Here is Bhadradri...

On more than one occasion, I have seen that nothing moves my little child as much as music does. With both his grandmothers teaching music and his parents humming away all the time (and admonished all the time for not practising), one could say that he has had a good exposure to music. When he was a very young baby, playing Nagaraj and Manjunath's violin would soothe him even during the worst colic-related tantrum. As he grew up, 'shuddha brahma parAtpara rAma'became one of his regular lullabies. With watching and listening to the Baby Einstein videos, came introduction to Western music also. Some of our young cousins and our driver have taken care to expose him to the new Kannada movie-songs too. But what has really amazed me is his love for the Bhadrachala Ramadaasa kritis.

Actually, the credit for making Biyadiya fall in love with the Bhadrachala Ramadasa kritis, goes to R. He started singing 'palukE bangAramAyena' to him, a few months ago, and he loved it. Then, one day, to quiten him, I played the song from the internet to him. Needless to say, he enjoyed it, background music and all. And one day, the cassette happened to appear right next to the tape-player (hey, I'm nothing if not lazy!), and I played it for him. That has gradually become a ritual. On seven days out of ten, he asks me to play the cassette at bedtime. Initially he used to wait for his favorite songs - palukE bangAramAyena and pAhi rAmaprabhO, but now he listens to all of them with rapt attention.

Being of a nature not so steady as his in matters such as these, I got bored of listening to the cassette over and over again. But of late (from the past four or five days), after I really started paying attention to the lyrics and the music, I have begun to enjoy the music almost as much as my little bundle of joy does. Ramadasa's poetry is wonderful. The sentiments expressed in each song is not just devotion to the Lord, but longing for a parent and the familiarity of a friend. For example, in 'ikShvAku kula tilaka', Ramadaasa asks

'kaliki turAyi meluvaka chEyisti ramachandra
kulukuchu tirugedavO evarappa sommani rAmachandra'. (Rama, I got a nice crown made for you. You are flaunting it like it is your Father's jewel!) Continuing, he says

'bhaktulaMdarini paripAliMcEDi sree rAmacaMdra
neevu kshEmamuga sree rAmadAsuni Elu rAmacaMdra'
This beautiful mix of sentiments - of viewing the Lord as the protector, a parent, a brother and a friend whom you can admonish, is what makes these compositions so dear and close to the heart.

In my opinion (fervent, as I have been on a high dose of Ramadasa for the past few days), these kritis are more egalitarian and down-to-earth than the great saint Tyagaraja's kritis. (Tyagaraja composed many, many more kritis than Ramadasa, so really, they ought not to be compared.) And of course, nearly half of the credit for making these songs so likable, goes to Dr.Balamurali Krishna. The music composition is just impeccable, and I defy any musician to compose the tune better than him. His rendition of these kritis is also superb. The forlornness experienced in 'E tIruga nannu' (nAdanAmakriyA), the confidence exuded in 'takkuvEmi manaku rAmuNDokkaDuNDu varaku'(sUryakAnti), the slyness in 'nannu brOvamani cheppavE' (kalyANi) are all brought out beautifully.

For me and little Biyadiya, it is musical heaven, almost every night!

Jaiajaiavanti, Dvijavanti and Dikshitar

Hindustani and Carnatic raagas are often easily distinguishable. While Carnatic raagas use all kinds of gamaka (kampita, jaaru and flat notes without gamaka), Hindustani music has more of jaaru gamaka and flat notes. This difference in the nature of the raagas itself, however, has not prevented Carnatic musicians from adopting Hindustani raagas and viceversa.

Muttuswami Dikshitar, a revered name in Carnatic music, belonged to a family of glorious experimenters, whose creations thrive even to this day. His brother, Baluswami Dikshitar, brought violin to Carnatic music as a side-instrument (pakkavAdya). His father, Ramaswami Dikshitar, created Hamsadhvani, an extremely popular raga. Muttuswami Dikshitar's erudition in Sanskrit, Shrividya, Vedas, Astrology and many other branches of knowledge, resulted in some of the finest compositions in Carnatic music. 'akshayalinga vibho' of Shankaraabharana, 'maanasa guruguharUpam bhaja re' in Anandabhairavi, 'mInAkshi me mudam dEhi' of pUrvikalyANi and a few other kritis of his are my favorites. And I added a new favorite to my list just today. 'chetaH shrI bAlakrishnam bhaja re' is a very beautiful kriti by Dikshitar. It is set in Dvijaavanti, the Carnatic adaptation of the Hindustani raga Jaijaivanti.

When I heard the name 'jaijaivanti', I could not place it immediately. Then a google search told me that the song 'manmohana bade jhoothe' from the movie 'Seema', was set in the same raaga. (Is it coincidence that today is Krishnajanmaashtami, and all the songs I come across are related to Lord Krishna? Incidentally, 'manmohana...' is also one of my favorites.) It is a night raaga, born from the Khamaj thaat. The scale is (from http://www.surdhwani.com/mus_raga.html)
Sa Ri2 Ga2 R2 Sa Dha2 Ni2 Pa Ri2, Ga3 Ma Pa, Ni3 Sa
Sa Ni3 Dha2 Pa, Dha2 Ma, Ga3 Ri ga2 Ri2 Sa

The modern Dvijavanti is a direct derivative of the raaga jaijaivanti. However, Dvijavanti (named thus because of two 'jai's in the name) as conceived by Dikshitar, though said to be derived from Jaijaivanti, resembles not only jaijaivanti but also sahana in some places, and yadukulakaambhoji in some others. The result is a mellifluous melody which leaves one with longing for the divine child of Yashoda. (I could not find the scale for Dikshitar's Dvijavanti. Will post as soon as I find it.)

In the kriti 'chetaH shrI balakrishnam', Dikshitar has used the mood from all the three ragas in a masterly way. The first line of the charaNa, 'navanIta-gandhavAha-vadanam' (= one whose mouth smells of butter), the svaras are arranged in such a way as to remind one of cold breeze. Not a wind, not a tempest or a storm, but just pleasing, soft and cool breeze. In fact, this is the greatness of Dikshitar. The mood of his music always enriches the mood of the sahitya, and viceversa.

My salutations to Dikshitar and his Dvijavanti on the day of Gokulashtami.

Importance of pronunciation and sAhitya in Classical Music

I am learning Carnatic Classical Music (well, I used to learn for a long time, and will restart learning in the near future), and for me, Music is something that links human with God. Almost all the kritis and varNas sung are known both for their sangIta aspect and the sAhitya aspect. Then, why pray, are they sung with such a horrible accents that one cannot even figure out the lyrics, let alone enjoy them? With the exception of a few, musicians do not even *try* to pronounce words properly. For some time, I had completely stopped listening to vocalists because their mistakes were so glaring that I could not even appreciate the good parts in their music!

An example- an old CD of GNB's recordings had this in its index "Manasulonima" ... ! Is it so hard to figure out that it 'manasulOni' and 'marmamu' are two different words? I have heard a musician pronounce 'nArada bhayahara' as 'nArada bayagara'. 'One who dispelled the fears of nArada' became, to my Tamil-untrained ear 'One who created fear in nArada'!

I had once attended a concert of T.N. Seshagopalan, one of my favourite musicians. He sang a romantic aShTapadi in - tODi! The rAga tODi is good for dainyarasa, and certainly anything but romantic! His Todi is impeccable; I have not listened to any tODi better than his. But it would have been much more enjoyable if he had chosen a different composition, or sang the same aShTapadi in a different raaga like kAmavardhini!

A course in saahitya must be made mandatory for musicians. This will help them put more emotion or bhAva into their singing. For example, lines like "kaantamagu pEru ponditivi" in "paalinchu kaamaakShi" are filled with love and devotion for the Mother. The neraval should bring out this devotion and love. It is of no use otherwise. I have heard some 'good' musicians sing 'nagumOmu ganalEni' with an enthusiasm that puts an child high on espresso to shame ! The meaning of the pallavi of this kriti is 'Rama, how can you have a smiling face when you know about my suffering?' See what happens when the musician does not understand the lyrics? It is the confluence of sAhitya and sangIta that makes Carnatic music so beautiful. Unless musicians understand this, they cannot do justice to their music.