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Thread: Raga Appreciation

  1. #1
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    Raga Appreciation

    Hi all,
    It will be nice to appreciate ragas
    0. Raga Lakshana
    1. The song in the raga & Why
    2. Describing subtle areas & Minute points of the raga
    3. Gamakas, How & Where to use them
    4. The history/annecdotes behind it
    5. Interesting points to note on the raga regarding the "Near by" ones.
    6. Swara prastharams that are really scintillating
    7. Gruhabedhams on the raga
    8. Important Janya ragas & its resemblances
    9. Hindusthani equivalents
    Etc.

    Lets see if we can start with some nice ragas. I shall really appreciate your participation in this thread. Please make sure that you put the emphasis on the raga and not on the songs alone.

    Shall we start with Thodi / Kharaharapriya ?
    Indrajith

    Na Bhootho...Na Bhavishyathi !!

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  3. #2
    Senior Member Veteran Hubber baroque's Avatar
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    Good morning Mr.Indrajith, Please start with Kamboji if you don't mind. My day started with great zest with “kaana kan kodi vendum...” Papanasam Krithi. The swaras in this raga lend to great graces!! Niraval singing in this raga is very appealing!! Who can forget
    ‘Kuzhaloodhi manamellam...’ Oothukadu venkata kavi!!! soulful rendering by Maharajapuram Santhanam with thani aavardhanam etc.
    How about “ O ranga sayee...” Thiyagaraja krithi by MSS!!!
    Koniyadina napai.... Veenai kuppayyar is grand piece!!!
    Please educate us with your knowledge. Music is Divine!! Very excited about this thread! Great day, Sir! Vinatha.

  4. #3
    Administrator Diamond Hubber RR's Avatar
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    Good topic, Indrajith! I'll contribute with as much as I can. Lakshman should help us with the list of compositions.

  5. #4
    Senior Member Seasoned Hubber viggop's Avatar
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    What raga are we starting with?

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    There we go, Lets start with kambodhi. I have very little knowledge & Experience in the arena of Carnatic music and
    So requesting every one to pitchin with their contributions.

    Kaambodhi........... Ma ga Pa da saaaaaaaaaaaa.....!!
    Indrajith

    Na Bhootho...Na Bhavishyathi !!

  7. #6
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    Mela Kozhuppu with Kambodhi .... !!

    In all through our discussions we shall follow the following
    scale notations.

    Sadjamam-----------------------Sa
    Suddha Rishabam (Komal)--------Ri1
    Chathusruthi Rishabam (Tivra)--Ri2
    Shatsruthi Rishabam------------Ri3
    Suddha Gandharam---------------Ga1
    Sadharana Gandharam------------Ga2
    Anthara Gandharam--------------Ga3
    Suddha Madhyamam---------------Ma1
    Prati Madhyamam----------------Ma2
    Panchamam----------------------Pa
    Suddha Dhaivatham--------------Da1
    Chathusruthi Dhaivatham--------Da2
    Shatsruthi Dhaivatham----------Da3
    Suddha Nishadam--------------- Ni1
    Kaisiki Nishadam---------------Ni2
    Kakali Nishadam----------------Ni3

    Invoking God & Guru,Lets start this discussion about Kambodhi.
    Sorry for the long post, let me try to keep it small hereafter.
    In this I have discussed mostly about the technical aspects of the raga
    with not much emphasis on Raga elaboration and singing. Being my first effort
    I think you people will understand and excuse me for that. I will improve.

    Kambodhi as the name suggests might have been originated from the region called
    Kambhoja the north eastern part of Indian subcontinent. It has references that
    runs back to centuries.

    Kambodhi is a sampurna bhashanga raga. A raga is called Bashanga raga if they
    take a foreign swara in either arohanam, avarohanam or both (from somether melakartha).
    The number of Bhashanga ragas used in Carnatic music is 26 and kambodhi tops the list
    and the next being Bhairavi (Its my take). A sampoorna raga is the one with all 7 swaras.
    The note “ni” is omitted in the Arohanam, thus making it an Shadava- Sampoorna(6-7) ragam.

    Kambodhi is a Janya raga from Harikambodhi (Mela 28). The raga lakshanam is as follows
    There are 2 schools of Kambodhi one being the Dikshitar and another the venkata mahi.
    Kambodhi has earlier been treated as a Mela Raga but Venkatamahi has put it under Mela 28.

    Subbarama Dikshitar gives the ArOhaNa/avarOhaNa as

    Arohana : Sa R12 Ga3 Ma1 Pa Da2 Ni2 Da2 Sa
    Avarohana : Sa Ni2 Da2 Pa Ma1 Ga3 Ri2 Sa.

    Venkatamahi says

    Kamboji Raga Sampurna carohe ga ni vakrita |
    nishada kakaliyukta kvacit sthana prayujyate ||

    Where he says that Ga and Ni are vakra in Arohana.

    But, Widely practiced one is is

    Arohana : Sa Ri2 Ga3 Ma1 Pa Da2 Sa
    Avarohana : Sa Ni2 Da2 Pa Ma1 Ga3 Ri2 Sa.

    And here we go, the first hair-pin curve
    Kakali Nishadham(Ni3)is used as an anya svaram (Eka Anyasvara Bashanga Ragam).
    Kakali Nishadham is very rarely used (alpa prayogam)in the phrases like “Sa Ni Pa Da Sa”.
    Kakali Nishadham is a Vishesha Prayogam and it cannot be rendered as Dheergam.
    If we over do the Nishadha Prayogam or use it in various other phrases it might
    land us in to Hari Kambodhi the parent raga.We can say the raga relies in the upper
    part of the scale from pa to sa. Muthuswamy Dikshitar uses Ni3 in his songs in the
    avarohana prayogas and it is rarely seen in Thyagaraja kritis.

    The Raga has the following

    Chaya Swaram: ma, dha and ni
    Nyasa Swaram: ga, ma, pa, dha
    Dheerga Swaram: ga, pa, dha
    Gamaka Swaram: All Swarams.


    When it come to singing the raga Ma, Da, and Ni are the jiva swaras.
    When it comes to Gamaka, this is a sarva svara gamaka varika rakti raga, means that
    all the swaras can handle gamaka. Long Karvai on the P and D and the kampita gamaka
    on the M are really enchanting.Daatu swara pryogams like "da ga ri ga sa ri da ri sa ni da pa",
    "ri pa ma ga sa", "ri ma ga sa", and "da ga ri sa" are
    a speciality of this ragam
    Ga ma pa ma ga ri ga sa ri ga when sung in 3 sthayi is electrifying. Means that
    this raga is wonderful while rendering in mandra, thara sthayis too. particularly,
    when it goes down to Mandhra sthyai Dhaivatham, it leaves us spell bound.

    Kambodhi is a Moorchanakara Raga, that is, it admits graha bedham.
    When the dhaivatam is taken as shadjam, the graha bedham results in the ragam Desiya Thodi.
    under Mela 8. Conversely, the ga moorchana of Desiya Thodi gets
    back to kambodh.

    In Tamil Music, the derivation of the name has been given as Kamboothi,
    which perhaps later became Kambodhi. The Tevaram pann takkesi the name for kambodhi.
    In Malayalam music and kathakaLi songs, Kambodhi is called as kamodari.

    As we can see this raga finds place in every form of songs, let it be varnam, virutham,
    padam, krithi, thillana, what else & what not? This can be sung at any time in a concert.
    Generally, this raga is classified as a raga to be sung in the evening.This raga is very
    much suited for singing RTPs. Best one will be Parimala ranga pathe by M Mani Iyer.

    This raga is handled by vocalists( How to name?), Nadaswara vidwans( how can we forget TNR pillai's),
    flutists (Mali Mali Mali), Violinists ( Let me tell you Kunnakkudi gave a decent Kambodhi in Music Academy)

    My take for the best will be the Maragatha Vallim. I just don't know why....
    Come on in....
    Indrajith

    Na Bhootho...Na Bhavishyathi !!

  8. #7
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    Excellent write-up, Indrajith. I look forward to the next raaga analysis!

  9. #8
    Administrator Diamond Hubber RR's Avatar
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    IMO, One should hear Mani Iyer/TVs for agmark kambhoji. 'paramaLa rangapathe' RTP, as Indrajith pointed out, is a great one.

    I have a Q: what prayagos differentiate this raga from Harikambhoji?

    It was interesting that this janya raga pushed the parent behind and went onto become very popular.

  10. #9
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    if you sing pa da ni sa / da ni sa ni da pa , it will lead to harikambodhi. This prayogas are conciously added while singing swaras every now and then to make us feel it is harikambodhi. Even the composers have repeatedly used these prayogams to give that feel in their songs.
    As you can see that the nishadham being used in the arohana prayoga, whereas it is barred in kambodhi. se cannot sing pa da ni sa but can do pa da ni da sa. GNB used this pa da ni da prayogams while singing his RTP in kambodhi to stress on the point that da ni can be used but you cannot go directly to sa from there.

    In avarohana prayogams too we stress on ni2 in harikambodhi. But in the case of Kambodhi we can use the ni3 too at times.
    So the swaras from pa to sa is the core for differenciating these two ragas, if it goes pa da sa then it should be kambodhi and in case of
    pa da ni sa it should be Hari-Kambodhi.
    Indrajith

    Na Bhootho...Na Bhavishyathi !!

  11. #10
    Administrator Diamond Hubber RR's Avatar
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    That clarifies, thanks.

    The 'homosynonym' series kambhodhi,kambhoji,kaamboothi,etc. in interesting. In hindustani, the thaat corresponding to Harikambhoji is called Khammaaj. There is also a raag called Kamod but this is quite different and belongs to Kalyan thaat.

    Is there a thillana in Kambhoji? I don't remember listening any..

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