What's the raga? Again

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 01 Jul 2009, 02:03

http://sunson.wordpress.com/2009/06/30/ ... c-music-1/

Note - NO games (like the TKR sample) in this one

- Also, not really meant to be a quiz. I just like "rare treats" of a special kind like this one, and thought I would share it. And in this case, the guessing game made sense. Note that the answer is also right there on the blog - albeit (hopefully!) "hidden".

Again, if possible comment on the blog.

Arun

ragam-talam · Post by **ragam-talam** » 01 Jul 2009, 03:06

Arun, good one. You should have chopped off the violin part at the end. That made it much easier for me to identify the raga! Not sure about the artiste though.

Btw, a small request: can you change the titles of your "Whats the raga" threads to "What's the raga" please! It's driving me crazy reading the repeated (mis)use of Whats.
Many thanks.

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 01 Jul 2009, 03:11

The artist info is included in the answer part.

Oops. I don't know how to edit the title (??)

Arun

{mod note: Edited. You can change the title of the first post which is the title of the topic)

srikant1987 · Post by **srikant1987** » 02 Jul 2009, 22:17

Are you sure that this little phrase belongs to absolutely no other raga? It seems cut even before the second swara is finished properly. I don't even get time to hear the shruti properly.

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 02 Jul 2009, 22:24

srikant - perhaps there was an audio problem on your side i.e. w.r.t browser connection etc.

The alapana (including violinist response) is like 3 minutes long. Please try again.

Arun

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 02 Jul 2009, 22:42

Arun, I got a lot of feel of that 'close' sampoorna raga and also enough indications that it is NOT that raga. After the "reveal", I did not feel too bad since though I know the song in that raga I do not have a good conception of that raga but I am glad I was in the ball park. One downer about my own perception is I got the feel of another raga which has the highly oscillating N in 'P N S' but turned out it was an oscillating 'P D S' with possibly N thrown in around that prayoga...

srikant1987 · Post by **srikant1987** » 03 Jul 2009, 08:54

@ arunk

The problem persists.

Can I just get another download of this, this raga isn't very commonly heard ...

Jigyaasa · Post by **Jigyaasa** » 03 Jul 2009, 13:52

For the first ~10 seconds I was thinking pUrNashaDjam although identifying it as one of the Alathur bros wasn't an issue. He kept oscillating the gAndhAram as in sa ri ma ga(ma ga ma...) which was kinda confusing. The violinist hasn't done this in his solo and even while following the artiste, he's been "reluctant" to treat it that way. I was in fact wondering if this is allowed because I've heard other AlApanas of _________ and have never found the ga-based gamaka.

Once the ascent to shaDjam and thereabouts was achieved, I could ascertain _________. Personally I felt the violinist's version was a better and more lucid portrayal of the rAga despite being shorter.

All of these are based on what lil I know... Sorry if there are any errors...

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 03 Jul 2009, 16:15

I have no idea what is kosher or not kosher in this raga since I have not heard - but when I heard it the first time, I was able to get it (but mainly based on one phrase where it mirrors the song). Can you please post audio of other alapanas?

Srikant - (i guess the cat is out of the bag) - I shall make arrangements for a download - perhaps a download link as well. (Updated: I have added a download link)

Thanks
Arun

ragam-talam · Post by **ragam-talam** » 03 Jul 2009, 20:12

Arun, just noticed the 'view text' feature at your blog. That's nifty! Curious, how does that work?

Salaga bhairavi borders on Karna ranjani at times, so has to handled with care.

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 04 Jul 2009, 00:38

I know this song, but I'm not so familiar with the raga itself. The first part sounded familiar in parts but almost vivadi-esque in others and I was quite confused until 2:00+. The violinist (TNK?) played a very concise and definitive sketch. Here's an illuminating alapanai in sAlagabhairavi by SSI and TNK (notice the violinist uses the same types of ascending and descending patterns as he does in this alapanai): http://www.sendspace.com/file/luwwuc

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 04 Jul 2009, 21:11

bilahari - Thanks. I am not well versed to compare the two although to me SSI's seemed a lot more khaharapriyaesque). Judging by the stature of all musicians involved I would be less willing to deem an Alathur rendition as "less authentic" - particularly if I am right that this is Alathur Subramanya Iyer (generally he handled the more subtle ragas, while Srinivasa Iyer's powerful voice was apt for the powerful bhairavi's, kambhoi etc.). But then I am certainly a biased Alathur fan

r-t : Its actually very very simple. Simple make the text the same or very close to the background. This would make them unreadable by default (although users can ask browsers to ignore colors specific by pages - but that is rare). When you select, the computer changes the background and foreground to a different set - and that is usually configured to be readable.

Arun

ragam-talam · Post by **ragam-talam** » 04 Jul 2009, 23:10

Arun, thanks for the explanation. Very clever!
Btw, any chance the x-word puzzle will be revived at all?

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 05 Jul 2009, 19:55

r-t: Yes - I havent forgotten about that. My interest in it is starting to rise

- (although not sure if I can keep up one per week). I will try to put one up real soon.

Arun

Jigyaasa · Post by **Jigyaasa** » 06 Jul 2009, 22:35

arunk wrote:Can you please post audio of other alapanas?

I'm so sorry, it's been recorded on a cassette n I haven't digitized it...

arunk wrote: Srikant - (i guess the cat is out of the bag)

I'm sorry again. I can't believe I gave it away in my absorption with posting. I realised only after reading this, abt being a 'spoiler'. For what it's worth, I've edited it

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 06 Jul 2009, 22:41

No problem. I mean after a while it is sort of not as useful to keep it hidden. Makes also our conversations here somewhat unnatural

Arun

uday_shankar · Post by **uday_shankar** » 07 Jul 2009, 06:21

arunk wrote:(generally he handled the more subtle ragas, while Srinivasa Iyer's powerful voice was apt for the powerful bhairavi's, kambhoi etc.)

Other way round. Alathoor Shivasubramania Iyer had the more powerful and dominating voice while Srinivasa Iyer had a feebler voice but arguably a more nuanced approach to music. All in all excellent music.

Apart from voice, there's also personalty issues. I suspect Shivasubramania Iyer was the more flamboyant and readily expressive. He was the younger of the 2, being born in 1916 to Srinivasa Iyer's 1908. When the MA conferred Shivasubramania Iyer with the SK title in 1964, he protested in characteristic fashion saying that either Srinivasa Iyer should be given the SK first or both of them should get it. A compromise was worked out wherein the MA promised to confer it on Srinivasa Iyer the very next year. And they did.

srikant1987 · Post by **srikant1987** » 07 Jul 2009, 08:02

@ Uday_Shankar
I think arunk is comparing Alathur (Shiva)subramania Iyer to Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer.

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 07 Jul 2009, 08:12

thanks uday. I got them mixed up amongst other things. I did mean Alathur Srinivasa Iyer here and I had it right on the blog (btw am I right that it is him here? I am not very sure)

Srikant - no it was which of the duo sang this alapana

Arun