Lets start at the very beginning! Yaman. There is enough and more been said about this Raga however I feel drawn to this sequence of notes time and again and what a better start to the New Year but to enfold myself into the comfort of its familiarity.

Yaman seen through the mind of the great Ustad Amjad Ali Khan who describes and shows a beautiful excerpt of the raga here

A common bhajan sung by the Sydhwanies that can be heard under lyrics above is Shree Rama Chandra that is set to the same raga. The sequence of notes are the same as a major scale except that the fourth is sharp which creates a handsome picture. Listen to a Violin and Cello combination of this bhajan here

Kishori Amonkar one of the great singers of our time has a unique and exceptional way of introducing the Fourth note or Tivra madhyam for which Kishori’s Yaman is truly special.

Listen to her below:

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=rGOUMg0UnyI&feature=related

Considered to be an easy raga for no matter what combination of notes one mixes the likelihood of it sounding like any other raga is close to nil. With this confidence in mind Hindustani teachers world over introduce Yaman as the first raga to many students and encourage them to be creative with it.

Listen to a new talent, Pritam Bhattacharya below:

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=KngI-P0eSzk&feature=related

Dr Kamala Shankar on Guitar with Rajeev Janardhan on Sitar

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=h5nz_p92Cjc&feature=related

Yaman has been introduced in the South of India in famous songs such as “Krishna Nee Begane Baro” which is famously fused by the Colonial Cousins. Nevertheless here is a Yaman sung by Raja Ravi Verma, a rendition of an Ashtapadi

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=laOMhQ6fc-c

Some believe that the Ragam Kalyani is similar to Raag Yaman. However the two ragas produce a very different effect and flavour. While Yaman when used by South Indian Musicians is done so in light smaller semi-classical compositions, Ragam Kalyani is considered one of the major ragams in that system. Yaman however is the crowning jewel in Hindustani Music and shall remain so, in its enviable position of being easy with immense hidden potential, like a poem read again and again each time revealing a new meaning. I leave you with two famous singers of bygone years singing Yaman, Hirabai Barodekar and Mogubai Kurdekar.

Here is another great jugalbandhi between the Hindustani Bansuri and the Carnatic Veenai between P Hegde on Flute and Jayshree on Veena

To start at the beginning with Raag Yaman in the beginning of a New Year 2009

An architect whose Architecture is termed ‘World Architecture’ for his well known buildings  the Sydney Opera House, the National Assembly in Kuwait, the Parliament and the adjoining Mosque in its surrounds and many others. He did not hesitate to delve into cultures and learn from ancient Islamic architecture and modern engineering for he believed the very basis of architecture was the same at its root. This Architect is none other than Jorn Utzon the Danish Architect whose buildings have recieved world acclaim.  

Utzon while drawing the iconic sails of the Sydney Opera House in 1957 little knew what he created. He successfully captured the very spirit of the City, the life and ways of Australians. Whilst the outside features of the Opera House were built in accordance with Utzon’s ideas, the Government after nine years could not fund the internal Halls of the Opera House to Utzon’s design and standards. Utzon had a bitter falling out with the Authorities and left Australia in 1966 never to return. The Sydney Opera House was completed after a further seven years. 

The rift between Utzon and Australia was settled finally in 1998 when he said that he cannot be bitter about anything in life”. He was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2003, for the most beautifully architectured iconic building of the 20th century, bestowed with a honorary doctorate from the University of Sydney, and given the Title of The Order of Australia and the keys to the City of Sydney.

To pay tribute to this great visionary, the Opera House shall dim its lights in his honour and the Australian Flag shall fly at half mast on the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Swami Vivekananda’s saying comes to my mind “Nothing great is created without great sacrifice”. A beautiful life that enriched the world with ideas and vision like no other !!

After the recent spate of classical mixes heard in Sydney during the weekend of the 8 November and 9 November I cannot  but help muse about the future of Indian Classical Music. Recently there has been an increasing awareness of Classical music systems, generally whether Indian or Western. Despite mourning organisations worldwide complaining about the sad  non profitability of these collaborations

Perhaps out of the frustration built up over a century or more or perhaps it is the result of globalisation or better still may be there is a cross cultural dialogue happening in different layers and regions out of which Classical mixes like no other is developing.. what better term but Raga Gigs!!

This new genre I hasten to add does not depart from the Indian Classical systems  too far. Such ventures have been seen in the past. Such as the collaboration between Ravi Shankar and George Harrison; and  L Subrahmaniam and Yehudin Menuhin may be in the 1960′s. Whilst these ventures popularised the Raga in the Western World. Now we see a different trend where music is being explored with more confidence and yet ever so delicately. Dr L Subrahmaniam performs with his son Ambi Subramaniam in a collaboration with the Balatica Symphony Orchestra. Read more about L Subramaniam here.

The Great Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan collaborated with Jan Garbarek Saxophonist and has produced several songs under a record called ‘Ragas Sagas’ . Thanks to You Tube we can now hear any musician perform from any part of the world. And so I bring you some delightfully refreshing “Raga Gigs”

One of them is Narasimhan with his Quartet playing the Carnatic Keerthanam ‘Mokshamu Galadha’ with exquisite perfection. A delicacy  I call it ‘Like a Morning Dew’

http://vodpod.com/watch/1175052-like-the-morning-dew-by-v-s-narasimhan?pod=sydhwaney

Listen to Ajay Pohankar sing Paayaliya Jhankar Mori in Pooriya Dhanasri with the jazzy beats of the drum kit, tabla and sounds of the piano.. whilst limited in his improvisations makes a good listen nevertheless http://www.esnips.com/doc/5a7f051f-d8f5-4151-a9da-13ccd6eb6f4a/Ajay-Pohankar—Piya-Bavari-Again—02—Payaliya-Jhankar

And here is another kind of Entharomahanu bhavulu by Karnatriix. A band made up of an Electric Guitar, a Sarangi and Drums. I have not a clue of who the artists are sadly !! an upbeat Thyagaraja gem. Cant help grooving to this one!!

http://vodpod.com/watch/1175029-karnatriix-entharo-mahanubhavulu?pod=sydhwaney

Ofcourse Ravi Shankar’s daughter Anoushka Shankar is at the forefront of adventurous musical experiments. Here’s a rhythmic vocal experiment called the RED SUN – bringing the artform of Konnakol [Vocal Percussion]  back to life.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=0HNoKT1_-qc&feature=related

On the 8 November Sydney witnessed the great Guru Kaaraikudi Mani Iyer perform with his team from India called Shanmukha, like the six faces of Muruga he said the name of the team represented six instruments which were played by six excellent musicians. Balasai on the flute was exceptional with his jazzy improvisations proving that the flute could be used for both gamakas and harmonic effects and jazz rhythms. http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=oVgI86zbNyM&feature=related

Raghavendra Rao on Violin was not missed during the times he did play, and UP Raju’s mandolin was memorable with its entries and exits. Suresh on the ghatam provided an excellent partnership for Guru Kaaraikudi Mani Iyer. The Karnatic composition of “Sharavana Bhava” in a rare  raga Madhumathi Priya composed by Muthiah Bhagavathar from Travancore was the first item in the concert. The composition was rendered to the beats of the Mridangam played by Guru Kaaraikudi Mani Iyer which was accompanied by the melody of the song by Balasai on the Flute rather than the other way around. A crispy upbeat piece it help warm up the audience for the rest of the concert.

The concert took on an expectant waiting when Sandy Evans on the saxophone entered. She opened the piece with a soulful rendition of the melodic scale of Raagam Natai which was followed by a rhythmic arrangement that took on the phraseology with all instruments playing a melodic expression interspersed with rhythmic beats played by all percussionists. An interesting concept however the sounds seemed to be a little imbalanced. The concert gave the audience what they came for classical music clothed within a modern arrangement.

Sarangan Sriranganathan’s quartet called Unity in Diversity  reflected the North Indian Classical style of music played in a format where he and Sandy Evans took turns to express their melodic journeys. Their item finished with a sawal jawab between himself on the sitar and Sandy Evans on the Saxophone followed by Bobby Singh and Ben Walsh on the Tabla and Drum kits making for an entertaining finale.

The next day’s concert at the Opera House was an evening with Ustad Zakir Hussain who performed with his Masters of Percussion. It appeared that the ustad took little risk with his collaborations as he engaged in meeting hands and thought with one musician at a time before the finale when the Manipuri Drummers joined with their rhythm and dance.

How do I feel about all of the above – watch this collaboration between two western classical musicians Yehudi Menuhin and Stephane Grappelli .. entitled Jealousy !!

http://vodpod.com/search/search?site=vodpod_sites&sort=nosort&q=yehudi+menuhin

Rajeshwari Sainath is a breath of fresh air with her unassuming youthful and personable nature despite being one of India’s great dancers today. An exponant in the Pandanallur Style of Bharathanatyam she wears many hats, oscillates between cultures, and is keen to take her art form to the corners of all worlds, mind, body and spirit.

Rajeshwari Sainath’s journey with her artform sees her holding the position of the Director of the Sruthi Laya Kendras established by Guru Kaaraikudi Mani, a Teacher in her own right, a dedicated professional, imaginative producer, choreographer in Bharathanatyam.  a tough marketeer and spokesperson of her artform she has carved her own in the mecca of music and dance, Chennai in India and is soon to conquer it appears our shores, Australia. Perhaps one of the first of many South Indian dancers to take Bharathanatyam to Western Countries in ways that have involved western musicians and dancers involvement like no other there is much to be excited about when meeting Rajeshwari Sainath.

It came as no surprise therefore when she informed me rather non-chalantly that the Natya Kala Shiromani Award was to be conferred upon her in the coming December Festival of 2008 at Chennai along with Nithyasree Mahadevan and several other awardees. Rajeshwari  expresses her views on Modern learning techniques, her artistic collaborations with Paul Gabrowski, her vision of dance etc in her chat with Sydhwaney below. Dont forget to leave your comments..

Musing with Rajeshwari Sainath

Wishing You a HAPPY DEEPAVALI  I bring you Raag Deepak, during this festive occassion.

Shahida Parveen – Poet says “My love is like Raag Deepak”

Every one who is familiar with Saigal, Bollywood’s crowning play back singer in the 1930′s would be aware of the age old classic “Diya Jalao” which was set in Raag Deepak. Shahida Parveen sings the Ghazal “Deepak Raag Hai Chahath Apni” with her gripping voice she is convincing in her attempt to instill in a listener’s mind the truly special nature of Raag Deepak as envisaged by the poet who  compares the intensity of his love to Raag Deepak. This song itself is set to another raag Darbari.

Listen to Shankar Mahadevan singing a rare classical song based on Raag Deepak from the Movie Gajgamini below which correctly captures the essence of this Raga.Shankar Mahadevan – Raag Deepak

Raag Deepak is said to have been composed by Mia Tansen however there are very few recordings of this raga available from today’s prominant maestros. While this raag has been referred to in Love poems such as the ghazal above it also features in many ancient paintings showing its popularity during past  one such painting can be seen at the site

of Raag Deepak One other painting that comes to mind which is yet another masterpiece in the South of India is the painting depicting the lady with lamp. Surely the burning of the lamp is the very essence of light and Diwali. Hence I bring you one of Ravi Verma’s master piece.

I leave you with the music of Shujaat Khan on sitar, son of Vilayath Khan saheb. Keep listening to the track, Shujaat Khan stops to sing the notes of this wonderful bandish and then continues to play.

Shujaat Khan Plays Deepak on Sitar

Raag Deepak by Jha Saheb in Rajan Parrikar’s commentary at the site below gives a good explanation of the raga however without reference to any authority other than Jha Saheb himself. Makes for an interesting read and sums it all up.

Rajan Parrikaar Commentaries

There are no ragas in Carnatic Music that resemble Raag Deepak.

A Town in Italy is called Todi, said to have been built in 8th century,  it is famous for a Co-cathedral Church called the Palazzo Del Popolo. But I wish to muse about Raag Thodi today. Like the title suggests it is best listened to in the morning. Why ? Well traditionally it has been stamped as a morning raga. Perhaps during times of no TV or radio or Internet, Kings in Palaces would wake up to the music of Royal Musicians singing Mia Ki Todi. Listen to an excerpt of this raga by the Queen of Hindustani Violin N Rajam and one of my favourites.

Ofcourse, in the booming voice of Bhimsen Joshi here.

Listen here to Bismillah Khan Singing Raag Mia Ki Thodi.. Yes ! Singing normally you see him play the Shehnai. To those reading who dont know what a Shehnai pronounced She-ha-na-yee, is simply an Eastern Trumpet. So you can hear Bismillah Khan saheb singing but his voice like his playing of the Shehnai is unique. I have heard only one other type of male vocal rendition where the voice lends itself to be so flexible and that is in the voices of Nazakath and Salamath Ali two great singers and equally in the South the Great Legends Alathur Bros.

Ragas such as Bhahudari Thodi [ Pa is more pronounced], Gurjari Todi [Pa is Omitted altogether], Chaya Todi [Pa and Ni are dropped] are many varieties like graded versions of the same software that is available to every one these days however producing different results. Yet a variety of Todi’s has been sung by Pandit Jasraj. Visit www.Indianraga.wordpress.com to read and listen.

In Carnatic Music there is a Raga called Hanumatodi or Jana Todi which is often shortened by every one to ‘Thodi’  and has no resemblance to Mia Ki Todi or Todi of the Hindustani variety. All notes used in Thodi are minor, and sometimes singers skip the Panchamam or 5th note to land on it later, the home coming!! results in a Mmm!!! or an Aaah!! in the audience. I am a great fan of KVN and love his thodi and consider it to be one of the best I have heard so far. When and if I find a good recording may be I will put an excerpt of it into this blog.

When the 5th note is dropped altogether the ragam is called ‘Shuddha Todi” in Carnatic Music.

Shuddha Todi contains all the same notes of that of Mia Ki Todi. Whether it produces the same effect ? I shall leave that to your judgment. Listen here to Sudha Ragunathan singing a rare Varnam in this ragam “Sami Ninne”.

Some people get so caught up in the “combination of Swaras or notes” that they forget that the essence of any raga is in experiencing it. A mathematical combination of frequencies used can never make a raga complete. I guess that is what makes some musicians geniuses and others merely practitioners.

 

I bring you Charukeshi along with more wonderful photographs I took during my recent trip North of Sydney. I was listening to Charukeshi on a long road to nowhere it seemed feeling the breeze and the smell of the forest around me I thought how apt and beautiful to be enveloped with Charukeshi, like a caress.

I particularly love this raag. The minor 6th and 7th notes, Dha and Ni when combined with major notes of the rest of the scale gives it a personality of strength along with this energy is a softness, a kindness that shows limitless delicate potential in the following minor notes. As usual Charukeshi has been used by Bollywood in recent movies such as Swades. Charukeshi is a south Indian Raga which has permeated into the North for its ample sweetness but there the resemblance and the arrangements of the notes almost stops. Whilst predominantly similar according to the experts, I find that the North Indian Charukeshi is soft while the south Indian renderings are far more energetic. My searches on the net have lead me to many charukeshi’s however I hope to bring the one’s that are uncommon and yet beautiful. One such example is that of a Government of India TV Doordarshan production, which I found on You Tube shows Sitarist Abhisek Mallick with a fantastic Tabla player, Biplab Bhattacharya, playing a complicated 11 beat thaal called called ‘Chaar Thaal Ki Sawari’

“He Surano Chandrabha” is a famous Abhang in this Raag

A favourite voice in Hindustani Music – Rashid Khan singing charukeshi. I consider this to be the best male vocal rendering of this raga of modern times besides ofcourse that sung by the great maestro of long time past, Amir Khan Saheb.

Chinna Satyanarayana is a South Indian Carnatic maestro who explains the rendering of this raga in the South Carnatic Style and then he sings ” Om Sri Charukeshi Raga Devathari Namah” using the many “combinations or sancharams” within this raga. He proceeds to sing an Ashtapadhi in this Ragam “Radhika Krishna Tava Virahe Keshava”

One of my other favourites simply because it lends itself to be danced to in the classical style is the Varnam in this raag “Innam Manam Ariyadhe” which means “Oh Lord Dont you know my mind yet”. I was lucky to find a recording of this Varnam sung by Charumathi Latha at

ML Vasantha Kumari singing Charukeshi, in Thyagarajah’s composition Ada Modi Galathe is an all time enchanting classic

Going back to the North I leave you with a composition rendered by the Gundecha Brothers in Charukeshi  “Jhini re Jhini” in the soulful Dhrupad style along with it is  a photograph of a truly rare moment that flew down to have breakfast with me.

Sayak Bhattacharya, is young, smart and an australian indian lawyer in NSW who is taking his music seriously. He is the one and only chosen student of Rashid Khan, a legend in Hindustani Classical Music in India. Sayak says he keeps in touch with his guru over the phone, emails and visits India regularly. He says that during a recent three month stint in India, he found his time with his Guru was enriching but even more because he got an opportunity to sing with him providing supporting vocals at various performances around India. Despite being an Australian Bengali, Sayak diction pronunciation doesn’t stand in his way.

Todays performance saw Sayak accompanied by Nikhil Harishchandrakar on Tabla providing a soulful start to the evening with a meditative lilting Pooriya Kalyan in Vilambith Ek Taal followed by a Druth Madhya Laya Teen Taal and an Ek Taal bandish. Don’t understand a word of that..?  In simple English his performance consisted of three rhythmic movements the first movement was in a slow rhythmic cycle of 12 beats followed by a faster movement to a time cycle of 16 beats which was then was followed by another fast 12 beat cycle. Each movement accompanied by a different song or lyrics however still within the same Raga structure.  Sayak concluded his recital with another Raga usually sung during the rainy season in India  Megh Malhar and a Tumri. A budding Australian Talent that shows a lot of promise.

Sayak’s vocal recital was followed by Sasmit from India, who played Yanni with all his heart on the Piano taking the audience through the composition In D Major and followed it through various compositions such as the all time favorites such as Swan Lake, Love Story and others. Sasmit unlike Sayak is born and brought up in Mumbai India and was delighted to see my Piano sitting at the corner of my drawing room. Drawn to it like a magnet he plunged his fingers into the keys to open many hearts. As his evening performance progressed he drew the audiences more and more into his world of music. Playing many Hollywood favorites later he concluded with a number sung by Shankar Mahadevan  ‘Mitwa’ . With its nostalgic ethos filled notes filling the room, the evening’s recital sadly came to an end.

To the Organisors, the Bapat and Risbud partnership, is also showing promise in this dry homeland which we call Home Down Under. We await with bated breath for the next mehfil.

Listen to Sasmit on the Piano in Sydney below. Apologies for the audience encore which have been left unedited to bring you the atmosphere and the ambience of the evening.

Music in Nature should be a walk in the park or it seems the Rainforest all that is required is the ability to listen. It would have to be a wonderful exercise of mind, body and spirit. Well decidedly so as it proved to be during my recent holiday at Myall Lakes in the North of Sydney. Armed with very little, as I was camping with my 12 year old son and his friend I tried to get away from people and noise only to be surrounded by the natural noise of my mind and the happy chatter of the two twelve year old energetic stimulants with me. 

The days were busy, hectic and physically challenging. But what I relished and want to share with you all are the sounds from the warm summer nights and the feel of the morning fresh breeze which brought the chirping sounds of the birds in the adjoining rainforest and the lake beyond. 

During these moments as I allowed myself to soak my surroundings and tried to absorb all that was around me, I found myself noticing ‘random stuff’ as my teenager would say.  But for me this random stuff was made up of sounds that tease the mind into stillness for I was willing to swing to its rhythm. For others it may have been a pleasant moment.