Carnatica's Raganubhava series revived: HARIKAMBHOJI

[ramanathan]

Grand revival of our flagship series on ragas with "The Splendor of HARIKAMBHOJI"!

Today at Raga Sudha Hall, Luz, Chennai
5.00 pm: Vintage recordings
5.30 pm: Discussion on Harikambhoji: Smt. R. Vedavalli, Sri. Chengalpet Ranganathan, Smt. Suguna Purushottaman, Smt. R. S. Jayalakshmi, Sri. Neyveli Santhanagopalan
6.45 pm: Thematic concert: S. SOWMYA, R. K. Shriramkumar, Neyveli Narayanan.

Event dedicated to Sangita Kalanidhi Dr. S. Ramanathan. All are welcome!

Also read the writeup on Harikambhoji by Dr. PPN at http://www.carnatica.net

[rajeshnat]

ramanathan
Nice to hear that,one number eNadhu maNam kavalaiyEnum is a number that sowmya has sung very well in the past.

What happened to this announcement http://www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=11711 . I hope you reply with this reminder in that thread .

[rshankar]

Ramanathan - Best Wishes! Please tell me that you have plans to record and release this (both the discussion and the thematic conert) commercially!

[thanjavooran]

The function started exactly at 17=00 hrs as scheduled with a handful of rasikas. In few minutes the Hall was full. Sashi kiran welcomed the gathering and also the distinquished guests. Since NSG was to attend another programme , assisted by his disciple Srikanth Kaundinya commenced the lec dem. Following are some of the interesting points noted.
NSG

Sub: The Hari Kambodhi that I enjoyed more
1 Harikambodhi is an age old ragam and in the pann the name was not known at that time.
2 A piece from Devaram ' Haranai Ulguveer' was sung by him in the style of Odhuvar.
3 Once an odhuvar mentioned casually that will it be correct and permissible to change the rhythm of veda, if not there is no need to change the pann too. The Devaram and other Tamil verses should be sung in its original Pann/ raga only.
4 Thiruthandagam has more lines Viz ' Hariyanai ' H.K Pann has more scope for delineation of such a lengthy piece. This HK should be more than 1300 years old.
5 Thyagaraja has done a lot of kritis in HK closely following this pann. Enduku nirdhaya is a well known kriti . Slight tinge of Kamaz will be there.
6 Papanasam sivan adopting the style of Thyagaraja done few kritis. Osai ellam Aanai Neeyae is one kriti.
7 Thanjavur Sankara Iyer influenced by Papanasam Sivan style, has done few kritis.
8 Niraval in ' Dhaivatham ' only will shine well in HK.
9 In Niraval of " Veppula kai " Rishabam will be ideal and beautiful.
10 The HK piece he enjoyed most is Muruga Thirumal Azhaga Shunmuka by Thanjavur Sankara Iyer, dedicated to Papanasam Sivan.

R.S. Jaya Lakshmi [ Vina exponent ]

Sub: Theoretical excellence of HK

11 Hari Kedara Gowla and Hari Kambodhi two well known Pann during MD's period
12. Original Ragas were not known over a period of 300 years and Pann was the only known name
13. HK was well handled by thyagaraja and he has developed this raga to a greater extent.
14. For Kambodhi and HK Rishabam is the main swaram.
15. For Kambodhi also Dhaivatham.
16. In olden days Simbalai and Vattapalai were known as musical form
17 Ragas Saveri, Mayamalava gowla, HK, Nattai kurinchi , Kambodhi and Begada find a place in Pann
18 If Gamakam is changed ragam also will change its form.
19 Gandharam should be plain. Even if slight oscillation is given raga swaroopam will change.
20. Few phrases of HK were played to show how raga will change if one or two swara are changed.. Kamaz the close relative of HK and even Karakarapriya and kambodhi were played .
21. She mentioned that Flute holes are made suitable for HK swarams. The name Hari Kambu OOdhi if seperately pronounced reveals this...

Suguna Purushothaman

Sub: Beauty of Composition in HK

22. Shyama Shastrigal has not done any kriti in HK
23 MD in Kamaz only
24 Thyagaraja has handled this raga nicely bringing out its aesthetic beauty in all forms. As we imagine Lord Ganesa krishna and subramanya he has given form to HK
25 Gopala krishna Bharathi's Parkka Parkka Thigattumo is a nice song
26 Papanasam Sivan's Kamalapadha, Padhamalar undenru , Paamalaikkinai Undo, Vandadum Solaithanilae are all exceptionally beautiful depicting the full form of HK
27 Kothamangalam subbu in Thillana Mohanambal mentioned about kamaz.
28 Thiruvengadu Jayaraman once mentioned that singing HK w/o Kamaz influence is Nadha vidhya marmam


Chengleput Renganathan

Sub: Manodharma aspect

29 He is left with no points to discuss since the two stalwarts had already covered all the important aspects
30 His Guru Alathoor Srinivasa Iyer would say very often that HK should be sung without the swaras meant for Kambodhi
31 In HK after reaching top octave should not stay in Kandharam and it is meant for Kambodhi only
32 Once Alathoor sang at Bharathi Gana Sabha at Nadutheru with Thiruvalankadu Sundaresa Iyer and PM. GNB was present
33. Delineation of HK was done for 8 mts. Thiruvalangadu in his turn finished the Raga in less than 4 mts bringing out the entire sSwaroopam of HK
34 In HK ragam should be condensed and only in Niraval and Swarm should be lengthy
35 Sowdayya, Thiruvalangadu, Kumbakonam Rajamanickam Pillai and Mayavaram Govindaraja Pillai ,were all concentrating only on Niraval for HK and so TNK and LGJ
36 .Once at Suchindram a concert was arranged with Alathoor, Pazhani and LGJ niraval at Parma pavan was excellent and won the applause of audience.

R. Vedavalli

On the chair as moderator.

37. Thyagaraja had handled HK fully bringing out all the naunces and beauty. Every kriti is excellent.
38 Ragas beauty will shine only in swaram kuraippu
39 Singing plain swaras will not help
40 Only with swarasthanam a raga should be identified.
41 Should not stay in top octave
42 It will be good if sung in Madhya Sthayee.
43 Thiruvalangadu will play Thodi, Bhairavi in less than 3 mts.and will be apt
44 If a dilineation of raga is prolonged for 30 to 35 mts definitely repetition of swaram will be there and one cannot enjoy.
45 Raga should be condensed and lively.
46 Niraval should be elaborate and gymnastics in swaraprastharam need not be there.
47 Once Chittur Subramania pillai without Gamagam, only with Ri Ga Ma sang HK and it was very nice.
48 HK if it is sung lightly will resemble Kamaz

My humble observation

The whole function was well organised and well conducted. TRS, Vidhya shankar, Jayalakshmi Sekhar, Nivedita [ forumite], Bharath Sundar were present. The hall was full mostly with youngsters besides senior citizens. As done now if such functions are arranged by 17 00 hrs will be good for senior citizens. There was a question sessions too. Vidwans were not reminded / cautioned for the time limit. Everyone was able to express their views as per their Manodharma. Kudos to Sashikiran for organising this function meticulously following every aspect. IMHO , since musicians are from Tamil nadu and Rasikas too are chennites why cannot the deliberations be in vernacular? I could not stay back for Somya's concert due to poor eye sight. List and review from forumites is most welcome. In the above points I would have omitted some important aspect and request forumites for correction.
Thanjavooran

[Lakshman]

With reference to NSG, item #6: the song osai ellam is not by P.Shivan as implied but by Dandapani Desikar.

[cienu]

Such a detailed coverage Thanjavooran. Thank you so much

[arasi]

Thanjavooran,
Thank you very much for the report. Wish you had stayed on for Sowmya's concert too. Hope we get a report on that. Wonder what she took up as a main in HK. Yes, but for the fact that the program started at five, you and other seniors might not have made it to the event. Week days pose a problem though. Those who work simply cannot make it that early to a program!
Very interesting things to learn about this rAgam which isn't sung that much (but for dinamaNi vamSa). I remember the rAgam from my childhood days, thanks to MS who sang it often. pAdat tAmaraigaL nondiDa neraval line in vaNDADum SOLai and pAmAlai stuck in the mind.
Recently, in Carnatica's mahOtsavam in Bengaluru, Sanjay had taken up Sivan's kamala pada malar iNai maRavEnE which was utterly new to me (makes one wonder how little the rAgam is heard in krutis other than dinamaNi vamSa). The song was appealing and refreshing. Sivan loved composing in harikAmbOdi, I would think. Sanjay also sings pAmAlai and enadu manam (manadil?) both of which show Sivan's deft handling of the rAgam in different shades of emotion.

[semmu86]

Sri Thanjavooran avl , as usual a fabulous coverage .. I especially like the way you take notes of lec-dems and such programs painstakingly and share it with us.I loved your reviews about the lec-dems at vidya bharathi this season. Once again thanks for a comprehensive review.. Too bad i missed it as 5 in the evening is pretty early and tough on the office goers

[rshankar]

Thanks for the reporting! Very detailed...

Rasikas too are chennites why cannot the deliberations be in vernacular?

Just because the rasikas are from Chennai doesn't mean they will all understand tamizh....

[VK RAMAN]

Example, I have come accross priests who chant sanskrit but cannot read or write sanskrit. They carry tamil books.

[rbharath]

a quick and decent coverage of the proceedings by thanjavooran. I will try to add more as and when i remember and find time to do so.

The neraval that Sri Ranganathan sang to portray the manodarma aspects made my day.

I thoroughly enjoyed and gained a lot from the discussion. The concert that followed was good as well.