MSS rendetion of Venkatesa Suprabatham - Raga?

[MaheshS]

I am struggling to identify the raga in which MSS renders Venkatesa Suprabhatham [Kaulsalya supraja …] .. can anyone help me with this?

Thanks.

Mahesh

[Purist]

It could be Karaharapriya or one of its janya raga.
She does not seem to traverse the whole scale and limits it to 3-4 swara sthanas
which makes it difficult to discern the raga.

[SrinathK]

You really want ragas even in these simple tunes?

Ok. The best fit for both notes and mood is Arabhi.

MPP-MPP-MP-MP, MP(D), MP-PM (G)
MPD-PMP-MG-RMP-MD PMPM... and on it goes

It still holds even when you feel it is sung in madhyama shruti. In fact, it fits even better like this

SRR- SRR-SR-SR-SR(G), SR-RS (N)

and so on till...

SR, SR,R - SRS,(N) - DD-D,R S,S,||

Hmm... I did not pay attention to it earlier or I might have opened the Arabhi thread with Venkatesa Suprabhatam

[hamsadhwani]

You really want ragas even in these simple tunes?

Ok. The best fit for both notes and mood is Arabhi.

MPP-MPP-MP-MP, MP(D), MPPM (G)
MPD-PMP-MG-RMP-MD PMPM... and on it goes

It still holds even when you feel it is sung in madhyama shruti. In fact, it fits even better like this

SRR- SRR-SR-SR-SR(G), SRRS (N)

Hmm... I did not pay attention to it earlier or I might have opened the Arabhi thread with Venkatesa Suprabhatam

My 9 yr old is learning to identify ragams and she said felt it was Arabhi too. When I asked her why she thought so, she said she thought the tune of "Seshadri Shekharavibho tava Suprabhatam" sounded very similar to "ShrI saraswati namOstutE"!!!

[SrinathK]

That's because the tune of seshAdri shEkara vibhO tava suprabhAtam is this.

SR, SR,R - SRS,(N) - DD-D,R S,S,|| - It's the disguised N and G that make it Arabhi.

[KSJaishankar]

Vidushi Smt Pantula Rama had rendered an RTP in Arabhi at the Cleveland Utsavam in 2016 (Smt MSS's centenary year). She had explained before the pallavi that it was inspired by the section starting "kamalA kuCa", and both the raga (Arabhi) and tala (a cycle of 31 beats, set as tisra triputa with the beats of the purvanga having 7, 5 & 3 aksharas, and the uttaranga in Catusram) were taken from the suprabhatam. I believe the pallavi was composed by her husband Sri MSN Murthy. very well structured & rendered pallavi - paramAnda paramAnanda, Ananda Ananda, nanda nanda|nA; sanAtanA ||

[ganesh_mourthy]

I don't think MS had any raaga or even note in mind while singing it . It seems like that she wanted to keep it at a certain tempo and certain shruthi and went on practicing it a few times before finalizing it as it is more of chanting verses than a song. And chanting verses is always better between Sa and Ma . Just once try to go a quick dhaivatham and it is going to sound like your blurpled. There are so many chants available and I think an experienced singer will find a comfortable note and hover around it even without effort or practice.

[ajaysimha]

thanks for opening a nice thread!

actually the recitation of shlokas are based on vocal traditions which depend on - UdAtta, AnudAtta and Swarita.
talking musically the are confined to group of swaras like (group of 3's 4's and 5's)
so, we can identify the scale and the raga can be a mishra raga at times.

coming to Venkatesa Suprabatham,
i had thought it was based on shuddha saveri scale.

[SrinathK]

Actually all the ragas are evolutions of the renditions dating all the way back to the Vedic period even.