When Colors Change : Ragamalikas in Carnatic Music Part II

Everything turns a bit more interesting if you have some imagination. This would apply perfectly to Indian Classical Music, where imagination is key to enjoyment. In case of some singers, you enjoy their imagination and innovation. In case of some other singers, you have to just imagine that you are enjoying their singing !! Any which way you look at it,imagination cannot be divorced from Indian Classical Music. As was promised in the last post on the subject of Ragamalikas, we will discuss about Ragamalikas in 'kalpana sangeetham'.

According to Carnatic music purists, the piece-de-resistance of Carnatic music is the Ragam-Thanam-Pallavi. As can be expected in a fast moving world, this has now been christened RTP. We find that Ragamalikas exists in all three arms of RTP, namely, Ragam, Thanam and Pallavi. Now, singing Ragamalikas while elaborating a ragam would be frowned upon, and rightly so. But if you are going to take up a ragamalika pallavi such an exercise in raga alapana would be excused. And people have carved such ragamalika pallavis nowadays. The more traditional of such pallavis was what Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar used to sing, "சங்கராபரணனை அழைத்தோடி வாடி துர்பருக்கு கல்யாணி" ("shankarabaranani azhaitodi vaadi durbarukku kalyani".) Who said words need to make great sense in pallavis. (I have highlighted the ragas involved just in case you missed them :) ) This chatur ragamalika pallavi was also sung by Ariyakudi's disciple and the excellent musician, K V Narayanaswamy. While singing raga alapana for this pallavi, the audience expected you to move between the ragas, changing from one to another, if possible, seamlessly. Another such traditional pallavi is "எங்கள் நாட்டை குறுஞ்சி என்பார்" ("engal naatai kurunji enbar")  Can you guess the three ragas involved here? If you guessed, Naatai, Kurunji and Natakurunji as the three ragas, you can give yourself 5 marks. There is a recording of T N Seshagopal of this pallavi, which is commercially available. I have also heard Seshagopalan sing a pallavi which was based on Arabhi and Bindumalini. (I was intrigued by the choice of ragas here because I couldn't see any connection between Arabhi and Bindumalini. When I queried about this choice, someone in an online community replied that the ragas were chosen because Arabhi started with 'A' and Bindumalini started with 'B'. Given the tone of the reply I am sure that person was not kidding. I just hope that was not the real reason!!!) I have read reports about such ragamalika pallavis being sung by many people but I haven't heard any live concert or recording of any such pallavis but I am sure they are being done.

There is always a debate on whether ragamalika pallavis are appropriate or not. On one hand people feel that singing, say, three or four ragas in a limited timeframe does not do justice to any one of the ragas. If you take the case of Seshagopalan singing the pallavi 'naatai kurunji enbar', you feel given his enormous talent, it would be great if he uses the complete time to elaborate one raga. The argument from the other side is that this adds to the variety in a concert and also showcases the mastery of the musician over the raga. Afterall is RTP not one way to demonstrate the 'vidwat' of the musician? Where do I stand on this? As usual, somewhere in the middle!! I am OK with hearing this once in a while for the variety. It will be an overkill if done too frequently. Needless to say, singing ragamalika pallavis means you are singing the raga, the thanam, the pallavi and the kalpanaswarams in all the ragas mentioned in the pallavi.

Ragamalikas in thanam singing / playing have the veena tradition behind it. If you forget about the ragamalika pallavis and think of only single raga pallavis, here too we have ragamalika while playing or singing the thanam. Here the accepted practice is to play the gana raga thanam. The thanam is played in Naatai, Gowlai, Aarabhi, Varali and Sri, in that order. The same ragas that make up the Tyagaraja Pancharatna Krithis. The veena players almost invariably play this gana raga thanam. Sometimes I have heard them play this thanam after elaborating a raga and before taking up a krithi. Singers too sing thanam in these ragas. There is a concert recording of Semmangudi where he sings thanam in all these ragas. Very recently I heard T M Krishna do the same. I personally like this aspect of ragamalika, since thanam in these raga sounds very good.

Kalpanaswaras, as the name indicates, is a fertile ground for 'manodharma' and do you think our musicians will miss the chance? As can be expected, it is in singing kalpanaswaras in RTP that musicians resort to singing ragamaikas. Infact, they start the ragamalikas in the neraval phase of the pallavi itself. The neraval is done in different ragas. Sky is the limit here, as far as combination is concerned. People do neraval in different ragas, then kalpanaswaras in different ragas, sing a few ragas and then sing the ragas in the reverse order and so on. Highly talent artists like Seshagopalan have sung around 20 to 25 ragas in the kalpanaswara phase. Each raga probably for one avartana of swaras.

This begs the question as to how much is too much? As usual, there is no single or simple answer. On hand we have purists who frown at the mention of ragamaikas during RTP since it destroys the picture of the raga that the musician has built carefully. One the other hand, people would claim that RTP is a very lengthy exercise, especially of the artist does the technical stuff like trikalam, anuloman, pratilomam etc. Audience may be exhausted due to the length and the ragamalikas provides the much needed relief and get the audience engaged in the exercise. Now where do I stand on this? Well, you guessed the answer. As usual, somewhere in the middle. I have heard wonderful RTPs by masters who keep you engaged throughout which is based on a single raga. The Shankarabaram RTP of Semmangudi in one of the Music Academy seasons is one example. (This RTP kept me company during one of the trips to US.) At the same time, when done in a limited way, the ragamalika part of the neraval and kalpanaswarams do have their charm, especially in a concert setting. The key, according to me, is moderation. Of the recent concerts I have heard, musicians like Bombay Jayashree, Ranjani - Gayathri have got the mix right. They don't sing more than 3 ragas in the ragamalika and that lets them dwell on these swaras for some time. The choice of the ragas too is such that they make an instant impact of the listener. On the other hand, singing swaras for one avarthanam at breakneck speed, becomes an objective test to the listener. You need to switch off from the RTP mode and now get into answering the questions. "Was that Rithigowla which passed by or was it AnadhaBhairvai which eluded my grasp". Before you can decide, the next ragam is already passing you by!!!

In essence, whether we appreciate ragamalikas association with RTP depends on what you are expecting out of an RTP. If your expectation is for the musician to build a great edifice of the raga or you expect the musician to involved in 'laya vinyasa', then you are not going to be too happy about ragamalikas. On the other hand, you think RTP is something which allows the 'vidwan' to show various facets of his 'vidwat', then you may actually be looking forward to such ragamalikas. The current concert experience is such that ragamalikas have now become an integral part of RTP. Some years from now, people will be claiming that singing ragamalikas in RTP is a tradition!! To purists it will be corruption, to modernist it will be evolution.

The other area where ragamalikas are accepted and expected is sloka singing or virutham singing. This is something which both the musician and the listeners enjoy in equal measure. The musician can let go his imagination in sloka singing and inspired rendition of slokas and virutams add to the enjoyment of the listener. There are different ways in which artists approach sloka singing. On one hand are the musicians, for who the words of the sloka are of paramount importance. The drape the raga over the words in as exact fashion as possible. On the other extreme would be the musicians for whom the words are just an excuse to sing raga elaborately. Singers like D K Pattammal and M S Subbulakshmi are examples of the first school of thought while singers like G N B and Maharajapuram Vishwanatha Iyer belong to the latter school of thought. My person preference is for the golden mean, where importance for words and importance for imagination is given in equal measure. My personal favourite in Sloka singing, who exhibits this balance, is Semmangudi Srivinivasa Iyer. Be it the choice of sloka, be it the phrasing, the emphasis on certain words and the manodharmam he brings to bear on the sloka, everything has class written all over it. (Update: One of my good friends commented that this sentiment would apply to M D Ramanathan as well and I whole heartedly agree.) If I were allowed to only take one aspect of Semmangudi singing with me and have to give up all other aspects, I will unhesitatingly chose his sloka singing. All you need to do is to hear him sing the Ramayana Navarasa sloka, 'sringaram kshiti nandini' once and you will also come to the same conclusion!! The slokam he sings in the Krishna Gana Sabha concert, with MSG and Velore Ramabadran, which is commercially available has him singing an amazing ragamalika slokam, in which the Hamsanandhi, literally and figuratively, touches the skies. My personal favourite is a recording of some concert, in which he sings the phrase, "karunyam balibojane" of the Ramayana Navarasa sloka, in Punnagavarali. Such peace in a concert platform is almost unimaginable.

I will leave you now to enjoy these Ragamalikas. (Don't think I am stopping here. In the next part we will deal with Ragamalikas in Indian movies.)

Sanjay Subramaniyam's sloka (Uploaded by 'navarasan')



Ranjani - Gayathri singing Kulasekara Azhwar's pasuram. (Uploaded by 'carnaticopia')



One more Ranjani - Gayathri (they talk about the inevitable change) (Uploaded by 'kamakotisankara')



Aruna Sairam with a viruttam (uploaded by 'carnaticopia)