Andolika

Rāga related discussions
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srikant1987
Posts: 2246
Joined: 10 Jun 2007, 12:23

Post by srikant1987 »

I just listened to Ganesh Kumaresh maining an Andolika song in 2-kaLai Adi. I found the ArOhaNam-avarOhaNam and wikied for the rAgam's name.

The name sounds very familiar, but I don't remember listening to anything else in this rAgam. Can you people list a few compositions with records? The rAgam is very beautiful, but the composition was rather slow. I think I will enjoy a faster composition in this rAgam more.

Ashwin
Posts: 226
Joined: 07 Feb 2010, 23:48

Post by Ashwin »

Was it rAgasudhArasa of tyAgarAjA? Faster pieces include the Adi tALa varNam of GNB "nI dayarAdA" and "sEvikkavENDum aiyyA." Im sure Lakshman Uncle will be able to provide a comprehensive list!

Ashwin
Last edited by Ashwin on 15 Jul 2008, 23:08, edited 1 time in total.

srikant1987
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Joined: 10 Jun 2007, 12:23

Post by srikant1987 »

Yes, it was rAgasudhArasa. I listened to the other two things. I expected even more. :(

I wonder if rAgasudhArasa was originally composed fast and got changed. Is this AndOLika Tyagaraja's invention?
---
I seem to be devloping a taste for rAgasudhArasa in the present tempo itself, though. Some kaDalirasa work, perhaps. :)
Last edited by srikant1987 on 15 Jul 2008, 23:42, edited 1 time in total.

Ashwin
Posts: 226
Joined: 07 Feb 2010, 23:48

Post by Ashwin »

My guess would be that this is the original tempo of rAgasudhArasa, given the meaning. I don't believe it is tyAgarAjA's invention - I was taught that the rAga was originally called "mayuradhvani."

Ashwin

rbharath
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Joined: 05 Feb 2010, 10:50

Post by rbharath »

here is a nice RTP in AndhOLikA by MLV..

http://www.sangeethapriya.org/MainItem/ ... ka_RTP.mp3

it goes like Ananda sAyi nAtA AndhOLikAm samarpayami...

gobilalitha
Posts: 2056
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 07:12

Post by gobilalitha »

Any relationship between andolika and gowdamalhar? mising Ramaraj. Of course, my question will be answered by many, as we have abundance of knowledgable members. But Ramraj always waiting for such opportunities ,will at once post some kritis c omposed by him .Heard he is getting better by the prayers and good wishes of all of us. gobilalitha

arasi
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Joined: 22 Jun 2006, 09:30

Post by arasi »

Gobilalitha,
Please convey our best to him and say that we miss him.

srikant1987
Posts: 2246
Joined: 10 Jun 2007, 12:23

Post by srikant1987 »

Can anyone identify the violinist in the RTP rbharath gave?

It's worth downloading! Beautiful RTP!
Last edited by srikant1987 on 17 Aug 2008, 11:12, edited 1 time in total.

ragam-talam
Posts: 1896
Joined: 28 Sep 2006, 02:15

Post by ragam-talam »

Sounds like a later MLV. So could be Kanyakumari. Although in places violin is struggling, so not sure...

CarnaticTreasureHunter
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Joined: 25 Sep 2008, 13:07

Post by CarnaticTreasureHunter »

I have in my collection (downloads), GNB's Aalaapanai in Andolika.

How do I go about uploading here? (Question from newbie here)

Cheers

Lakshman
Posts: 14019
Joined: 10 Feb 2010, 18:52

Post by Lakshman »

GNB's music is not to be posted on this site.

CarnaticTreasureHunter
Posts: 8
Joined: 25 Sep 2008, 13:07

Post by CarnaticTreasureHunter »

Lakshman wrote:GNB's music is not to be posted on this site.
Dear Mr. Lakshman,

Any particular reason why GNB's music cannot be posted here ?
I thought the mp3 I have is non-commercial. Could it be due to copyright claims in the past? Correct me if I am wrong.

While I don't have any formal training on CM and so can barely recognise few raagas, I enjoy CM and have a keen ear. I have a huge (about 2000 clips) collection of recordings and mp3 downloads - I am trying to get my 7 year old son interested and initiated in CM. My collection is reasonably tagged. I don't have problems sharing non-commercial clips and as long as I don't violate copyrights.

In the past I have visited this site as a guest very frequently and have always been amazed by the intensity and depth of discussions.
Keep it going.

Thanks and regards

Lakshman
Posts: 14019
Joined: 10 Feb 2010, 18:52

Post by Lakshman »

It is the wish of GNB's family that his music should not be posted on this site.
Maybe the webmaster can comment further.

SrinathK
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Joined: 13 Jan 2013, 16:10

Re: Andolika

Post by SrinathK »

AndOlikA is more of a scalar raga that goes like this :

Aro : S R2 M1 P N2 S
Avaro : S N2 D2 M1 R2 S

The handling of the N2 in this raga is unique.

rAga sudhA rasa of Thyagaraja is the most well known kriti. But sEvikka vEnDum ayyA of Muttu Tandavar has also been sung often by the MMI school. The Lalgudi school also plays this raga with a lot of delicacy.

nee daya rAda is a varnam composed by GNB (he owned this raga. The stories go like when GNB's concert in Thanjavur was boycotted because they thought he was merely a film singer, he sang AndOlikA and every one down to the last man couldn't resist).

So here goes rAga sudha rasa by MLV. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzEb1mZhT_k

SrinathK
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Joined: 13 Jan 2013, 16:10

Re: Andolika

Post by SrinathK »

In retrospect, I wish I had a better understanding of what I was going to get into when I started "Project Ragas". Some of the threads from A-D aren't covered to the amount of detail I would have liked. Hence it's time for some reboots.

A brief essay on AndOlikA forms part of this article here : https://www.parrikar.org/carnatic/tyagaraja/

AndOlikA as I said earlier, is scalar in nature, with the scale going like so :
Aro : S R2 M1 P N2 S
Avaro : S N2 D2 M1 R2 S

Another name for this rAgam is mayuradhvani. More information here : https://viddev.com/2018/04/03/andolika-ragapedia-2/ - it seems to be one of 4 possible sequences. I wonder who this blogger is - could use some company.

As far as the data I have right now suggests, it is likely be Thyagaraja's own creation, given that only he composed in it back then. A version of his kriti 'rAga sudhA rasa' of the Walajapettai school is available (I've been told it is still very similar to today - hoping it comes out soon). The arOhaNam - avarOhanam has been the way it is since S A Ramaswamy Iyer (belonging to both Umayalpuram and Walajapet schools) has given it.

So some key phrases are : NDMR, RMP-NDM,RS - SNDMPNS, RMSM, RSMRS, RMRS, - RMPNS and so on. Despite sharing the ArOhanam with madhyamAvati, the way in which AndOlika treats its notes is very different. At slow tempo, it prefers to let each plain note slide into the next after an "anuswara handshake" (This is easy to demonstrate, words don't do it justice. Listen to the recordings). It's almost like shifting gears. This adds to the emotion. Madhyamavati or modern brindAvana sAranga do not do it like that. AndOlikA can also slide back all the way down too. This phrasing is unique to AndOlikA.

The rAga can also shine even with barely any gamaka at all as well.

Non-linear phrases, janta swaras (RMMRS, RRMMPPNNS, RNDMR,), etc. can be used quite a lot (this rAgA is pentatonic in both ascent and descent though it uses 6 notes, so there's plenty of scope), but only within the scale limits (no P in the descent, no D in the ascent, no PM or PDM allowed), so if one hits the P, the only way back down is to go up to N and come back with PNDM. This is also true on the way down. If you hit D2, NDMPN is the only way back up. That's a one way street. Everywhere else, one can go both ways :lol:

But it is this straightjecketed portion in the middle (not unlike a bow tie) that holds the key to the identity of the rAgam itself.

There is one exception to the linearity, and that is a RMPM phrase (often sung with a slide from P to M), but you cannot come back down. Instead RMP, M-PNDM or RMP,M-PNS are the only two directions possible. RMPMR is not possible.

All this makes handling in the upper octave a little restrained. Unless you have a giant range up there, most musicians will stop at the upper M, because then there is no way out except to go up to the upper N2 and get back down, so if you want to hit that P, I hope you have learnt how to safely transition into mixed / head voice too!

And ditto for the lower octave, if you can't go down to the M, you must stop at N itself, because there is only one way out, so you better not be caught gasping and rasping. So overall, this rAgam will test your vocal range.

Apart from this, key to this rAgA is the handling of N2 - it can be held sustained and plain, shaken around its position (swasthana kampita), used as a landing note in phrases like (N,-RSSN - NSRM-RSN,) or oscillated widely between PSN. Graceful romantic slides on SN-SN and MR-MR (which are a feature of the romantic Lalgudi bANi) embellish the raga with more bhava - also the same slides can appear in PNS to make that N2 plead even more, but it can also do the regular kampita. It's also the best place for some machine gun fire style brighas. The upper S and M will happily accept longer brighas.

The next most important note is the R2 and between them, one can instantly establish the rAgA with the phrase NDMR-MP, or just with NDMR alone, because no other rAgA to my knowledge uses NDMR like that.

Like madhyamAvati, it is also possible to sing phrases without S and P (these are called S & P varjya phrases) on both ascent and descent (some of the recordings will show how it is done) like NN-RR-MM-NN-RM-RMR-NRN-DM-RMR - S - phrases like these are what I call "raga phrases on drugs" :twisted: - use them sparingly at the right place and they will shine, but then (as with Madhyamavati) doing this indiscriminately can result in a drug overdose and kill the rAgam!

In recorded music collection, AndOlikA gained fame after GNB began to sing it elaborately in his concerts (that story of him mesmerizing a hostile audience in Thanjavur in my earlier post was one incident - and the available recordings would show the vastness and variety of his imagination). So in honor, we shall kick off the listening session with him, with Thyagaraja's kriti 'rAga sudhA rasa' :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMmnrQO9Tbg - GNB with LGJ and CSM (more of that LGJ thing coming). Of course, he has a moment where he races away to the tara N2 as only he can. Also highlighted are the P-S varjya round in kalpanaswaras

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXPQgdBhQUE - a rare collection from 1965.

Oh yes, he liked it enough that he composed in it - kAraNamEmi kAnanE - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCOtY_B26qk - by Thanjavur S Kalyanaraman

And a varnam too (nee dayarAda) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTkWTVq8Ysg - MLV
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8R0Z4SCino - DKJ

The GNB school has also gone for the RTP : http://www.sangeethamshare.org/sridharan/09-RTP-4/ - MLV's

Now coming to Lalgudi G Jayaraman again, not only was he the violinist in both those GNB links, over time, he evolved his own way of exploring the rAgA, with plenty of romantic slides and glides in place of GNB's bullet like staccatos : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUdCVMu-lY - this recording features extensive kalpanaswaras.

It's a little trickier on the violin as the P string tends to split the scale which creates complications on the descent - the string crossing creates a natural discontinuity, so every violinist plays PNDM on the S String itself to avoid this issue (this is true of any rAgA not having the P btw).

And LGJ too composed a varnam in it - http://www.sangeethamshare.org/tvg/UPLO ... shmi_24x7/

The MMI school can't be far behind, and so : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puhah-evdJ4 - sEvikka vEnDum ayya of Muttu Thandavar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcyEvDc7uaA - an RTP by TVS

Finally, I'll wrap it up with a rare recording of Dwaram Venkatasamy Naidu - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aD71k5HJ6OU
Last edited by SrinathK on 23 Aug 2019, 15:05, edited 6 times in total.

rajeshnat
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Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

Re: Andolika

Post by rajeshnat »

srinathk,
APart from Vidwan TVS singing RTP i think ranjani gayatri, gayatri girish have sung RTP . There is two other memorable sevikka vendumayya swaras that i have heard one is suryaprakash singing in manakkal rangarajan mama house in rasikas concert about 12 years back . There is one ganakaladhara madurai mani singing the same sevikka vendumayya not the one that you gave the link , it is another one . MMI sings superb patterns in andolika and suddenly in one pattern instead of violin return the mrudangist (forgot his name)plays the return . The crowd erupts and hearing all of that then the ghatam artist (I think kothandaraman )also plays the same pattern, the two percussionist take the role of violin return . For 20 seconds or so the whole kutcheri pandal disrupts in claps , then mmi amidst the setback of excess claps , he sings a brilliant long pattern of swaras in andolika- testimony of how mmi gets into the swara zone despite distractions. There is also a rare varnam shree mahisasuravardhini of HMB that suryaprakash sang this year in IIT Madras. I have not heard ever that andolika varnam from anyone else before in any recording.

There is also one spectacular flute recording of this lovely vidwan KS Gopalakrishnan playing a brilaint ragasudharasa.
https://youtu.be/4s7W9nFsOvA?t=485

Isaignani ilayaraja in the song rAman andAlum takes andolika segment where only the female chorus hum that part . I am assuming there are no other film songs that have come out in andolika . I am just putting the start of the clippet of the song where andolika shines.
https://youtu.be/k4Szjiw9Ih0?t=41

Superb post srinathk , keep it up.

RSR
Posts: 3427
Joined: 11 Oct 2015, 23:31

Re: Andolika

Post by RSR »

This tune was very popular film song ( missiamma-1955).
The heroine was a music teacher in the film.
I hope that I am not mistaken.
Last edited by RSR on 23 Aug 2019, 22:42, edited 1 time in total.

RSR
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Joined: 11 Oct 2015, 23:31

Re: Andolika

Post by RSR »


SrinathK
Posts: 2477
Joined: 13 Jan 2013, 16:10

Re: Andolika

Post by SrinathK »

I made an edit to these paragraphs as I realized I had missed something.
Non-linear phrases, janta swaras (RMMRS, RRMMPPNNS, RNDMR,), etc. can be used quite a lot (this rAgA is pentatonic in both ascent and descent though it uses 6 notes, so there's plenty of scope), but only within the scale limits (no P in the descent, no D in the ascent, no PM or PDM allowed), so if one hits the P, the only way back down is to go up to N and come back with PNDM. This is also true on the way down. If you hit D2, NDMPN is the only way back up. That's a one way street. Everywhere else, one can go both ways :lol:

But it is this straightjecketed portion in the middle (not unlike a bow tie) that holds the key to the identity of the rAgam itself.

There is one exception to the linearity, and that is a RMPM phrase (often sung with a slide from P to M), but you cannot come back down. Instead RMP, M-PNDM or RMP,M-PNS are the only two directions possible. RMPMR is not possible.

All this makes handling in the upper octave a little restrained. Unless you have a giant range up there, most musicians will stop at the upper M, because then there is no way out except to go up to the upper N2 and get back down, so if you want to hit that P, I hope you have learnt how to safely transition into mixed / head voice too!

And ditto for the lower octave, if you can't go down to the M, you must stop at N itself, because there is only one way out, so you better not be caught gasping and rasping. So overall, this rAgam will test your vocal range.

viddev
Posts: 3
Joined: 04 Oct 2017, 13:17

Re: Andolika

Post by viddev »

Hi,
Thanks for mentioning my blog post in the thread. I just wanted to share the new location of the same post here (I am moving my wordpress blog to medium)
https://medium.com/@viddev/andolika-rag ... 1365d7d973
Also wanted to add that this forum is one of my largest sources and I learn something new every time I visit.
Thank you,
Vid Dev.

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