Anusvaras - Lecdem by Guru Suguna Varadachari @ Parthasarathy Svami Sabha - 20 Dec 2015

[raviraj]

Gist :

1. what are anusvaras - no clear definition in given in texts nor is there uniformity of the same amongst musicologist/practitioners. There may probably be a clue to understanding this, as the word anu means to follow & therefore one might not be wrong in construing this as - to extend the frequency/aural range of a musical note to the adjacent svarasthana, without intoning or articulating the sargam of the note to which we are extending the original note. While gamaka will be an oscillation & can be notated , anuswara rendering can be differentiated and is not notated.

2. There has been an article on anusvaras by Smt Vidya Shankar in the MA Journal.

3. When we attempt to understand what could possibly be anusvaras, we see overlaps with the concept of gamakas - particularly jaru, kampita, sphurita, janta and orikkai. For an instrumentalist anusvaras are way of life as they have to use the hand or blow keeping the anusvaras in mind.

4. Anuswaras are the life blood of ragas and they are the ones which confer rakthi to a raga. In other words all our rakthi ragas employ anusvaras without exception. She sang Todi, Bhairavi, Kalyani, Sankarabharanam, Kambhoji, Begada, Surati, Sahana, Natakurinji, Reetigaula & Yadukulakambhoji to illustrate. She sang snatches from the Kambhoji ata tala varna, the Sankarabharanam padam 'maname bushanamu', Sankarabharanam tana varna 'Sami Ninne' and 'Viribhoni' in Bhairavi. She illustrated how the Dhanammal school 'deliberately' used anusvaras as a stylistic adornment in their raga vinyasas and kriti/padam renderings elevating the aural experience- even a simple phrase seemed extremely beautiful with the anusvara adornment.

5. Apart from gamakas , anusvaras are yet another adornment to a svara. You will hear frequency of the note but will not hear the performer enunciating it. Again for example the varali madhyama whether in Kalyani & Varali is always rendered with pancama as anusvara. The prati -madhyama is fully present and intoned at its natural frequency probably only in Hamirkalyani, for that raga demands that, due to usage of suddha madhyama as well.

6. The simple phrase/murccana 'MGS' can be used to illustrate & differentiate Sankarabharanam, Kambhoji & Yadukulakambhoji, distinctly & that is possible only through anusvaras and not by/just gamakas. Similarly the janta phrase 'NN', can be sung to differentiate between Ritigaula & Surati just by its intonation & that is possible only by employing anusvaras.

7. She finally took up the Dikshitar magnum opus 'Sri Vishvanatham ' - the caturdasa ragamalika, rendering it in full, explaining the concept for every one of the ragas & how it is used. For example how Arabhi can be rendered bereft of Ni, how the Ri is rendered in Gauri along with anusvaras. In contrast , rendering ragas with notes unadorned ( without gamakas or anusvaras) was also a technique used - she cited Sama and Devakriya & how the notes have to be rendered plain & unadorned. She marveled at how Dikshitar has composed to bring the differentiation between Kambhoji and Sankarabharanam in just that half tala avarta sequence- as in 'varadamamala ravi sasi nayanam' and 'vanaja candra sannibha vadanam' employing just their purvanga svaras, despite that being common. And how anusvaras in conjunction with gamakas produce the differentiation as in Bhairavam.

Singing & learning/interpreting songs from notation without understanding the ( aural tradition with anusvaras) nuances of raga lakshana and rakthi will be counterproductive . Learning from gurus, understanding the lakshana which has been distilled already by the purvacaryas and listening endlessly to great compositions alone can help one imbibe this subtle/imperceptible technique.

Guru PSN provided closing remarks and threw attention to the need for mastering ragas with the kritis of the greats under the guidance of an able Guru.


My personal remarks :

This lec dem has to be heard and not read/written. Words written & read are a poor supplement & I am not sure if this gist above is understandable .But writing this down helped me organize what I heard and connect the dots.And not surprisingly it has taken my personal understanding of some critical musicological concepts to the next level.And the next time I hear the ragas I will appreciate for sure this concept that the Vidusi demystified.

Blessed was I to have been there today.

Ravi

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Thanks for the valuable report.
Did you note whether the event was video recorded?

[bhakthim dehi]

It was recorded but not sure whether will be uploaded or not.
The lecdem was brilliant indeed.