gamanashramA

[SrinathK]

Aro : S R1 G3 M2 P D2 N3 S
Avaro : S N3 D2 P M2 G3 R1 S - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bG3XMgpmT2k

When the going gets tough, the tough get going. And the going is totally tough for "gamana-shrama"... (Pun fully intended). Poor rAgA! Whoever named it as such really knew what was coming...

Why did such a fate befall the 53rd mElakarta rAgA, and not even a vivAdi one at that, one that should be straightforward to elaborate? Well it's because a) This rAgA is really a very new one, and b) because of that cousin of this rAgA (namely, gamakakriyA alias pUrvikalyANi) -- so well established is gamakakriyA that it has totally swallowed up the entire farm, leaving gamanashramA with nothing but a PDNS for itself. In fact, one could totally get away singing plenty of pUrvikalyANi in this and the audience would never wise up until one hits PDNS, if they look for it that is....

In fact, get the P out of the way, and you get hamsAnandi - and so gamanashramA gets a further stab from the back(robbed by its own "offspring" no less), often sounding like hamsAnandi at some places if handled in that manner. And with the refreshingly different flavour caused by eliminating the P, the end result is that hamsAnandi is in a different category of popular compared to gamanashramA.

And to add to its woes, it doesn't help that all the major compositions are all in pUrvikalyANI / gamakakriyA. Therefore gamanashramA as the new pretender to the crown has many mountains to climb before it will ever escape the shadow of gamakakriyA. That's what happens when you're so late you arrive at the fag end of the party and are left with the last of the potato chips, on someone else's plate....

So the compositions in gamanashramA are all post trinity, and in the absence of enough of them, it has also been elaborated for pallavis (I remember that story of MLV having rendered a spectacular gamanashramA).

So there's BMK, who sings it his way for an RTP : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mo_wFtGL8o
And his own composition : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuTuiBWQGRg - observe that BMK tends to sing it with a decidedly hamsAnandi-ish slant with HM-esque phrasing, but then that's him.

Then of course, there's Koteeswara Iyer - with ihamE sukham : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBFmW1Q3F2I (Vijayalakshmi Subramaniam - Auto generated by Youtube btw)
TRS has also sung this one : http://www.sangeethamshare.org/manjunat ... mbay-2001/

There is a composition of Veena Seshanna in it - ubhaya kAvEri ranga - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gDwcknR3hg - well, good to see that rare number and a younger RKS.

But unless gamanashramA takes a leaf out of other sampUrNa rAgAs like kalyANi or shankarAbharanam to milk its own phrases and jeeva swaras, it's going to forever remain a slightly modified PDNS pUrvikalyAni at this rate and there's always the territory of hamsAnandi to consider.

Having mentioned MLV, here's a 50 min long RTP in this concert : http://www.sangeethamshare.org/muralida ... Concert-18

Harikesanallur Muttiah Bhagavatar has also had a go at it (Sri chakra pura vAsini) : http://www.sangeethamshare.org/tvg/UPLO ... is-Part-1/

I really should explore HMB's efforts quite a bit more in my rAgA posts. He has a lot of compositions to his credit across the A-Z of them, not to mention his own creations.

Oh wait, there's Mysore Vasudevacharya (idi neeku nyAyamA?) : http://www.sangeethamshare.org/tvg/UPLO ... Sudharani/ - gamanashramA will probably be the one asking that question to us....

We'll have to stop at Maha Vaidyanatha Iyer's mEla rAgamAlikA at this point, where gamanashramA appears : https://youtu.be/d-SRlBDyzTQ?t=270 - I think I covered literally everything about the raga with this. It was (surprise) more than I was expecting....

And with that, the rAgA has again been on a decline - I do not remember ever having heard it anywhere in recent days. I sincerely hope that someday, the going will get easier for gamanashramA. But I do not see how it will ever escape the clutches of gamakakriyA. (Coming next....)

[Sreeni Rajarao]

As SrinathK has written above:
There is a composition of Veena Seshanna in it - ubhaya kAvEri ranga
Harikesanallur Muttiah Bhagavatar has also had a go at it (Sri chakra pura vAsini)
Oh wait, there's Mysore Vasudevacharya (idi neeku nyAyamA?)

.. and I am going to say, then there's one more from the Veena Sheshanna - Mysore Vasudevacharya school.....
Bhairavi Lakshminaranappa (1878 - 1934) has one composition (gajavadana pAhi satatammuda in Adi tALa).

I am checking with the Artist if it's OK to share here..... a recording from the year 2010.

[Sreeni Rajarao]

Regarding SrinathK's comment:
There is a composition of Veena Seshanna in it - ubhaya kAvEri ranga - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gDwcknR3hg - well, good to see that rare number and a younger RKS.

How old was RKS in this recording?

My estimate is that RKS was in his 70s (if it was recorded in the 1990s) or 80s (if this album was recorded in the 2000s).

It was most likely recorded in the 2000s, so that would make RKS 80 plus years young in this recording!

[SrinathK]

If someone sounds like that at 70 plus, it's simply unbelievable how he preserved his voice. RKS sounds like he was 30!!

[CRama]

This thread throws open many unheard melodies. Great work by Srinath.

First time heard the Gamanashrama composition of Veene Sheshanna by R.K. Srikantan. There are a few more tillanas, swarajatis of Veene Sheshanna in this album. Yet to hear them.

The raga alapana of Gamanshrama is done by R.S.Ramakanth, son of RK Srikantan.

[SrinathK]

I am planning to revisit ragas a-d as in the beginning I did not cover the ragas like this - blame the learning curve. I thought it would be simpler, but now I realize this whole issue of ragas and compositions is way bigger than what I anticipated.

[RSR]

There must be some reason why the Trinity did not compose any kriti in this ragam? Thyagaraja too has only one krithi in hamsanAdham! ( am I wrong?). Poorvi Kalyani is the ragam of quite a few very moving songs by the Trinity. My humble suggestion is that OP limited himself to the Trinity creations. ( we are only at G. A long way to go! ) I am waiting for Chenchurutti of Thyagaraja .

[SrinathK]

The reason is what I've been saying for quite a long time now - all these ragas really came into their own only post trinity.

EDIT : I thought gamanashramA didn't exist except on paper in the Trinity period, but I've been corrected on that part. In fact apparently there is a version of gnyAnamosaga rAdA in gamanashramA as per the Thillaisthalam parampara.

The focus on the trinity is there because you name almost any composer before them (and even many of their own compositions, as well as the music of their contemporaries), their music only survives in a re-tuned modern form.

And third, when I started out, I was on the wrong side of the learning curve and merely thought in terms of reviving some threads, as I felt the forum was discussing everything but music. But as I found out, this is serious stuff.

[rshankar]

gnyAna mOsaga rAdA

Should be gnyAnamosaga rAdA, or gnyAnam(u) osaga rAdA....

[RSR]

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The focus on the trinity is there because you name almost any composer before them (and even many of their own compositions, as well as the music of their contemporaries), their music only survives in a re-tuned modern form

Yes. That is all the more reason to limit ourselves to the Trinity. We can ignore even Annamacharya finds ( which as our Lakshman-ji says are in thousands!). If we start covering all the compositions by all the post-trinity composers, where is the end? ( just a few exceptions could be Subbaraya Sastry and Mysore Vasudevachar, ). And if we go back to cover more, when will we cover all the ragams? After all, Thyagaraja swami himself made use of about 30 MK parent ragams and their derived ragams only and about 140 single-kriti ragams! I believe that if the learners have good familiarity with those ragams, the topic will be less-overwhelming and more useful and educative.
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I felt the forum was discussing everything but music.

Very true!... Let atleast your threads focus more on the music than on other linguist-oriented digressions.
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[rshankar]

I felt the forum was discussing everything but music.

Exactly - the forum has become a hotbed of discussing personalities. In addition, posters are busy trying to get people to accept their personal beliefs and ideas as gospel truth.

But as I found out, this is serious stuff.

Absolutely. And you're doing a great job!
And as you are running this show, the choice of music and composers should be yours alone - you should use what you think is necessary to make your points.

[RSR]

May be of interest. The importance of poorvikalyaaNi.
http://carnatica.in/newsletter/poorvakalyani.htm

Tyagaraja’s two original compositions in this raga Paripoornakama and Paralokasadhaname. His transmigrated composition is Gnanamosagarada

What is meant by the phrase 'transmigrated composition' in this context?

[SrinathK]

Could we please keep the discussion on gamanashramA only here? Next thread is going to be gamakakriya, where I will share your link to the Carnatica Newsletter. But even there I am only making it Dikshitar focused. pUrvikalyANi has swallowed up gamakakriya despite the differences between them (not unlike dwijAvanti / jujAvanti), and there's plenty to discuss when it will come.