Lets keep it going

Vissamraju, Sriphani (sriphani@sp.lucent.com)
Tue, 24 Jun 97 14:07:00 PDT 

Please continue this discussion.  I want to follow this closely.  For a long 
time I have been wanting to know about the ragas which go into the making of 
a song.  What other songs would be more appropriate for this discussion than 
our Dr. G's songs :))

BTW, Mr. Ramanna, you sure did NOT cause any inconvenience to us.  How did 
you get that chance of spending a whole day with SPB? Fill us in with more 
details and incidents of that day.

Sriphani.


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From: owner-ghantasa
To: ghantasala
Subject: What goes into making of a song?
Date: Tuesday, June 24, 1997 9:54AM


namastE!

   As expected there are only two people commented (so far) about my 
article.
   Krishna Kandadai sent me private mail and requested me to continue as it
   might help him to know the basics of the music.

   Before I continue, I would like to take a minute and comment on the
   songs mentioned by Sri Suryam and Ratnakar.

 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 17 Jun 1997 23:41:56 +0530
From: Suryam <Suryam@icodeindia.soft.net>
To: "'ghantasa@cs.wisc.edu'" <ghantasa@cs.wisc.edu>
Subject: RE: rAga, tALa & SRti mAlikalu

I quickly remember two more songs of this fashion ..

rAvE rAgamayI ... jayabhEri

This song is composed in rAga abhEri (it is not a rAga mAlika) and set to
AditALam. In the caraNam

sandhyalalO callaga sAgE callani gAlilO...

It gives a feeling that there is change in tALa, but actually the tempo
is changed (reduced) and still it is in AditALam. I request the list
members to listen to the song one more time.

rasika rAja taguvAramu kAmA ... anArkali

This is also from the movie jayabhEri. This song is based on two rAgAs
(it is even mentioned in the movie, before the song) kAnaDa and cakravAkam.
The singer gives the name vijayAnandacandrika to the rAga. Once again
this is neither a rAgamAlika nor a tALamAlika.

In the other mail Sri Suryam quoted the song sivasankari...

This is composed in kAnaDa and it is neither a rAgamAlika nor a tALamAlika.

Regarding the mail from Ratnakar:

  Before I say anything about him, I need to say a little bit about
myself. I did not learn (nor know) classical music. But there is a great
influence of my elder brothers and sisters on me. I picked up the basics
just out of interest and am glad to say that I enjoy music better now.

  Many of you might know that Ratnakar is my nephew. When he came to this
country 7-8 years ago, he did not have any music background. Now he is
learning classical music and enjoys music better. Now, I hear a lot of
hindustAni rAgAs from him.

  There is a list of songs (close to 500 in number) that tells the name
of the rAga and the movie name. If the members are interested I would
like Sri Sreenivas Paruchuri to post it on this list. Many of the songs
are sung by G in the list.
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------


For those people who really wanted to learn/expose to basics of music:

   The E-TV show pADutA-tiyagA, is conducted by SPB and SPB is quoting
numerous incidents of G's involvement in various compositions and his
unique style of singing a song. I recommend these shows to the G music
lovers as the show is dedicated to G. In one of the episodes, one of the
contestants selected the song tushAra sItala sarOvarAna from the movie
sAntinivAsam. The contestant did a wonderful job in reproducing the song,
almost like leela. At the end SPB requested the contestant to reproduce a
small bit of the song and explained that it is G unique way of composing
hindOLam (the rAga). These incidents immediately remind the other
composition of G in the same rAga.

When SPB was young, he used to ask his father about various rAgAs (please
note that he did not learn classical music in his life). His father gave
the example of jaya kRSNA mukundAmurAri in pAnDurangamahatyam and told
him that it is composed in mOhana (actually it is a rAga mAlika).
Similarly the song pAlakaDalipai sEshatalpamuna in cenculaxmi is composed
in kalyANi. So, the basic point here is to take some songs in a rAga and
try to compare any other song that you may come across with the songs
that you already know. Your listening patterns will automatically change
with this outlook.

_________________________________________________________________________

What goes into composing/practicing a song?

   Four years ago I had the oppertunity to spend a whole day with SPB and
his orchestra practicing. I could not make out the head and tail of their
terminology for at least an hour. Then slowly, I understood their laguage
(music). It is very interesting to watch such an event than the actual
concert. Each person knows his portion well (like a play) and the
conductor starts the song with the usual 1,2,3....

I would like to quote two movie examples that involves compositions

1) In the movie jayabhEri, ANR tries to sing the song yamunAtIramuna in
different rAgAs. He keeps changing the rAga as he was not happy with the
outcome and finally settles in the rAga kalyANi (actually this is a
rAgamAlika).

2) In the movie bhakta jayadEva, ANR tries to sing the verse
mEghaIrmEdura.. the sameway.

I'll continue on this topic in the next postings..

Regards,
Ramanna

P.S:- I hope that my obsessive nature towards music did not cause any
inconvenience to any.