), sung by Lata and Panditrao Nagarkar :
"ghaDi ghaDi arey manmohanaa guNijanaa dekhtaa nako rey boluu masii".
I think I mentioned this a while ago on another thread.
The knowledgeable ones, please feel free to add more, or correct me.
..Hrishi
--
________________________________________
Hrishi Dixit
Alta Software
hdi...@altasoft.com
Aruna Donde
>
>
> There's also a variant of the lavani called 'baiThaki-chi lavaNi' which
> means a 'seated' lavaNi, i.e. it is not generally accompanied by the
> furious dancing that goes with its conventional sibling. I've heard a
> beautiful instance of this - 'kaa ho dharilaa mazwar raag, mazwar raag'.
> Not sure who sang it, though, but I hope it's Lata :-)
It is Asha.
>
>
> To add to the list of Lata lavaNis posted recently, there is a gorgeous Vasant
> Desai composition in Shantaram's 1951 classic 'Amar Bhoopali' (of the
> 'ghanshyaam sundaraa shridharaa' fame), sung by Lata and Panditrao Nagarkar :
> "ghaDi ghaDi arey manmohanaa guNijanaa dekhtaa nako rey boluu masii".
> I think I mentioned this a while ago on another thread.
Lavni and powada are poetry meters. Powada is a ballad. Poet Hona, whose life is
depicted in Amar Bhoopali has written both types of poetry. While it is true that
most lavni's are Shringar pradhan, there are some lavni's classified as bodhpar or
updeshpar. Poet Ram Joshi's 'bhala janma ha tula ladhala' is one such lavni.
There are many beautiful lavni's sung by Lata, Asha and even Manik Varma ('Jali
mandi pikali karavanda'). The reigning queen of lavni has to be Sulochana Chavan.
Baithakichi lavni has a classical base and can use a more complex taal.
Aruna.
ani...@my-dejanews.com
ashwini_...@unc.edu wrote:
> styles of lavani). The performers (main) are always women but accompanied by
> men on the instruments who, in addition to playing the instruments try to
> enhance the aura of sensuality in the lavani performance by flirtatious
> interludes with the woman performer.
>
Ashwini, Thanks for a nice write up on lavani's. Want to ask a question,
though I know this might not be the right forum for it. So my apologies in
advance:-) Every single lavani performance I have seen has an "effiminate"
male performer predominantly featured. Is there any particular reason for
this? Being quite liberal, I think gays and lesbians don't get the right
recognition in arts (in India), and this is one art form where I have seen a
gay performer getting some importance, which is not derogatory. Care to
comment on this?
Cheers,
Anil P. Hingorani
ashwini_...@unc.edu
ani...@my-dejanews.com wrote:
>
> Ashwini, Thanks for a nice write up on lavani's. Want to ask a question,
> though I know this might not be the right forum for it. So my apologies in
> advance:-) Every single lavani performance I have seen has an "effiminate"
> male performer predominantly featured. Is there any particular reason for
> this? Being quite liberal, I think gays and lesbians don't get the right
> recognition in arts (in India), and this is one art form where I have seen a
> gay performer getting some importance, which is not derogatory. Care to
> comment on this?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Anil P. Hingorani
Anil, What you say is interesting and correct. Often, but not always, the
woman performer has a confidante, a man, who is effiminate himself (and we
assume he is gay) and I really don't know why this is the case! This has very
little to do with music or art, but there is a theory that women get along
better with gay men since they feel more secure with them. I am a bit
tentative about these theories, since often the groups in question have the
problem of what economists call "self selection" -- ie one is choosing groups
where the women are are already friendly with gay men, for a combination of
reasons that could be personal, social, ideological!
Back to the lavani, if anyone has an explanation, I would love to hear it.
[In a lighter vein, I am tempted to assert my Marathi pride and say that "we
are very liberal, you know" but since these days some self styled leaders of
Maharashtrian pride are busy digging up cricket pitches, I am not sure of my
own pride any more!! If with this comment, I have transgressed the boundaries
of the RMIM, my sincere apologies.]
Ashwini.
rdh...@del3.vsnl.net.in
Ashwini, Hrishi,
Those were very interesting posts on lavanis. One more question: apart from
the things you've already said about the form, how would you define the
musical structure of a lavani? Though I generally recognize a lavani when I
hear one, I haven't heard enough of them to be able to arrive at
generalizations about the lavani structure. For example, I notice, for one,
that the progression of a lavani consists of sections set to varying rhythms,
and most strikingly, varying tempos. There are also passages where percussion
is not used at all. There's clearly some kind of formula, though I can't tell
exactly what it is, or how rigid it is. So, for a lavani to be a lavani, what
must it contain?
And maybe after you've helped out with this one, someone can talk about the
bhavageet as well!
Roopa
RBModi
aren't coming to me right now) Help anyone!
Asha and Sulochana Chavhan sang some of the most memorable dance lavnis (I
think called "bordavarchi lavni", because the dancers constructed temporary
stages in villages and performed them), which were performed in the movies by
the most popular trio of Jayshree Gadhkar, Usha Chavan and Usha Naik.
Maya Jadhav was the reigning lavni dancer (Does anyone know if she still is?)
Rakesh
Mahesh Velankar
RBModi wrote:
> Lata sang a very beautiful baithakichi lavni in Pinjara (though the words
> aren't coming to me right now) Help anyone!
>
Lata sang 'de re kAnhA choLi an lugaDI' in pinjarA. However it was
a 'borDAvarachI lAvaNI'. Probably it was 'bAI malA iShkAchI iMgaLI
DasalI', which was 'baiThakIchI lAvaNI'
ashwini_...@unc.edu
> musical structure of a lavani? Though I generally recognize a lavani when I
> hear one, I haven't heard enough of them to be able to arrive at
> generalizations about the lavani structure. For example, I notice, for one,
> that the progression of a lavani consists of sections set to varying rhythms,
> and most strikingly, varying tempos. There are also passages where percussion
> is not used at all. There's clearly some kind of formula, though I can't tell
> exactly what it is, or how rigid it is. So, for a lavani to be a lavani, what
> must it contain?
>
Roopa, I haven't thought about it carefully enough to have a theory. As I
read your post, I quickly started going through the few lavanis that I know
to see if I could arrive at a generalisation. What you have written is
correct --- all the lavanis that I know have that feature. (Incidentally, one
of the posts in the RMIM on this mentioned the "jijiji" refrain -- I think
that is a feature of the powada rather than the lavani). I must say right now
what strikes me more is the variety rather than the similarities. The only
common thread, in the form that is, that I can think of at the top of my
head, is the "dhol" beat and the way the words in the refrain exactly
coincide with the drum beat -- I wish I had the facility to describe
unambiguously what I mean! Also, what I am thinking of may be true of the
"dance" lavanis.
I remember once attending a fascinating concert of baithakichi lavani in Delhi
which featured some lavani greats as well as classical singers like Shruti
Sadolikar and that's when the variety truly came home. There were lavanis that
sounded like ghazals and some that were in the classical, chhota khayal mould!
We have much to learn!
Ashwini.
Aruna Donde
mala madan bhase ha mohi mana is a lavani and so is Shreeranga kamalakanta hari
padarate sod re .
Aruna.
Narendra Joshi
Kashi kelis mazi daina,
Mala tuzya bigar karamena.
Natak : Swara samradnyi
Singer : Kirti Shiledar.
Also, "wad jaau kunala sharana" song from Natak Saubhadra has been derived from a
lavani .
Regards,
Naren
shai...@my-dejanews.com
Usha is also a laavani ! And it neither has dhol nor any 'o~ji~ji' or any
other characteristics found in other laavanis. So what constitutes a laavani
is still a question for me.. Shailesh.
Mahesh Velankar <mvel...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> RBModi wrote:
>
> > Lata sang a very beautiful baithakichi lavni in Pinjara (though the words
> > aren't coming to me right now) Help anyone!
> >
>
> Lata sang 'de re kAnhA choLi an lugaDI' in pinjarA. However it was
> a 'borDAvarachI lAvaNI'. Probably it was 'bAI malA iShkAchI iMgaLI
> DasalI', which was 'baiThakIchI lAvaNI'
>
-----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------
Mahesh Velankar
or light music for that matter. However I have got very
little experience in writing songs for plays and small music
groups. I have also composed music for plays at inter college
competitions.
In my opinion lavani has following necessary properties/
characteristics
1. It is rarely a duet. (There are some good duet lavanis)
2. The heroine (or hero in some lavanis) is trying to express
her love (or desire) to the hero. She is trying to attract
him or trying to prevent him from leaving or forgetting
her. Sometimes she is telling him to do something for her.
3. Thus it is not only a self expression but also an address or a
narration of condition to some second person. There are
many lines written in second person ('you' or 'aho')
There are many 'AdnyArth' sentences in it (aho ---
Do this or don't do this). Thus it is not only identification
of problem, but also a detailed analysis and with a
recommended action plan!!
4. Some lavanis are devotional and are thus addressed to
god. (devotion is a form of love isn't it?). Again god
is requested to attend to the devotee.
5. In baithakichi lavani this address activity is one to one.
but in boardavarachi lavani, other girls try to assist the
heroine in expressing her thoughts to the hero in more
direct words ( many times deliberately unpoetic and
down to earth. many times very practical funny and
hilarious).
The heroine sings in first person, and the sidies sing in
third person ( telling the hero that 'she' says this or 'she'
is feeling this, or do such and such thing for her. Many
times they guide him in how to do it!)
6. Mostly all lavanis are in bhairav, jogia
or kalingada raagas ( 're' and 'dha' komal)
Though there are very beautiful lavanis in todi ( or some
derived version) or puria etc. - again 're' and 'dha'
komal.
7 There are some keywords found in many lavanis.
Most famous is 'rAyA' (deformation of rAjA).
sAjaNi. Many times the sidies address the hero
by his name 'dAjIbA' etc.
8. Hero is almost always addressed with respect.
I do not remember any lavani where hero is addressed
as 'are' or 'tU' in Marathi. It is always 'aho' or 'tumhI'
9. The word 'lavani dance' is a misnomer, in my opinion
I dont understand why many people (mainly those
do not speak Marathi) call the typical Marathi
tamasha dance as lavani dance. It is true that 'many
times' the song selected for the dance sequence is
really a lavani; but not always. See the famous
'chal chal jAU shinUmAlA' dance song from
'sakhyA sajaNA'? It is not a lavani. There are many
savAl jabAb (puzzles and answers) songs used in tamasha
dances - which are not lavanis. The whole dance
programme is called as 'tamasha' in Marathi. Lavani,
in my opinion pertains to the poetry, the mood and
the singing style. Lavani may or may not have a dance.
A dance may or may not have a lavani.
Some notable and unforgettable lavanis which could
be exceptions to these fundas:
--. usAlA lAgal kolhA: heroine telling other heroine to take
care in the matter of love and other not-so-good guys
in the vicinity.
--. rAjasA javaLi jarA basA jIv hA pisA tumhAviN bAI
raag - one or many of above ?
Probabaly the word 'lavani' has come from Marathi 'lAvUn
dharaNe' meaning to insist or persistantly demand for something.
There are some experts who call lavani as 'lAvaNyagIt'. (song
of beauty)
I do not want to make any comment on this here.
To know what lavani is, watching 'pinjara' is of limited help.
One should 'read' lavanis from notable poets. rAmashAstrI,
honAjI bALA, ga di mADagULakar, jagadIsh khebuDakar,
etc.( I regret that I have read none!!). Or at least watch other
tamasha movies like many jayashrI gaDakar movies.
jayashrI gaDakar, I think, is far more pleasent to watch than
sandhyA.
Before starting to write this reply I myself could not have believed,
that I could find so many things about lavani. I do not claim to be
accurate. I have not 'studied' this subject in any way.
Just for the fun of it I had converted the tune of the famous
'jAne kaise sapanome.n kho gayI akhiyA.c.n' (anurAdhA
-music ravi sha.nkar) into a boardavarchi lavani, during my
IIT days!!
Keep the discussion alive. There are very few indian groups with
good healthy discussion
-mahesh
Hemlata N. Khemani
> In my opinion lavani has following necessary properties/
> characteristics
>
> 1. It is rarely a duet. (There are some good duet lavanis)
> 2. The heroine (or hero in some lavanis) is trying to express
> her love (or desire) to the hero. She is trying to attract
> him or trying to prevent him from leaving or forgetting
> her. Sometimes she is telling him to do something for her.
> 3. Thus it is not only a self expression but also an address or a
> narration of condition to some second person. There are
> many lines written in second person ('you' or 'aho')
> There are many 'AdnyArth' sentences in it (aho ---
> Do this or don't do this). Thus it is not only identification
> of problem, but also a detailed analysis and with a
> recommended action plan!!
Great post, Mahesh. Quite informative. The first three characteristics
make me think that "maalavuun Taaka deepa" by Lata would fit the above.
The difference would be that there are no key words like raayaa, saajaNaa,
etc. though there is raajasaa in it. It does contain a narration of
condition, an analysis of the surrounding, recommended action plan (:-)),
and of course an expression of love. It sure doesn't seem to be in
"shRi.ngaar" mood. On second thought, it does; thought the presentation
is different than a typical "tamasha". Am I completely off track or does
anyone else see the similarities too?
Hema.
-
Speed gets you nowhere if you're headed the wrong way!
mahesh velankar
Your idea of classifying 'mAlavUn TAk dIp' as lavani is
too creative, in my opinion. It surly put me into thinking
of more characteristics which this particular song does
not have to get classified as lavani:
10 The rythm for lavani is generaly in madhya laya to
dR^it laya. ('mAlavUn...' is too much 'vilaMbIt') Also
in lavani percussion is 'felt' significantly. (In 'mAlavUn..
you know how mild it is)
11 The taal for lavani is generaly kerava or khemata.
This khemata is also not flat 1-2-3-4-5-6 type.
It is like 1--3-4-5-6-7--9-10-11-12.
Try to sing 'bugaDi mAjhI sANDalI g...' as against
'shor mach gaya shor dekho...' to feel the difference.
mAlavUn has vilambit dAdarA(?) -- hardly any lavani
will have.
12 Selection of words in 'mAlavUn...' is too elite. too
soft and smooth, to become a lavani. Lavani has
generally more rough words fitting perfectly with
madhya or dRit laya.
13 Hero is not addressed with respect in mAlavUn.
She addresses him in singular ... rarely in a lavani.
If I start thinking on your lines, I would classify
'chAnd mAtalA mAtalA....' from uMbaraThA as lavani.
For fun it can be converted to boardavarchi lavani as follows:
she: chAnd mAtalA, mAtalA ... tyAlA kashI sAvarU...
aMgI vaNavA peTalA.... tyAlA kashI AvarU ...
supporters: pANI TAkU, vALu TAkU, ghoMgaDInI aMg jhAkU,
nakA nakA bAI tumhI ashA ghAbarU....
AgIchyA baMbAlA....
kuNitarI phon karU... ;-)
-mahesh
bh...@my-dejanews.com
It was a nice collection of fundae on Lavani. However, I think there is some
mistake in one line (see below) rAmshAstrI had nothing to do with composing
lavaNi it was someone else you had in mind (perhaps rAm joshI?) rAmshAstrI
earned his name as the chief judge in Peshwe rule. He was brave and impartial
enough to prosecute the ruling peshwaa (raghunAthrAo peshwe).
Correct me if I am wrong.
--bheem.
In article <36D4E637...@hotmail.com>,
Mahesh Velankar <mvel...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> To know what lavani is, watching 'pinjara' is of limited help.
> One should 'read' lavanis from notable poets. rAmashAstrI,
> honAjI bALA, ga di mADagULakar, jagadIsh khebuDakar,
> etc.( I regret that I have read none!!). Or at least watch other
> tamasha movies like many jayashrI gaDakar movies.
>
-----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------
Mahesh Velankar
bh...@my-dejanews.com wrote:
> Mahesh,
>
> It was a nice collection of fundae on Lavani. However, I think there is some
> mistake in one line (see below) rAmshAstrI had nothing to do with composing
> lavaNi it was someone else you had in mind (perhaps rAm joshI?) rAmshAstrI
> earned his name as the chief judge in Peshwe rule. He was brave and impartial
> enough to prosecute the ruling peshwaa (raghunAthrAo peshwe).
> Correct me if I am wrong.
>
> --bheem.
Yes it was a terrible blunder. It has to be 'rAmajoshI'
I apologise for the error.
Thanks bheem, for pointing out.
-Mahesh
Natalie
from the great Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan :
- dam dam ali ali kar
- ali maula ali maula
- jhoole laal
- dam mast qalander
- yaad-e-nabi ka gulshan
- allah hoo allah hoo
- haq ali ali
- ali da malang
- dam hama dam ali ali
- man atkeya beparwah de naal
Other lyrics from Nusrat Fateh are also welcome.
Thank you very much for your help!
Nathalie
Ghent, Belgium
ani...@my-dejanews.com
> Just for the fun of it I had converted the tune of the famous
> 'jAne kaise sapanome.n kho gayI akhiyA.c.n' (anurAdhA
> -music ravi sha.nkar) into a boardavarchi lavani, during my
> IIT days!!
>
Mahesh,
Thanks for you nice post.
Can you please post your converted tune. I would really like to see how you
did it. Staff or any other (informal) notation will be fine.
Thanks,
Anil P. Hingorani
rdh...@del3.vsnl.net.in
Thanks, Mahesh, for your extremely interesting posts on the lavani.
> Before starting to write this reply I myself could not have believed,
> that I could find so many things about lavani.
And before I started reading your posts, I didn't think so either! I found
the description very informative, even for those of us who don't know the
language.
Roopa
> Keep the discussion alive. There are very few indian groups with
> good healthy discussion
>
> -mahesh
>
Ashok
>
>8. Hero is almost always addressed with respect.
> I do not remember any lavani where hero is addressed
> as 'are' or 'tU' in Marathi. It is always 'aho' or 'tumhI'
>
>-mahesh
I remember listening to a Lata song from the Shantaram film 'Honaji Bala'
(also known as "Amar Bhoopali"), which went (approximate words):
tujha preetiche du.hkha malaa howu nako re
I am told it is a laavaNi. Isn't it? If memory serves me right, it
is included in the Lata cassette LaavaNya Lataa. (And I assume, the
address form is singular.)
Vasant Desai used the same tune in his Ardhangini song by Lata:
baDe bhole ho
Ashok
bh...@my-dejanews.com
> ashwini_...@unc.edu wrote:
>
enhance the aura of sensuality in the lavani performance by flirtatious
> > interludes with the woman performer.
> >
>
> though I know this might not be the right forum for it. So my apologies in
> advance:-) Every single lavani performance I have seen has an "effiminate"
> male performer predominantly featured. Is there any particular reason for
> this? Being quite liberal, I think gays and lesbians don't get the right
> recognition in arts (in India), and this is one art form where I have seen a
> gay performer getting some importance, which is not derogatory. Care to
> comment on this?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Anil P. Hingorani
Anil,
I want to present a view-point about your observation of effiminate character
in the laavaNi. Normally these characters are not gay (homosexual), but are
males without sexual abilities! They are present in the troupes of female
dancers, to take care of them and support them, but without getting sexually
involved. Many times the dancers, (almost all the times), were engaged in the
oldest profession. They used to be desired and supported by big-wigs in the
towns and society. Presence of "effiminate" caretakers helped to guard the
interests of these big-wigs.
This character in marathi tamaashaa are invariably called "maushibai", which
gives them closeness to the main dancer, as well as supporting dancer. Most
of the times this character is utilised to create a lighter and humorous mood
in some intense situations.
cheers,
SP