murchana of ragams sung in madhyama sruthi

[CHELLAM]

is there a site where I can listen to the arohanam and avarohanam for ragas (sung in madhyama sruthi only)?
example: ragas like kurunji/punnagavarali/nadanama kriya/senchuruti ...

thanking in advance

[VK RAMAN]

what is the difference between murchana and madhyama. Why a certain song is sung in madhyama?

[arunk]

VKRaman Sir,

murchana of the raga is simply the order of scale: e.g. say for any melakarta, the murchana is s r g m p d n s (and s n d p m g r s)
One could then say the "ri murchana" is r g m p d n s r', or say "ni murchana" is n s r g p m d n.

For ragas sung in madhyama sruthi, the murchana is one that not go all the way to upper sa (like the ni murchana above). This means that (only in the context of these ragas) you cannot sing higher than high swara (or lower than the low swara), and thus basically the swaras in the murchana form the melodic range. This obviously does not apply to regular ragas, where one can sing in tara stayi and mandra stayi freely.

Nadanamakriya is basically based on (as in it I believe has other key prayogas to give rise to its color) the ni murchana of mayamalavagaula: n3 s r1 g3 m1 p d1 n3. Thus you cannot sing above madyama stayi ni and below mandra stayi ni - basically melody is limited to this range.

Singing in ths limited melodic range with most of it in madya statyi may sound too "low"/"understated", and thus we sing in the madhyama sruthi suited for our voice - which basically raises the sruthi. So I sing at C, if I sing in C-madhyama sruthi, basically I am singing in F sruthi, which normally I wont be able handle tara-range, but for these ragas you dont have to go high - but the song sounds "brighter" because of the higher effective sruthi.

Arun

[VK RAMAN]

Thank you arunk for this lucid explanation.

[vasanthakokilam]

Arun, excellent. Clarity abound. Previously I was thinking of Murchana as synonymous with Aro/Ava and now I see the difference and how that can be used to explain the reason for the F sruthi.

Your post reminded me to write about a project I have been thinking about for a while ( we can move this part to a separate thread if and when necessary. This is a side bar here.) The lack of coherence and clarity in CM terminology, in common usage and in print, is bothersome and pitiful. The real issue is that these inconsistencies make people subconsciously paint the whole field as too complex and incomprehensible. Explanations like yours above make me think we can do something about this.

The idea is to separate the good from the bad, so to speak. I think we should start a thread/wiki/blog where collectively we create three sections.

First section will contain items and concepts about which there is no controversy or inconsistency for which we can write explanations with maximum clarity with no 'ifs' and 'buts'.

Second section will contain items and concepts that are notorious for their inconsistent usage but where we can explain clearly the multiple meanings and context of usage etc. Examples of the second list: The notorious ones like Akshara/Matra (this is the royalty among such confusions) , naDai/Gathi (same or different), kAlam ( is it tempo or speed? ) etc. Also, items here can be the number of gamakas that exist and the maddening use of the word 'gamaka' as one of the types of 'gamaka' (Really? Come on, our scholarly ancestors! ).

Though items in the first list is large, our contribution there is one of clarity. Clear explanations of them which majority of people can understand. We will rather leave out stuff that can not be explained clearly than include them for the sake of completeness ( which is not the goal of this project). In this section, we need to avoid unnecessary use of Sanskrit words where a simpler way of stating them will suffice. Don't say ' Rishaba Daivatha varja Audava/Daivatha varja Shadavaa raga' (What?) when you can easily state it as '5 in ascent(no Ri, Dha)/6 in descent(no D)'. This is not to discourage use of Sanskrit words but use it where it does not distract from easy understandability.

The third section is the parking lot where it does not belong in 1 or 2 (consistent usage but hard to explain clearly, inconsistent usage but hard to explain clearly the inconsistencies and context of usage etc.)

We have to guard the section 1 with maximal care. When in doubt, do not include in section 1.

What do you all think?

[arasi]

Super Idea and lay out. Will certainly help peasants like me--more so, the young aspirants of music who can sing all right, but find it even more difficult than us to deal with sanskrit and tamizh terms which have been around too long without much of clarity to many of us.

The first word which comes to me is bANi (as kolu has become golu?). pANI (hand, and so handling, is my guess). kaiyyALum vidam...? Style?

Once you experts are ready, you can have a reference for such terms, explained simply, as in a dictionary.

[SrinathK]

I have so far heard the following ragas in Madhyama Sruthi :

1) Senchurutti
2) Nadanamakriya
3) Kurinji
4) Navroj
5) Yadukula Kambhoji
6) Punnagavarali
7) Yaman
8) Yamuna Kalyani
9) SIvaranjani
10) Pahaadi
11) Bhaanu Dhanyaasi
12) Thillang
13) Viswapriya
14) Tarangini
15) Manirangu
16) Kaapi / Dhana Kaapi
17) Hamir Kalyani
18) Piloo and (Mishra) varieties
19) Ahir Bhairav
20) Sindhu Bhairavi

Would be happy to know if there are more. Also there seems to be a trend to sing some Hindustani ragas in Madhyama Sruthi.

[CHELLAM]

TKS TO ALL FOR ALL THE INFORMATION
BUT IS THERE AUDIO SITE WHERE WE CAN LISTEN TO THE ARO/AVA OF THESE RAGAS?

[harimau]

I have so far heard the following ragas in Madhyama Sruthi :

1) Senchurutti
2) Nadanamakriya
3) Kurinji
4) Navroj
5) Yadukula Kambhoji
6) Punnagavarali
7) Yaman
8) Yamuna Kalyani
9) SIvaranjani
10) Pahaadi
11) Bhaanu Dhanyaasi
12) Thillang
13) Viswapriya
14) Tarangini
15) Manirangu
16) Kaapi / Dhana Kaapi
17) Hamir Kalyani
18) Piloo and (Mishra) varieties
19) Ahir Bhairav
20) Sindhu Bhairavi

Would be happy to know if there are more. Also there seems to be a trend to sing some Hindustani ragas in Madhyama Sruthi.

What with folks not much of a vocal range getting into the singing business, in another 20 years time, all ragas will turn into madhyama sruthi ragas!

[vasanthakokilam]