How about a great western and carnatic music combo to cherish for the Krishna Jayanthi 2023 day

[rajeshnat]

How about a great western and carnatic music combo to cherish for the Krishna Jayanthi 2023 day
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#1# I am neither religious nor spiritual but I do know if you donot find that right concoction in each of our life it is difficult to tide certain situations that will come in each of our life . I liked what Gita roughly says where ”The root cause of all suffering is ignorance, but knowledge is not the remedy – awakening is the remedy” . This awakening teachings comes in so many myriad flavours with presence, zen, idikai, kundalini, mudhra you can choose what it suits you.But for me I think music gives a very pointed fleeting and awakening feeling and I thought I can describe this song .

#2# The connection of western music and carnatic classical is kind of having religion and spirituality right mix. Western Music finds its base with hormonics , kind of Tonic progression , it is standarized strictly on notation , meaning you have to perform exactly as it is written. In Carnatic every thing is based on the relative reference to shadjam with that key concept of ragam which is the anchor , ragam is color. Carnatic explores the mood from every standpoint, plummeting to very depths of the emotions it creates. Carnatic is compositions based aura. At that moment is the key here , it is very creative (manodharma as they ) to the core . Needless to say the rhythmic patterns of Carnatic adds joy , the testimony is usually when you discover even with the same line when repeated by the main singer , with the change in rhythm -you have a brand new aha experience at that moment

#3# This years personal this moment Krishna to me is this singer Sreevalsan Menon from Cochin. He is a trained carnatic musician who has taken pains to fuse western at the right place and never disturbs the carnatic flow of a very complex song of Sanskrit by Muthuswami Dikshitar

#4# Hear hear the start is with a blend of pianos and violin with harmonic tones that gives a right western aura . He rightly intersects between Pallavi , anupallavi and charanam few western counterpoints. Despite moving to western ,the correct carnatic muse is retained without any disturbance of the overall composition. No damn rhythm pads or some distort sound of disc jockey in the name of novelty or (?con)fusion….

#5# Sreevalsan knows the value of not disturbing the composition with foreign elements . The rhythm he keeps it intensely Carnatic with only prime defining mrudangam, that way there is no spoilsport elements. Violin is both western and carnatic , one can say it belongs to both. With few veena frets he just uses it delicately to move away from western to carnatic for few seconds and then continues to sing.

#6# The ragam is Bhairavi , the vaggeyakkara (composer who also tunes at the same time in one go) is Muthuswami Dikshitar .Dikshitar was a a thamizhan who travelled extensively with his mystique experience he created a composition based on every temple he travelled and he stayed for most time in Tiruvarur ,Tamil Nadu . Politically I am not in the mindset of any Hindi thrust to my state , but music can give enough appreciation that is deeper . I am a thamizhan, the singer Srreevalson Menon is a Malayalee ,the composer writes in Sanskrit , the anchor is ragam Bhairavi which has great roots in thamizh isai. Why am i taking the detour to state something on language with politics . That is because each of us cannot avoid it and we all have many cultural conditionings that you have to throw in todays world to hear good deeper music. This throwing of conditioned mind is possibly the first awakening exercise that you have to prove for your own self.

#7# India’s diversity is not lining up 25 musicians in a 90 min concert and making them sing a diversity song or some cinema flick where a soldier stands in the border and continue to sing as though he speaks and call that as a song . The experience has to be deeper and more lasting and just as Gita says it has to be bit far more anchored in the longer zone of awakening .

Hear hear Hear. Period for next 10 mins. Please hear with a good speaker in an uninterrupted fashion.

Rajesh , dated Sept 06, 2023 - krishna Jayanthi Day ,

[rajeshnat]

Bala Gopala - Bhairavi - Muttuswami Dikshitar

singer is Dr Sreevalsan Menon, the student of Neyyantikkara vasudevan who learnt from Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer and Ramnad Krishnan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCp4p2Js2H8

[Sachi_R]

Rajesh, your suggestion is a good one. I rmemeber a nice south Indian vegetarian restaurant tucked away in the Park Sheraton in early 2000's. You walked through a snazzy western style lobby and passed manicured Gardens to sit cosily amidst nayika statues and eat Idli Sambhar. The last part is my Bhairavi! They did play Carnatic music in the restaurant but Yanni ruled the lobby.

[RSR]

Using western instruments for tunes based on orthodox CM/Hm Ragaforms is nothing new. It has been done expertly by almost all the music directors of hindi films in the decades 1947-1967.
In Tamizh films, and plate music,SVVenkataraman did it perfectly.
.
It is an entirely different matter if we bring in the concepts of WCM into CM.
that too, while singing / playing the
kruthis of Trinity. and their glorious line
of traditional CM composers upto PSivan. It is a sacrilege.
.
If one is all that good in Western music,
They can go into film music .

People do crazy things , just for novelty,..like some one doing barathanaatyam in a bar or hotel.
.
The day may not be far off when
CM concerts become another Madonna show .
It is already happening in Bangalore. Sad.

[ram1999]

Rajesh, your suggestion is a good one. I rmemeber a nice south Indian vegetarian restaurant tucked away in the Park Sheraton in early 2000's. You walked through a snazzy western style lobby and passed manicured Gardens to sit cosily amidst nayika statues and eat Idli Sambhar. The last part is my Bhairavi! They did play Carnatic music in the restaurant but Yanni ruled the lobby.

The restaurant name is Dakshin. Awesome food. Specially the mouth watering Curd Rice!

[arasi]

KrishnA's birthday and so relishing food is part of it, be it Dakshin, Uttar or elsewhere

I really liked listening to this piece on GOpAlA's birthday.
Here is calming music, blended well, in my view. We have lived through early fusion music of every form, most of it being a lot of noisy interruptions. This is tranquil, doesn't take away the beauty and the majesty of the composition where the instruments could have been an intrusion. An attempt at fruitful fusion it truly is. Then again, Srivalsan Menon is a sensitive musician. I have heard him in concert once, years ago. I also realize that he has been exploring music responsibly, not on a whim as it were.

His guru was someone very special too--who could have lived much longer...