Dear Rasikas,
Have any of you felt at any time that the famous AIR signal standyby tune by Lord Yehudi Mehuhin drew inspiration from or at least has a striking semblance to our own Vijayanagari ragam? I've gotten this idea several times especially when I listen to Sri MMI's raga alapana followed by TNK's response preceding his mind-blowing Vijayambike. Would love to know if someone else thought along my same lines.....
Thanks bilahari and kyiyer for responding. Maybe I am a makku For those of you who would like to listen to the tune and draw some comparison between that and phrases in TNK's alapanai, here is the link:
The AIR signature tune is commonly thought of as Sivaranjani ( I think ).
If we go by Vijayanagari as S R2 G2 M2 P D2 S - S D2 P M2 G2 R2 S
Obviously uttaranga similarity and the partial purvanga similarity will bring them close in some prayogas when they cross quadrants : e.g P D2 S R2 G2, G2 R2 S D2 P region.
The signature tune probably wanders in this region more, hence the similarity you observed.
I am not good with swara identification, so hopefully what TNK plays corroborates what I have written above.
Even in Vijayambike we can sense the similarity in some places though the raga vijayanagari as a whole is quite diferent from Sivarajani. D2 P M2 G2 and G2 M2 P D2 makes a whole world of difference compared to D2 P G2 and G2 P D2.
The purvanga in isolation is a stretch but plausible. It is a bit of a dangerous business to stick my neck out on these raga lakshayam/lakshanam matters but let me try.
M2 G2 R2 S can sound similar to ( in the neighborhood but not the same as ) P G2 R2 S . The big jump from P to G2 ( 4 semitones ) and the subsequent small jump ( 1 semitone ) from G2 to R2 characterizes the pathos that is inherent in Sivaranjani. Instead of P if you use M2, it is smaller jump ( 3 semitones ) but M2 has its own way of inducing pathos. Try it a few times: P G2 and M G2 . Similar aesthetics.
To be sure, this reasoning for the purvanga above only works on the descent. On the Ascent, with S R2 G2 M2, it is hard to not sound like Ranjani ( not surprisingly ), you have to have S R2 G2 P to get that sivaranjani effect.
There is a raga hEmapriya S R2 G2 M2 D2 S - S D2 M2 G2 R2 S
It will be interesting to hear its aesthetics and melodic flavor on the descent compared to S D2 P G2 R2 S . In my initial straight note attempts, they are close but quite discernible. (Again the ascent is very much in the Ranjani camp which is to be expected )
listen to an elaborate vocal rendering that I picked up in my recent trip to some lesser known ( in music circles ) parts of Karnataka . In Hindusthani mode Artist : Ashok Huggannanavar
fascinating stuff indeed
I till now think the AIR's signature tune is Sivaranjani.Once MSG played it while replying to a ragamalika in a Maharajapuram Santhanam's concert.The crowd spontaneously cheered.I remember even Santhanam used to sing this tune in his Sivaranjani expositions.He might have been inspired by MSG.
For those of you who would like to listen to the tune and draw some comparison between that and phrases in TNK's alapanai, here is the link: