Category : History

Yamuna Kalyani–A Journey Back in Time-Part III

January 30th, 2010 by Ravi Rajagopalan | 0

Click for Part II here.
OTHER INTERPRETATIONS OF YAMUNA KALYANI:
Apart from the famous compositions “Krishna Nee Begane”, “Pibare ramarasam” and “Bhavayami Gopalabalam”, Yamuna Kalyani is elaborated by musicians during concerts only in viruttams/shlokas usually under the pretext of lending a “Hindustani” touch to the musical proceedings. I present two of them.
First, Sangita Kalanidhi Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer [...]

Yamuna Kalyani–A Journey Back in Time-Part II

January 30th, 2010 by Ravi Rajagopalan | 0

Click for Part I here.
Subbarama Dikshitar’s Compositions:
The jatisvaram found notated under this raga in the SSP can be considered as Subbarama Dikshitar’s second composition composed in the year 1856, the first one being the varna in Durbar “Intamodi”. The reference to his is found in his autobiography that he wrote as a part of the [...]

Royal Patron –Bhaskara Setupathi, the Raja of Ramanathapuram

December 21st, 2009 by Ravi Rajagopalan | 4 comments

Introduction:
Patrons have played a very great part in our past in fostering Carnatic Music. Composers and musicians have been sustained, patronized & honored by both the Royals as well as the aristocratic/business magnates of the last few centuries. They were one of the essential components of the musical ecosystem of India. Given the social milieu [...]

Yamuna Kalyani–A Journey Back in Time-Part I

October 26th, 2009 by Ravi Rajagopalan | 0

INTRODUCTION:
Raga Yamuna Kalyani, also called as Yamuna, is a supposedly lighter melody and a minor raga today, under the Kalyani raaganga/melakartha. A look at the musical history as available to us and also given the fact that we have major compositions from both Tyagaraja and Muthusvami Dikshitar, would show that this raga wasn’t a minor [...]

The Mystery about Kambhoji -Part 2

August 3rd, 2009 by Ravi Rajagopalan | 0

( Click here for Part I )
SUMMARY OF THE ANALYSIS :
To summarize the understanding from the 3 works from the post 1750 era :

Ma or Ga and Ni were vakra/varja in the arohana, according to (Muddu) Venkatamakhi.  In arohana/avarohana terms [...]

The Mystery about Kambhoji -Part 1

August 3rd, 2009 by Ravi Rajagopalan | 0

INTRODUCTION:
Kambhoji is a purva prasiddha raga of yore which has ornamented  Carnatic music for ages. There are many  beautiful compositions adorning this raga. Sometime ago I happened to study some of musicological books to understand Kambhoji’s raga lakshana and its evolution, in the context of the earlier blog post on Pallavi Gopala Iyer.,which is when [...]

Pallavi Gopala Iyer - A Sequel

July 6th, 2009 by Ravi Rajagopalan | 0

Since the post I made on Pallavi Gopala Iyer,  I came across a couple of more points which I thought should form part of the original post. I am adding this short post as a sequel to my original one here.
WHO WAS PALLAVI GOPALA IYER?
Per Prof Sambamoorthy and Dr B M Sundaram as well, [...]

Pallavi Gopala Iyer

June 22nd, 2009 by Ravi Rajagopalan | 0

INTRODUCTION:
Pallavi Gopala Iyer is one of the composers from the pre-trinity period who adorned the Tanjore Court and was a vaggeyakara par excellence, in his own right. We do have accounts of him from Subbarama Dikshitar and also from manuscripts and references in the Sarasvathi Mahal Library of Tanjore and from Prof Sambamoorthy. Subbarama Dikshitar [...]

Raga Lakshana - Madhavamanohari

March 15th, 2009 by Ravi Rajagopalan | 7 comments

PREFACE:
One of the first impressions that an observer or student of our music gets is that Muthusvami Dikshitar was a strict conformist to sampradaya and to the raga lakshanas that were laid out by Venkatamakhi. But if one undertakes a scrupulous analysis of the Sangita Sampradaya Pradarshini, one can see how hollow that statement is. [...]

Andhali - An Enigma

February 12th, 2009 by Ravi Rajagopalan | 0

INTRODUCTION:
Andhali is an old raga with a textual tradition which is now virtually extinct. Its close cousins, Purnachandrika and the much latter born Janaranjani have usurped much of its musical material. We have compositions of both Tyagaraja and Dikshitar in this raga. There is an element of a controversy, nay a puzzle about the nativity [...]