Two Carnatic pieces

Nattaikurinji and Kharaharapriya

I recently performed a thematic concert for my cousin Hari Devanath's music school in the Bay Area, Sri Paduka Academy. The theme was melam-janyam and I tried to explore various melam-janyam relationships. To this end, I picked three melam-janyam pairs: Kalyani-Amritabehag where the janyam has little or no resemblance to the melam; Harikambodhi-Nattaikurinji where the janyam has all seven swaras, yet does not qualify as a melam due to its characteristic vakra usages and despite sharing all the swaras with the melam, has a unique identity of itself; and lastly Kharaharapriya-Sriranjani where the janyam conforms to the very conventional understanding we have of janya ragas: its swaras form a subset of those of the melam and the flavor/ feel of the raga is also very similar to that of the parent raga. For lack of time I couldn't take up the interesting class of bhashanga janya ragas but briefly spoke about it. Many thanks to Hari and Vivek Sundarraman - who also teaches at Paduka - for the opportunity. The energy of the kids was infectious.

Here are the Nattaikurinji and the Kharaharapriya pieces. I can't but add disclaimers: there are shruti lapses (which unfortunately I couldn't notice when I sang), and my obstinate voice refuses to go below the middle Sa - I've a long way to go. But this post is mainly for the accompanists: Divya Mohan on the violin and Gopal Ravindran on the mridangam, both all of 16 years, were great. You'll see how Divya's violin carasses the raga - especially Kharaharapriya, and the gait of Gopal's thani is beautiful. I learnt a ton from these folks!

Last but certainly not least, thanks to my Guru for everything.

Here we go. Needless to say, criticisms welcome!




Last edit: July 23 2012 - included the Nattaikurinji recording.

Celebrating GNB: (5) Santhathamu Ninne in Valaji

Ram writes...
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I've been thinking for quite a while about what is unique about the song. Honestly, except for pointing out the 'Dvitiyakshara Prasam' I mentioned in earlier songs too, I couldn't come up with much. This is a typical Valaji. Of course, that doesn't mean this isn't a good composition. In fact, this is a great composition that completely relaxes a listener even before the pallavi is over. For all the GNB critics who think his music is nothing but speed, this composition is a fine example of his idea of melody. (And this point is reinforced by his other composition Mamakuleswaram in Thodi, a very slow piece)

There are two striking features in GNB's kriti rendition. One is Briga and the Other is Bigu. The two features are often juxtaposed one after another, creating a stunning effect. In the Pallavi of this Kriti, the 'Briga' at 'NinnE' and the cascasding 'Bigus' 'nIvEyani' is an example of this effect. I'm not sure if Sindhu's swarakshara usage at 'Ga dhA' in Anu Pallavi was conceived by GNB. It sounds fantastic and that is what matters. And I think 'Vanditha muni jana' is a wonderful place for neraval. If it is Valaji, I would any day swap the kalpana swarams for 'first speed' neraval.
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Song: santhathamu ninne
Ragam: Valaji
Thalam: Adi
Composer: GNB

Celebrating GNB: (4) Kamalacharane in Amritabehag

Here's the next in the ongoing GNB series.
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Ram writes...

The Amritabehag kriti, "Kamala Charane", is another example of GNB's genius. This raga, like Sivashakti is a creation of GNB. The twisted arohanam goes like, "Sa Ma Ga Pa Ni Da Sa" and the avarohanam is "Sa Ni Da Ma Ga Sa" and the raga is classified as a Janyam of 65th Melakartha, Mechakalyani.

According to hearsay, GNB conceived this raga inspired by some vakra/varja phrases in Kalyani played by the legendary Rajaratnam Pillai. I feel that could have been true only if Ragas were just scales with Swaras. Many ragas, especially ones like Kalyani are much more than a scale. While the scale certainly forms the skeleton of the raga, the life of a raga is much more than a scale. While we can say Amruta Behag is derived from the Kalyani scale for all practical purposes, it has nothing to do with the Kalyani Raga (lakshana). In fact, it seems to have some resemblance to amrutavarshini (which in turn has little to do with Kalyani).

The composition "Kamala CharanE" set in Madhyama Kala is often sung as a brisk filler before than main piece in a concert. There is a genre (or shall we say sub-genre) of songs that are suited for rendering at a high speed and are good vehicles for projecting the capabilities of voice. (It is interesting to note many such Adi-tala songs have an eduppu after 1.5 beats). It is needless to say "Kamala CharanE" is among them. The song is a joyous outburst with several sangatis. Some sangatis revolving around the dhaivatam are very moving too.

The beautifully coined chitta swarams helps the listener get a proper understanding of the characteristics of the raga.

GNB's family say this is one rare song in which GNB has left a Mudra. The name "Vimarsanananda" in the Charanam is apparently GNB's "Diksha name".

Sindhu has done justice to this wonderful composition by rendering at a liesurely pace. This speed, unlike the often heard break-neck speed, helps the listener appreciate the beauty of the raga better.

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Read in Tamil here.

Song: kamalacharane
Ragam: Amritabehag
Thalam: Adi
Composer: GNB

Celebrating GNB: (3) Ni padame gathi in Nalinakanthi

Updated recording along with collaborators: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmZJ98nX75s

As Octaves turns four this month, I present one of my favorite ragas today- Nalinakanthi. After a hiatus (Ram just had a baby girl- yay!), we return to the GNB series, and I'll let Ram do most of the talking (or writing!), but would just like to reiterate that I'm grateful to all the visitors here who've kept this blog going. I've turned my focus largely to Carnatic over the last one year or so and I'm totally enjoying this phase. I'm deeply indebted to my guru for this and I hope I constantly get better at it.
September is a very eventful month in our family- dad's, sister's and nephew's birthdays, and sister's anniversary- so this goes out to all of them! :) Hope I've done some justice to this piece...

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Ram writes...

The kriti 'Ni PadamE' is probably the most famous composition of GNB. An article by BVK Sastri, written in the 1950s mentions that this song along with 'Sada Palaya' was very popular even then.

Despite being a popular raga, there aren't many compositions in Nalinakanthi. During GNB's time 'Manivanala' was probably the only composition known in this raga. Later compositions of GNB and Lalgudi Jayaraman are welcome additions to this wonderful raga.

While Tyagaraja's composition oozes with exuberance and brings out the briskness with its 'duritha kala' sangathis, GNB's "Ni PadamE' is set in 'reNdu kettAn' kaalapramaNam and that in my opinion adds more 'rakthi' to the raga without compromising on the briskness. The 'eduppu' or the starting phrase too is significantly different from 'Manavinala'.

GNB has embellished several famous kritis with new sangatis that contain beautiful swaraksharams. One stunning example is 'sa ma ni ga ma ga sudha' in the kriti 'Samaja Varagamana'. While all the 'aksharams' are right in front of our eyes, I still wonder why it takes such geniuses like GNB and Balamurali to unearth such swarakshara gems, while an ordinary mortal just reads the line and at the most appreciates the saahithya bhava.

GNB's compositions too are adorned with beautiful swaraksharams. Like in the Mohanam (Sada Palaya) and Khamas (Pada Bhajana) compositions, in the Nalinakanthi composition too, the kriti begins with a wonderful swarakshara phrase in 'Ni Pa'. Another attribute that elevates the composition is the 'dvitiyakshara prasam'(explained earlier in this series). While in the Sivasakthi composition, the lines in the anu-pallavi and charanam are adorned with 'Dvitiyakshara prAsam', in this composition along with those two parts even the pallavi contains DvitiyAkshara prAsam.

While usage of such rhyming words is common, occurance for such 'prAsam' in all the lines of a composition is rare. The greatness of this composition is that, at no place we feel that the 'rhyming word' is a forced fit. Like Dikshitar, GNB too has interweaved the raga name beautifully into the composition.

Despite several innovations and embellishments, the composition structure remains fairly simple and sounds uncontrived. Which, by the way, is not a simple task to come up with. (I'm sure Sindhu will vouch for that).

While Sindhu has rendered the composition nicely, probably for the first time in this series, I felt the 'absence' of Mridangam accompaniement. Also, the choice of the line 'nA pApamu' for swaraprastaram doesn't gel with the mood of the ragam. In my opinion, the pleading 'bhava' of the lyrics contradicts the raga bhava of Nalinakanti.
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Song: ni paadame gathi
Ragam: Nalinakanthi
Thalam: Rupakam
Composer: GNB

Celebrating GNB: (2) Varnam in Andholika

Here is our second in the GNB series started here last month.
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Ram writes...

Andolika, a Karaharapriya janyam, has an asymmetric structure to its scale, despite having the same number of swarams in the arohanam and avarohanam. Tyagaraja's 'Raga Sudha Rasa' is the most famous composition in this raga. While Tyagaraja beautifully brings out the essence of the raga in the very first phrase of the kriti, GNB's varnam builds on it and showcases several new facets.

Before getting into a discussion on the varnam, a few lines about GNB and Andholika:

It is interesting to note that several of GNB's favourites belong to the Karaharapriya family. GNB has handled ragas like Abhogi, Jayamanohari, Reethigowlai, Andholika elaborately. However, he has hardly sung Karaharapriya.

The modern day Andolika is based on the framework conceived by GNB. (Although Sri. S.Rajam once told me that Andolika was among the favourites of the legendary Naina Pillai and Muthiah Bhagavathar). On GNB's 81st birthday, Sri. T.M.Tyagarajan spoke at a function at Indian Fine Arts Society, Chennai; about GNB's first concert in Thanjavur. GNB was yet to establish himself at Thanjavur, the (then) Mecca of Carnatic Music. His appearance in movies had hampered his reputation as a Carnatic musician. While the Thanjavur audience were sceptical about the 'Talkie Vidwan', GNB launched into an alapanai in Andolika. Even as the experts were trying to identify the raga, GNB had delved into the depths of the raga through his brilliant brikas. (TMT's recount left such a deep impact on my mind that I used the same as the opening chapter of my book on GNB)

Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan was so impressed with GNB's delineation of Andolika that he started singing them in his concerts too. (While GNB started singing Gavathi due to the Ustad's influence. He even composed a varnam in Gavathi.)

Onto this varnam: There is a popular notion that Varnams are practice pieces - widely used for warming up. While it is true in the case of some elementary varnams, in many cases they turn out to be a brilliant medium to project both the composer's as well as the performer's innovative musical ideas. I would even go to the extent of saying that the Bhairavi varnam and the Nattakurunji varnam are each the most beautiful piece in the respective ragas. Such varnams give us deep insight into the various facets of the raga. One can also add this particular varnam in Andholika (along with the GNB varnams in Kadanakuthuhalam and Gavathi)- which is probably the most popular among the GNB varnams- to this list. While his other varnams are predominantly sung by the GNB school singers, this varnam is widely performed by musicians of other schools too. In my opinion, Sri. DK Jayaraman's rendition of this varnam is the best.

This brisk Adi Tala varnam is on GNB's Ishta Devatha 'Nadarupasundari'. Musicologist SAK Durga notes that, "The term 'Nadarupasundari' is very unique. Usually 'Naada Rupam' is associated with Lord Shiva. Tyagaraja says, "Nada Thanum anisham shankaram". GNB was probably the first person to concieve Shakthi as "Nadarupini".

Several interesting patterns can be noticed in the chitta-swarams of the varnam. Various porthams such as,

Ri Ma Pa Nadarupa
Ma Pa Ni Sa Nadarupa
Ri Ma Ri Sa Nadarupa

reflect GNB's style of singing Kalpanaswarams.

The phrase without Sa and Pa in the third chittaswaram (ririma niniri mamani ririma niririma) is rendered almost completely without gamakams. Such prayogams are truly ahead of his times. One can find such usages today in ragas like Madhyamavathi too.

Although GNB does not indulge in complex arithmetics, he uses several interesting patterns. One example would be the Gopucha Yati in the fourth Chitta Swaram (sanidhamari nidhamari dhamari mari..)

While Sindhuja does justice to this composition through her rendition, the listener is invariably left longing for more. GNB, when rendering varnams, usually compliments the chittaswarams with a few brisk rounds of kalpana swarams. Probably a few rounds of spontaneous swarams from Sindhuja would have served as the icing on the cake :-)

Lalitha Ram

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Song: nee dayaradha (thana varnam)
Ragam: Andholika (S R2 M1 P N2 S, S N2 D2 M1 R2 S)
Thalam: Adi
Composer: GNB



Sahithyam:-
Pallavi: nee dayaradha neerajaakshi naa taramerigi nanneluko
Anupallavi: kadhamba dhaNda sumachara paashaankusha, sitaamsu kalaadhariNi
Charanam: naadaroopasundari naaraayaNi

As always, feedback most welcome. We hope you continue to support our efforts in this series.

Celebrating GNB: (1) Sri chakra raja in Shivashakthi

As many of you would know, this year is being celebrated world over as G.N.Balasubramanyam's birth centenary year (He was born on Jan 6 1910). As a contribution to the celebrations, I wanted to do my own small bit in dedicating this year to GNB. Towards this effort is a GNB series on my blog starting today. I intend to sing some of his famous compositions once every 2-3 weeks and upload here. And I want to thank here my guru Smt. Lakshmi Raghavan (who belongs to the GNB school and was a student of Charumathi Ramachandran) who taught me all these songs.

I'm collaborating in this effort with a long time friend, Lalitha Ram (Ramachandran Mahadevan), the author of a popular Tamil book on GNB "isaiulaga iLavarasar" and GNB scholar. Ram also contributed extensively with research inputs to the making of a documentary and co-edited a commemorative volume on GNB (which was also featured this year at the Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana), both released for this centenary year.
In this series we plan to have a short write up by Ram about each song I present. Thanks to him, this series will also be parallely featured in the tamil e-zine, tamiloviyam.com. This being the very first in the series, Ram has for us a brief introduction to GNB's compositions, followed by the write up on the song.
I hope you enjoy the series and support our efforts till the end.
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Ram writes...

First, I congratulate Sindhuja for coming up with this fitting tribute to GNB on his centenary year. I would also like to thank her for letting me be a part of it.

GNB's compositions - a brief introduction
GNB belongs to the elite list of top notch musicians who were composers too. Like GNB's concerts, his compositions too are amalgamations of intellect and aesthetics. Prof. Sambamurti writes, "His vast experience on the concert platform and his knowledge of the likes and dislikes of concert goers have provided a useful background for the shape of the compositions". It is usually thought that too much of an intellectual approach can kill the aesthetics. Highly technical attempts often sound contrived. GNB incorporated several technical aspects in his compositions like the swaraksharams, complex chittaswarams, unconventional eduppus, new musical scales etc. Yet, all his compositions sound pleasing and graceful.

To quote GNB, "Whenever I was in a contemplative mood, I used to get visions of musical forms. I desired to give them a permanent form by shaping them into kirtanas. But thereafter, I did not give them a second look. I left it to my disciples to make the best use of them." Although, GNB didn't give them a second look (S.Rajam termed GNB's decision to not sing his compositions as a great 'Sangita drOgam'), some of his compositions gained immense popularity even in his life time, thanks to his disciples TR Balasubramniyam and ML Vasanthakumari.

There are several references that mention that GNB composed more than 250 pieces. In a letter to 'Sudesa Mitran', written in 1948, GNB mentions that he composed more than 50 songs. MLV, in an interview, mentions that majority of his compositions were composed in the 1950s. In his foreword to Gana Baskara Manimalai (the first volume of GNB compositions), Mysore Vasudevacharya says, "GNB has composed hundreds of songs in praise of Rajarajeswari". The first volume, Gana Baskara Mani Malai, was published in 1956. Subsequently, two more volumes have been published in 1971 and 2005. In all, 7 varnams, 72 kritis and 1 thillana are available with complete notation. While we have lost more than 50% of his compositions, the available ones suffice to convey to us GNB's genius.

Many of GNB's compositions are in ragas that do not boast of a large number of kritis (for. example in Raga Kadanakuthuhalam, the only famous kriti is 'Raghuvamsa Sudha'. The structure of the Patnam Subramaniya Iyer composition is more suited for portraying an instrumentalist's virtuosity. On the other hand, GNB's two compositions in the raga (along with Muthiah Bagavathar's 'Giripriyam') bring out the melody in an aesthetic way. Malavi, Chenchu Kambodhi, Narayani, Veenadhari, Saranga Tarangini are other ragas that belong to this category.) The chittaswarams, especially in the rare ragas are of great use in understanding the essence of such ragams. Some of them have interesting swara patterns (for e.g. dAtu prayogam) and laya patterns (for. e.g. Gopucha Yati). Even his kritis in ragas that have a large number of composition (e.g. thodi) his usages are unique (e.g. G G RS eduppu in thodi for Mamakuleswaram or the eduppu at tAra shadjam for bahudari in the kriti 'unnadiyE').
GNB has composed in Tamil, Telugu and Sanskrit. In an article, GNB writes, "Dikshitar's kritis are detached, impersonal descriptions and sthotras of the hindu pantheon while those of Tyagaraja are records of his personal and emotional experience of God". One finds both approaches in GNB's compositions - although one cannot be sure if the compositions written in 'first person' do actually reflect GNB's personal experience. More than the lyrical content, GNB's compositions are known for their musical beauty.

While majority of the kritis are set Adi or Rupaka tala, some kritis are set in talas like Misra Jampa and Kanda Triputa. Many of the compositions are simple in structure reflecting the composing style of Tyagaraja. Some compositions have madhyama kala sahithyam and inter-weaving of raga mudra like that of a Dikshitar composition. The other musician-composer who was of great inspiration to GNB was Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavathar. Muthiah Bhagavathar was one of the few composers to have come up with new ragas. GNB followed his foot steps in creating new ragas viz. Sivasakthi and Amruta Behag. Although many of his compositions reflect his singing style, it must be noted that his songs are sung widely by musicians belonging to other schools (e.g. OST, N.Ramani, Sowmya, TNS) too. It is said that GNB did not have any mudra in his compositions. (His family says 'vimarsana nanda' in the kriti 'Kamala CharanE' is said to be his 'Diksha Namam'). On a keener look, as beautifully pointed out in a seminar by musicologist SAK Durga, one will realise that the entire composition is his mudra. His compositions stand out unique and do not require a 'verbal mudra' for identification.

Srichakraraja nilaye

With the above general introduction to GNB's compositions, let us take a deeper look at the first composition featured in this series.
Sivasakthi, a GNB creation, is a janya raga of Karaharapriya. The scale is interesting as it is not traditional. Traditional ragas would compulsorily have at least five swaras in the arohanam and avarohanam. Siva Sakthi has just four swaras, 'Sa Ga Ma and Dha' in the arOhanam and has 'Ni' in addition to the aforementioned swarams. When Balamuralikrishna came up with ragas like Mahathi, there were several criticisms for not following the 'five swara' principle. It is interesting to note that GNB didn't face any such criticism. The reason is probably the way he dealt with the raga. Upon listening to the composition, it is difficult to associate the raga with an unconventional or non-traditional scale- the raga is easy on the ears and sounds perfectly "natural".
Veena Maestro S.Balachander once described the concept behind the scale: the 9 swaras (four in the arohanam and five the avarohanam) depict the nine faces of the 'Sri chakram' (widely used in Devi upasana). Of the nine faces, four represent Siva and five represent his female counterpart Shakthi. Appropriately the arOhanam has four swarams representing the faces of siva and the avarOhanam has five faces representing shakthi's five faces. The phrases, 'Sri chakra Raja nilayE' and 'Sivashakthi aikya rUpini' are consistent with the above described concept.

Although a madhyama kala composition, I've heard this song being sung as a filler between two heavy pieces. The composition, especially in the anupallavi has ample scope for duritha kala sangatis. I've also heard this composition rendered in a elaborate manner. The moving 'hindholam-ish' phrases in the pUrvagam and the more ebullient 'abhogi-ish' phrases on the utrAngam makes this raga (and varamu, a close cousin) a unique blend of swaras.

Another notable feature in this kriti is the 'dvitIyAkshara prAsam' , i.e. is the rhyming syllable on the second letter. (e.g. Ethavunara and Seetha gowri in Tyagaraja's kalyani kriti). Each of the lines in anu-pallavi and charanam are adorned with 'dvitIyAkshara prAsam'. According to Prof. TRS says, "It is uncommon to find a composer using 'dvitIyAkshara prAsam' on all lines of a compositions. In the case of GNB, it is a regular feature".

This song was a part of the popular gramaphone record of MLV, 'Guru Vandanam' , and is now regularly sung by Sudha Ragunathan. GNB has composed one more composition in this ragam, 'Vinuthapalini". Hopefully, in the coming years, this composition too will attain the popularity level of 'Sri Chakra Raja".

Lalitha Ram

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Here's the song. Tried an aalapana, followed by the song and then some swaras. As always, feedback much appreciated!

Song: Sri chakra raja nilaye
Raga: Shivashakthi (S G2 M1 D2 S; S N2 D2 M1 G2 S)
Thalam: Adi
Composer: GNB



Profuse apologies for some mistakes in the lyrics. I will definitely be more careful in future. Below are the *correct* lyrics:

Pallavi: sri chakra raja nilaye shivashakthi aikya rUpiNi

Anupallavi: pAshAnkusha bANEkshudhaNda bEsakalAdhari pAhi pAhi

Charanam: asurakula nAshini sreesha kEshava sahajAmini
IshaguNa gAnathOshini kOshAnthara sthithapOshini