darbAr

[SrinathK]

A grand, royal rAgA with a grand, royal name. darbAr is for the most part a scalar rAga with a somewhat non-linear scale that goes like this :

Aro : S R2 M1 P D2 N2 S
Avaro : S N2 N2 D P M R2 G2 G2 R2 S

Only that it is not as straightforward as it appears. Similar to the M1 of bEgaDa, the N2 is a big kampita oscillation along the lines of DSD,DSD(S) and the G2 is another big oscillation that goes as RMR, RMR (M). This makes the rAgA technically closer to shuddha sAvEri rather than anything resembling kharaharapriya and that is the source of the grand air of darbAr.

BMK gave it the highlight in "oru nAL pOdumA?"

There is a Dikshitar equivalent (or the original version) - it is called darubAru. It's basically the same rAgA and Subbarama Dikshitar has gone into a lot of explanation of how exactly the N2N2 and G2G2 are handled in it. He even mentions that the modern style of singing them (which I mentioned above) had already come into vogue by then.

I could therefore totally get away with putting Dikshitar right here for that reason and some might even prefer it that way. But in this series on rAgAs, the Dikshitar school rAgAs are getting separate treatment, and I'll keep it that way because I feel that school needs it's own space to stand out.

Now, Carnatica back in the day was publishing the excerpts of their Raganubhava sessions featuring the best musicologists out there to exhaustively discuss the raga of the month. And fortunately we have their discussion on darbAr here :

http://carnatica.in/newsletter/durbarnewsletter.htm - There's a LOT of info in this link.

This ought to show the difference in level between real musicologists and us rank amateurs. I don't know what I can really add here after that.

With the Dikshitar parampara having his own space, the rest of this thread is essentially going to be Thyagaraja and more Thyagaraja, because here comes the most popular composition in darbAr. In fact, in this composition darbAr here does show that it has a slightly soft side as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6WXAKgQcpA - TNS

And how to do swaras in darbAr - well, look no further for an illustration :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZMjTKz2tl8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vaeb8wQD7B0

The rAgA is even more majestic at slower tempos. And for that we have Thyagaraja's nArada guru swAmi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNkDdAJ9NAs - SSI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyPiebvVwUk - Maharajapuram Santhanam - a detailed AlApana precedes it.

The CAC newsletter has a surprisingly long list of composers who've composed in darbAr and some rare, almost seldom heard compositions. More on that in subsequent posts.

[SrinathK]

PS : Aaaand I'm back to resume the rAgAs project, with the rAgAs starting with "D". Apologies to have ditched ship for so long. I was basically on a posting spree because I was between jobs. Sometime in February I began to travel up and down the country, had a ton of exams to write and was on training all April.

[ajaysimha]

thumbs up!!! srinath is back with majestic Darbar

[ajaysimha]

here is one thyagaraja swamigal rare keerthanai nithya-roopa sung by MMI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOyo_YV0yAk (raga alapana-krithi-kalpana swarams)

and one that strikes my mind when hear darbar is:

"isai kEtka ezhundhOdi varuvAr andrO
enakkiNaiyAha darbAril evarum uNdO
kalaiyAdha mOhana chuvai dhAnandrO
kAnadA en pAttu thEnadA, isai dheivam nAnadA"

beautifully sung by BMK

[SrinathK]

More on darbAr :

Some of the other phrases in darbAr are DND, PDP, MPM, RGR (brighas), NSDP (non-linear) DP-G,G, or even MRGR - the MRGG RS can even be replaced by (M)G,G,RS in sAhityam and you won't feel anything changed. It also lends itself well to a lot of jhAru and dhaTTu phrases like N,S-P,D-M,P-RM-S & MR-PM-DP-SN-RS-MR-GR, etc.

While the use of the double G and double N is the easiest way to identify this rAgA, the use of single G and N is actually much more common than it looks. Very rarely, the G2 has been skipped in favour of a straight PMRS (Alathoor Brothers).

The best example of all possible phrases in darbAr is the darbAr varnam of tiruvOttiyur tyAgaiyyA -- chalamEla jEsEvurA -- and for this one I present to you, the one and only MDR : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzfKorDSc5A

http://www.shivkumar.org/music/varnams/ ... durbar.htm -- This varnam is really special. Just looking at the notation of the varnam would tell you what all this rAgA can do. I don't see how anyone can top this effort.

There is a lesser known varnam of Patnam Subramania Iyer in this rAgA. This was the only recording (and it's a good one) I could find of it on Youtube (so save it asap!!) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=td9vkrhn7Tg

Much has been said of the darbAr - nAyaki relationship and their similarity to each other - so I'll just leave it by saying that darbAr and nAyaki are essentially just allotropes of each other with only the phrasing distinguishing them enough from each other with a delayed attack in the single N2 and G2 of nAyaki and the greater non-linear phrasing being the two key differences, not to mention the overall tempo.

Before I move on to the next rAgA, more Thyagaraja for you :

A rare video of KVN - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0J-X8TYMinE - mundu vEnuka
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WU2dzt8ZAQ - This time by MDR. Special points for anyone who can sing darbAr for this long - that's not actually simple as this rAgA is fairly straightjacketed and you can find your away around it in a composition or two.

aparAdhamula mAnpi - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBmLRfWXujY - by DKP
& https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHkMCxM4y3k - Maharajapuram Santhanam

enduNDi veDalitivO - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEcDQ-kLrjM

And another lesser heard number - Ela_teliyalErO_pUrva - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcgBGNqkALI by TNS

[SrinathK]

Here's a lesson on the darbAr varnam from achAryanet : https://streaming.acharyanet.com/all-le ... tyagaiyer/