Some 10 days ago I was practicing music with a friend - we were working on Bhakti Bhikshamiyyave in Shankarabharanam. After that I started humming Mayamalavagowla and before I knew it I caught myself singing Bhakti Bhiksha in the ragam. It started out as just a fun little thing trying to transpose the pallavi alone, but then as I started thinking about it more the whole kriti seemed to fit in Mayamalavagowla quite nicely. I then wondered what the majestic Merusamana might sound like in Shankarabharanam. The results are here.
This exercise helped me better understand these ragas and made me ponder the connections between ragam, layam, sahithyam, and bhavam. Needless to say, both of these - in their original forms - are among my absolute favorite krithis of Thyagaraja as they are for thousands of other Carnatic lovers. I mean no irreverence here, and I did these purely for exploration.
Here they are:
No comments:
Post a Comment