Meera bhajan - Rag Yaman

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 25 Apr 2006, 05:48

Here is a dance piece, "Julatha radha sanga giridhara" that was performed for the dance drama Life of Meera (choreography by Smt Hamsa Venkat) in October 2004. The opening swara sequence has been composed by me.

It is sung by my wife, Sangeetha Ayyar, and the male voice is by Sashi. I have played Synthesizer, Giridhar is on flute and Bala Sankar is on tabla.

http://rapidshare.de/files/18864505/jul ... a.mp3.html

Dancers, please contact me if you want to use this piece for a performance.

drshrikaanth · Post by **drshrikaanth** » 25 Apr 2006, 06:04

Thanks Mohan. Any further downloads, please continue to do it in this thread as it keeps them all under one roof. ;- avoids confusion and cluttering too.

Suji Ram · Post by **Suji Ram** » 25 Apr 2006, 08:23

Mohan,
Thanks, that was a treat for the ears!
It is a great piece for instrumentalist playing together-" ensemble"!
Do post the swaras if you can.

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 25 Apr 2006, 09:09

Suji Ram: You are tempting/pushing me to suggest something that I may not have enough time to organize

But here it is. We can all record our individual pieces and then we can put them together using a tool like Audacity. It will require some massive audio editing work to line up things but it is worth a try for a couple of minutes of music.
(I will need the most TLC and handholding of all you instrumentalists here since my flute skills are not that great.)

I know one amateur guitarist in Switzerland who has done internet ensemble like this with another person in the U.S. and it turned out well. I can ask him for help on what tools he used/what difficulties he faced/how much of a sink hole it is timewise....

I may be overpromising here, I already have DRS's kantaswara in the queue, but let us queue this up as well if there is enough interest.

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 25 Apr 2006, 09:13

That could work but wouldn't be really hard to get the timing right?

Maybe one track has to be recorded first then others would play in line with that track.

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 25 Apr 2006, 09:27

Sounds like a great solution, Mohan. I do not have flute in all the sruthis and so I am probably the most limited. I can send a recording of the one I am comfortable with ( I think it is close to 5 ) and you can play the synthesizer to that sruthi and violinists can tune to that as well ( right?). But if it is all lot of trouble, no problem, after recording I can use audacity to adjust the sruthi to the ensemble's sruthi ( hope that does not add any distortion to what is going to be an already marginal performance

).

In my Jazz friend's case, I know they worked on it for a quite a few months, exchanging recordings back and forth. They had the advantage of specifying the music exactly ahead of time but most of their time was spent on creating the music together. In this case, you have already done that, so it should be quicker.

meena · Post by **meena** » 25 Apr 2006, 10:10

mohan

thanks again

Feel free to start a new thread in 'Dance section'. ( i hope this is what DRS meant )

Suji Ram · Post by **Suji Ram** » 25 Apr 2006, 10:18

VK
You just read my mind!! I was thinking just that!.
Me too...thinking or dreaming far ahead
I once played rag pahAdi(I think) with a group of sitarists and veena players.
May be we can do some trail runs like practicing over recordings- then think further....
My Violin at shruti 5 may shriek, never tried... I play at 1.

Mohan can initiate with a first recording.
Any veena, sitar players around??
Do let me know about recording tips. Our cmlover may have some ideas!

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 25 Apr 2006, 11:23

Just as a point of reference, I increased the pitch of this piece by 5 half steps ( semitones ) to bring it to the sruthi of my flute.

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 25 Apr 2006, 11:57

Here is the notation. I haven't indicated the octave but you can work that out by listening to it. The repeats might be different to the recording.

Raga: Yaman (It is in madhyama sruthi).
GM,G ,,R, SN,D ,,R,|R,,, ,,PM|GRSN S,,,||x2
NRGP ,,GR GMDN ,,MD|NRGS S,,S|NDN, PGRS||x2
GM,G ,,R, SN,D ,,N,|R,,, ,,PM|GRSN S,,,||x3
S,,S ,,S, NSND PMGR|N,,N ,,N,|MDNR GRS,||x2
DN,G ,R,, S,,N ,,D,|MD,N ,,GR|S,,S NDP,||x2
S,,S ,,S, NSND PMGR|N,,N ,,N,|MDNR GRS,||
DN,G ,R,, S,,N ,,D,|MD,N ,,GR|S,,S NDP,||
NSRD NSMD NGMD GMGR|GRMG PMDP|NDSN GRS,||x2
NR,G ,,PM GRSN DNS,|DN,R ,,SN|DPPM GRS,||x2

GM,G ,,R, SN,D ,,N,|R,,, ,,PM|GRSN S,,,||
NRGP ,,GR GMDN ,,MD|NRGR S,,S|NDN, PGRS||
GM,G ,,R, SN,D ,,N,|G,R, ,,,,|,,S, ,,,,||

drshrikaanth · Post by **drshrikaanth** » 25 Apr 2006, 19:10

mohan

thanks again

Feel free to start a new thread in 'Dance section'. ( i hope this is what DRS meant )

Actually what I said was to keep all uploads of dance pieces by Mohan in one thread rather than start a new thread for each upload. A good idea would be for Mohan/Yourself to rename this thread as "Dance section/Dance piece uploads".

Suji Ram · Post by **Suji Ram** » 25 Apr 2006, 23:05

Thanks Mohan for posting the notations!

sumram99 · Post by **sumram99** » 02 May 2006, 02:39

Mohan:

That was a wonderful composition of yours. My children loved it too, especially my two-yr old daughter!! She started keeping beat to the swara sequence!! Thanks! Do post some more!!

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 02 May 2006, 05:35

Thanks - good to hear such feedback from an accomplished Hindustani artiste! Sumram I read that you learnt from Smt Meera Nathan. My wife got to learn a few songs from her in Madras recently. Smt Meera seems to be a treasure-house of music knowledge!

Vishnampettai Jayendran · Post by **Vishnampettai Jayendran** » 03 May 2006, 14:04

hey mohan good job mate. good recording. I have a question.

around 2:20, male vocalist does
s s s n s n d p m# g r

is n s n d allowed in yaman?

isnt the aarog of yaman n r g m# ?

and at the begining and around 2:35 etc vocalist sings a shudha ma, is that by design?
(yaman-kalyan, jaimini-kalyan.. whatever u call the raag with shudha ma)
J

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 03 May 2006, 14:26

As far as I know, the NS'ND phrase is permitted. NRGM is more common but SRGM is also permitted. Maybe someone who is more familiar with the Hindustani ragas can clarify.

And yes both Ma-s occur in Yaman Kalyan. If you look at the notation I posted above, I have indicated the alternate Ma with italics.

Vishnampettai Jayendran · Post by **Vishnampettai Jayendran** » 04 May 2006, 04:39

yes thats what I was asking, whether it is yaman kalyan or yaman.
Because it defintely sounding like yaman-kalyan to me, which has Sa in the aaroh
Yaman doesnt have sa in the aaroh.

http://www.musicindiaonline.com/l/4/s/artist.190/ has aaroh avarohs of some HM raagas, which i use for reference

sumram99 · Post by **sumram99** » 06 May 2006, 01:16

MOhan:

Sorry, I skipped your posting about ur wife having learnt from Smt. Meera Nathan too. I learnt from her in Mumbai when she used to teach at the Shanmukhananda Sangeetah Vidyalaya.

unnigopal · Post by **unnigopal** » 13 Oct 2006, 12:33

Rapidshare site shows the following message while attempting
downloads:
The file has been deleted. Reason - No download for a
longer period. Inactivity timeout exceeded".

Please suggest an alternative

Gopal(Member)

mohan wrote:Here is a dance piece, "Julatha radha sanga giridhara" that was performed for the dance drama Life of Meera (choreography by Smt Hamsa Venkat) in October 2004. The opening swara sequence has been composed by me.

It is sung by my wife, Sangeetha Ayyar, and the male voice is by Sashi. I have played Synthesizer, Giridhar is on flute and Bala Sankar is on tabla.

http://rapidshare.de/files/18864505/jul ... a.mp3.html

Dancers, please contact me if you want to use this piece for a performance.

kmrasika · Post by **kmrasika** » 19 Oct 2006, 06:24

Does someone have the meaning for this bhajan?

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 19 Oct 2006, 10:52

I got the lyrics of this mIrA bhajan from karnatik.com where our very own Lji has provided the lyrics! I have modified it some, but I still think that some of the words are not correct - anyway here is my attempt at translating.

In this bhajan, mIrA takes us to vridAvan during the festival of colors, hOlI: she paints a beautiful and eloquent word picture of how krishNA and the gOpIs, especially rAdhA are having a lot of fun with colors. The night before hOlI is the night of hOlikA (the sister of hiraNyakaSipU) dahan - when hiraNyakaSipu tries to kill prahlAd by asking him to sit on his aunt's lap in a pyre she is burnt and he emerges unharmed, with not even a single hair on his head singed. To commemorate that, hOlikA dahan is celebrated with a lot of song and dance and a fire - sort of like bhOgi before pongal in TN...so after spring cleaning and burning away the rubbish and unhealthy feelings, and when the air clears after the smoke is blown away, the whole world wakes up happy and cheerful and literally paints the town red the following morning - hOlI!

jhUlat = swings
rAdhA = rAdhA
sanga = along with/in the company of
giridhar = krishNA

rAdhA is swinging with krishNA during the festival of hOlI with carefree abandon.

abIr = red color
gulA kI = dissolving (in water)
dhUm = noise (happy/joyful uproar)
macchAyI = (she) created
bhar = filled
pickArI = a sort of syringe used to squirt colred water during hOlI
rang = color/colored

Filling her syringe with red colored water, she creates a lot of joyous noise and squirts the colored water everywhere, especially on krishNA.

lAl = red color
bahE = flowed
brindAvan = the town of vrindAvan
jamunA = the river yamunA
kEsar = saffron color
cUvat = touched
rang = color/colored

krishNA and the gOpIs play so much with colored water that even the yamunA turns red. In addition to the red color, they also play with saffron.

nAcat = dances
tAl = cymbals
adhAr - this can be AdhAr = based on; or adhar = lips (more likely)
surabhar = filled (bhar) with tune (sur)
dhimi dhimi bAjE mrdang = the sound of the mridang goes 'dhimi dhimi' (bOls)

The cymbals 'dance' as they keep time, while melodious music issues from tender lips, and the mridang plays the bOls (dhimi, dhimi and so on) as the gOpIs dance and play hOlI with krishNA

mIrA kE prabhu = the lord (prabhu) of (ke) mIrA giridhar nAgar = krishNA
caraNa kamal kO = lotus-like (kamal) feet (caraN)
danga = amazed by

mIrA is always amazed at the magnificience of her beloved giridhArI's compassion (the refuge at his lotus-like feet).

Ravi

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 19 Oct 2006, 11:57

Here are the lyrics I had. I will repost the mp3 file shortly.

abiru gulaal lagi dhoom machaayi
bhaari picari range giridhare
jhulatha raadha sang giridhare

laal bahÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…Â¡ brindaavan yamuna
kesar thoovath rang giridhara
jhulatha raadha sang giridhara

meera kahÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…Â¡ prabhu giridhare naadhare
charana kamale ko sange giridhare
jhulatha raadha sang giridhara

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 19 Oct 2006, 19:50

Mohan:
vraj bhAshA or hindi doesn't seem to have a word thUvath...also, it is always giridhar nAgar and not nAdar (na = without, Adar = respect). nAgar literally means a city dweller, but it is used in the terms of denoting an all knowing person (as opposed to a gan.war - a villager or simpleton that mIrA considers herself to be, despite being a princess of mEwAr).
So mIrA kahE, or mIrA ke prabhu giridhar nAgar can both be correct.
If you have a version of this song sung by Lata Mangeshkar, Anuradha Paudwal or anyone else who reads from the dEvnAgari script will be the best to check on the words and pronunciation.
Ravi

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 20 Oct 2006, 18:48

unnigopal here is the file again: http://www.filecoast.com/?pg=file&c1=23 ... 2=qPRnsmMA

Ravi thanks for the corrections

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 20 Dec 2006, 05:33

Mohan,
Here is another version of jhUlat rAdhA in bhAgESrI...
http://www.musicindiaonline.com/music/c ... lbum.5976/

It is the bhajan track...Ignore the intro...it is rather high-pitched.

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 20 Dec 2006, 17:19

Thanks Ravi - It sounds like Rajasekhar singing.

Umesh · Post by **Umesh** » 22 Dec 2006, 01:31

and right you are!