Randow Walker analyzed the Vaidehi Raman song in his blog. I would suggest you to read the above post first before continuing. Ilaiyaraaja has used the concept of shruthibedham in many of his film songs and albums such as "How To Name It", "Nothing But Wind" and "Thiruvasagam". Today I will deal with one such song - "Kavithai Kelungal" from Punnagai Mannan.
It is a wonderful composition. The song starts with a small hindustani kind of alaap. The prelude and the pallavi is in raag Jog. It is in C scale (oru kattai). The timing is 4/4 adhi thalam.
When the pallavi ends, there is a small male humming which ends in the note D# (Ga1). From here the scale shifts to D#. This Ga1 now becomes the Sa from there on. Now we are in the first interlude and the scale is rendarai kattai. There are some jathis and nadais in tabla after which the first saranam starts in Malayamarutham ragam in the D# scale (rendarai kattai) which was shifted after the pallavi. Interestingly the saranam starts with the line "netru en paatil shruthiyum vilagiyadhe" !!
When the first saranam ends, the pallavi again shifts back to C scale (oru kattai) Jog. Again just before the second BGM interlude, the scale shifts to D# (2 1/2 kattai). The timing also changes to 6/8 (tha ki ta | tha thi mi) jagana jagana... The rest of the song is based on the raag chakravagam (ahir bhairav?) which is somewhat close to malayamarutham.
To give you the relationship between these 3 raagams and the scale shifts, refer the following :
Most of the absolute notes are the same, but the shruthi is different. I think this is called shruthibedham and in western, tonal shift. Very interesting compostion !! Ilayaraja has done lot of such stuff. For example refer here: http://www.raajangahm.com
Vidyasagar has also tried this approach in Raa Raa song from Chandramukhi, which I will analyze in my next post.
Regards,
Ramesh
It is a wonderful composition. The song starts with a small hindustani kind of alaap. The prelude and the pallavi is in raag Jog. It is in C scale (oru kattai). The timing is 4/4 adhi thalam.
When the pallavi ends, there is a small male humming which ends in the note D# (Ga1). From here the scale shifts to D#. This Ga1 now becomes the Sa from there on. Now we are in the first interlude and the scale is rendarai kattai. There are some jathis and nadais in tabla after which the first saranam starts in Malayamarutham ragam in the D# scale (rendarai kattai) which was shifted after the pallavi. Interestingly the saranam starts with the line "netru en paatil shruthiyum vilagiyadhe" !!
When the first saranam ends, the pallavi again shifts back to C scale (oru kattai) Jog. Again just before the second BGM interlude, the scale shifts to D# (2 1/2 kattai). The timing also changes to 6/8 (tha ki ta | tha thi mi) jagana jagana... The rest of the song is based on the raag chakravagam (ahir bhairav?) which is somewhat close to malayamarutham.
To give you the relationship between these 3 raagams and the scale shifts, refer the following :
| Jog (in 1 kattai) | Sa | Ri | Ga | Ma | Pa | Dha | Ni | Sa | Ri | ... | |||||||
| Malayamarutham (in 2 1/2 kattai) | Dha | Ni | Sa | Ri | Ga | Pa | Dha | Ni | Sa | ... | |||||||
| Chakravaagam (in 2 1/2 kattai) | Dha | Ni | Sa | Ri | Ga | Ma | Pa | Dha | Ni | Sa | ... | ||||||
| Western Notes | C | C# | D | D# | E | F | F# | G | G# | A | A# | B | C | C# | D | D# | ... |
Most of the absolute notes are the same, but the shruthi is different. I think this is called shruthibedham and in western, tonal shift. Very interesting compostion !! Ilayaraja has done lot of such stuff. For example refer here: http://www.raajangahm.com
Vidyasagar has also tried this approach in Raa Raa song from Chandramukhi, which I will analyze in my next post.
Regards,
Ramesh
Wow wow wow - beautifully done! Please give us more! We bow to your knowledge and detailed analysis.
ReplyDeleteThanks Anon for your comment.
ReplyDeleteVery nice analysis. I've been looking to figure out this song for a while. Never thought it could be represented by Chakravakam and Malayamarutham.
ReplyDeleteThank philramble. You seem to have a nice blog and your writing is good. I will listen to your guitar pieces and get back to you.
ReplyDeletesripathy...what you refer to as Jog raga..is actually chalanattai the last melakarta....jog is similar but a janya...
ReplyDeleteBoss, tussi great ho! Thank you for the detailed analysis. I get lost in the weeds but totally admire your efforts and delivery. Romba Nandri, thalaiva.
ReplyDeleteYour synopsis on Ra Raa, Sarasakku Ra Raa is also appreciated, with sincere thanks!