Swarajatis are a longer and sophisticated version of geethams. They include a pallavi, sometimes an anupallavi, and charanam(s). Beginning with Rara venu gopapala in ragam Bilahari, students learn 4-5 swarajatis including Shyama Shastri's classic piece Kamakshi in ragam Bhairavi. I recommend that students listen to the rendition of the Kamakshi swarajathi sung by Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer.

After swarajatis students move on to Varnam. The varnam lesson is a turning point in the student's education. Varnams are musical compositions with simple lyrics and swara patterns. A varnam consists of a pallavi, anupallavi, chittayi swaram, charanam and muktayi swaras. The benefit of learning varnam includes voice culture and traversing all the three octaves with ease as well as a sound knowledge of the rhythm. The varnam is sung in two speeds and is the opener in a classical concert.

There are two kinds of varnams – taana varnams which are the varnams sung by musicians in a concert and pada varnams which are the varnams sung for dance performances. Taana varnams are in both Adi and Ata talams. As I had mentioned in the earlier podcast, the primer Ganamrutha Varna Maliga brought out by A.S.Panchapakesa Iyer includes all the traditional varnams. I also believe that Viribhoni, the ata tala varnam in ragam Bhairavi is a litmus test for students. When students sing this varnam in two speeds, they begin to understand the nuances as well the depth of the raga.

Here is a rendition of Viribhoni by MS Subbalakshmi.

Chitra Srikrishna – vocal

C.N.Chandrashekhar – violin

C.Cheluvaraj – mrudanga

M.S.Krishnamurthy – ghata

After the concert there is a group rendition (goshti gayana) of Pancharatna kritis at 12:45 pm followed by lunch.

2. Sunday, March 14, 6 pm at Kamakshi temple, Shankar Mutt, Malleswaram.

3. Wednesday, March 31, 12:30 to 2:30 pm at Sri Rama Seva Mandali, Fort high school (special A/C pandal) Chamarajapet, Bangalore – Ramanavami festival

As I quickly run through the ideas listed on page 3, the phone rings. It's my father who begins a long-winded explanation on why he needs the driver. “Cut to the chase, Dad” the words slip out inadvertently. For a moment he's too befuddled to respond. After all, he's still not come to the reason of the phone call! I assure him that I would return his call in a few minutes and race back to my desk. The ideas are now jumping at me and I'm raring to go. For the next few minutes the sound of furious typing echoes in the living room. Only the quiet chime of the clock can be heard in the background. As I'm halfway through the piece, a sneaky thought appears . Is the writing a tad dull? Does it need a bit of pizazz? Soon enough, alarm bells start ringing in my head. But no, it's the doorbell - who could it be now?

My sister-in-law breezes in behind the maid announcing, "I need to see my brother!". There's a light of battle in her eyes. "Close your ears, I'm going to talk to him!" Easier said than done. I'm out of cotton balls at the moment.

Mentally wishing everyone to perdition, I head back to my cozy little corner. The piece is shaping up well. It's time for that punchline. One that will make or break the article. I run through several scenarios in my head, laugh out loud even as the spouse looks askance at me. When I write the last word of the article, I expect to hear the roll of drums. Or better still the strains of some soft music. Instead I get the jarring sounds of vessels being dropped in the kitchen sink.

Here is the list of songs that was presented at the concert -

1. Karikala – Saveri – Dikshithar

2. Orajoopu joo – Kannada Gowla – Tyagaraja (neraval at the line “dheena raksha..” was a good choice”

3. Guruvina – Pantuvarali – Purandara dasa (raga alapana and swaras rendered)

4. Brovavamma – Manji – Shyama Shastry

5. Ramakatha – Madhyamavati – Tyagaraja (Here was the classic neraval Baama mani at the anupallavi with swara)

6. Seethamma – Vasantha – Tyagaraja

7. RTP – Kambodhi - “Kancha padam thanjam yena Anjal yedhu Nencham adhu Senchadai panchanadha” in Misra nadai Rupaka talam. The RTP ended in a ragamalika with Bowli, Amirkalyani, Kathana koothuhalam

8. Somasundareshwaram – Shuddha Vasantham – Dikshithar

9. Divyaprabandham (ragamalika)

10.  Harivasarala – Sindhubhairavi – Purandara dasa

11. Tirupugazh – Purvikalyani

Charulatha Ramanujam on the violin was phenomenal. Neyveli Narayanan on the mridangam and Amrit on the kanjira gave a neat thani avarthanam.

1. Jaya Jaya Swamin – Nattai – Narayana Teerth

2. Tulasamma – Devagandhari - Tyagaraja

3. Bhuvaneshwariya – Mohana Kalyani – Muthiah Bhagavathar

4. Dhaarini Telusu – Shuddha Saveri – Tyagaraja

5. Shankari Neeve – Begada – Subbarayar Shastri

6. Emi chesithe – Thodi – Tyagaraja

7. RTP – Kaapi & Behag ending in a ragamalika Hindolam, Vaasanthi, Hamsanandi and Yaman

8. Tarangam

9 Tillana – Desh – Lalgudi Jayaraman

The first item in Nattai was a brisk opener with kalpana swaras for the pallavi. Tulasamma in Devagandhari created a meditative ambience. An outstanding alapana in Mohana Kalyani followed by Bhuvaneshwariya was an instant hit with the crowd, swaras sung for the pallavi. This was followed by a quick rendition of Dhaarini Telusu and then she began Begada. There’s the standard Begada sung by musicians, with predictable sangatis/sancharas. But here she came up with some unusual patterns handling them with great finesse. H.N.Bhasker was a stalwart accompanist and supported her at every point throughout the concert. In the Begada piece, neraval was at the usual line in the charanam (“kanakadri sadhana dheena”) but surprisingly she took up kalpana swaras for the pallavi. A novel approach (and welcome). Emi chesithe nemi, Tyagaraja’s piece in Thodi set to Misra Chapu was an unusual choice and beautifully rendered with swaras for the pallavi (no neraval). The thani avarathanam by Patri Satish Kumar (m) and Anirudh Atreya (k) was energetic and brilliant.. The RTP in Kaapi and Behag set to Tisra Triputa (nada pallavi) showed trademarks of a Bombay Jaishree concert – effortlessly switching ragas at any point with great ease both at taanam, swarams and ending in a ragamalika, elevating the concert to higher level. The audience was in a trance. Last year when I heard Jaishree at the same festival I thought nothing could top the Saama-Sivarajani RTP in that concert. But I was wrong!

Sarali varisaigal are sequential swara patterns sung in Ragam Mayamalavagowla. They help students get a good grip of shruthi or pitch, talam or rhythm and a good foundation of the different notes. Janta varisaigal are patterns of two notes while the Dhaatu swaras are zigzag patterns that give students greater control over the notes. Later when students attempt kalpana swaras using their imagination, these initial exercises come in handy. So even if you're grumbling and moaning while your teacher is relentless in making you practise these exercises, you'll certainly thank her later! Students of Hindustani music learn these swara patterns in raag Bilawal, which corresponds to raga Shakarabaranam in the Carnatic scale.

Beginning with sarali varisaigal, students learn to sing 14 different patterns in three different speeds. Once they master sarali, they move on to the janta. My teacher often asked me to practise singing the same sarali and janta varisagal in different ragas (sampoorna ragas which had all seven notes) to break the monotony! Practising the dhaatu varisaigal, whether as a vocal or an instrumental exercise, helps students get a firm grip on the placing of the notes at any point. The melstayi and mantra stayi patterns exercises the vocal chords in higher and lower octaves.

Alankaras, the next stage in abhyasagaanam introduces students to the tala scheme of Carnatic music. There are 7 different tala families in the system, each tala having 5 varieties, thereby allowing 35 possible talas in the system. The three kinds of beats in a tala are anudhritam (one beat), dhrutham (two beats) and laghu (3/4/5/7/9 beats).

Geetams and Swarajathis are the next stepping stones on the path of learning Carnatic music. Geethams are basic songs with simple swara patterns and lyrics. I remember the day I Iearnt my first geetam, Shri Gananadha in ragam Malahari. Finally after several weeks of hearing me sing swaras, swaras and more swaras my teacher got tired of seeing my mournful face in class. When he began teaching the song - one which had lyrics I felt I had stepped into the big league-:)There was a renewed surge of energy in my music classes as I waded my way through the geethams, each captivating me with a magic of its own. As you listen to the podcast, please remember to comment on the blog (the good, the bad and the ugly). Happy listening!

In case you missed our first podcast on Gamakas, you can catch it here

The fact that Ashok is based in San Jose and I am in Bangalore and our insane schedules (not to mention my difficulty with this audio editing stuff) did not help matters. Nevertheless, we finally got down to it and in this post I present the first episode of our podcast - Gamakas.

Gamaka as the classical definition goes is grace - however calling it grace does not explain much. In ordinary terms gamakas are oscillatory patterns traveling from one note to another in successive repetitive pattern within a confined space. This episode explores when to use gamakas or not, with short demonstrations of appropriate gamakas.

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Poetry of the vernacular poets being set to music has been attempted by several composers. Whether it is the vachanas of the Kannada composers such as Basavanna,  the Divya Prabandhangal of the Alwar saints in Tamil, Kabir's dohas, Sangam literature such as verses from Silappadikaram (MS singing Vadavaraya mathaki at her UN concert in 1966), musicians have tried to bring life to several exquisite forms of poetry with their creativity and acumen. My recent album Saranagathi was one such attempt - original music score by a friend/musician in the US who composed the music for 30 verses from Kulasekhara Alwar's Perumal Tirumozhi.

When poetry is being transliterated to musical form, it adds a new dimension to it. The same verses now reach a wider audience. It's like adding that zing to your favourite dish. Many of us have listened to MS rendering Bhaja Govindam - can you now imagine reciting the same verses in staccato fashion? It doesn't matter if you sing off-key, but you're in your comfort zone singing the tune of your childhood. If you try reciting the same verses, you know there's something missing.

I believe the composer has a huge responsibility here. He needs to understand the poetry, the mood of the poet before selecting the raga. One cannot choose a raga like Shuba Pantuvarali when the poet talks about a rainy day, neither can we listen to Sama when Rama goes to war with the lord of Lanka!

Years back, a dancer in the SF Bay Area had asked me to set the music for a few verses penned by a Sanskrit professor in DC. The whole piece was about an immigrant's dilemma in the US. The poem began with the the immigrant pondering as to why he was drawn to the land of opportunity. The questions haunt his mind day and night. I chose raga Mohanam for the introductory verse. The next verse talked about why he continued to live in a land where he was treated as a secondary citizen (Bhagesri as there was an element of despair). As this was a dance program there was a visual element in the mix and was a big hit at the Asian Performing arts festival.

Poetry is all about emotion as is music. When the two meet, there’s magic in the air.

Beginning with the varnam in Hamsadhvani Jalajakshi sung in all three speeds, he moved on to a sprightly Vasantha piece by Purandaradasar Kodubega divya mathi. The evergreen Tyagaraja favourite Oru joopu raa in raga Kannada Gowla (sung in a slower tempo than the norm with emphasis on sahitya) followed by Entharo mahanubhavulu set the pace for the concert. An unusual alapana in Kaanada in a taanam format that portrayed the raga beautifully for Purandaradasa kriti "Dhaasanthe" was followed by Vadiraja's composition in Hamsadhvani. Vadirajaswamy is RKPadmanabha's revered deity. The main item of the concert was Subramanya Namaste. The sancharas in Raga Kambodhi were vivid, dynamic and sung with a lot of feeling.
The accompanists were CNChandrashekhar (violin), C.Cheluvaraju (mridangam).

There’s a nip in the air as the jeep winds its way up the hill. A herd of Sambar stands in the middle of the road. Our driver brings the jeep to a halt. The largest of the deer stares hard at us.

It almost seems as if he’s debating whether to let us pass. It’s an uncanny feeling as we lock gazes. Without warning, he turns his head and leads his companions into a thicket of bushes. As the driver sets our jeep in motion, I realise that my toes are tingling from the encounter.

I am at Biligiri Rangaswamy (BR) Hills with my family. The two-hour drive from Mysore saw us climb almost 3,000 feet above sea level. The bustle of the city is a distant memory. It’s a silent world but for the occasional rustle in the dense underbrush of the deciduous forests that surround us.

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