New age IR's Raga Choices

[Sureshs65]

San_K / app,

What app says is true. If you just put some mettu, it may not be in any known raga or people may not accept it as a raga at all I would say people will accept what you put if there is some consistency in it. What it means is certain phrases should be used certain times consistently. Then, not worrying about the raga, you will get a pleasant melody. A lot of music grammar in India has come about post facto. Ragas like 'anadhabhairavi', 'yadhukula kambhoji' etc were part of folk tradition. Later the grammarians tried fitting their grammar. But we must also understand that without a grammar being written down, people were singing Anadhabhairavi consistently. Much of why only 12 notes in an octave and why not more has to do with aesthetics. Any division more than 12 may not be pleasing to the ear. Hence get the slots assigned and then you can so slightly off these slots and give a different feel altogether.

[Sureshs65]

What makes Raja uses of raagas and his experimentation is the extraordinary consistency that he gets. If he is introducing new notes into a melody, it will done in the same phrases throughout the song. I once had a discussion with Raj (who has two Raja blogs) about this saying that it is futile trying to find out and name some of the raagas that Raja uses. Raj pointed out that while it was true, the consistency is amazing. It is as if Raja has written his own grammar and adhering to it. And as Vel says, he also adheres, simultaneously to the grammar of WCM, rock and jazz. So we can at most see one or two sides of what he does. As our knowledge widens we see more. But the truth is, even without knowledge of these musical elements, if a person is a keen listener, he can clearly understand that something extraordinary is going on in these songs.

[RR]

As IR would ask, "What do you mean by raga, mettu, or scale?"

How you answer this dictates the answer to your question. Carnatic/hindustani musicians would say for XYZ raga, 'this swara shd follow this, but not that', 'this phrase is a must, and this is a strict-no', 'this swara must be sung this way', etc. They will claim this is not just for reeti gowla, yathukula kambhoji (where if you deviate even a little, the raga shape is lost, and you yourself will have difficulty claiming), but for more free-er ragas like mohanam,hindolam as well. Film MD's were of this opinion too during MKT/PUC days. But mellisai came in to be accepted, and all got blurred. After western influences got stronger, this got 'worse'. Now I don't think any strict carnatic purist accepts ANY film song as 'follows xyz raga'. At best can say 'raga-based' or 'raga-inspired'. (This is based on my chats with some of current-day carnatic artists. ) I also think some of them got so upset with filmy songs that they take a bit too far and always look for faults even in some sincere film songs. MD's of course know this, so when they say 'i used kanada in this song', they mean this (more mature MD's will just keep quiet and let the fans tear their hair out looking for raga ), but carnatic purists still get upset just seeing the word raga mentioned. Have to mention the other gang too, i.e. some md's claiming 'i've composed an excellent harikambhoji' by just using the scale, which clearly makes the purists furious/laugh. For more, I point you to Lakshminarayanan's Classical IR aticles where he discusses this topic a lot.

[vel]

If we want the same grammar verbatim, then the only rasa (emotion) that can be covered in a film is bakthi rasa (devotion). Because 99% of all the carnatic keerthanais are based on the bakthi emotion. That was the case with most of the devotional themes that was covered in black and white films. But people increasingly wanted love, action, humour, and all navarasas from film music. The bakthi rasa grammar of keerthanais need to be tweaked to find a new grammar that has to be cooked. And only when one is fully well versed in existing grammar (carnatic) can someone improvise a new grammar version (film music or other pop genres). As suresh said, it does seem as if raaja has his own rule book that still keeps the purists most happy !

[skr]

RR ,
A small eg of the swara mapping i was talking about by relating to a popular song.

I heard this latest number Yathea from 'Mayilu'
http://soundcloud.com/devinth/yaathe-yaathe-from-mayilu
Listen to the Annupallavi part from 01:43 "Usurum Usurum Onnachu
The notes go Pa Da Sa , Ni Da , Pa Pa Pa Da
Now the confusion as to which Da and Ni.

Now listen to Katril Endhan Geetham from 'Jhonny', esp the Annupallavi from Anbulla Nenjai Kaanadho which appears at 02:08
http://www.thiraipaadal.com/tpplayer...1'&lang=en
The notes go Pa Da , Sa Ni Ni ~, Da Pa Ma ~ , Pa Da Sa Ni , Ni ~ ~ ~
Here i know its Da1 and Ni3 following the Keeravani scale.

Now you try to hum the Yathea portion and then the Kaatril Endhan Geetham , you would find a connection and arrive that it also has Da1 and Ni3.
However easier said than done , but try both the parts and see , you might just be able to arrive at a similarity

[Sureshs65]

I had earlier pointed to the Sivaranjani from 'Rasathantram'. Here is another one he did very recently. This underrated melody from 'Azhagarsamiyin Kudhirai' is based on Sivaranjani and differs from 'manjal poosum' and 'ponnavani paadam' in its own charming way. Raja keeps the orchestration at a minimum and lets the melody carry the song along. Unlike 'ponnavani paadam' where the rhythm structure keeps up the tempo, here the rhythm is 'light' and it is the main melody which keeps the interest alive. Again it surprises me how Raja can take a 'small' raga like Sivaranjani and come up with so many variations!! This is a very heart warming song. Karthik and especially Shreya, do a nice job.

[Sureshs65]

Continuing our tryst with Sivaranjani, here is another one from the Telugu film 'Shiv Shankar'. Once more, Raja ensures you are not reminded of his other songs. The rhythm is quite different. Tippu and Shreya sing this. I think Shiv Shnakr came out in the early part of first decade.

http://www.raaga.com/player4/?id=170...60641278995268

[Sureshs65]

A lovely writeup by Raj on Raja's use of the raga Chandrajyoti: http://rajamanjari.blogspot.com/2012...-musician.html

[V_S]

This underrated melody from 'Azhagarsamiyin Kudhirai' is based on Sivaranjani

Suresh ji, Excellent insight on poove keLu. If a song like Poova KeLu is becoming underrated, I am not sure what else Maestro can do to appease the listeners. This composition is like a 'kurinji malar' which is very rare. I can only pity Maestro rather than the listeners, for showing them a better way to listen music, while they are adamantly choosing the other way.

[KV]

A lovely writeup by Raj on Raja's use of the raga Chandrajyoti: http://rajamanjari.blogspot.com/2012...-musician.html

Whattay songu! Paavini itself is obscure in the first place, going a step further to compose in it's janya? Yennama I-thinku pannreenga saar!
Btw, some serious treasure digging happening there in the blog!