"A raga is a living being"

[kvchellappa]

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp ... 277956.ece

[Rsachi]

Kishori Amonkar:

Talking about her approach to a raga, she explains, "Music is the most abstract subject on earth and the raga is limitless. The space between two swaras comprises a whole universe of emotions and feelings. A raga has limitless potential to express these myriad feelings. One has to study that wholeheartedly with complete dedication. This is why sadhana becomes indispensable. It enables you to make the most of this potential of a raga. You have to not only practice but cultivate a close relationship with the swaras of a raga, like you nurture your friendship with spending time together, talking and taking care of each other’s feelings, sharing the joys and sorrows. A raga is also a living being, make friends with it and express it with care and feeling, in the way it deserves to be elaborated."

Just like there are many shades of love, Amonkar says, there are many shades of a swara too. "Bhoop, Shuddh-Kalyan and Deshkar sound like similar ragas, but the Gandhar of Bhoop is different from the Gandhar of Shuddh Kalyan and Deshkar. It’s challenging to find the accurate place of a particular swara, because it is simply slippery. The universe of swara is without any beginning or end. It is limitless, immeasurable. I try to find feelings and emotions through these swaras and express them."

Wonderful sentiments, pretty much what I have always felt, listening to great masters of Hindustani and Carnatic music! KVC, I am sure you have the same experience, as also almost every person who has "felt" our music.

I also wonder whoever first explored and defined a raga, how fortunate, and how great, and how sensitive he/she would have been!? And whoever composed those immortal kritis in the ragas, giving a substance of words and thoughts from our paradigms apart from the paradigm of musical notes and ragas, how godly they were!
Just this morning, on 100.1 FM, they played Sri Rajagopala in Saveri of Dikshitar by P Unnikrishnan. And exactly the same thoughts passed through my mind, before reading these words of KA.

[kvchellappa]

I am reading a book on aesthetics by Sri G Hanumantha Rao (who learnt from Sri SR) in a dreamy way. There he explains about how sound has its own meaning. I felt that the greatness of CM (as it must be for any music) is the way the meaning of sound and sahithya go hand-in-hand. There is so much to CM that it is a joy to know more and more about it even in a non-musical way as I do.

[varsha]

Raghav Menon uses the metaphor of Human Body in describing a raga ( In his book on Indian Music)
Just like we point to a mouth or a nose and call it part of a body , he builds a case that something called a body is a piece of imagination .
One can only hook up to an element of it and call it a part of it .But the full thing is beyond labelling.
He brilliantly goes on to draw some parallels.
I have forgotten the name of the book but this comparison has stayed .

BGAK in his famous casette featuring a concert Marwa blurts :
Who says Marwa is full of pathos ? I see only veer ras in it.
( a barb at Amir Khans famous elaboration of the same raga , I guess )

[arasi]

Enjoyed reading Amonkar's interview and your comments, folks

Even the great one mentions her liking a filmi gIt. That brought to mind Mohd Rafi's sur nA sajE, kyA gAvUn mai. sur kE binA jIvan sUna, lending his voice to Bharath Bhushan...

[vilomachapu]

Kishori Amonkar has sung a film song in the 1960s, "geet gAyA patharOnE" in the film of the same name.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOfmYa-ilfM

Beautiful music and beautifully sung and picturised.

[arasi]

Thank you, Vilomachapu.

Didn't know she had sung a song for a film.Has she sung any more?

[varsha]

http://www.mediafire.com/file/jv34rndg1 ... andhar.mp3

[aaaaabbbbb]

A small correction.
Sur na saje was sung by Shri MannaDey.

[arasi]

Thank you! Yes, by the time Basant Bahar was made, Manna Dey's voice was very much heard in films as well...