Asaveri

[Member_First]

I would like to have the lyrics of Kaanchi naayikE - AsAvEri.

Any one has sung this and if so I wd like to have the same too(cd or any recording)

[prashant]

www.ecse.rpi.edu/homepages/ shivkuma/music/srikanchinayike.doc - lyrics

This was a Sanjay 1-down or 2-down staple for some time last year. Maybe Charsur has released a concert with this - check on their website.

Sri DKJ also used to sing this - http://sangeethamshare.org/murthy/092-D ... Sastri.mp3

[Member_First]

Prashant,

Thanks for the treats.

[SrinathK]

There was a discussion about the introduction of R2 in this raga. viewtopic.php?f=7&t=18447&hilit=asaveri

Well, time has passed on, and now it is here to stay. The presence of R2 has also given some additional possibilities for the oscillation of G2 and allowed both PMGRS as well as PM R2 G, R1 S, or R2-GG R1 S also to exist. It has become universal to the point where no one uses R1 in the arohana, but even if you do use it, the rAga doesn't sound that much different.

Ok, coming to compositions - Thyagaraja and Dikshitar both composed in it, followed by later composers. Dikshitar's chandram bhaja mAnasa is his most well known composition of his.

So here it goes, from a private recording of MS Amma with the veena - a sublime, sowkhyam filled rendition : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeXUuRnCbrg

And here's D K Pattamal's version, another treat : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwDGQUhVsbk

And of course MMI's : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6XZfkoaskI -- MMI was the last of his kind, singing the old school gamakas.

I have also heard Brinda Mukta singing this and their sangatis are quite a bit different. I'll see if I can find it.

[ajaysimha]

this raga brings out the bhakthi rasa in the singer/listener.

thyagaraja swamigal's popular ones are
>lekhana ninnu (this krithi captures the complete essence of asaveri ragam), popular among previous generations, i think nobody sings this nowadays
>E panikO(fore-runner of thyagaraja ramanayam/charithram harikathas)
>daSaratha nandana
>mApAla velasi (sung in marriages)
>rArA mAyiNTidAka (which is synonym of Asaveri ragam)

while listening to alapana of this ragam, we encounter a few phrases , wherein we might get confused with punnagavarali ragam

[SrinathK]

I have an old recording of Semmangudi singing lekhanA ninnu. Must be somewhere in sangeethapriya even now. But here's a rendition from Bombay Jayashree from Amutham Music Videos' channel : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nw8iavKp94w

[SrinathK]

To my knowledge there are 2 varnams in this raga, one by Patnam Subramania Iyer and another by Lalgudi Jayaraman

I got hold of the varnam by PSI here : https://youtu.be/M9UeEG-J0m8

And LGJ's varnam here : https://youtu.be/kdjlNZ6Bk9E

[SrinathK]

SSP says as follows:

NOTE: In this asAvEri rAgam, it is a practice among vaiNikas to play the nishAdam as suddha nishAdam at some places and gAndhAram as suddha gAndhAram at some places for ranjakatvam.

Did this suddha gAndhAram change to R2 over time? just a loud thought

Yup, SSP version of asAvEri uses only R1. It is all too easy for this G1 to become R2 over time and I also think that's what happened. It does not actually sound out of place when you try it. So till Dr. A comes out with SSP's version of chandram bhaja (and the other kriti kumArasvAminam guruguham, which everyone seems to have forgotten) in R1 asAvEri, we are left with modern R2 asAvEri and the modern versions of these 2 Dikshitar kritis.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0Pp6fiiVcQ - kumArasvAminam guruguham by Sanjay (only one I found, a superb rendition)

And of course, if I find MDR singing a rAgA, I will totally make an extra post for it - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMoebNPd0kc

Coming to Thyagaraja, there are quite a few more kritis to his credit than people realize (and all of which would have been in R1 asAvEri in the long past), so here goes :

dasharatha nandana - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzQApSE3VK8 - DKP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hINH6JLAUf8 - BMK and co.

E panikO janminchitinani - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qSMoBBGAsM - TNS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kIV38Df9EA - S Rajam

janakajA samEta - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niHOfSXsacg - Sanjay again

lEkana ninnu - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2CReQA9OAA - SSI (at last)

mApAla velasi - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zp3uItOGTx0 - DKJ

nammaka nE mOsa - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMONuqSMCrI - OST (Only one I could find again)

rArA mAyiNTidAka (of course) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pl9DulRxWOA - Voleti

samayamu telisi - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7xRi77Xe8Y - TRS (@rajeshnat)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8CStxB8yYE - GNB (Surprise, Surprise!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dza-zzk374A - SSI

sAri veDalina (on the kAvEri river) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvpNtPrQwoE - Seetha Rajan. This kriti came to my mind when I look at the state of the river today (and the efforts on reviving it back from the brink).

There's more where that came from.