Dear Rasikas,
Have any of you felt at any time that the famous AIR signal standyby tune by Lord Yehudi Mehuhin drew inspiration from or at least has a striking semblance to our own Vijayanagari ragam? I've gotten this idea several times especially when I listen to Sri MMI's raga alapana followed by TNK's response preceding his mind-blowing Vijayambike. Would love to know if someone else thought along my same lines.....
Thanks bilahari and kyiyer for responding. Maybe I am a makku For those of you who would like to listen to the tune and draw some comparison between that and phrases in TNK's alapanai, here is the link:
The AIR signature tune is commonly thought of as Sivaranjani ( I think ).
If we go by Vijayanagari as S R2 G2 M2 P D2 S - S D2 P M2 G2 R2 S
Obviously uttaranga similarity and the partial purvanga similarity will bring them close in some prayogas when they cross quadrants : e.g P D2 S R2 G2, G2 R2 S D2 P region.
The signature tune probably wanders in this region more, hence the similarity you observed.
I am not good with swara identification, so hopefully what TNK plays corroborates what I have written above.
Even in Vijayambike we can sense the similarity in some places though the raga vijayanagari as a whole is quite diferent from Sivarajani. D2 P M2 G2 and G2 M2 P D2 makes a whole world of difference compared to D2 P G2 and G2 P D2.
The purvanga in isolation is a stretch but plausible. It is a bit of a dangerous business to stick my neck out on these raga lakshayam/lakshanam matters but let me try.
M2 G2 R2 S can sound similar to ( in the neighborhood but not the same as ) P G2 R2 S . The big jump from P to G2 ( 4 semitones ) and the subsequent small jump ( 1 semitone ) from G2 to R2 characterizes the pathos that is inherent in Sivaranjani. Instead of P if you use M2, it is smaller jump ( 3 semitones ) but M2 has its own way of inducing pathos. Try it a few times: P G2 and M G2 . Similar aesthetics.
To be sure, this reasoning for the purvanga above only works on the descent. On the Ascent, with S R2 G2 M2, it is hard to not sound like Ranjani ( not surprisingly ), you have to have S R2 G2 P to get that sivaranjani effect.
There is a raga hEmapriya S R2 G2 M2 D2 S - S D2 M2 G2 R2 S
It will be interesting to hear its aesthetics and melodic flavor on the descent compared to S D2 P G2 R2 S . In my initial straight note attempts, they are close but quite discernible. (Again the ascent is very much in the Ranjani camp which is to be expected )
listen to an elaborate vocal rendering that I picked up in my recent trip to some lesser known ( in music circles ) parts of Karnataka . In Hindusthani mode Artist : Ashok Huggannanavar
fascinating stuff indeed
I till now think the AIR's signature tune is Sivaranjani.Once MSG played it while replying to a ragamalika in a Maharajapuram Santhanam's concert.The crowd spontaneously cheered.I remember even Santhanam used to sing this tune in his Sivaranjani expositions.He might have been inspired by MSG.