Anuswarams in Arabhi

[ignormaus]

Hi All

Am a newbie to the group, so pardon me if the issue has been dealt with in length before.

My question relates to the intonation of notes Ni and Ga in Arabhi avarohanam. Theoretically they are alpa swarams, in the sense of the Ni sticking to the Sa and the Ga sticking to the Ma.

This article from carnatica, alludes to the use of the odukkal gamakam for said notes in Arabhi

http://www.carnatica.net/newsletter/ara ... letter.htm

and here is the salient excerpt

"Note the state of the Gandhara and Nishada swaras in the descending order, Avarohana krama, in raga Arabhi. They are always used **without** "irakku-jaaru" and only ***with*** "odukkal" "

Odukkal, if I understand correctly is starting from a note, temporarily touching a higher note and then settling on the same note (1). So then does one sing GaMaGa to intone the Ga in Arabhi, and NiSaNi to intone the Ni? The problem is this does not fit well with the aural perception of the notes sticking to the respective higher note (i.e Ga to Ma and Ni to Sa).

[vainika]

Odukkal, if I understand correctly is starting from a note, temporarily touching a higher note and then settling on the same note (1). So then does one sing GaMaGa to intone the Ga in Arabhi, and NiSaNi to intone the Ni? The problem is this does not fit well with the aural perception of the notes sticking to the respective higher note (i.e Ga to Ma and Ni to Sa).

I suspect the odukkal you've described applies to ascent (ArohaNa) phrases. In the avarOhaNa, odukkal would start from the higher note, touch the lower and return to the higher. Thus, Ni would be SaNiSa and Ga would be MaGaMa. Does this fit with your aural perception?

In a fretted instrument such as the veena, Arabhi's odukkal would be produced by deflection on the Ga and Ni svarasthAnas. See 'left hand technique' description by Karaikudi Subramaniam, reproduced in http://vainika.wikispaces.com/Techniques