raja and raga (vasantha bhairavi)

vasantha bhairavi is a minor raga. a minor raga is one which does not have much scope for elaboration. not necessarily it shud have less no. of swaras. it may contain all the swaras but it is minor because the scope is less.

there is a famous kriti 'nee daya raada' by thyagaraja. there is another dikshitar kriti 'venkateswaram' in this raga. but there are no songs in tfm.

credit goes to ilayaraja for using this 'nee daya raada' as it is, with tamil lyrics ' un dayavillayo' and making ppl like me to take notice of this raga.

see, there may be a song somewhere hidden in the annals of tfm. but tfm can be classified as pre ilayaraja and post ilayaraja period. 

the ragas i mention might have been used my some md somewhere. but when it is used by ir, it is brought to the light because of his fans who are critically and analytically strong and who believe whatever he does in music will have a meaning and they try to bring it out.

it is a janya of vagulabharanam, 14th mela.

raja and raga (lavantika)

brindavana saranga is a beautiful raga. it makes u serene and peaceful. once i heard an RTP by tvs in which he sings the pallavi 'sri ranga hari ranga pandu ranga, brindavana saranga' in this raga. after that i was mesmerised for some days, and 24/7 this same raga was in my mind.

a pentatonic raga. similar to madhyamavathi. 

s r m p n3 s/ s n2 p m r s brindavani

s r m p n2 s / s n2 p m r s madhyamavathi.

i was damn sure that the song ' aathadi paavada kaathada' from poo vilangu is in the raga brindavani. bcos the song has more notes on the ascent involving n3. 

like in the charanam 'malar moodum thirai konjam vilagadho'

nn..ss...nn..ss....s r n s. all the notes are going up. i mean there is only ni sa. there is no sa ni . so i did not give much importance to that usage and decided it is brindavani.

only during the line ' thudikudhu roja nathu, thanni konjam oothu oothu' does the descent or avarohanam takes place.

thudikuddhu roja naathu, thanni konjam oothu oothu
pp..mr.. s...s...rsn........., pp..mr...s..s..mrs.......

but our ears are only an extn. of our mind. it hears only what our mind wants to listen. if you have decided something and hear to the music, it will sound only as you thought.

when i played this song sometime back,  i stumbled upon this fact. this is a very rare raga lavantika a janya of gowrimanohari. i have not heard any carnatic composition in this raga. i have not heard any film song also. it goes like this

s r m p n3 s/ s n3 p m r s.

rajaragam. what else can i say?