Deja vu all over again !
The familiar narrative on the prati-M usages in Smara Sundaranguni has been recounted with a flourish -- Semmangudi learns from Brindamma, eschews the prati-M, is upbraided by her, and then toes the party line... so goes the hagiography !
But there seems to be something unaccounted for and I am hoping that someone can talk to Smt. Vegavauhini, Smt.Ritha Rajan, Spencer Venugopal, PSNarayanaswami, and ask them why Ramnad Krishnan, T.M.Thiagarajan, Voleti Venkateswarulu etc sing it differently. These folks can weigh in on why RK and TMT didn't toe the line.
(There is an absolutely ravishing rendition of this jAvaLi by Ramnad Krishnan on Sangeethapriya -- look for a rendition that runs about 4:11 minutes and is a very nice recording... almost in a chamber setting, as it were... not the regular concert one with Lalgudi/PMI, other accompanists etc)
As for Voleti, his usage of "smarasundaranguniki" seems to be a give away -- at least that is my guess -- that he may have learnt it from the Rangaramanuja Iyengar tradition. At least in one public interview/writeup, he says that he has learnt over 200 compositions from RRI's Kritimanimaalai. Now RRI mentions very sharply that the usage of prati-M in Paras is tantamount to pAmaratvam. I was completely bowled over when I read this because this is the man who adored, idealized, and "idolized" Veena Dhanammal -- IF he had heard her render it in this fashion, I cannot believe that he would have added this remark in KMM. Unfortunately his daughter Smt.Padma Varadan is no more, else I would have checked with her.
I have heard this jAvaLi close to a hundred times and keep scratching my head as to the why/when/who/how of this... seems utterly unnecessary and unaesthetic !
-Srini.
Smara Sundaranguni Redux
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annamalai
- Posts: 355
- Joined: 23 Nov 2006, 07:01
Re: Smara Sundaranguni Redux
I listened to this piece, what a serene rendition Ramnad Krishnan, superb, superb. There is also another recording of Ramnad Krishnan (just tambura, sans accompaniment) - Neevera Kula Dhanamu, Lavanya Rama etc. I love Ramnad's thin, malleable voice.
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Rsachi
- Posts: 5039
- Joined: 31 Aug 2009, 13:54
Re: Smara Sundaranguni Redux
Folks,
Here is a version, with mridangam by UKS. This was discussed before in the forum.
http://youtu.be/qXpp1tCI5ZY
Here is a version, with mridangam by UKS. This was discussed before in the forum.
http://youtu.be/qXpp1tCI5ZY
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keerthi
- Posts: 1309
- Joined: 12 Oct 2008, 14:10
Re: Smara Sundaranguni Redux
Srini,
This was one of the things on my 'to-ask' list, when I got in touch with Kshitija in September 2009; asking if I could meet Padma Varadan. Unfortunately Smt. Padma passed away in November [Or was it October] that year.
I don't have a concrete answer for your musing, but these points may be relevant.
1. When I interviewed Prof. Srikantam Nagendra shAstri, who learned over 200 javaLis from his grandfather and granduncle - Chintalapalli Venkata Rao and Chintalapalli Ramacandra Rao; I tried to play devil's advocate, and asked if the M2 phrase in smarasundarAnguni wasn't an aberration.
Shastri, who doesn't have any particular allegiance to the Dhanammal school insisted that this was how his Granduncle sang it. C.Ramacandra Rao was one of the early graduates of the Annamalai music department,and is said to have learnt this one from Sabhesha Iyer.
It may be useful to see if smarasundaranguni has been cut in any 78 rpm records, since I have noticed much change in musical settings of jAvaLis and even krtis, as a consequence of one or the other popular version cut as a record.
2. The jAvaLi defense
Will you accept that the musical setting of javaLis is much more relaxed in terms of adherence to lakSaNa, which is why we see sancAras reminescent of bihAg/ sankarAbharanam in the kamAs jAvaLi (apa)dUrukulOnaitinE?
The varNameTTu of the jAvaLi EmandunE sounds like kApi or mukhAri or saindhavi, depending on who sings it. And there are modern purveyors of rAga purity who fashion new labels like misra mukhAri to characterise this one.
3. The nature of Paraju as a rAga -
Notwithstanding the (sometimes) confused usage of the terms upAnga and bhASAnga in the SangIta sampradAya pradarshini; there is good reason to believe that many of the rAgas listed as bhASanga janyas of mALava gauLa, used a sharpened madhyama. Whether it is a cyuta pancama M, as explicitly mentioned in the cases of vasanta and mangaLakaishikA, or the unsaid but evident 'sharper-than-suddha-but-not-quite-prati' madhyama that leans heavily on the pancama used in the avarOha sancAras of savEri, gauDipantu, mAruva and even gauri. And there is the explicit pratimadhyama in mAlavapancama, rAmakali and mArgadEshi.
I have it on the good authority of the esteemed vaiNika Prof. Visweswaran, that his version of gauri girirAjakumAri has a single usage of pratimadhyama.
If we look at SubbarAma treatment of Paraju, it is fairly consistent with our contemporary understanding of the raga [in my opinion] unlike say, the case of sAvEri, where his lakSaNa description, is hard to reconcile with the different lakSya examples that even he furnishes.
There is an old [pretrinity] gavAy prabandha, dedicated to Tulaja, which is consonant with the Paraju lakSana seen in the four kRtis and the jAvaLi innALLa vale (which he calls a padam) notated by SD, as is the composition [a tillAna-daru?] dedicated to JagannAtha chetty in the prathamAbhyAsa-pustakamu.
I have left out the padam 'vaddaNTe viNTIvA', which SD notates in Paraju, but which we have received in PantuvarALi from two independent oral and at least one textual source.
The sum of these observations is that there are many ragas in the mAlavagauLa genus that use a sharpened Ma. Paraju could be subject to that, or even better, there may be a species of Paraju that uses the sharpened M.
To offer a piece of pUrvapakSa that I am unable counter, Brinda's and Mukta's treatment of nIlAyatAkSi, srIzukrabhagavantam, celi naenEtlu and emi jEyudu all eschew the pratimadhyamam. So it is no mere aberration.
About RangarAmAnuja Iyengar's unmitigated devotion towards Dhanammal. Yes, he worshipped her, but from his notations, it is clear that his first alleigance was to the composers; and there are mant instances wherein he has 'set right' what he percieved as mistakes in the Dhanam treatment. More examples can be found for this in the domain of the padams, than in the kRtis.
This was one of the things on my 'to-ask' list, when I got in touch with Kshitija in September 2009; asking if I could meet Padma Varadan. Unfortunately Smt. Padma passed away in November [Or was it October] that year.
I don't have a concrete answer for your musing, but these points may be relevant.
1. When I interviewed Prof. Srikantam Nagendra shAstri, who learned over 200 javaLis from his grandfather and granduncle - Chintalapalli Venkata Rao and Chintalapalli Ramacandra Rao; I tried to play devil's advocate, and asked if the M2 phrase in smarasundarAnguni wasn't an aberration.
Shastri, who doesn't have any particular allegiance to the Dhanammal school insisted that this was how his Granduncle sang it. C.Ramacandra Rao was one of the early graduates of the Annamalai music department,and is said to have learnt this one from Sabhesha Iyer.
It may be useful to see if smarasundaranguni has been cut in any 78 rpm records, since I have noticed much change in musical settings of jAvaLis and even krtis, as a consequence of one or the other popular version cut as a record.
2. The jAvaLi defense
Will you accept that the musical setting of javaLis is much more relaxed in terms of adherence to lakSaNa, which is why we see sancAras reminescent of bihAg/ sankarAbharanam in the kamAs jAvaLi (apa)dUrukulOnaitinE?
The varNameTTu of the jAvaLi EmandunE sounds like kApi or mukhAri or saindhavi, depending on who sings it. And there are modern purveyors of rAga purity who fashion new labels like misra mukhAri to characterise this one.
3. The nature of Paraju as a rAga -
Notwithstanding the (sometimes) confused usage of the terms upAnga and bhASAnga in the SangIta sampradAya pradarshini; there is good reason to believe that many of the rAgas listed as bhASanga janyas of mALava gauLa, used a sharpened madhyama. Whether it is a cyuta pancama M, as explicitly mentioned in the cases of vasanta and mangaLakaishikA, or the unsaid but evident 'sharper-than-suddha-but-not-quite-prati' madhyama that leans heavily on the pancama used in the avarOha sancAras of savEri, gauDipantu, mAruva and even gauri. And there is the explicit pratimadhyama in mAlavapancama, rAmakali and mArgadEshi.
I have it on the good authority of the esteemed vaiNika Prof. Visweswaran, that his version of gauri girirAjakumAri has a single usage of pratimadhyama.
If we look at SubbarAma treatment of Paraju, it is fairly consistent with our contemporary understanding of the raga [in my opinion] unlike say, the case of sAvEri, where his lakSaNa description, is hard to reconcile with the different lakSya examples that even he furnishes.
There is an old [pretrinity] gavAy prabandha, dedicated to Tulaja, which is consonant with the Paraju lakSana seen in the four kRtis and the jAvaLi innALLa vale (which he calls a padam) notated by SD, as is the composition [a tillAna-daru?] dedicated to JagannAtha chetty in the prathamAbhyAsa-pustakamu.
I have left out the padam 'vaddaNTe viNTIvA', which SD notates in Paraju, but which we have received in PantuvarALi from two independent oral and at least one textual source.
The sum of these observations is that there are many ragas in the mAlavagauLa genus that use a sharpened Ma. Paraju could be subject to that, or even better, there may be a species of Paraju that uses the sharpened M.
To offer a piece of pUrvapakSa that I am unable counter, Brinda's and Mukta's treatment of nIlAyatAkSi, srIzukrabhagavantam, celi naenEtlu and emi jEyudu all eschew the pratimadhyamam. So it is no mere aberration.
About RangarAmAnuja Iyengar's unmitigated devotion towards Dhanammal. Yes, he worshipped her, but from his notations, it is clear that his first alleigance was to the composers; and there are mant instances wherein he has 'set right' what he percieved as mistakes in the Dhanam treatment. More examples can be found for this in the domain of the padams, than in the kRtis.
About the unaesthetic part - You are entitled to your opinion, about the unnecessary part, whose business is it to prescribe that?I have heard this jAvaLi close to a hundred times and keep scratching my head as to the why/when/who/how of this... seems utterly unnecessary and unaesthetic !