Nandagopal

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 12 Oct 2008, 10:27

Now that Cool has given few pointers about nandagOpal ,Just thought I can open a seperate thread so that nandagOpAl could share his musical research to all of us. Met him once in Cool's house last year

# He was talking a lot about HM-CM connections, particularly liked his few pointers about miyAn malhAr. He composes few numbers, and he sang one varnam connecting kAmAkshi and kAnchi, it was brilliant and did i say I loved your subhapaNtuvarAli, he politely and modestly smiled and said it is not subhapaNtuvarAli but gurjAri tOdi.

# Last week,He is scrapping lot of lyrics from the stones, can I say it better data warehousing project lead.Then I think he is going to work with few other top experts and tune many of them.I think it is centered on nAyanAr or nAyanmAr.

# Quite a lot of connections with Smt T BrindA/MukthA (learnt from them I suppose), DKP and R Vedavalli , so his musical knowledge should be authentic

nandagopal
We are waiting and keeping our mouths wide

open to get a lot of rasagOllAs like our smiley . Would be nice if you organize lot about your musical interests and take it from there.

CML,
Would be nice if you moderate this thread and steer by asking your insightful questions!!!

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 12 Oct 2008, 16:00

Our trip to kanchi got delayed because of a chance session with Charulatha Ramanujam(Violinist from Bangalore)
Soon the discussions veered around to some ragas where the handling by Brindamma / Muktamma tends to be different, Nandagopals queries at various points of time as to what is authentic (or how does a practice become authentic) and the answers he received(he sang all those specialities), the vitriolic humour of the sisters.

yet another nervous morning for me in a chaste iyengar home.went through the mortification of drinking hot piping coffee without letting the coffee tumbler come in contact with a set of "Pariah" Lips

Sreeni Rajarao · Post by **Sreeni Rajarao** » 12 Oct 2008, 18:22

Nandagopal,
I hope some (if not all) of your compositions will be in kannaDa.
Looking forward to them!

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 12 Oct 2008, 22:51

Nandagopal,
Eagerly waiting for the goodies!

Rajesh, thanks!
Though I had an inkling about such a refined rasikA's creativity, it needed a one-of-a kind rasikA/reviewer like you to start a whole new experience for us with this thread. CML is back in the mainstream too.
You have mentioned the man from rasgulla land. I am already thinking of that coffee hour during the the season. Wonder if the sweets you drool over will be served as well

knandago2001 · Post by **knandago2001** » 13 Oct 2008, 17:31

For me this thread is a rank surprise! I just got back from an eventful trip to Hyderabad and Chennai and had a wonderful time meeting Kulkarni ji and his family, Rajesh, Shyam and Bharat,, Navaratri concerts at the Kapali temple, Sringeri Matha and the Ramkrishna Mission students home in Mylapore made for a great listening experience,, The highlights were a trip to Lalgudi's home (made possible by K'ji) and Kanchipuram,, Will write all about it as soon as I get settled down,, Arasi and Rajesh: Rasamalai or Rasgulla - take your pick!! Wish you guys could come over to Kolkata!

knandago2001 · Post by **knandago2001** » 16 Oct 2008, 21:55

A recent question from Ahiri piqued my interest. Why do composers show a preference for repeating particular words / phrases in their compositions? It is indeed intriguing and here are some examples pertaining to usage

As an affirmation of faith
"sthiramani nammiti nammiti nammitini" (Syama Sastri)

For dramatic effect
"vandaan vandaan modiram tandaan tandaan" (Arunachala Kavi)

onamatopoeia
"dhimi dhimi dhimi kendu kuNiyudali anduge kiru gejje nalidaaduta baaro" (Purandara dasa)

Yamakam
"manasa mana samarthyamemi O" (Tyagaraja)

Syllables like aa, aiya, tiya, iya are repeated in some gitas (e.g., Meenakshi Jaya Kamakshi in Sri raga). These maatrika padas / gitalankara padas are valued not only for poetic content but also their sonorous tone which enhances raga bhava

To heighten a mood e.g., Poignance
"ninnu jooda galigenE innaaLaku
ninnu joochi naalugaidu nelalaaye muvvagopala" (Kshetrayya)

I look forward to other examples and comments from rasikas

ramakriya · Post by **ramakriya** » 16 Oct 2008, 22:09

nandagopal.

I am looking forward to listen to more of your compositions!

-Ramakriya

knandago2001 · Post by **knandago2001** » 19 Oct 2008, 16:45

with due apologies for the quality of recording

http://www.sendspace.com/file/3j0eax

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 20 Oct 2008, 08:24

Thank you, Nandagopal!
Haven't heard any compositions in hEmant before. Have you composed in bengAli too?

knandago2001 · Post by **knandago2001** » 20 Oct 2008, 11:18

arasi: my pleasure! no, i have not ventured to compose in bangla; Baba Allauddin Khansaheb is credited with popularizing raag hemant. the links below may be of interest

On the origins of Raag Hemant
http://swaratala.blogspot.com/2007/04/r ... ctory.html

Pt. Jitendra Abhisheki
http://www.sawf.org/audio/bhinnashadaj/ ... hemant.ram

Srinivas Reddy
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=NeUor2NKZVc

Veena Sahasrabudhhe
http://www.sawf.org/audio/bhinnashadaj/vs_hemant.ram

Pt. Dinkar Kaikini
http://www.sawf.org/audio/bhinnashadaj/ ... hemant.ram

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 28 Oct 2008, 21:11

knandago2001 · Post by **knandago2001** » 29 Oct 2008, 20:25

"ten thousand saw I at a glance, tossing their heads in sprightly dance" - Wordsworth was indeed referring to daffodils but i recalled these very lines when i chanced upon the sunflower fields around Hubli. K'ji - thanks so much for re-creating the scene!
A nice documentary on Van Gogh's sunflowers - enjoy!!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/paintingfl ... gogh.shtml

Suji Ram · Post by **Suji Ram** » 29 Oct 2008, 22:53

Nandagopal,
Just heard your composition. It is interesting. At first hearing I thought it sounded a bit like amritavarshini or even vasantA.
Thanks for posting the notations.

knandago2001 · Post by **knandago2001** » 30 Oct 2008, 16:45

Suji: thanks very much. others have told me that hemant has shades of kannada in it (the gmdns* and gmrs phrases); when i heard it for the first time i was reminded of hamsavinodini (MLV's rendition) and shuddhsvasanta (Dikshitar's somasundareswaram bhajeham in particular); be that as it may, this raga does have an identity of its own. would love to hear more about your impressions after you've had a chance to try it out on the violin.

ramakriya · Post by **ramakriya** » 31 Oct 2008, 00:15

i was reminded of shuddhsvasanta (Dikshitar's somasundareswaram bhajeham in particular)

I too find hEmant very close to shuddha vasanta.

BTW, are there any other kritis in it besides sOmasundarESwaram? Any recording links??

-Ramakriya