Raga Durga in CM?

[srikant1987]

Do we recognise the raga Durga (which is I think s r m p d s - s d p m r s in bilAwal / Sbharanam) in CM?

It sounds so nice. Yesterday, I found myself unable to place a shuddha saveri piece thanks to all those gamakas, I in fact guessed it was darbar or something, thanks mostly to the way dha was sung I think.

In some ragas, I feel the gamakas just push away the beauty in the same scale with flat notes. Of course, there are some other ragas which are very beautiful thanks to the gamakas.

[arunk]

I dont understand. In CM why/how would this be under mela 29?

Arun

[srikant1987]

Because I like it to be in that, perhaps.

Basically it has chatushruti rishabham, shuddha madhyamam and chatushruti dhaivatam, so what's the harm in saying it's an Sbharanam janya?

[arunk]

No harm but why/how would it differentiate itself from s.saveri which already exists in a way that it wont belong to mela 22 (or mela 28). If there was no raga like s.saveri, then you could make a case for 29, like mohanam etc.

Arun

[knandago2001]

Durga in CM: A rendition of Purandara dasa’s dharma sravana by Sri. G.N. Balasubrmanium
http://www.4shared.com/file/38583687/cc ... Durga.html



Durga in HM thrives on meends such as r / P m p d m
The dhaivat is generally flat, although I have heard Pt. Venkatesh Kumar sing it with a distinct shake, typical of Shuddhasaveri in CM. Some samples:

Sri. Nishant singing Brijan bana mein
http://tr.youtube.com/watch?v=9aDJedQ0c ... annel_page

Sri. Akash on the flute
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_BWuttLRFM

Ustad Bismillah Khansaheb and many other artistes
http://www.chandrakantha.com/raga_raag/durga/durga.html

Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan - Vilambit and Drut Khayals in Durga
http://indianraga.blogspot.com/2008/05/ ... hwani.html

Film Songs
http://www.chandrakantha.com/raga_raag/ ... durga.html

[vasanthakokilam]

The rendering by Master Akash sounds very much Suddha Saverish to me.

[PUNARVASU]

There is this composition 'rAmam bhajE shyAmam manasA' by Swami DayAnanda Saraswati in rAgam durgA.
Somehow I felt it is always sung in madhyama shruti.

[sahitya]

I learnt a Lalgudi thillana in ragam Durga. But the scale is SGMPNS-SNDPMGRS - sounds janya of Dharmavathi to me!

[mahesh3]

Sahitya, your take on Durga's scale does not sound right to me, the arohana!

To me, I always take in Ilaiyaraja's song he has composed in Meendum Kokila as Suddha Saveri/ Durga! His use of violin, flute, beats and alaap makes this song real powerful to me!

Not being technically sound in music, I just replace the the ‘ga’ in Mohanam by ‘ma’, to get Suddha Saveri, but this raga can nevertheless be a distinctive pentatonic

Sanjay recently sang swaras in his Pomona concert, and was it magical. His interpretations were outstanding.....There are however some worthy reneditions by Hindusthani musicians, Ustad Salamat Khan of Paki brothers fame being the best I've heard, theUstad shows his mastery over laya in that renedition, if I remember right!

By the way, any reason why the Pentatonic ragas and vivadhi ragas always offer so much to the laya enthusiasts...I always wonder why the Sanjays, SKRs and Seshagopalans love these....

[SrinathK]

Durga is another HM import - that goes like this on the scale :

Aro : S R2 M1 P D2 S
Avaro : S D2 (P) M1 R2 S

A small amount of oscillation on the D2 is possible, but the rAgA shines best when sung plain.

The P is optional on the descent (sort of like dEvakriyA of the Dikshitar school, but in durgA it is the norm), but D,PM, PDM is possible - it feels like a short hop on the P on the way from D to M.

Despite being an allotrope of the same group that includes shuddha sAvEri (modern), dEvakriyA, the vakra scalar rAgA pashupatipriya (HMB) - durgA has a distinctly recognizable identity of its own, laden with romantic rakti.

Also being more non-linear, another key phrase is the slide from R to D in RDS and SRd as well as the phrase MRP. S;D;M,, - PD,MR, P is the opening to the song gAyati vanamAli btw). The slide from M to R is another key phrase - this particular handling of the R2 is very singular. The D2 is the most important note around which the rAgA revolves followed by the M1 and R2 while P appears in zig zag phrases - just hovering around D2 would instantly ID this rAgA. For janTa phrases, DRSSD and DDPMM are some examples. All notes are capable of janTa and the rAgA is also open for brighas.

The most popular number in this rAgA is Purandarasa's dharma shravaNa vidEtakE. So here's a 2 min masterpiece of an AlApanA in durgA by GNB : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FPtkfQQf80

And this recording has both an AlApanA and the kriti in it - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SBU4Qcrjhc - with MSG on the violin, his brief, but delightful essay is a treat.

gAyati vanamAli of sadAshiva brahmEndrAL also has a version in durgA : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKrwuPy2rxs - by Smt. Pantula Rama. I also have a recording of LGJ (IIRC) playing it.

[CRama]

Music Enthusiast and forumite Nageswaran Sir is a great lover of Durga ragam. In one concert of Sandeep Narayanan organised by him, he requested the musician to sing RTP in Durga. He did a god job in that. I am giving below the links for the RTP in Durga.

https://www.mediafire.com/file/5743b81e ... A.mp3/file
https://www.mediafire.com/file/dt9p1440 ... a.mp3/file

[arasi]

Listen to Sandeep's guru's Durga (a PD song) he sang in May this year in the US on Udupi Krishna which is available on YouTube. I haven't heard his DurgA rAga AlApana though.

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Durga is another HM import - that goes like this on the scale :

Aro : S R2 M1 P D2 S
Avaro : S D2 (P) M1 R2 S

A small amount of oscillation on the D2 is possible, but the rAgA shines best when sung plain.

The P is optional on the descent (sort of like dEvakriyA of the Dikshitar school, but in durgA it is the norm), but D,PM, PDM is possible - it feels like a short hop on the P on the way from D to M.

Despite being an allotrope of the same group that includes shuddha sAvEri (modern), dEvakriyA, the vakra scalar rAgA pashupatipriya (HMB) - durgA has a distinctly recognizable identity of its own, laden with romantic rakti.

Also being more non-linear, another key phrase is the slide from R to D in RDS and SRd as well as the phrase MRP. S;D;M,, - PD,MR, P is the opening to the song gAyati vanamAli btw). The slide from M to R is another key phrase - this particular handling of the R2 is very singular. The D2 is the most important note around which the rAgA revolves followed by the M1 and R2 while P appears in zig zag phrases - just hovering around D2 would instantly ID this rAgA. For janTa phrases, DRSSD and DDPMM are some examples. All notes are capable of janTa and the rAgA is also open for brighas.

Excellent inventory, Srinath!
I feel no more explanation is needed to differentiate/identify the CM-HM counterparts.
There is a very popular (HM) ragamalika beginning ''Durga bhavani''.

[SrinathK]

I learnt a Lalgudi thillana in ragam Durga. But the scale is SGMPNS-SNDPMGRS - sounds janya of Dharmavathi to me!

This is madhuvanti, not durgA!