Mini concert recording

Here's a short Ragam Thanam Pallavi in Simhendramadhyamam I recorded for Swaralahari.

http://www.swaralahari.org/site/playvideo.php?concertid=313

Anumane

After a long hiatus, here's something thanks to my mom: a composition by her. She composed this several years ago but I never got around to learning it until now. It's a ragamalika in Tamil that's musically pretty simple, with focus on the words: what's lyrically interesting and special is that most of the words as you'll see are in alphabetical order.
We look forward to hearing what you have to say!

"anumane"
Composer: Vijayalakshmi Bhakthavatsalam
Ragas: Kapi, Hindolam, Mohanam, Tilang, Ahir Bhairav

Lyrics:

anumane anjanai maindane
aNNal raamanin aaruyir anbane
illALai pirindhu idaruRRa eeshanai
udanirundhu kaathu ookkam aLithanai
eththanai idargaL ellaam kadandhanai
Evalpurindhu ERRam peRRanai
aiyyan raamanudan aikkiyam aayinai
oppuvamai illaa Oridam sErndhanai
audadham peranee sylam peyarthanai
akdhinai koNandhu iLavalai kaathanai

kavinoru kaanagaththE kishkinthaiadhanil
keerti peRRa kaviarasan vaali vadham adaya
kurangarasan avan thambi sugreeva rAjan unnai
koovi azhaikka thaavichendru kadal kadanthaai
kedudhikku kEdizhaiththu kamalaikku kai koduththai
kokkariththu kObiththu kottam ellaam muriyadiththaai
kaushikan sangadam sadudhiyil theerthavanai
saamaanyamaanavanaai saadhikka vandhavanai
sindhaiyil poottivaiththu sheelathhtil nee uyarndhaai
siru piLLai paruvaththil sudum enRu aRiyaadhu
sooriya pazham pidikka seeri parandhanai
selvamE, sEdanE
sainiyaththudan Eezhathai veezhthinayE

sokkanE sOrvinai pOkkidum soundarya roopane
nyAlam pORRum nyAniyE
thalaivan thAL paNindhu thinmaikku thee vaiththAi
thunbam thudaiththu thooyOnai kAththittAi
thenilangai kOmAnai thEsu izhakkachedhAi
thaiyyalai kAththu thollayai thOrkacheidhaai
thauvvaithanai naliyavittu nANiyOda cheidhiduvaai
nilam neer engilum nuNugi nee nooru seivaai
nekkurugi nErthi seidhaal naindhurugi nalam tharuvaai
nondhuvandha uLLamadhil nOvinai neekkiduvAi

paraman aruginil paangudan nee irundhaai
piranmanai kavarndhOnai peezhaiyil veezhacheidhaai
pundhiyil sirandhu nindraai poovayai kandu vandhaai
pemmAn rAmanai pEsuvOrai nee chendru
paiyyavE pAliththu pozhivaai ninnaruLai
pOrkaLathil pourushaththaal polindhu nee nindraai
manginaar maandaar maaruthi unaikkandu
migundhilar meendilar munvinai payanaal
moodaravar madhikkettu meimayai kandilarE
mEnmai nee kondaai maiyyal tharum ezhilkondaai
moikkindraar maandhar un mOhana rUpam kandu
mounamai maram kaatti mannavarai malaikkavaiththaai

yaman yaandum thuNivu koLLAn chiranjeevi unaikkoLLa
yukti ilan yoogithilan yOgi unnai edhirkoLLa
youvvana raajan nee vanjagarai vagirndhadhellaam
vaan pugazh vil veeran vegundu unnai vEndiyadharkE
vaiyyam vandha deivamadhai vouvvi neeyum uyarvadaindhaai
vaanaramaai vandha vaayumaindhane pORRi
agaramudhala ezhuththellaam hanumanukkarpaNikka
arivili aasai kondEn aazham ariyaamale
eengeendu iyambivittEn ichchaikondu ivvaNNam
vaayumagan pizhai poruththu vinai theerthu aruLattum

Thooli Adidudho

"Thooli Adidudho" is a beautiful lullaby for baby Krishna, composed by Vijay. It was in 2009 that we first started work on this. After many a roadblock over 4 long years, I finally decided to publish this here. The orchestration couldn't be finished, nevertheless, just the simple backing track that Vijay Narayanan has created carries the song through so very gracefully. Thanks Vijay, for trusting me with this lovely melody. Hope I've done some justice. Thanks Vijay. N for the track, and thanks Karthik Nagarajan for rendering it with me - you've done a beautiful job as always.

Oh, and Octaves completes 7 years! Thanks people, for visiting. Thanks for keeping this going.

Composer and lyricist: Vijay S. Aiyar
Backing track: Vijay Narayanan
Vocals: Karthik Nagarajan and Sindhuja Bhakthavatsalam



Lyrics:

thooLi AdidudhO, kaNNA thookkam dhaan varudhO
lAli pAdidudhO, mannA thAyin thaen manadhO
neela vaNNA, bAla kaNNA, neeyum thoongida thAyum aengida
thooLi AdidudhO...

pArkkum pArvai pARkadal, mazhalai mozhi pullAnkuzhal
kannam rendum kanirasam unthan uthattil vadivadhu madhurasam
ulagin seyalgaL unakku theriyum
uRangum pozhudhilum nadaththa theriyum
mAyavA, manadhu mayangida

nyAniyE nee thoongida thAlAttu geetham pAdinEn
nALaiyE un geethaiyai indha ulagum vizhiththida pAdu nee
nyAniYE nee thoongida thAlAttu geetham pAdum thAi
nALaiyE un geethaiyai indha ulagum vizhiththida pAduvAi
uRangum vizhikkuL ulagam suzhala
yugangaL siladhundhan kanavil malara
thooyavA, thazhaikkum thavamena

thooLi...

Brindavani

Here we go.
Now on iTunes! https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/brindavani-feat.-kirthana/id646554483

Brindavani: a collaboration with Flautist Shri Ravichandra Kulur

It was around this time a year ago that this project took birth. Ravi Kulur ji - whom I'd met and performed with in Pt Ravi Shankar's ensemble in 2009 - was visiting San Diego and got in touch with me. He was going to be performing with Guruji and Anoushka. As I was just planning a casual meeting with him, it occurred to me out of the blue to ask him if he might be interested in recording something for me. Given his schedule and how big an artist he is, I really wasn't expecting him to agree, but thought of asking him anyway since I'd known him to be really nice. Ask I did, and to my absolute surprise and delight, he was more than willing. Amidst rehearsal schedules with Guruji and other artists, he was kind enough to entertain my request. At the time, what I had in mind was a ghazal I had composed - I wanted Kulur ji to play some aalaaps and interludes for it. But then I felt I needed to make more use of this unique opportunity and get him to play more. But everything other than the ghazal I had composed till then was proper Carnatic (especially structurally; and of course I didn't feel any of them was worth taking to Kulur ji). I was wondering how to create a flute-centric piece. I finally decided I had to write something new. I wanted to have a standalone flute piece with grand orchestration and may be add some vocals. With not much time left, I quickly came up a few lines in Brindavani in a thillana-esque style and decided to leave the rest to improvisation.

The day arrived and I had to meet him at the studio. Back then, neither did I have a car, nor did I drive. The studio was in Carlsbad and getting there from La Jolla was a two hour bus ride. It was probably the best bus ride I've had though - an oceanic route, combined with the excitement of my first composition to be performed by a renowned artist made it truly memorable. After the long trip, I reached and Kulur ji who was already there greeted me. We began. What can I say - listening to him breeze away the flute from just a few feet away was exhilarating. We started with the Brindavani piece - his improvisations were transfixing. I felt extremely fortunate. We took about an hour and half and were done with whatever I had in mind. Thanked him, my stars, and most importantly Guruji Pt. Ravi Shankar - for it was because of him that I'd met Kulur ji.

Well, that was part one. Then began the orchestration woes. As I was worrying about whom to approach, Murali Venkataraman introduced me to Eshwar Ravishankar and I really need to thank him for that. Eshwar has worked tremendously for this song and his orchestration has truly elevated it to a level I hadn't imagined. I think his arrangement has added such grandeur to this song that it has come a long, long way from its genesis in what I wrote. Amidst the various challenges of power cuts, unreliable internet, an unstable computer, and exams and other deadlines, he has given his all to this. Through the last one year Eshwar and I have discussed, debated, argued about, and celebrated this piece, thanks to Gchat and Whatsapp. It was all a lot of fun and I've learnt many things.

Many thanks to Sanath for playing the mridangam on short notice when he was on a vacation in India. Many thanks also to Armando Cepeda (who's also worked with Guruji) who kindly let us use his studio for Kulur ji's recording. Thanks to Kirthana for her sweet vocals in the interlude, and last but not least, thanks to Abin Pushpakaran for the very dedicated and tireless work with the mixing and mastering. Here's hoping you all like this piece. Coming soon!!



PS: Kulur ji did also record for the ghazal I mentioned. The vocals have also been done by another gorgeous singer. I hope to release that soon as well.

Ilaiyaraja live in San Jose

I know this post comes very late - I just didn't have the time to sit and write about it, and moreover, for a while after it was over, I was in a stupor and was unable to put anything of what I felt in words. Nevertheless, I thought I should say something about the concert here for the record, since it was easily one of the most cherished musical experiences I have ever had. On March 1st I witnessed a dream concert: "Maestro" Ilaiyaraja was in San Jose with his entire team of amazing musicians. From Chitra to SPB to Hariharan to the no-name stars in the orchestra, the show was nothing short of magic. Four decades of musical brilliance came alive in the 5-or-so hours. The orchestra was impeccable, the singers masterly and fervent, and the man - Raja - himself, stood there truly like a king, bursting with all the years of well-earned and rightful pride and authority. It was an unforgettable evening and I was so emotionally charged - like all the other die-hard fans I'm sure - that I had a "hangover" for almost a week after the concert. I would be doing injustice to the concert if I start talking about any one or two songs, and it would be impossible for me to write in detail about every song. Still, I'll just go ahead and say that pottu vaiththa kadhal had me at the edge of my seat from start to end and sundari kannal and thenpandi chemmaiyile brought tears. If you closed your eyes, you'd think it was the original casette playing (but with the recording boosted up and digitized to modern standards). The rushing violins in sundari kannal were transfixing and the trumpets just so grandiose. Chitra, my idol was her usual adorable self, and SPB was giving us some glimpses of Raja's genius by narrating some anecdotes during composing and having the orchestra play for us some short, isolated bits to highlight the strength of those particular sections. Mano was jovial and entertaining and was a true sport when Raja pulled his leg about his Thamizh years ago when he was learning Shenbagame (although I wonder who *wouldn't* have been a sport with Raja), and Karthik had a great stage presence. The four women who were part of the chorus and also had some solos/ duets each were amazing too. Unfortunately I don't know their names - except for one of them, NSK Ramya. Overall, wonderful evening and the heart felt heavy as it came to an end. Some people were put off by Raja's quirks - they felt he was being too arrogant and not respectful of the people who had paid a lot to watch him. Well, some of his comments were indeed uncalled for - like when he asked "idhu dhaan neenga vaazhara latchanama" or something to that effect when people were whistling/ loudly cheering to some of the songs. But then he's extraordinary, and for all the years of joy he has given us, I don't think I have anything to grumble about and will take anything from him in return for his out-of-the-world music.
We've always known this man to be superhuman, but seeing him live, listening to him sing, pray, pour his heart out, love, cheer, and also admonish, scold, and rant was truly something else. An evening I'll remember for a long time to come.

Another playback song

Here's a glimpse of another song I sang a few lines for in a Telugu film "Chinna Cinema", composed by Praveen Lakkaraju with lead vocals by Srinivas Josyula.



I also sang a couple of lines for a montage song in the same film: https://soundcloud.com/plakkaraju/chinna-cinema-montage-song

Quite excited that I get to share credits with SPB on the same album! Probably the closest I can get to the legend.
Listen to all songs here:
https://soundcloud.com/jaya-venkata-pratap-lavu/sets/chinna-cinema-mp3

Of rakti, scales, and hedonism

!Rambler Alert!

The motivation for this piece really was the question, "What ragas do I like, and why?" I don't think I can come up with even a remotely satisfying answer to that. In fact, I'm not sure if it's even possible to answer this, but I've found it quite interesting and stimulating to mull over the question (like a zillion other pointless ones) and I believe I stumbled upon some intriguing observations. Well, at least intriguing for me. Right from when I was a child, I've been drawn to certain ragas that I believe have a certain kind of "personality". But rather than trying to characterize this personality, which seems daunting, let me try to explain with examples. When I was little, Hamsadhwani was an absolute favorite. Natural, I guess: it's undoubtedly a "happy" raga, and the very first krithi I learnt was in this raga (Vinayaka). As I grew older, Hamsadhwani started seeming kinda mundane, but I believe my new preferences were still similar in a sense: for many many years now, I've died for Bahudhari, Hamsanadham, Nalinakanthi, Ranjani, Dharmavati, Varamu and Bindumalini. This is surely not an exhaustive list, but you get the idea. All of these have an almost visceral effect on me: I feel physically exhilarated/ stimulated/ touched; and Nalinakanti is the most strongly evocative of these (Check out this (compositionally very simple) piece, that I can listen to endlessly, while almost feeling my heart leaping.) On the other hand, ragas like Thodi, Begada, Reetigowlai, Bhairavi and to an extent even Sahana, don't have this effect. I respect and revere them. I fear (yes) and love them, but I'm not sure they give me the kind of "high" that the former set of ragas give me. The difference in preference was way stronger when I was younger - I just wouldn't be able to appreciate these latter ragas. I guess age and experience have helped me mature - I'm glad that now there are certain pieces in Bhairavi for instance, that I absolutely love. Based on these preferences, many connoisseurs of Carnatic music might not consider my breed "serious"/ "deep"/ "pure". Here comes what's most interesting to me. I feel that the former ragas are in a sense hedonistic. The focus is on strong emotional appeal, if not always pleasure. Well, I could say that ultimately it all comes down to pleasure in some sense: even Shubhapantuvarali evokes a kind of a pleasure - through its heaviness - but that's different from the pleasure that Nalinakanti brings about. Ragas like Bhairavi on the other hand seem to be somewhat on a "higher" plane. And it seems to me that this hedonism has been systematically curbed - just like hedonism in life in general. Pedagogically, we are (may be tacitly) encouraged to appreciate the more "serious" ragas like Reetigowlai or Bhairavi. They take musical maturity, conditioning, depth and involvement to appreciate. Of course, I need to keep throwing disclaimers throughout this piece that these claims are not grounded in any kind of experiment - neurological or sociological - but are just strong-ish hunches I have.

This Bhairavi-group of ragas are what are usually referred to as "rakti" ragas. (Some like Thodi are also "ghana" ragas, and may be not all ghana ragas are considered rakti ragas, but I won't go into that here.) Vidushi R. Vedavalli lucidly explains what rakti is in this Sruti article. Basically, rakti ragas are defined more by the raga "swaroopa" or form, rather than by the swaras alone. I like to think of this idea as a kind of 'holism': in rakti ragas, the whole is more than the sum of its parts. For some more philosophical jargon (sorry, can't help flaunting my disciplinary bias): rakti ragas don't reduce to the swaras, and don't supervene on the swaras. They have a distinct identity that emerges in terms of phrases, usages, prayogams, gamakams etc. and the mere scales of these ragas cannot fully capture these facets. My feeling is that the aptitude for these ragas is rooted in a deep reverence/ musical intelligence/ musical discipline. I feel it's unlikely for someone to say they get a plain "kick" out of, say, Huseni. (Of course, a LOT depends on the kind of notes too: Begada roughly belonging to the major scale certainly sounds happier than Huseni, so rakti apart, I'm sure a "theory" about preferences needs to be more nuanced and account for this point. Clearly, I am glossing over details, but given the sloppy theorist that I am, let me proceed anyway.) But interestingly, I feel in musical experience that involves tremendous amounts of conditioning - as is often the case with a Carnatic rasika - it is so hard to distinguish between "pure emotion" and "conditioned emotion". I mean, someone might say they are really touched by Begada and argue that they are as touched by it as I am by say, Nalinakanthi (I'm quite sure my dad would say that, and he was never trained in music - but he's of course a self-trained listener and rasika). Of course, mental states are entirely personal and we'll never know, but I'm still going to (audaciously) try to argue that Begada-appreciation is finer, more nuanced and more conditioned than Nalinakanthi-appreciation. To bring back the hedonism metaphor, the liking for the latter seems kinda "baser", less refined as far as music goes. Now what's curious about this is that as Smt Vedavalli says, the very meaning of rakti is that which is "pleasing and engages the mind joyfully": "ranjayati iti raktihi". Ha, so much for my insistence on almost the reverse. I have a half-baked response to this as well, but I'll spare you for now and move on.

One thing that's common to my "adrenalin-pumping" ragas is that they're all scale-based. I have no idea why. It's also indeed puzzling why/ how a "characterless" Chandrakouns/ Charukeshi/ Gambheera Nattai/ Srothaswini tug at my heart way more than any standard rakti raga that's supposed to be full of character. Well that's the question at the heart of this piece and evidently, I still don't have a clue as to how to answer it. It's also very curious that usually, in almost everything I do, I'm way more analytical than emotional. So is it probably that these scale-based ragas are actually intellectually stimulating for me? And this intellectual stimulation is somehow translating to emotional appeal in a way I can't tell? Likely. All I can say I guess is that I like the non-traditional appeal of these ragas.

It's of course heartening that many top notch artists indulge in a Charukeshi or Srothaswini for an RTP (yes, "indulge"; and that word can only be used for these kind of ragas: you can't possibly "indulge" in a Bhairavi lest you make her angry). Right now, I'm getting back to a breathtaking Charukeshi RTP by Jayanthi Kumaresh.

Oh, and check out this interesting blog post by Sanjay Subrahmanyam on this topic.

My experience with Pt Ravi Shankar in Sruti Magazine

Pt Ravi Shankar's passing away has, needless to say, been a great loss to musicians and rasikas world over. As Sruti celebrates the maestro's life and work this month, I write on my experience performing with his ensemble at Hollywood Bowl in 2009 - thanks to Mr. Ramnarayan.

OCTAVES has hit the one hundred mark with this one, and I couldn't think of anything better for a hundredth post! Thanks to friends, family, and visitors who've kept this going.

The Ravi Shankar experience by

Basketball, Meri Jaan

"Basketball, Meri Jaan" is a short (~5 min) film/ documentary made by Veena Hampapur of UCLA. It's about how her mother, Yashodhara, who immigrated to the US 30 years ago, rediscovers her lifelong passion for professional sports and builds for herself a strong, special connection with the local sports community.

I'm happy to have played a small role in the project: Veena has used a short clip of the alap in this recording of mine as the background music for a scene in the film.

The film is now doing the rounds at many a festival including the LA Asian Pacific Film Festival, San Diego Asian Film Festival, and the Asian Americans in Media Film Festival. I wish Veena and the team the very best. I'll probably share a link to the film once it's done with the festivals and officially released online. In the meanwhile, do "like" them on Facebook if you wish: https://www.facebook.com/BasketballMeriJaan

Song for documentary on Shri S. Rajam

Today, Chennai saw the release of a DVD production on the life and works of Shri S. Rajam, renowned painter and Carnatic musician. It is directed by Lalitharam and Kaanthan Balakrishna Shastri, the music is composed by Murali Venkatraman, with lyrics by Hari Krishnan. All of their efforts are commendable and I urge you all to buy the DVD from kalakendra.com. Since Rajam was an unabashed proponent of Vivadi ragas - which back in the day were considered ominous for some reason - Ram requested Murali to compose most of the songs in Vivadi ragas as a tribute to the man. Here is a song that I have sung in the raga Maararnjani.

I had to fight hard with the beastly self critic in me to post this but oh well, here it is anyway, for the record.



The rest of the compositions are wonderful, in ragas including Gamanashrama, Suryakantham, Gangeyabhushani, and a Gruhabhedam from Mohanam to Kamaprabha; and sung by some amazing singers including Adithi Devarajan, Karthik Nagarajan and Murali himself and are all available on youtube. Please do check them out as well.

Happy Birthday to my Guru

Here's my first attempt at proper website design: http://www.lalgudirajalakshmi.com. This had been on my task list for way too long and I finally got down to doing it and showed it to my Guru today, on her birthday. So glad that it made her very happy.
She's a wonderful artist and Guru and an amazing woman. So please spread the word about this new site!

PS: Blogger is awesome. Thanks to Blogger for being SO malleable and giving complete control over the html and css: highly recommend for newbies such as myself. And thanks to Karthik for helping with a couple of key issues and tackling this obstinate monster called Internet Explorer.

Six Years

OCTAVES turned six this month. What a wonderful six years it's been. OCTAVES has become a big part of my identity today. Many of my old posts (with a ton of smilies) make me laugh today - but that's what growing up is, I guess :) Also, through the years it has got quite a few makeovers, thanks to Blogger which keeps getting better and better.
Although guilty of not updating this space regularly these days, I'm hoping to get back to posting more frequently in the coming days... Until then, here's the customary - but very heartfelt - thank you to all the visitors who've kept it going through the hits and misses!

The mind's battle of the Rajas

Yesterday was another of those days - experiencing (note: not merely "listening to") an endless chain of Ilaiyaraja's melodies. My heart leapt with joy, swelled with love and wept with pain; all with the same intensity. My mind faithfully followed every note, every inflection and every syllable that came out of Chitra's voice - it soared with her high notes and swooped down with beauty, as does her magnificent voice. I've never felt a deeper and more surreal connection with another voice.

And then suddenly, Thyagaraja seemed mundane. I couldn't help wondering if he could ever bring out the myriad emotions that Ilaiyaraja can (and I got reminded that growing up I would argue with my dad that I've learnt more Mayamalavagowlai from Ilaiyaraja than from Thyagaraja). Can Rama bhakti make you feel all the *real* emotions that life brings us, that are so beautifully brought out in Ilaiyaraja's music?

I woke up this morning humming Hecharikaga ra ra. I felt beauty. I felt peace. I felt serenity. Thyagaraja is not just about Rama bhakti. There's so much more to take from him.

Humbled and thankful to whatever it is that has made me live in a time and place where I can experience both, judge and obsess over one rather than the other, and then finally realize the smallness of it all. The "cycle of awe" continues...

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.

Vatapi - debut playback song

Happy to share that a song I recorded - Vatapi Ganapatim - for a Telugu movie for Praveen Lakkaraju of New Jersey is now out! I recorded this exactly a year ago and after many anxious and exciting moments, the song has finally seen the light of the day. Also happy that the song features Shankar Tucker on the clarinet. So here goes:

http://www.raaga.com/play/?id=343161

Click here to listen to all the songs in the movie.

And click here for a video of the music director Praveen and lyricist Sreejo talking about their experience with each song in the movie.

Thanks very much to Praveen for the opportunity.

And thank you Octaves - you know how big a role you've had in this.

Vijayanaagari

I recently performed a concert at Coimbatore in my Guru's presence. It was a blessing that I got such an opportunity but haven't been very pleased with myself about how it turned out. It certainly wasn't one of my best days and I'd been very sick all day. But there's always a next time, isn't it? Here's an excerpt from one of the better pieces. Let me know what you think!

Naina Neer Bahaye

Naina neer bahaye from Water is a song very, very dear to me - and easily one of Sadhana's very best. I love how Rahman brings in such a calming and ethereal feel to it. Here's my take. I haven't done a particularly great job of creating the karaoke track but this being a vocals heavy song, hopefully that can be excused. Look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Song: Naina neer bahaye
Film: Water
Music: A. R. Rahman
Lyrics: Sukhwinder Singh
Original singer: Sadhana Sargam

Reverse engineering a gruhabhedam: the genius of Raja

If there's one piece of music that leaves me transfixed every time I listen to it, it's Composer's Breath from Ilaiyaraja's album Nothing But Wind featuring the flute maestro Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia.

-Art by my amazingly talented sister Sumi.
-----

Where do I begin...I bought Raja's two non-film albums (read "cassettes") - How To Name It and Nothing But Wind back during my undergrad days and for almost a year I would pretty much listen to nothing else. Raja taught me several lessons and each one of those would vie with the others to make me feel it was the sole purpose of my life :) But one lesson stands out till today as the most revealing, the most intriguing, and the most awe inspiring. Unfortunately, it came to me much later - I hadn't quite seen the genius through for until numerous times of involved listening. But come, it did, and to this day it gives me goosebumps.

Amidst trying to get a grip on the treacherous equations and derivations of Electrodynamics and Statistical Mechanics - not to mention, in the dingy IIT hostel room - solving Raja's puzzles in Nothing But Wind was a much more satisfying experience, needless to say. The epiphany under discussion hit me on one such occasion of listening to Composer's Breath. Let me try and explain to my understanding, one of the underlying theoretical ideas behind this piece that the man has so ingeniously woven in - the reason for this post.

Disclaimer: my apologies in case this is all too familiar to you and sounds platitudinous.

First, here's the track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4g6Zl4nB_g

It starts off with a lovely Hindolam/ Malkauns. Hariprasad Chaurasia's bhava-rich and masterly playing
make it a most pleasurable experience. The main melody (starting at 3:54) is beautiful. It goes, Sa,, ni da ma ga ni da ma gm da# ni# sa,,,,. I'm certainly not an expert on analyzing chords and harmonies but parts like 4:26 that recur throughout just sound heavenly. The drama starts at 6:12 (and there is a lot of build up to it in the chords that just precede) when you start hearing Hamsanandi/ Sohini. What's happening here? Just an ordinary raga change? Absolutely not. A random change in shruti as well as raga? No again. Let's do this piecemeal. First, notice that the shruti is reduced by half a step - or half a note. The new sa is at ni3 of the original shruti. Next, observe that the absolute positions of all the other swaras remain the same. So basically, what starts at 6:12 is Hindolam relative to a new sa; but what's most crucial here is that unlike in a standard gruhabhedam, the new sa is *not* one of the swaras of Hindolam itself: it is a newly introduced swara. So what was a pentatonic raga becomes a hexatonic one due to the additional swara and that turns out to be Hamsanandi. And when you do this, lo and behold, a thrilling coincidence (pun intended) occurs: every swara of Hindolam remains the same, albeit of another variety. ni2 becomes ni3, da1 becomes da2, ma1 becomes ma2, ga2 becomes ga3 (and of course, sa becomes ri1). It is obvious and stunning at the same time. The main melody in Hindolam that I mentioned above now changes to Hamsanandi as follows: Sa,, ni3 da2 ma2 ga3 n3 da2 m2 ga3 r1 sa d2# ni3# sa,,,.

Okay, so far so good. But this made me rack my brains: I had never come across such an unusual way of doing gruhabhedam - such a gruhabhedam would probably not be permitted on a Carnatic stage. I was wondering if there was any way of reconciling it with the standard process. And then, I started thinking about how we might bring about the opposite gruhabhedam: Hamsanandi to Hindolam. Hamsanandi's ri would have to be taken as sa... and... if you do a sa varjya (omit sa), you get Hindolam. And immediately it dawned on me that THIS one was indeed a standard Carnatic gruhabhedam! It is not unusual in Carnatic to do a gruhabhedam transpose from hexa (or heptatonic) ragas to pentatonic ones by omission of sa (and pa)! (And that's because gruhabhedam or no gruhabhedam, one often renders phrases in a raga without sa - and sometimes pa- just to add beauty) In fact, here is a reference that talks about the Carnatic master of all times, T.N. Seshagopalan doing exactly this: http://ramsabode.wordpress.com/2007/04/10/tns-musiri-chennai09042007/
(There is also a youtube video of a breathtaking Hamsanandi alapanai by TNS where he shifts base to Madhyamavati using the same concept)

So WOW - the brilliance of Raja in Composer's Breath lies in that he has actually reverse engineered a (standard) gruhabhedam! Who would've thought of it! If only I could enter his head and see the workings.

The rest of the track goes in and out of many, many ragas - malayamarutham, bhageshri, sindhubhairavi etc which all sit smiling and pretty in Chaurasia's safe custody (and bring poignant flashes of 80s Tamil cinema along with them - probably because they remind me of many of Raja's 80s songs). But the highlight for me is that even after the Hamsanandi episode is over, Raja teases you with some brilliant sparks alternating between the two sa's (thus alternating between the two ragas) within a matter of seconds, like between 6:44 and 7:33 - pure magic! Also at the very end of the track starting at 15:32.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm overly pedantic. Sometimes people say that too much analysis especially in art is not healthy and robs it of its beauty and charm. But the more I think about it; no...I beg to entirely disagree. This situation always reminds me of something a celebrated Astrophysics prof G. Srinivasan told us in a class - a physicist apparently once said that understanding that stars are nothing more than huge blobs of gas and studying the equations governing their behavior doesn't make them seem any less pretty and poetic! :) Unfortunately I don't remember which physicist this was.

As I complete another year of existence on this planet today, I cannot thank Raja the God enough for giving infinitely more meaning to my appreciation of human creativity, godliness in art, and life.

2011: Music and me

Just thought I'd share some quick notes on how this year has been for me, musically. Not that I do this customarily every year and not that I have any tremendous accomplishments to report this time; but 2011 has been fulfilling in many ways and I just felt like jotting down some thoughts here. I had my first article on music published (in Sruti). Gruhabhedam having been a pet subject for many years whereas cognitive science being a whole new ball game, it was exciting and intimidating at the same time. It seems like the article was well received overall and I hope I did some justice to the subject.

In October last year I mustered some guts and started to write some elaborate concert reviews on rasikas.org (unfortunately haven't been able to keep up with it much post May 2011 as I haven't attended many concerts since - hopefully 2012 is better). It's been a great learning experience to say the least (a small digression: the mere fact that SO much debate and discussion happens around it with such fervour makes me very proud to be part of this Carnatic tradition - not many traditional art forms can boast of such strong, academic involvement from connoisseurs). One of my reviews is leading to a larger project in the pipeline about which hopefully I'll soon be able to write here. Moving on... I got involved in an interesting movie project in the summer. Wish I could write more about it but again, will have to wait until it sees the light of the day. Hmm.

Ha, and a random post on my synesthesia resulted in some pleasantly surprising responses. First, I didn't expect the post to resonate with that many people and second, it led to getting acquainted with a talented filmmaker interested in the subject! It's a strangely satisfying feeling to talk in detail about something (especially as surreal as synesthesia) you've experienced all your life, for the first time - with someone you've never met/ talked to before. Thank god for blogging.

It's always a nice feeling to perform on stage a blockbuster number that you've grown up listening to - I sang Chandralekha at a Tamil New Years event in San Diego. I don't care how it came out but I thoroughly enjoyed myself :P Talking of performances, a more serious one happened a few months later, in October - with the blessings of my guru, I did my first full length Carnatic concert in the US at Shri Mandir, San Diego. I'm nitpicking my performance to this day- nevertheless, it was an eyeopener and a very valuable learning experience in many ways; many thanks to the accompanists.

One of the most exciting things this year has been a song I've composed - it's exciting because it's my first non-Carnatic: a ghazal. I'm usually extremely hard on myself but I must say I'm quite pleased with this one. With all the encouraging feedback it got from friends and family, I'm hopeful that it will soon be completed and up here. The fact that I'm handing it over to someone else to sing is even more exciting. More, soon!

Last but surely not the least, thanks to an eight year old bundle of incessant energy and talent, I discovered the teacher in me and I can only say that it has been an immensely gratifying experience!

Octaves hasn't seen a lot of audio posts from me this year (and I'm beginning to think it's going to continue to be like this) but I've enjoyed writing here and hope you've enjoyed reading as well.

Okay, time to get back to whining about not being at the Madras music season now. Signing off, and wishing you a fulfilling and fruitful 2012.