What is a Raga (5): Similar Aarohana and Avarohana-Different Ragas
Two Ragas may look very similar in terms of their aarohana and avarohana, but sound totally different.
Take for example the aarohana and avarohana of the Ragam Mohanam:
S R G P D S
S D P G R S
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Mohanam has five notes, i.e. is an audav-jati ragam and takes the higher varieties of R, G and D
The notes in the Ragam Shivaranjani are the same as Mohanam. The only difference is that Shivaranjani uses sadharana gandharam instead of antara gandharam, i.e. a lower flatter variety of G than Mohanam.
The Aarohana and Avarohana of Shivaranjani is as follows (I have used Hindustani notation to keep things simple at this stage as Carnatic notation can get confusing):
S R g P D S
S D P g R S
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The clips above are from ragasurabhi. When you listen to them, pay particular attention to the way the note G, i.e. the Gandharam is intoned. It’s the same note, but is treated differently in each example.
The two Ragams “feel” and sound quite different. Shivaranjani has an altogether more sombre feel than Mohanam.
The video below is of ML Vasanthakumari singing Dayarani Dayarani, a composition in the Ragam Mohanam:
The video below is of ML Vasanthakumari singing Yamanelli Kananendu Helabeda in Shivaranjani:
The feel of a Raga is not learned by learning the aarohana and avarohana. That is learned through practices like learning many compositions in the ragam, learning its characteristic phrases and swara patterns, which notes to stress and where, where to ornament the notes etc and through lots of listening and practice and immersion with a Guru.
Updated to add: Thanks to Madhav who pointed to these lecture demonstrations on “allied” Ragas, i.e. Ragas with similar notes on raagabox.
Uttara, nice write up. Indeed, there are so many raagas that have similar scales. Sankarabharanam and Kalyani, many allied raagas such as Darbar and Nayaki.
Here’s a beautiful couple of lecture demonstrations where the artist goes in depth into the nuances between the above mentioned raagas
http://www.raagabox.com/search/?m=0&searchterm=allied
Thanks very much for the link Madhav
Super post. You MUST write a book.
Thanks
Who would publish it?
Good post with a KISS attitude. Being from the south I have grown up listening to carnatic all around me but it was only over the last decade my interest quadrupled. I have been looking for resources to learn more on the technical front about ragas but all articles I came along went over my head. Keep writing!
Its amazing how a small note change can make a drastic difference to the mood of the song.
Mohanam is one of my fav rags, not that I can boast of naming many
BTW, the artist who sang the sample pieces has a really good voice.
Hi Rashmi, I am deliberately trying to keep it KISS (I had to google that!) so was very glad to read your comment.
Am going to do a post just on Bhoopali/Mohanam soon.
The singer in the videos is the late great ML Vasanthakumari.
If you take requests, then could I ask for a post on Bilahari ?
Thats my “favoritest” raga and my greatest mood and stress buster. I would love to learn more on this ragama.
Bilahari is said to relieve depression and to give on confidence. A post on Bilahari is planned, but you may have to wait a while
u,
Liked the effectiveness and clarity in communication of these posts.
I am looking forward to that post on Mohanam / Bhupali. Do Read Parrikar’s short takes on this one (it is insightful minus all the barbs of course). Even though the bhupali/deshkar differences are supposeduly not there in Carnatic one can see traces of these in 1.The way Mohanam gets classified as janya under two different heads. 2.How the melodic structure of the Dikshitar composition Kadambari Priyayai (the nyasa svaras, the glide-through svaras, stress points) are not the same as some of the other compositions. The diversity inside that entity that CM calls ‘Mohanam’ is very much there. It’s just buried under layers of history and one can see these common linkages!
Thanks:)
Not planning a very technical post on Mohanam-just lots of listening samples since its a Raga to which so many people easily relate.
Parrikar is a constant reference point, despite the barbs(!) and will be quoting him on Bhup and Deshkar…
Will you do a guest post on the diversity inside Mohanam? Please, pretty please?
Ah ok I had posted as anon! Not technical posts or a dry jargon-filled post from me would be even more useless. There’s enough of them at various levels from floating in all kinds of places. The world needs more of something simple, readable, wellwritten and relatable posts and with a ‘fresh perspective’ just the way you are writing. It works much better this way.
I’ve enabled comment moderation for all comments, so they do vanish for a while.
I meant you could do something non-jargon filled on Mohanam…with examples
Thanks
Who would publish it?
Not Sure about that. But I will definitely Buy it.
thanks for the vote of confidence!
You know what Uttara, I have forgotten all the information you gave in the previous posts on music! I think I will have go back to the first one. Also, without being able to listen to the sample music… I guess it’d be difficult to understand what you are explaining. Getting my computer speakers alright is long overdue. i should do that soon, as I’d love to understand the nitty gritties.
It will all come back very quickly! I’ve collected all the posts on one page to make it easier to navigate them.
Another interesting thing about Mohana is that it such an International Muse.There is a duet album of Yehudi Menuhin and L Subramnaiam and halfway into the tape , they launch into a magnificent phase of Mohanam.Simply out of this world !!!! Who can forget Kumar Gandharvs- Utheee Uthee Gopala or the evergreen Ghanashyama Sundara Sreedhara ….
They are coming up!
u, Effective and well-written! I wrote a long comment and somehow it disappeared. Will come back later and repost it again! Looking forward to yr take on Mohanam .
Didn’t disappear-just went into moderation!