gAyatri

[vasanthakokilam]

Here is my attempt at anupallavi, a short one..intended as a continuation of the second clip:

http://soundcloud.com/dabbler125/gayatri-2-anupallavi

[vs_manjunath]

VK-Upper octave sancharas have been brought out in AP. Keep it up with Charanam at the earliest !!!

[cmlover]

Very nice VK!
The raga swarupam is getting better. The higher octave sancaaram is pleasing.
My analysis shows nyasam at M2' instead of M1'.. Pl check it out..

[vasanthakokilam]

Here is a charanam.. http://soundcloud.com/dabbler125/gayatri-2-charanam-1

[vasanthakokilam]

Here is the full song. Changed the charanam so it flows better:

http://soundcloud.com/dabbler125/gayatri-3

http://soundcloud.com/dabbler125/gayatri-4 ( same song but with a few more accompaniments )

http://soundcloud.com/dabbler125/gayatri-4fastertempo1 ( same song, at a faster tempo )

[sruthi]

Sounds nice. Is it possible to render this using a 'regular' CM instrument such as flute or violin?
This computer generated music sounds a bit eerie, I must admit.
Thankyou.

[vasanthakokilam]

Sruthi, I am with you on the artifacts. It was my flute sound and played by me but I did not play the song on the flute!!

Suji can try it on the violin. She has a natural flair for playing it by the ear. Suji, I can supply the mridangam sound, if you like.. that mridangist knows how to play nicely and consistently..but he has not learned any theermanams

I liked the faster tempo. So I redid it with the just the flute sound at the faster tempo, just for the fun of it: http://soundcloud.com/dabbler125/gayatr ... astertempo

[cmlover]

I like gayatri4 as the finshed product. The faster pace is Ok but 'sowkhyam' is lacking.
You must have had some lyric in mind; if so post it..
If not I request Arasi to have a crack at it..
I will also keep trying in the mean time as do ganeshkant and other friends...
Hope Suji refines the raga and 'discovers' the gamakams...
Where is pitchappa, our inspiring friend

[vasanthakokilam]

I am thinking about the lyrics.. from two angles.. one with a focus on the sonorousness and fit for the layam of the song and second with some meaning on a topic.. I will have to see if the two will merge

Yes, Arasi and others, take a crack at it too..

[vasanthakokilam]

Looked at the Kavithagal thread for inspiration. Wow, there is quite a lot there. Thanks PB, Arasi, Punarvasu, CML, Ponbhairavi, Erode, Ganeshkant and others... What a talented bunch you all are.

Musical movements and sangathis are enabled by simple and sparse lyrics, going by the master Sri. Tyagaraja himself. What I have below is simple and it came to me while going through the above thread.. So thanks all.

For Pallavi:

ellayE illAda..Oh.. gAyatri..

Finish the refrain with the line 'deivamE....'

The swarams go like this....

G3 P M1.. G2 R1..S
ellayE IllAda........
S D2 S... R1 G3....
Oh. gAyatri....
....
Finish with
G3 M1 G2 R1 S...
deivamE.......

[vasanthakokilam]

Here are my lyrics for this song. ( May tweak a bit for prAsA purposes.. )

Pallavi:

ellayE illAda..Oh.. gAyatri..

....deivamE

Anupallavi:

Adi andam illA oLi nIyE
aDimuDi puriyAda tattuvamE

adu dAn nI idu dAn nI

ellayE illAda..Oh.. gAyatri..
....deivamE

Charanam:

ennilum nI unnilum nAn
nI nAn illAdapOdu paramAnandam
param poruLe Adi sakthi
paramAnandam paramAnandam

adu dAn nI adu dAn nI

ellayE illAda..Oh.. gAyatri..
..deivamE

[arasi]

kOkilam kaviyilum kUviyadE!

iSaiyODum layamoDum
iSainda nam naNbanAm--vasanta (kOkilam kaviyilum kUviyadE!)

inniSai kETka, kavi payila
viSaiyAm gaNini tuNaiyuDanE (kOkilam kaviyilum kUviyadE!)

Way to go, VK

[cmlover]

Well done folks! We need the audio! Give it a try and don't be shy!
I will post mine soon .. It will hug gayatri 4 very closely...

[vasanthakokilam]

Thanks very much Arasi. The return kavidai is awesome.

As I wrote above, the inspiration for the lyrics is from many of the poems in the kavidaigal thread. Thanks again for all the participants there.

CML, if you sing to my lyrics, I think if you sing to 'gayatri 4' closely as you stated, it will come very close to what I have in mind in terms of mapping the lyrics to the melody and laya. I was going to map it out but I will wait for your version. Hope the mapping of the pallavi line helps. If there are any major differences in the rest I will map those out.

It is probably simpler if I just sing it but my first attempt at that is something I would not share in a million years May be I need to rope in Pitchappa

Thanks.

[cmlover]

OK! Here is my contribution.
First the lyrics:
ராகம் காயத்ரி தாளம் ஆதி

பல்லவி
கருணாகரா ஸர்வேச்வரா..
காத்தருள் எமை..

அநுபல்லவி
க்ருபாஸாகரா சந்த்ரசேகரா
நாதரூபமான ஞானதாயகா
போதாத்மகா புஜகபூஷணா
(கருணாகரா..)

சரணம்
பவஸாகரம் தனை தாண்டிட
ஓடமாய் வந்த லோகநாயகா
அடியார் குறை அறவே தீர்க்கும்
ஸத்யஜோதியாய் சந்ததம் விளங்கும்
நித்யரூபியே நிர்மலாத்மனே
(கருணாகரா..)

Here is my audio attempt as close to gaytri 4 as possible (I mean the repetition sangatis are as per gayatri 4). I may have introduced some gamakams of my own..
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?48ff9yjmtx9b9yk

My voice may be breaking at the tAra region but I can't help it!

[vasanthakokilam]

CML.. Amazing stuff. Very well done. You have pretty good reach to the top.. Congrats.

[Pratyaksham Bala]

My attempt:

ப:
எல்லையிலா ஒளி நிலையே தெய்வமே - ஓர்
அ:
சொல்லுக்கடங்கா பொருளே சுடரொளியே - ஓர் ...
ச:
அறிவினைத் தருவாய் ஆனந்தமளிப்பாய்
ஒருவினை தீர்ப்பாய் ஓங்கார உருவே
உள்ளொளி பெருக்கி ஊனினைத் திருத்தி
கள்ளங்களகற்றிக் காத்திடுவாயே - ஓர் ...

P:
ellaiyilA oLi nilaiyE deivamE - Or
A:
shollukkaDangA poruLE shuDaroLiyE - Or
C:
aRivinat taruvAi AnandamaLippAi
oruvinai tIrppAi OmkAra uruvE
uLLoLi perukki Uninait tirutti
kaLLangaLakaTRik kAttiDuvAyE - Or
.

[cmlover]

Nice composition PB..
I can try to sing it but not under gayatri 4.
I need more phrases of the raga to familiarize with the raga lakshanam..

[arasi]

"Good stuff!" as johnny Carson would say--all!
Good singing, CML. I hear no problem in your voice anywhere.

PB,
Very good lines!

Spring cuckoo,
I'm happy if I can manage to come up with a song in an exotic rAgam. To create a new rAgam is an impossible task for me. You are a pro!
I need to hear gAyatri sung many times before I can get a song in it. I'm a cml, but not in the league of our CML who can familiarize himself with a rAgam this quickly!

[cmlover]

Not so fast! I simply imitated VK's gayatri 4 and filled it with mostly sanskritized Tamil. It was tough avoiding the nishadam which is why my voice is shreiking occasionally. I too have to listen to a number of songs to be able to internalize a raga. But I bet this raga is a winner!
Congrats VK!

[Pratyaksham Bala]

vasanthakokilam:
cmlover:
arasi:
Thanks a lot.

[vasanthakokilam]

PB: Meaningful lyrics. Excellent. Your creativity with edukai and anta akshara prAsA is super.

CML, Thanks. CML, Arasi: Setting the tune to lyrics based on an abstract concept of a raga is quite a monumental task. I can't do that, that is a different league. I make an amateur attempt to go in one direction, from the scale/raga to a tune. One trick pony!!

One learning for me is the enormous significance of the underlying laya. This song is built on a 2+2+4+2+6 structure. We discussed this in the eduppu thread a few weeks back. I mentally simplify it as 1+1+2+1+3 with two mAthras to a beat, it is easier on my brain cells that way.

The laya structure is the one that seems to gives us the perception of a CM song (that is familiar to us), independent of the melody that fills those cavities between beats. Sri. Tyagaraja is my model! What a model he is!! Quite humbling. I have a much better appreciation for his creativity in his various desAdi tala songs.

This has been a great learning experience and a lot of fun. Thanks everyone for your encouragement.

[cmlover]

PB
I have moved your extended poem to the kavithaigal section since it belongs there.
I trust it is OK with you..

[sruthi]

Is it possible to sing the Gayathri mantra itself in this ragam?

[vasanthakokilam]

Definitely. The mantrA has a lot of vowels for kArvais. I have a tentative arrangement for it. Once it is in some decent shape I will post. CML can sing it!!

[vasanthakokilam]

This is my tuning of the gAyatri mantrA in rAgA gAyatri.

http://soundcloud.com/dabbler125/gayatr ... yatri-raga

(suggested mapping is as follows. The numbers are seconds in the recording )
4 -11 O.............m
12-19 O.............m
20-27 O.............m
30-38 tát sa..vi..túr vá..re...ṇyaṃ
29-45 bhár-gO-O-O......
46-49 de-vás-ya
50-54 dhī..ma-hi
55-1:05 dhí-yo.... yó ..........naḥ
1:06-1:11 pra-co-dá-yāt
1:12-1:19 - O.............m
1:20-1:27 - O.............m
1:28-1:36 - O.............m

[cmlover]

VK
No melody there!
Too jerky..
OM must be steady (karvai) !

[vasanthakokilam]

CML, yeah, it definitely needs work. When i sang it to myself, it sounded like it is suitable for chorus chanting set to a simple beat with wide swinging melody. But not like a cm song, I did not want to go there..

Each of the OMs is over 8 beats with several swaras in long kArvai. It is hard to communicate that without singing it but I can not sing ; ) It is more a slow swinging flourish. The dhíyo yó naḥ is similar. ( I need to fix a few sampling artifacts.)

[cmlover]

As you have noted it is hard to render Gayatri in any raga without violating the vedic grammar. If it is authentic CM then it won't sound like the mantra since only three notes are used mainly (anudatta,udatta and swarita). I have tried here using the gandhara madhyama and occasional sorties to dhaivata and rishabha finally ending in pancama. I have used the five stops on Gayatri as recommended and preceded with the usual invocation.

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?hpu69dvaxnl7nax

since the notes from the gayatri raga are used you can call this
Gayatri in Gayatri!

[vasanthakokilam]

Very nice, CML. Sounds excellent.