How do You appreciate CM?

drshrikaanth · Post by **drshrikaanth** » 11 Jul 2005, 03:07

Heard the lecdem. I am posting my reflections on this.
The lecdem is very nice- simple yet informative. He has given a very nice introducton to kOtIswara Iyer and inspiraton for him to compose these songs and why he chose his mudre. A very pertinent point he makes is on the free use of sanskrit words in his kRtis thus keeping solely melody and beauty in mind rather than worrying abou using pure tamizh words. I was touched by Iyer`s humility despite being such a great man when he says "I neither know sanskrit nor tamizh nor even music or literature"in vAraNa mukhavA. It was interesting that tyAgarAja appeared in Iyer`s dream and directed him to compose.
tumbida koDa tuLukOlla (kannaDa proverb meaning full vessels do not spill)
Rajam clearly brings out the special points in iyer`s kRtis such as weaving the rAga name skilfully in the sAhitya and also use of madhyama Sruti in 6 of his kRtis. Rajam also gives details of the variety of Iyer`s compositions in terms of types, rAgas and tALas. He gives clear statistics on number of kRtis in each tALa. He has also chosen kRtis in different tALas do bring out their beauty.

He has made relevant comments on vivAdi mELas and swaras. It is indeed true that musicians had blindly avoided singing 4 mELas as they were said to have the vivAdi dOSha. This is particularly strange as neither dIkShitar nor tyAgarAja had such misconceptions and freely used these rAgas. But what he did not mention was that both skilfully handled the vivAdi rAgas so as to avoid the vivAditva from creeping in- as in using vakra prayOgas, jaNTi prayOgas or dIrgha swaras or using specific gamakas. It is probably worth recalling here that not all the sampUrNa mELas were meant to be rAgas and venkaTamakhi clearly does not call them rAgas nor does he claim that they all have equal melodic potential.
Rajam has nicely brought to our attention the nice and judicious use of swarAkSharas (kanakAngi, cakravAka, kharaharapriya etc). He also neatly brings out the usefulness of composing ciTTeswaras.;- they serve to show the rAga sancAra and prayOgas.
Iyer`s grip on the language is powerful yet gentle. His sAhitya is beautiful in many places.
Rajam`s rendition of kRtis aptly underlined the relevant points.

When I heard the gamanasrama kRti, I was struck by the similarity with "paralOka sAdhanamE" of tyAgarAja in pUrvikalyANi. The meaning and use of words run on similar lines. The contrast is "Shamukham" is sung as giving iha sukha while rAmabhajane is "paralOka sAdhana". But the caraNa talks about crossing the bhavasAgara just as in "paralOka sAdhanamE"

Here are some errors that I noticed.
1)In the list of rAgas Rajam mentions as not having any songs in them previously, he also takes vanaspati. But vansapati has a composition of SrI tyAgarAja-pariyAcakamA.

2) In the lis of vivAdi swaras he mentions Suddha RShabha(R1) but thi is not a vivAdi swara.

3)When talking about nAganandini, he says it has caturaSruti dhaivata (D2) but this has ShaTSruti dhaivata D3. This may be beacuse of some editing of the tape. He also says dIkShitar has composed in this rAga. In dIkShitar`s pantha the rAga is nAgAbharaNa which is not a sampUrNa rAga.

4)When talking about calanATa, he specifies that it is a ubhayakrama sampUrNa rAga and says dIKShitar has also composed in this rAga. This is incorrect. The calanATa of dIkShitar has the following scale
SRGMPDNS | SNPMMRi--S ||
Even the dhaivata in the ArOhaNa is only sparsely used and thus by and large, is not very noticeably different from nATa.

5) He mentions dIkShitar equivalent of nItimati as niShAda. This is niShadha.

6) One point he mentioned has been bothering me. Very early in the lecdem he says, R2 was introduced by venkaTamakhi and was not there before that time. I think this is incorrect and that R2 has been around for a very long time but G1(=R2) was introduced by venkatamakhi.

I also wish he had mentioned that many composers have since composed in all the 72 mELakartas rather than sayimg no one else has composed.
Altogether a very informative lecdem which is easy to understand.

kannan · Post by **kannan** » 11 Jul 2005, 08:56

Dr Srikanth,
Thanks for a wonderful review of the lec-dem. I learnt a lot from the review too

... Sri S.Rajam has whetted my appetite for meLakartas. I am waiting with bated breath for the lec-dems by Sri SRJ. Hoping that dhavalangi puts it up some time soon

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 12 Jul 2005, 00:58

Thanks DRS
for that objective review. It adds value to the lecdem. Rajam Iyer is currently the living authority on Koteeswara Iyer. Strangely he claims to have only been a passive observer

However his exposition of the kritis are quite authoritative.

It will be nice if you can explain in simple terms the meaning and controversy regarding the vivadi ragas under the 'music jargon'. Thanks again

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 12 Jul 2005, 05:07

Rajam Iyer is currently

should be "S Rajam is currently....
(since we also have b rajam iyer)

poongavur · Post by **poongavur** » 12 Jul 2005, 05:49

kannan, FYI: a lec-dem on gamakas by SRJ is available at rasikapriya.com

kannan · Post by **kannan** » 12 Jul 2005, 07:38

Thanks! Seems like a very good lec-dem 8)

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 14 Jul 2005, 20:40

I am listening to the lec-dem on gamakA's: Excellent! THANKS are due to the perons who u/led this and to poongavur/davalangi/ashwin for bringing to the notice of this group. SRJ is phenomanally erudite.
Question for Ashwin/davalangi/cmlji: what is the source/composer of the 'slOkam' that Prof SRJ sings as a viruththam at the start? The one that gives the requirements for 'music': i.e.: BAva, rAga, thALa..etc..
THANKS.
Ravi

kannan · Post by **kannan** » 14 Jul 2005, 20:47

I think he said it was the mangala shloka of "sangIta ratnakara" by shAr~nga-deva.

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 14 Jul 2005, 20:50

THANKS. I must have missed that!
Ravi

KNV · Post by **KNV** » 10 Jan 2009, 23:25

A freind of mine who knows nothing about CM asked me this question after attending a concert at MA during Music Season. I dragged him to the concert. This is what I said. The process starts with listening to good HM before going to bed for some time regularly. Say Bhimsin Joshi or any good HM music. Just get your ears tuned to classical music without sahityam, swaram etc. After a month I told him to listen to MS cassettes. Then I gave him a MDR concert. He wanted some more. Now he has a large collection of almost all old timers. It is 5 years now. He comes evry year for the season from Mumbai. He can identify almost all common ragas, composers name from the Song. He doesn't have tala gnam. But he is a sensitive listener & he cannot stand off key singing. Now he says CM is more enjoyable than HM & cannot stand bang bang music. He is 50 years old. Is it a good formula to develop a quality taste in CM.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 10 Jan 2009, 23:47

KNV,
You have revived this thread after nearly four years and have given some effective suggstions in bringing more to the fold of CM.

VK RAMAN · Post by **VK RAMAN** » 11 Jan 2009, 03:57

Listening and repeated listening of various artists is a good start.

saramati · Post by **saramati** » 11 Jan 2009, 13:09

being an active member of the rasikas form, in itself would empower us to enjoy carnatic music better.

KNV · Post by **KNV** » 11 Jan 2009, 14:12

arasi

In my present assignement I am jobless! That explains my sudden appearance. I even forgot my password & had to generate one. I love CM. But like RK Laxman says there are specimen rasikas who sit in the concert & start analysing the music the way they want it to be. They don't enjoy the music & end up feeling miserable. I am one of those specimens. Are u the same Arasi who has composed some songs.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 12 Jan 2009, 10:47

KNV,
In this forum, there are many whose knowledge about music amazes me. Some, in all its spheres, others in particular areas. There are those who have knowledge in sciences and the arts which adds to their worth. Go to the thread Insider's Perspective to the Limitations of CM to see what I am driving at.
Though mature in my years, I am a primary school student here. I am not trained in music or in its theory. Coming of a musical family and listening to music all my life are my only qualifications. rasikatvam is the badge I wear, as someone who feels nourished by music, loving good music which makes life such a pleasant journey. The songs are born out of the joy that music brings. Genes help too!

KNV · Post by **KNV** » 12 Jan 2009, 15:04

Arasi

You have not answered my query. Sujatha Vijayaragavan's daughter Sumitra Nitin sang a viruttam in Tamil at NGS a year back & announced the composer as Arasi. It was impressive. Till this date I was under the impression that it was a composition of her mother. Is it your composition? I agree with all your observations.

sridhar_ranga · Post by **sridhar_ranga** » 12 Jan 2009, 17:08

KNV

Suggest you go through the thread on Arasi under the vaggeyakara section.

http://rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php? ... shnan.html

Yes, we are privileged to have the same person in our forum. Cheers.