A Forgotten Carnatic Song Rendition

The series of reviews I wrote for Madras Music Season December 2009 took a heavy toll on my leisure, I almost gave up blogging, er, such elaborate writing. The casualty is the number of interesting concerts and elements of Carnatic music I listened to during the season and should have recorded here or at Musings for our listening and reading pleasure.

One such Dec 2009 concert was by Vedavalli at Raaga Sudha Hall.

Yes, one can magnify certain slips due to her age but one can do that always. As ever, she acquitted herself well in most of the facets of the music. Elegance and intelligence always implicitly entwine with classicism and creativity in Vedavalli's music.

Here is a video snippet of Vedavalli's thOdi rAgam Alapanai.

[YouTube Link]

The remarkable ease with which she can do an exposition of a raaga scale, the magical note that she only knows for gliding from one rAgA to another in the AlApanais during virutham singing makes one wonder; Ah! Carnatic music, it is easy to listen and easy to deliver...

Like looks, listening can be deceiving.

Instead of elaborating more on each song of the concert, let me present an audio of her rendition of gnana mosaga rAdhA, a kirthana of tyAgarAjA. It is usually sung in pUrvikalyAni rAgam, but Vedavalli gave a rendition in sadvidhamArgini the 46th rAgam in the 72 sampUrna mEla rAga scheme of vEnkatamakhi.

sadvidhamArgini is pronounced shut-vidha-maa-r-gini where the gini is like guinea (and not as in bikini or genie). sampUrna means the rAgam scale has all the 7 notes within an octave of sa to SA and the mEla rAgam indicates the ArOhanam and avarOhanam are of the same notes.

Here is the audio

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As Vedavalli requested at the end of that rendition, I am spreading the message. She states the original of this kIrthana was set in sadvidhamArgini. She has learnt this sadvidhamArgini rendition from Madurai Srirangam Iyengar and says until as recently as in the 1960s musicians were singing this version in concerts. She backs her claim with an aesthetic reason too. The lyrics of the kIrthanA goes

gnana mosaga rAdhA, garuda gamana vAdhA,

nI nAmamuchE nA mathi nirmala mainathi

means (my translation)

give refined intelligence, one who use Garuda as career

your name's glory purified my mind

Vedavalli doubts whether such a yearning appeal would be set in pUrvikalyAni rAgam with a majestic tempo almost 'demanding gnanam for the trade of a few slaps on the cheek' (listen to her saying this at the end in the above audio).

On the other hand, it is not clear to me on what basis sadvidhamArgini should be chosen for such lyrics, if we should believe lyric-music aesthetics would have played a role in tyAgarAja's rAgA choice. TyagarAjA himself has proven that the same rAga could be deftly used to bring out ethos or pathos or contrasting moods. A case in point is the atAnA rAgam handled by him.

If is not merely a matter of choice, why choose sadvidhamArgini for this kIrthanA. Does this mean over the years we have also lost certain aspects, lakshanas, of sadvidhamargini rAgam; on how it should be sung evoking certain moods (that could fit the meaning of the above lyrics)?

The way Vedavalli sang the song, it did evoke a soothing, yearning, bordering pathos mood. But I couldn't relate this way to her AlApanai of the rAgam before the rendition. That could be because I have not listened to this rAgam now in concerts for several years (the only other elaborate rendition of this rAga I have as a recording is by Tanjore S. Kalyanaraman, the much underrated genius of our times). There is no immediate reference to seek a pattern for the mind to switch on the relevant emotions.

I checked Prof. Janakiraman's volumes on rAga lakshanas in Tamil and English but couldn't find this rAgam. From the book rAgalakshanasangraha a comprehensive compilation of rAga descriptions by Hema Ramanathan, I could learn sadvidhamArgini (or gani) has been mentioned in sangraha chUdAmani of gOvindhAchAryA with a curious ending sentence of the rAga lakshna that goes "...granting the fulfillment of penance, SadvidhamArgini is named the fortysixth (adhikara/mela)" (translation from sanskrit is by the author. Let me leave it at that for now.

Here are some more videos of snippets of Vedavalli's concert in the later half.

Ahiri rAgam

and a khamAs jAvali

The accompanying vocalist is Sumitra Vasudev, student of Vedavalli and an upcoming performer. R. K. Sriramkumar is enjoying the violin.

Related posts:

1. Recent Carnatic Music Recommendations
2. 2009 Madras Music Season: Mukharis of Sikkil Gurucharan and Prasanna Venkatraman
3. 2009 Madras Music Season: RTPs of Pantula Rama and Sowmya
4. 2009 Madras Music Season: Concert List
5. 2009 Madras Music Season: Parassala Ponnammal at Music Academy