Category : Raga

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Raga Lakshana – Vamsavati – A Sequel

February 4th, 2009 by Ravi Rajagopalan | 0

Preface:
Since the original post and the feedbacks that were received, an update to the post had become imperative. This sequel is intended to cover 3 areas:

Update the discography by providing audio links to the renditions, to illustrate raga lakshana as found in the Dikshitar kriti “Bakthavatsalam”
Consider one other rendition, that of “Bakthavatsalam” by Vid Kalpagam [...]

Raga Lakshana - Vamsavati

January 19th, 2009 by Ravi Rajagopalan | 10 comments

Raga Lakshana - Vamsavati
The raga Vamsavati (the Asampurna 54th raganga of the latter Kanakambari* nomenclature), the equivalent to the sampurna mela raga Vishwambari has been given an expansive treatment by Muthusvami Dikshitar who has invested 2 krithis in this raga. His co-trinitarians Tyagaraja and Syama Shastri have not composed in either of the ragas. We [...]