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Thursday, August 11, 2005
I initially wrote this as a reply to the comment that sriram had posted, but then when i read it , i realized it is way too big for a comment and just perfect for a post. So i am including it as a new post.
Hey Sriram,
That was a nice post: But on certain points I beg to differ.
As to madhyamaavati being associated with Mangalam... thats just one facet of the raagam. And my observation is Manirangu sounds much like sreeragam than madhyamaavati. I cant think why some one should think i am gonna end the concert coz i am elabporating on manirangu (not even madhyamaavati)... Does it mean i am always going for a funeral if i am wearing a black shirt ? :) [Please excuse me for the bad analogy, couldnt think of a better one!]
For me Singing evari maata in athana is absolutely fine , if it sounds good and appeals to all. I call it prejudice if u simply decide for urself that a Tyagaraja kriti is gonna sound bad just because somebody tried to sing it differently. There is a Swati tirunal kriti called Karuna cheyvaan ( If u have heard shemmangudi or K V Narayanaswamy , u would probably have heard this one... ) It was traditionally sung is Yadukula Kambhoji, but KVN started singing it in Sree Ragam... and it sounded awesome...
There is no such thing like experimenting for the heck of it (Thats my take on experimentation!) . If an experiment goes bad, people call it a bad experiment. But no one can be sure of an outcome even before the experiment is done. Taking science as an analogy, Edison took 8000 tries to get what we call now as a light bulb... so does it mean that all his 7999 experiments were done for the heck of it? I dont think so.
Now, I refuse to accept history and I refuse to belive that we sing all tyagaraja kritis ditto the way the great saint composed them... It sounds highly illogical that the compositions never evolved... And i find it a lil biased statement that "If u don wanna stick to format pls spare tyagaraja...." I feel all composers were great in their own respects...
Now, Hindolam is a nomenclature... Just the way I am called Harish and u are called Sriram... but there is a lot more to me or u which is yet to be explored. So I find it un acceptable to say, Harish is this , this and this , but not that! Some one added a big dha to hindolam and called it Varamu... For me its still a melodious experience may it be hindolam , or varamu or whatever name u feel like calling it...
I do agree to the fact that adding some random swaram to a raaga kind of spoils the mood. But an experienced musician can easly think of a note that can be added which does not kill the mood of the raagam... all it takes is an open mind and hassle free thinking.
And a clarificaltion: I DID NOT say that any particular form of music is pure and ethreal, u can refer my comment, I said "Let there be no rules that bind the pure and ethreal form of music". So I still dont see anything offensive on that statement.
About composing my own raagas... well, When i have the skill and knowledge , i will definitely try and produce combination of musical notes.. which soothes the listeners ears.. I wouldnt want to call it a name... afterall, its the sound that matters...
always,
Harish
2 Comments:
This is something i never expected. A post for a comment. I am humbled, for, i am just a music enthusiast and my views are
devoid of the feel that only a practising musician experiences. Nevertheless, here i go:
First, a clarification. I dont see anything wrong with singing manirangu for the main krithi. So it was in a lighter vein
i said that the AIR guys might have confused it as mangalam. Otherwise, there is no reason for raising brows...
Now, for singing Evari maata in Athana. Tyagaraja(and for that matter, any other composer. "spare tyagaraja" was just an
usage. I meant it for all other composers) is not just a poet. He is a composer. When he conceived a Krithi, he did it by
giving equal thought to both sahithyam and sangeetham part of the krithi. And when he came up with a Krithi finally, it
resulted in an inseperable concoction of sahityam and sangitham.
You will have a better knowledge and i dont have to tell you about the nature of raagas and different "rasas" that they carry.
Do you think the pathos of Kambhoji can be better expressed through athana? People who dont understand the meaning of the
krithi may appreciate it if it just "sounds good" and is sung well with a good manodharma. But such a thing will be a disaster
for a connoisure's ear.
Apart from that, it is also about respecting the composers. What i mean is, if you think that a particular krithi is not composed
well, why do you want to sing it at all? Just because these composers dont have any "copyrights", its not proper to play with
their works. Its like these remix songs. Not everyone will appreciate. Also, its a highly personal thing and depends on the
sentiments of the individual, but tweaking with the compositions of a saint composer like tyagaraja is blasphemous for many.
What i meant by "experimenting for the heck of it" is, experimenting without any purpose and objective. When Addison did it, he
had a definite objective in his mind, that is inventing a bulb. But just doing things differently without any objective will not
be classified as experimenting.
And ofcourse yes, Hindolam is just a nomenclature. But my point is, a nomenclatutre always has a format. CH4 is methane. But if
you want to add an oxygen molecule and still want to call it methane, then the whole nomenclature loses meaning.CH3OH is methyl alcohol,
very much different from methane. So, when we have a nomenclature, i think we should respect it.
I do agree that it will be a melodious experience, but it is just not the same experience that the standard hindolam gives. So we
better distinguish it with a different name. Otherwise, the whole concept of different raagas loses its meaning.
And i said that last bit because of the following statement in one of your comments: "I took to ghazals mainly because of the
freedom that form of music offers.. u are not bound by raagas o r any other intricasies... its pure and ethreal music!!!"
if its just a problem with my comprehension, then just forget about it.
All said and done, these are just individual views. One can never convince the other with arguments. A person who enjoys bhakthi
soaked music may not enjoy the saaki & shabaab music, and vice versa. So as long as we dont place things one above the other, we
can live peacefully...... :)
11:28 PM
also, thanks for dropping by and the comment on my blog.....
11:35 PM
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