Raaga Identity Crisis

[rajeshnat]

PK Doraisamy is a retd IAS officer . He is a very recent writer and I have not seen any of his writeups few years before . IN Oct 06,2017 The Hindu , he has written this writeup on Identity Crisis - Ragas. Superb articulation and lovely writeup. I loved his last closing remark.
http://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/m ... 801645.ece

[kvchellappa]

Another instance of MVI's wit.

[arasi]

A breath of fresh air, this writing! Crisply and clearly said. The focus is on what the essence of musical enjoyment is. Thanks Rajesh, for bringing this. Hope a lot of youngsters who are learning music seriously, get a chance to read this--to know what all their rigorous and systematic training eventually should lead to...

[shankarank]

Oh this person! I critiqued him here : https://www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopi ... =2&t=28359 and here : https://www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopi ... =2&t=29458

[shankarank]

And more squarely here: https://www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopi ... 3&p=316313

[shankarank]

http://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/m ... 801645.ece
A striking example is Kalyani and Lathangi. If Lathangi is sung for a long time without touching suddha dhaivatam, it will start sounding like Kalyani. But if one touches suddha dhaivatam frequently if only in passing, Lathangi’s identity will be preserved.

Yeah that's why he takes care to put the rAgA name Lathangi and also announce it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPuKAzUcrRU p,mg,rsrs,,,r! rAga flavor aside, look at how the percussionists catch the flow @ the start. And much of the play is on the atIta placement of latha | ngi - all svarams done to that effect!

[shankarank]

In the Saaveri segment of ‘Bhavayami,’ Semmangudi uses the prayogaa ‘GA RI SA dha, RI SA dha, SA dha ‘which is common to Malhari. But the immediate next phrase ‘GA RI ni dha ma ga ri’ drenches the entire passage with Saveri bhava.

I don't think that is correct! Saveri's dhaivatam slide from sa will give it away especially in this usage. Malahari feels like the dha - will be more like pdp!

[Ramasubramanian M.K]

I too enjoyed the article. he is a frequent contributor to SRUTHI Magazine.

DISCLOSURE: His wife and mine are FIRST COUSINS!! But PLEASE do not hold it against him!!!!

[rajeshnat]

I too enjoyed the article. he is a frequent contributor to SRUTHI Magazine.

DISCLOSURE: His wife and mine are FIRST COUSINS!! But PLEASE do not hold it against him!!!!

MKR Sir
I do know apart from your appa , your amma also learnt violin from some yesteryear vidwan. I have no clue on the musical side of your wife mrs nirmala - but looks there is some more carnatic from your wife side too... You all have a gift of communication.

[shankarank]

MKR sir, unlike your generation of MCC, Presidency types - I did not pay attention to much of Shakespeare and such, even though my school took pains to screen Macbeth etc. We were busy picking up cheap Science publications from the communist party grant funneled store called New Century Book house from Soviet union (Mir Publishers!), which would subliminally inject Dialectical Materialism amidst a dense presentation of physics and equations!

Too good! Now all those critical thinking skills are coming in handy to deconstruct your generation too, not just the rebel artistes!

[shankarank]

Whoah! A discussion on Raaga identity crisis is bringing out some other identity crisis! . Rajesh, touche to me!

[Sachi_R]

Guys, I thought I will write something on this topic. Here it is:

Three Limericks on What's a Raaga

First

They try to demystify what I am,
But a lot of it is definitely spam.
“A scale of notes
A mood denotes”?
Or, “The Raaga is our music’s bread, butter and jam!”

Second

Carnatic Raagas have a conventional syntax.
Your brains their grammar will definitely tax.
But simply listen,
Then they’ll glisten!
A Raaga has a beating heart , not just beeswax.

Three

The minimum notes in a Raaga should be
Seven, Six, Five, even Four or Three?
The Pied Piper says Three,
A Peer reviewer’ll disagree.
Is a Raaga a bonsai, or is it a big, shady, oak tree?

[kvchellappa]

Rsachi, you have 'raga' (passion) for music.

[rajeshnat]

Sachi
Roughly a week or before before my kid who is in UKG picked up the song bhavayami from her friend . Her mother's motherinlaw said ask your appa . My mothers daughter in law reminded and asked me bhavayami . I checked youtube and found six seven versions , i was not sure if it was bhavayami gopala bAlam or bhavayami raghuramam . The kid said few more lines and disambiguated, I searched youtube , lots of hits indeed came and i picked the most original source . My mother's daughter in law asked what ragam is that . I said yamunakalyani . My UKG kid who was listening to this conversation asked me Appa what is raga???

I am not making up this story at all ? I did not answer yet my kid about the answer of what is raga? Such a tough question to explain to a kid. I am usually not tongue tied ??

Any pointers to answer a UKG kid what is a raga???

[Sachi_R]

How do you tell what a Raaga is to a five year-old:
"A raaga is the taste of music, the feeling of a song, the crayon of music, an invisible cuddle toy if you like music. "
Please tell it to the kid and let me know how it went.

[varsha]

Raghav Menon uses the example of a human body, in his book on Ragas.
The ears, the eyes ... are indeed part of the body.But the definition of body is something more than what one may be pointing to , at any given point of time.
So it is with a raga in the Indian music context.
Let me see if I can get the exact passage of his.

[arasi]

Rajesh's mother's grand child,
You know that sometimes when you are very happy, you hum a tune? well, rAgA is somewhat like that--only longer. When your AppA plays music and suddenly you stop and listen to it because it is very pleasing, unlike all other busy music you hear...that's rAgA.
As Sachi says, it's crayons with which you draw a picture of something which you imagine.Only difference is, you sing it...

[shankarank]

In all the identity-less musics who all appeal to people across barriers, there are no rAgAs , as there are no identities ( I mean there is nothing to identify! ) in those musics! That is why rAgAs and rAgA-ridden musics are all facing identity crisis

[Sachi_R]

Shankarank,
While we address the existential problem of raagas in search of their identity, and as we do the thing we are all so good at around here, i. e. flogging a thing ad infinitum, I would venture to suggest
A. Raagas seem to have by and large no real crisis, given the high demand for raaga music and the significantly expanded acreage in The Hindu on related matters
B. Even so-called non-Raaga music seems to be doing well, with large audiences getting much joy from listening to such music.

[mohan]

Ragas develop their identity through compositions and repeated performance of those compositions.

There are so many ragas in which there are very few compositions. The situation is heightened when the raga is allied to another more popular raga. Some examples of raga that don't have a clear identity are mAnji and narAyanagaulA.

[Sivaramakrishnan]

PK Doraisamy is a retd IAS officer . He is a very recent writer and I have not seen any of his writeups few years before . IN Oct 06,2017 The Hindu , he has written this writeup on Identity Crisis - Ragas. Superb articulation and lovely writeup. I loved his last closing remark.
http://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/m ... 801645.ece

PK Doraisamy is a seasoned writer with the right balance of substance, wit and humour. He is also a member and regular participant at the gatherings of the Humour Club, Chennai.

He had expressed his studied, unbiased views (pluses and minuses) on T M Krishna in a well balanced essay in The Hindu sometime last year when TMK debates were at its peak. His write-ups in Sruti have been really interesting and valuable.

It would be great if he chooses to contribute to rasikas.org