Tiger's Vachaspathi varnam

My latest obsession is MDR's rendering of Tiger Varadachariar's Vachaspathi varnam which was composed in honor of Rukmini Arundale (founder of Kalakshetra) on her birthday. There's an interesting backstory about this varnam as narrated by MDR in his lec-dem on Tiger. Apparently Tiger had promised to compose a varnam for her birthday but had forgotten about it. He suddenly remembered about his promise 3 days before and was scrambling to create a new varnam. The first problem was the raga the varnam was supposed to be in. MDR suggested the usual Bhairavi, Kamboji, etc but Tiger said it has to be grander than that. He said that Rukmini Arundale was a great orator and decided to compose it in Vachaspathi instead. Vachaspathi is not an easy raga to compose a varnam in but it's Tiger's greatness that he was able to compose an absolutely mind-blowing varnam in just a few days. MDR's rendition, of course, is out of this world. Enjoy this varnam!

Lyrics

P: vaNdanamonariNciti vElakoladi
sAshTANgammu mA bhArata lakshmi vANi kin

A: maNdAra dhara pUra arivirim catulu tOshita caritE
mA vara vasaNta mOdini Sri rukmiNiki cirAyu nosagumu

C: aNtamuna kalAkshEtra adhyakshiNi supOshiNi

Things to watch out for:

1. The start of the Mukthayi swaras itself is out of this world. "Gagga gari"
2. The way he sings Suposhini in the charanam. Just one sample of how varnams should be sung and not belted out as a warmer like most artists do
3. The varnam does not just go up and down the scale because it's Vachaspathi. Listen to the Mukthayi swaras closely. The twists and turns are delectable.
4. I don't think it was easy to sing 2nd speed in this varnam
5. Again the start of swaras in the charanam - "NidaReeeee Sa". Listen closely. Amazing creativity by the composer here

One of MDR's best concerts - MDR-LGJ-VR-VN

One of my favorite MDR concerts with Lalgudi Jayaraman, Vellore Ramabhadran and V. Nagarajan

01_Viriboni_Bhairavi.mp3
02_Vathapi_Hamsadhwani.mp3
03_Ramachandram_Vasantha.mp3
04_OJagadamba_Anandabhairavi.mp3
05_Natajanaparipala_Simmhendramadhyamam.mp3
06_Brochevarevarura_Khamas.mp3
07_Nagumomu_Abheri.mp3
08_Kaddanu_Thodi.mp3
09_Manasasancharare_Saama.mp3
10_Rarasita_Hindolavasantham.mp3
11_Srirama_Yadukulakamboji.mp3
12_RTP_Saveri.mp3
13_Bhavayami_Ragamalika.mp3
14_Varugalamo_Manji.mp3
15_Thillana_Sankarabharanam.mp3
16_Mangalam_Sowrashtram.mp3

Each song is a lesson in itself. It's clear from the outset that he was going to be in great form in this concert.

Viriboni

He starts off with Viriboni in a medium tempo which is a departure from his usual slow tempo for Ata tala varnams. This is one of my favorite renditions of Viriboni by MDR and by any artist in general though he doesn't repeat phrases as much as he does usually. For the mukthayi swarams, instead of finishing off with 'Sa Ni da pa, pa ma ga ri, Sa Ri Ni Da', he finishes with 'Sa,,, Pa,,, Sa' allowing VR and Lalgudi to fill in the gaps. MDR uses this technique often maybe because he believed that the listener sings in the mind. VR and Lalgudi are in great form in this concert as well. Lalgudi's glides in the background should be paid close attention to and he's ever alert in filling the gaps.

Just when you think he's done, he surprisingly starts off with swaras at Chirrunavvu. He completely reveals Bhairavi in those few minutes of swarams. Lalgudi's replies are crisp and shining. The last round where MDR starts off with 'Ri Ri Ri Ri' will probably remain in my mind forever.

Viriboni

To be contd..

 

Why MDR?

It's a well-known fact that I'm a huge MDR fan. My wife on the other hand has never understood my penchant for MDR's music. She prefers artists like Kalyanaraman, Sanjay, Balamurali, etc. She has often asked me to explain why I like MDR so much. Being a náive rasika, I have always found it hard to explain the X factor that MDR's music has. I'm going to try and explain through this blog along with a few recordings.

Genius of Balamurali

Balamurali sings swaras for Sri Ramana Vibho which is a very catchy song in Arabhi by Swati Tirunal. The title of this post is explained at 3:38. He sings regular BMK-style swaras till that point and then produces something out of this world. Some people might argue that it's not Arabhi but who cares.

Sri Ramana Vibho

Here's one more version by Prof. Venkataramanan. He sings swaras at Rama Sodara Durita Samuha which is equally catchy.

Teratheeyaga Gowlipantu

MDR left his stamp so hard on some krithis that it's really difficult to listen to other renditions no matter how hard you try. This is one such example. Each and every syllable and swara oozes with bhavam. This is stripping music to its bare bones and presenting it in all its beauty.

Abhishek Raghuram

I don't know how I chanced upon Abhishek Raghuram. Probably heard people talking about in rasikas.org. I've been hooked ever since I started listening to him. I think he's an extremely intelligent musician who probably works really hard to make his voice do the things his mind wants to do. He seems to have borrowed the best of S.Kalyanaraman, Balamurali, TNS and others. His ideas seem to keep gushing out and I guess he has a hard time coming to a stop sometimes. There's a pretty good collection of his music on Sangeethapriya. I especially recommend his Sri Valli Devasenapathe, Needayaradha in Vasantabhairavi (the alapana is one of its kind), Seethamma Mayamma. Of course, there's his magnum opus Thodi at the Music Academy in 2010.

Here's a link to his Needayaradha

Kharaharapriya Janyas - I

Of late, I've been smitten with Kharaharapriya janyas. Especially, Suddha Dhanyasi, Abheri and the mela Kharaharapriya itself. I'm not able to explain this sudden affliction towards these melas but certain renditions have played a part in this regard. I'll start out with some compositions I like in Suddha Dhanyasi.

Suddha Dhanyasi

This raga has taken over me like no other in the recent past. I feel that I've subconsciously been partial to certain pentatonic scales but they have not come out so strongly before. This raga has a nice gaiety feel to it. There's nothing more I enjoy than listening to a nice, energetic SD in the morning.

1) Entanerchina by BMK

This is one of the finest expositions of this raga. I've blogged about TRS' Subramanyena in the past, even calling it the best exposition of the raga but I understand now that that declaration was borne out of my lack of exposure. BMK has a unique way of exploring ragas and when he is not indulging in his gimmicks, he can leave an imprint on you and this is one such rendition. I'm a big fan of elaborate swaraprastharas as they help me understand the raga and its patterns better. My swarajnaana has not developed to an extent to be able to analyze and ingest a raga using only the alapaana. :-)

2) Subramanyena by MMI

If you want to know everything about Suddha Dhanyasi in 7 minutes, you should listen to MMI's rendition. He goes about exploring this raga as only MMI can.

3) Himagiri Thanaye by S. Rajam

A scholarly interpretation of the raga. This is a wonderful composition and Sri Rajam has done full justice to it. I should probably listen to this rendition more.

4) Shri Rajamathangi - Varnam - S Kalyanaraman

Thanks to Muthiah Bhagavathar for composing this varnam. A very fine rendition by SK.

5) Pranapathe Gunapathe Ganapathe - Madurai GS Mani

A little known composition sung by a not so popular yet knowledgeable musician.

6) Bhavamulona - Nedunuri Krishnamurthy

A fine Annamacharya composition popularized by MSS but it sparkles at the hands of Nedunuri too.

I'll post the links shortly. You can find most of them on www.sangeethapriya.org

In my next post in this series, I'll cover another grand and popular raga Abheri.

So much to share

People who know me know that I live and breathe music. A lot of music goes into my ears everyday. I can't get enough of music. I'm not happy with listening to the same musicians or the same music everyday. Just like a musician, I feel the need to experiment and listen to new music or ideas all the time.

One of my biggest gripes with myself has been my inertia in sharing these ideas with others. I don't know if others will share my taste of music but if I can find one other soul who does, I'd have achieved the purpose of this blog.

This post is more of a self-admonishment than anything else. I shall strive to update this blog as often as possible and I shall dedicate it solely to Music.

Aaha!!

That's what I cried out. For the umpteenth time. AnandAtmAnubhavE, declared T.M.Krishna emphatically. One who experiences Supreme Bliss, that's what it means. Supreme bliss it was for me, every time I listened to that particular rendition of Shri Nilotpalanayike by TMK. It had been 2 weeks since he had put me in a trance at a concert here and I didn't want to come out of it.

The raga was new to me yet it was not. It was Nariritigowla. Reetigowla with a Suddha Dhaivatham instead of Chatusruthi Dhaivatham. At first, it wreaked havoc on my mind for obvious reasons. I was finding it difficult to fathom the emotions created by the raga. Soon, I came to love the havoc it was creating. The feeling it generated was a mixture of pathos, curiosity, calm and much more.

Each and every phrase in that krithi was profound. It was sung in the most aesthetic manner possible. The whole rendition oozed with bhava. I couldn't help going gaga over it each time I listened to it. It was at one such instant that epiphany struck. What was I appreciating here? The phrase? The meaning of the krithi? The krithi itself? The beauty of the raga? The brilliance of the composer? The genius of the person who invented this music? The magnanimity of the Creator who created all this and brought it all together at that instant in time. Aaha!!

[audio:http://shripathi.com/music/Shri_Nilotpalanayike.mp3]

'Muscle tone'

"The Pythagoreans regarded the body as a musical instrument whose soul-strings must have the right tension and we still unwittingly refer to our mortal frame as a kind of stringed guitar when we speak of 'muscle tone' or describe John as 'good tempered'. :

- from 'The Act of Creation' by Arthur Koestler

Giving up coffee - Attempt #2

If you know me well, you also know that I'm a huge coffee addict. Well, I used to be. Till 3 weeks back. I signed up for this Sri Sri Yoga course conducted by the Art of Living Foundation a few months back.

In early March, I was suffering some severe back and shoulder pain and even took some expensive massages to temporarily alleviate the pain. My co-worker, Pavel Dmitriev, to whom I was complaining about my ailment, encouraged me to sign up for that course. The fact that he was one of the teachers for the course encouraged me.

The course did wonders for my body and my back pain is forgotten but that's not what I'm going to write about today. When I signed up, I assumed that only asanas or postures would be taught and that would help strengthen my core. But during the course, we were also taught breathing and meditation techniques. We were forbidden from consuming any caffeine during the 6 days of the course. I found it difficult to be without caffeine for the first two days and had a nagging headache. I managed to grit my teeth and bear the caffeine prohibition. When the course finished, I was determined to see how long I could go without coffee. The breathing execises I had learnt seemed to make me fresh and I replaced coffee with half an hour of breathing exercises every day. The feeling was absolutely fantastic. I didn't feel the need for coffee at all and not only that I was feeling super fresh everyday. To top that, I was only sleeping 4 or 5 hours a day. I'm not sure if the breathing exercises were a placebo but even if they were, it was a pretty good one at that. To be fair, I was consuming one or two cups of tea a day but that seemed miniscule compared to the 4 or 5 cups of coffee that I was drinking each day. It's a great sense of relief that I was able to quit it cold turkey. I want to keep this up for as long as I can. I think I will as long as I keep doing the breathing exercises.

I'd definitely recommend the course for anyone looking for stress relief, mental/physical conditioning or just to learn yoga in general. It was taught by two able teachers, Pavel and Raushni. You can find more information about the course here. To me, it was the best $150 that I had spent.

Meanwhile, I have an almost new coffeemaker with timer for sale. Let me know if you are interested. ;-)

Different forms of appreciation

When I started listening to Carnatic Music, the aspects I could appreciate fell into a very narrow realm. At that time, it was full of patterns and rhythm. Madurai Mani Iyer was the only artist I listened to initially and subsequently, I started listening to T.V.Sankaranarayanan. Since MMI bani consisted of producing interesting swara patterns in a sarvalaghu rhythm, my mind automatically stayed captive when I listened to these artists. Because of lack of domain knowledge at that time, it stayed that way for a few years until I got exposed to MDR.

As my theoretical knowledge increased, I started trying out different ragas or different krithis but only by the same set of artists that my mind accepted. After a while, my horizons started broadening and I became more receptive to other artists. I was eager to listen to different artists. I liked some and disliked some. I could not understand why. With the opening up of my mind to other artists, my listening became more krithi-based. I loved certain krithis and was curious to hear how different artists had approached a certain krithi or trying to understand their patantharam.

Krithis led way to ragas. I became exposed to more and more ragas as I read about others' enjoyment of certain ragas. I started shedding my prejudices more readily and become open to new ragas. Ragas like Chakravaham or Dharmavati, which I had previously dismissed as uninteresting, now become objects of curiosity. Krithis or certain renditions in these ragas obviously played a part. For example, the krithi Ranganai thudhiporku in Chakravaham was fundamental in me listening to the raga more.

The intellectual and emotional satisfaction I derived from exploring different ragas was not enough for me. I started exploring ragas deeply. I observed the different phrases comprising of the ragas, the structure of different krithis in that raga, individual notes that bring the raga to life, speed or rhythm which suit the raga best etc. I find myself subconsciously applauding a phrase that could be viewed as just another phrase for that raga. Sometimes I'm not applauding the singer but just the phrase for being there in the raga or the raga for having that phrase. My 'obsession with raga X' posts are a by-product of this deep delving into that raga.

At the risk of sounding elitist, I'll declare that Carnatic Music is the most complete form of music providing emotional, intellectual, devotional and spiritual satisfaction.

Why I find it difficult to learn Carnatic Music

After several failed attempts at learning Carnatic Music, I became exasperated at my inability to continue after a few months. Carnatic Music is my life and blood, and is an integral part of my life. While I get interested in different activities from time to time, CM has been the single aspect that has remained unchanged for the past 10 years and my interest in it has continued to grow. So, it's not a question of inspiration.

Discipline is definitely an issue. I have been a little indisciplined about practising during all my stints. But given that I listen to at least 3 or 4 hours of music a day on the average, I certainly could have motivated myself to practise daily. Yes, it takes effort but I've been disciplined about other things in the past that I was not half-interested in, compared to CM. Why was I not able to motivate myself to practise daily?

Kids are taught music from an early age because they don't question as to why they must sing in a particular shruthi or why they must learn Sarali varisai first. As much as I try to act like a kid, I still could not stop asking questions similar to those mentioned above. This lead to self-doubt and brought down my motivation.

The teachers I've had have also contributed in certain respects to my failure but it's not fair to blame them. I've previously written about my expectations from a teacher. The ability of a teacher to understand my perspective and approach to learning music is crucial for me. I had realized this previously and had decided that it was going to be difficult to find such a teacher in the short-term. During my latest stint, I tried my best to ignore this issue and was fairly successful.

After weeks of contemplation, I've come to the conclusion that the problem lies in the way I perceive music. I see music as an abstract concept. My brain is not able to break down a piece of music into individual frequencies. When I hear the note Ga, it sees Ga but it does not register the frequency corresponding to Ga. In other words, I'm or I've become tone-deaf. I only see music as being composed of phrases. These phrases evoke a certain emotion in me depending on the raga or cause intellectual excitement.

This is not as serious a problem as I'm making it sound but I'm glad that I finally nailed the reason. This could be the reason why people who listen to a lot of music but haven't learnt music formally, find it difficult to reproduce a piece of music verbatim. I feel uncomfortable generalizing this without enough data. The solution obviously lies in observing closely and determining the actual notes corresponding to a certain phrase. I've been trying this out with instrumentalists as a first step. Let's see if I make any progress. Otherwise, my tone-deafness will leave people wishing for stone-deafness!

Obsession with Bhairavi

Blame T.M.Krishna for the malady! Just when I got out of my Bhairavi mode, he had to talk about Bhairavi in his interview for Worldspace Shruthi. Of course, I had to go and satiate myself with more Bhairavi. Here's the list of things I listened to after the interview.

1) MLV - Chetulara Sringara (a rarely heard krithi except during the Aradhana). A fine exposition of Bhairavi for 13 minutes. Had all the essential phrases and was wholesome.

2) MSS - RTP Bhairavi (1968 Academy concert). A well-executed Bhairavi.

3) SSI - Janani Mamava : This was mind-boggling stuff. SSI IS SSI. A wonderful thanam in this (probably) Navarathri mandapam concert

4) Sanjay - Yaaro Ivar Yaaro: Had never heard this krithi before from Sanjay. A brisk and interesting Bhairavi

5) MLV - Koluvai: The mention of this krithi in the interview was what triggered my appetite again. Have to listen to the krithi more.

Obsessed with Bhairavi

Bhairavi has been running in my head for the past 3 days. MDR's Balagopala, Thanam in Bhairavi are the main culprits. Need to have a marathon Bhairavi session to appease myself. :-)

Krithi - [audio:http://shripathi.com/music/mdr_balagopala_1.mp3]

Neraval,Swaram - [audio:http://shripathi.com/music/mdr_balagopala_2.mp3]

Listen to the way he sings the word 'Maanicka'.... Pure bliss.

Swaraprasthara & Mridangists

I couldn't come up with a good title for this post but I'll let this be till I can think up of anything else.

Recently, I went back to listening to MMI (Madurai Mani Iyer) quite a bit and observed a few things. His rendition of swaras varies according to the style of the mridangist. The three mridangists whom I observed were Palghat Mani Iyer, Palani Subramania Pillai and Vellore Ramabhadran. With PMI, the kalapramanan seemed to be a little rushed. I had a strange feeling that both the vocalist and the mridangist were trying to adjust to each other. This could be due to the fact that PMI doesn't play sarvalaghu and tries to play the swaras. Sometimes he gets it right, sometimes he doesn't even try to guess and sometimes MMI has to adjust to PMI's anticipation. With Palani, MMI seems to be at total ease, especially because Palani doesn't hesitate to play sarvalaghu where required. His neravals too are comparatively better with Palani. Alongside VR, his gait is at its absolute best and he seems to go on a never ending spree of swaras. It helps that VR doesn't try anything other than sarvalaghu. For someone like MMI, it just suits him fine and he seems to sing as if uninterrupted.

I tried extending this observation to MDR and I noticed something similar. It seemed as if MDR was changing his style for VR. i.e. rendering sarvalaghu swaras and with him, it seemed to get a little boring. Someone like UKS, Raghu or even PMI is better suited for MDR especially since they have a lot of time to anticipate. I was under the impression that mridangists (I should be saying mridangam vidwan. UKS admonishes that a mridangist isn't like a dentist or a podiatrist) were the ones who had to change their style to suit the vocalist. Well, I could be imagining things too for all you care. I'll try to post a few clips to illustrate my observations.

Pedagogical techniques in Carnatic Music

Sometime around the end of last year, I decided to learn Carnatic Music. I was OK with the first few classes but things began to go out of hand from then. I was in the same class as one other person who was also a beginner. Having listened to a lot of music, my learning progressed very rapidly and at a pace the other person could not keep up with. As a result, I found myself getting bored while my teacher was trying to correct the other person. Since I had to go to India in February, I decided to abandon the idea and discontinued the classes.
On introspection, I found that there was a more fundamental problem that was causing me to get bored. My primary motivation in wanting to learn was because of the fact that I love singing a lot of songs, tanams, raga alapanas, etc. (I'm not as bad as I make out myself to be, in other posts). I can sing quite a few songs completely with sangathis, along with the artist and some by myself. Given a cue, I can sketch some ragas decently. Tanams are a pet favorite and I use them to learn different patterns in a raga.

I found it boring to sing the varisais since I had nothing to compare them to or nothing else to relate them to. If, instead, I had been taught, say Ninnu kori varnam in Mohanam, I'd have probably perfected it by now. How? Because I had at least 20 versions of Ninnu kori to listen to and learn from, apart from the fact that I loved singing it. Also, I could not extract the musical content from the varisais. I think that the varisais are a great way for a kid to learn Carnatic Music but I'm wondering if it'd work for someone like me. I'm at a stage where I, probably, cannot blindly do something because it's been done that way for centuries.

Children, when they begin to talk, learn to say words that come to them easily. By the age of 2, they are able to converse easily. They are usually taught the alphabet at the age of 3 so that they can relate them to the words they know. e.g. M,U,M,M,Y is mummy which they already know. If this order were to be reversed, my guess is that children would find it difficult to learn to talk. I should probably read more on this though.

I'm trying to apply the same logic to teaching Carnatic Music. Why do we start with sarali varisais? Why not a krithi? Why not teach the basics through the krithi or krithis? Could this be a reason why a lot of kids completely abandon CM once they enter their teenage or become adults? Are there any teachers who teach this way? How have they fared in this attempt?

Relay photos

Added some photos from the Relay here - http://picasaweb.google.com/sripathi.raj/Relay2007

Want music? Contribute to charity

Since January last year, I have been active with a charity called India Literacy Project (ILP), here in California. The organization aims to contribute to the cause of literacy in India and promote awareness about the importance of education among the rural people. I've researched and analyzed the credibility of the organization before volunteering for them. I had a chance to speak to one of the representatives in India during my trip there and it was very pleasing to know that my dollars are being spent usefully. I'm planning to visit one of their projects next year and will come back with more information.

The California chapter of ILP predominantly raises funds and promotes awareness about ILP itself among the Indian diaspora here. Well, not many would willingly contribute if we just showed up and asked for money. So, to show our commitment to this cause, we take part in an annual 199-mile Relay from NAPA Valley to Santa Cruz (www.therelay.com). We are a team of 12 runners who start at 7.AM on Saturday morning and finish around 4.PM on Sunday evening. We live in a van for the two days and run non-stop from start to finish. This year I have decided to run the second most toughest legs of the Relay adding up to a total of 20.1 miles.

Have I given you enough reason to contribute? I suppose not. As they say, there is no true altruism. I'll make you an offer. If you contribute a minimum of $25, I'll send you a DVD full of music of artists of your choice. (Hint 1: I have a lot of music. Hint 2: My MDR collection itself is more than 12 GB.). For every $10 above $25, I'll add a DVD. You don't have to pay me anything directly. I'll post the instructions for contributing below. The entire amount is tax deductible. I'm paying for the postage and DVD out of my own pocket plus the time spent in burning the DVDs and posting them. Obviously I cannot charge for the music since it's not mine. You'll receive the DVD(s) before the 1st of June, 2007.

NOTE: No contemporary musicians and no commercial recordings.

Instructions:

1. Go to http://www.ilpnet. org/donatenow. html
2. Click on "Donate Now" button
3. Enter Amount to Donate
4. Under "Designation (Optional)" Form Field, Type "ILP Relay Team"
5. Under "Dedication (Optional)" Form Field, Enter Name of the Runner i.e. Sripathi Guruprasannaraj
6. Enter email address and login
7. Once logged in, provide required credit card information to complete the donation
IMPORTANT: Please Note that Donors donating online will not get a paper receipt from ILP. A printer friendly receipt will be emailed to the Donor which they can print and save for tax deduction purposes.

Once you are done, send me your name, address, phone number and preferences by email. My email address is available in the Contact page. I shall send you the DVD(s) at the earliest.

I'm looking forward to your contribution.

"All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education of youth." - Aristotle

The Art of Education

"Good musicians impress. Great musicians educate."

 

I'm not sure if someone has quoted this before. But this is what came to my mind as I was hearing TRS sing Suddha Dhanyasi for the 30th time this week. Prior to hearing this rendition, Suddha Dhanyasi (SD for short) wasn't exactly a favorite raga. I had dismissed it off as a light raga with not much scope for elaboration. I loved Narayana ninna naamadha smarane and knew that the song Punjai undu nanjai undu in the movie 'Unnal Mudiyum Thambi' was in SD. But it was not exactly a raga that turned my head or made me sit up and listen.

 

Subramanyena is also a favorite in the raga and MMI does a phenomenal job with kalpanaswaras for this krithi. But what I heard from TRS was simply out of this world. It was as if he thought the raga hadn't done been justice and decided to do it that day. The sangathis at Prabrava maadi Pujita Padena are just a precursor. The first brilliant moment comes at 'Bhogamoksha Pradaanena Nityena'. Just listen to the way he sings 'Bhogamoksha'. I can't describe my emotions when I listen to that phrase in this rendition. It's a mixture of love, devotion, enlightenment - all at the same time.

 

As he gracefully lands at Venkateshwara Nama Rupena, the time has arrived to start his agenda for the day. What follows is a lesson in Suddha Dhanyasi, an exhibition of the art of swara singing, the importance of aesthetics in Carnatic Music, all delivered in a beautiful package. I'll say no more lest it becomes redudant. Sit back and enjoy!!

 

[audio:http://www.sangeethapriya.org/~sripathy/Audio/Carnatic/Ragas/Suddha%20Dhanyasi/07-Subhramanyena-Suddha%20Dhanyasi.mp3]