bhUpALam

Rāga related discussions
Post Reply
SrinathK
Posts: 2477
Joined: 13 Jan 2013, 16:10

bhUpALam

Post by SrinathK »

The next time someone tells me Sriman nArAyaNa is in bhUpALam, I am going to make them listen to the real one for 1 week.

bhUpALAm goes like this :

Aro : S R1 G2 P D1 S
Avaro : S D1 P G2 R1 S where G2 is the G of SubhapantuvarALi. It is not G3 - the rAgA that uses G3 is rEvagupti

The best well known examples are from Dikshitar - sadAchalEshwaram bhAvayE - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORag7qsPPNg - by Sanjay, from his own Youtube

Hopefully Sanjay won't mind this one - because it has an alapana : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3q-qUqgwYI

And here's Dr. S Ramanathan at it : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2b1oA8pxv08

The last charaNam of Sri vishwanAtham bhajEham is in bhUpaLam and has the rAgA name in it.

ajaysimha
Posts: 831
Joined: 19 Apr 2018, 18:16

Re: bhUpALam

Post by ajaysimha »

i have also read that,
this raga can be aptly classified as janya under Hanumathodi, the 8th mela.

it is a morning raga with karuna-rasa in it.

the original gopalaka pahimam is in bhupalam as in texts, but everybody renders it in revagupthi
(any specific reason ??)

SrinathK
Posts: 2477
Joined: 13 Jan 2013, 16:10

Re: bhUpALam

Post by SrinathK »

Retunitis - It happened a lot more than we thought...

ajaysimha
Posts: 831
Joined: 19 Apr 2018, 18:16

Re: bhUpALam

Post by ajaysimha »

SrinathK wrote: 28 Jan 2019, 18:53 Retunitis - It happened a lot more than we thought...
:D :D

when i ask such questions on returning to some people,
their reply will be: "feel happy, that the krithi or music is not frozen, but still available."

but i feel authentic-ness of that composition will be totally lost.

SrinathK
Posts: 2477
Joined: 13 Jan 2013, 16:10

Re: bhUpALam

Post by SrinathK »

Retunings are touchy things. A handful managed to surpass the original product, as an example bhAvayAmi raghurAmam, but that is assuming of course that the original version still existed. Some retunings are the results of attempts to recover the authentic versions as far as possible. Some retunings happened because the music of those times simply does not exist any more.

Other than these, there is one more type of retuning - the arbitrary one. I can't tell you how many compositions got watered down due to this.

MaheshS
Posts: 1186
Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 22:36

Re: bhUpALam

Post by MaheshS »

SrinathK wrote: 28 Jan 2019, 21:08 Other than these, there is one more type of retuning - the arbitrary one. I can't tell you how many compositions got watered down due to this.
Hey Srinath, interesting enough to warrant it's own thread I think. IIRC there was something similar a few years ago ...

SrinathK
Posts: 2477
Joined: 13 Jan 2013, 16:10

Re: bhUpALam

Post by SrinathK »

deena janAvana was the only Thyagaraja kriti I could find in bhUpALam - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ULK_Guf25I

It's BMK, so expect it to be light.

bhakthim dehi
Posts: 539
Joined: 24 Feb 2014, 21:28

Re: bhUpALam

Post by bhakthim dehi »

Bhupalam and Revaguti are twins like Vasanta-Lalitha who are frequently mistaken. In the older texts, especially texts mentioning about the kritis of Swati Tirunal, this confusion is more pronounced. They mention it as Bhupalam and the svara variety match with Revagupti. So a musician singing such a kriti in Revagupti is correct.

bhakthim dehi
Posts: 539
Joined: 24 Feb 2014, 21:28

Re: bhUpALam

Post by bhakthim dehi »

It's BMK, so expect it to be light.
Can you please explain what made you to say this statement ?
Last edited by bhakthim dehi on 01 Feb 2019, 10:54, edited 1 time in total.

SrinathK
Posts: 2477
Joined: 13 Jan 2013, 16:10

Re: bhUpALam

Post by SrinathK »

I haven't forgotten that time when he sang an entire concert (including the main kalyANi) with zero gamakas and 100% rubato in the kalapanswaras (the kalapramana accelerated and slowed like a car driving on a track).

That doesn't mean I don't think he was a once in a generation genius - oh he was a different order of genius, but sometimes he was just too different.

bhakthim dehi
Posts: 539
Joined: 24 Feb 2014, 21:28

Re: bhUpALam

Post by bhakthim dehi »

Accepted.

If rendered with excessive gamakam which is not necessary, how will you call that as ?
Last edited by bhakthim dehi on 01 Feb 2019, 13:34, edited 1 time in total.

rajeshnat
Posts: 9906
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

Re: bhUpALam

Post by rajeshnat »

bhakthim dehi wrote: 31 Jan 2019, 20:31 Bhupalam and Revaguti are twins like Vasanta-Lalitha who are frequently mistaken. In the older texts, especially texts mentioning about the kritis of Swati Tirunal, this confusion is more pronounced. They mention it as Bhupalam and the svara variety match with Revagupti. So a musician singing such a kriti in Revagupti is correct.
Bhakthi dehi,
Atleast for the lakshya trained ears Bhupalam always has a tinge of subhapantuvarali. Most of the movies which usually have an aural drop with sunrise wrongly tag that tune as bhupAlam . All along in 80's to 2004 or so till internet forum was there , i was thinking that sunrise aural flute drop is bhupalam. Till some body educated that raga is actually bowli. The confusion aurally is more in disambiguating bowli and another raga revagupti. I would see the near identical twins are only revagupti and bowli and not a bit related cousin bhupalam.

bhakthim dehi
Posts: 539
Joined: 24 Feb 2014, 21:28

Re: bhUpALam

Post by bhakthim dehi »

I would see the near identical twins are only revagupti and bowli and not a bit related cousin bhupalam.
You are correct.

I just quoted a textual reference wherein you see interchanged raga names.

SrinathK
Posts: 2477
Joined: 13 Jan 2013, 16:10

Re: bhUpALam

Post by SrinathK »

There is even a varnam by Swati Tirunal in bhUpALam. http://www.swathithirunal.in/htmlfile/274.htm

Post Reply