Neglected rAgams of late

[ganeshkant]

Have any of you come across or heard Ranjani in the recent past?I think I am going through the reviews with
care and attention and I have not found any mention of this rAgam in print or in our forum !.Out of the thousands of concerts in Dec'10 I doubt whether I heard or read as any artist performed this rAgam.Why so?

We are repeatedly hearing only a few rAgams in the pratthi-madhyamam side.

Not only Ranjani also Saraswathi and VijayanAgari.

Rather what I am hearing is an overdose of PurvikalyAni,PantuvarAli,HamsanAdam(varada)and of course Amritavarshini.Chandrajyoti and JothiswarUpini occasionally appear.

Is it due to lack of demand from the rasikas?

[mohan]

Yes, prati madhyama ragas are under-represented in concert repertoires. The trinity has composed mainly in Kalyani, PurvikalyAni and PantuvarAli.
There are relatively few compositions in other prati madhyama ragas but we often hear Shanmughapriya, Lathangi and Simhendra Madhyamam. Hence, while a musician would learn perhaps 10 or more compositions in a raga like Kambhoji or Bhairavi, she can only learn perhaps 3 or 4 in Saraswati or Ranjani.

The prati madhyama melakarta ragas also have relatively fewer janya ragas compared to ragas such as Harikamboji, Kharaharapriya and Sankarabharanam, which have numerous popular janyas.

[arasi]

Ganeshkant,
I haven't heard vijaynAgari in a while, but ranjani and sarasvati, yes!

[satyabalu]

"The prati madhyama melakarta ragas also have relatively fewer janya ragas compared to ragas such as Harikamboji, Kharaharapriya and Sankarabharanam, which have numerous popular janyas."
Can we analyse why this feature?

[mohan]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Janya_Ragas may be of assistance. See how many janyas are listed under melas 22, 28 and 29 in particular!

[ganeshkant]

Ganeshkant,
I haven't heard vijaynAgari in a while, but ranjani and sarasvati, yes!

May be ! But I still feel Ranjani is not appearing in the frequency it deserves.I have heard RTP in Ranjani in the 80s by TVS.Especially I love DunmArgachara in this rAgam;what a great meaning.

But I do agree that MandhAri and Kumaudhakriya surface occasionally.

[arasi]

Ganeshkant,
I think Ranjani and Gayatri have sung RTPs (rAgamAlikA ones) in ranjani. Our Suryaprakash too.
dunmArga charA, I've not heard in a long while. I love a sarasvati when I hear it and yes, not many sing it.

[mohan]

I think Ranjani and Gayatri have sung RTPs (rAgamAlikA ones) in ranjani.
... I love a sarasvati when I hear it and yes, not many sing it.

They sang a Ranjani RTP in Sydney a couple of years ago. Also, I heard a Saraswati RTP last month (local artist concert)

[ganeshkant]

Yesterday night around 8 p.m I was just strolling near KothandarAmar kovil,West MAmbalam and went into the temple attracted by the melody of the nAgaswaram.Summer utsavam is going on it seems.A young boy by name Ashok beautifully played HMB's VijayAmbilkE in VijayanAhari after a short AlApanai.I greeted the young vidwan.

Two days before I was just thinking whether there is any varnam in kApi and today morning one Mrs.SAnthi MahEsh(kAraikudi)played a varnam in the 7 a.m F.M Gold concert.I missed the composer's name which started with Kunnakkudy....

Sure..Some telepathy is working!

[vasanthakokilam]

gAyatri related posts moved to : http://www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=16535

[ganeshkant]

Again telepathy working out for me.Yesterday (19.05.11),the 7 a.m F.M Gold concert was by Palghat R.Ramprasad (grand son of Palghat Shri Mani Iyer).The main itself was Ranjani and the song was DunmArgachara.But I was not that satisfied in spite of his fertile voice.The svarams were sung nicely but he mispronounced the telugu sAhityam at a few places.Any way some thing is better than nothing.

[shashikiran]

Dear Ganeshkant
We sang RTP's in each of the ragas mentioned in the december season and even in our current tour and for Saraswathi pallaVI the ragamalikas included ragam like saraswathi manohari, vijayasaraswathi etc....and I did hear other artistes also sing or perform these but I do understand no rasika can be omnipresent and with over 4000 concerts in dec it is tough to keep a tab. But there are other ragas which are not used much like Ragapancharam, Simhavahini, Kokiladhwani etc which can are so beautiful...

[mahavishnu]

Sri Shashikiran: Welcome to the forum after a long hiatus!
If you sing an RTP in Simhavahini anywhere in the world, please give me one week's advance notice and I will fly over for the kutcheri!

But you are right, it is impossible to be in so many kutcheris at once. So, in our limited sampling we feel like there are trends out there or ragas that are not sung often enough. Neither of which may actually be true.

While I have heard kokiladhwani, either in the form of the brisk "koniyAde" (quite often) and "toli nEnu jEsina" (on the rare occasion), I must confess that I have never heard/heard of Ragapancharam. Even Kokilaravam or kokilavarali, which are probably less known, get some mileage in concerts by artistes like Sowmya.

[ganeshkant]

Thanks Shashikiran for your clarification.I am glad that you sang the ragas mentioned by me and I request you to sing the other rAgams mentioned by you.

[satyabalu]

*How about Sowrashtram? I donot see many compositions in this Raga save Sri Ganapathe, Ninnuchuchi, Ranganathude..While RTPs are there in Suryakantham, Gamanasrama I find this Raga is not given elaborate treatment in concerts.

[shashikiran]

Thanks all. Will try to sing some of these raga and more such. I am of the opinion that while the RTP s in these ragas are interesting by themselves and brings the talent and abilities of an individual musician in a given context, for these ragas to get more prominence and for a student to understandthe nuances of these ragas, we need more compositions and first and foremost a varnam will help in getting the classic pidis or documenting the raga structure better and for posterity. Ofcourse, the existing compositions should also be sung more often.
Dear Satyabalu, Balamurali sang a brilliant Gamanasrama pallavi. It is the 53rd melakarta and is almost similar to the more popular Purvikalyani which is sung so often. But yes I also think Sowrashtram is a bit under used considering the majesty of the raga and how popular it should have been seeing the number of songs in it by just Tyagaraga. Bhagavathamela also uses it so much.

[sruthi]

Haven't heard a Nayaki RTP as yet. (Darbar does figure in the 4-raga RTP popularised by Ariyakudi.)

[viswanathmysore]

We are repeatedly hearing only a few rAgams in the pratthi-madhyamam side.
What does "We" mean here ?
Try Concerts in Mysore and Bangalore . May help solve your problems .Kerala too.

[satyabalu]

"Dear Satyabalu, Balamurali sang a brilliant Gamanasrama pallavi. It is the 53rd melakarta'-Shashikiran wrote.
*I will try to listen. But not to forget MLV RTP in the same raga -Sangeetha audio tapes-