While I was being taught Bihag, Ramaraoji would always make fun of me that I was in love with Shudhdha Madhyam of Bihag. I would always highlight it unnecessarily and very unlike bihag. It was a temptation to reach the fullness of the Madhyam with shudhdha ga. I then heard Mogubai Kurdikar's Sawni and was instantly in love with it. Yet that fullness of the Madhyam of my dream ..... remained as it is, because even in Sawni it was not that Madhyam I was looking for. growing up i heard many film songs which did give a little hue of that but not like hugging a tree.
I continued my romance with that Madhyam in my dreams ...... and ...... one day Aditi Upadhya sang that Madhyam. I just cannot forget that experience !!!!
She then told me that Dinkar ji composed the Raga Gagan Vihang and it was that Madhyam that I was in love with. Oh!!!! that fullness, that soft cotton saree feeling and the fragrance of ancientness!!!!
Dinkarji and his sense of swaras and words is something that we can keep being amazed at for centuries. The way the word Chakor lands on the Madhyam is the most beautiful experience of this compositions and the Raga.
http--www.sawf.org-audio-bihag-kaikini_gaganvihang.ram
I continued my romance with that Madhyam in my dreams ...... and ...... one day Aditi Upadhya sang that Madhyam. I just cannot forget that experience !!!!
She then told me that Dinkar ji composed the Raga Gagan Vihang and it was that Madhyam that I was in love with. Oh!!!! that fullness, that soft cotton saree feeling and the fragrance of ancientness!!!!
Dinkarji and his sense of swaras and words is something that we can keep being amazed at for centuries. The way the word Chakor lands on the Madhyam is the most beautiful experience of this compositions and the Raga.
http--www.sawf.org-audio-bihag-kaikini_gaganvihang.ram
It is so nice when someone talks about the notes as individuals, they are like family members in a family of notes which depend on each other to run the family- which we call a raag! And.. about shudh madhyam- what can i say- it is a beautiful note. THe description of shudh madhyam in gagan vihang is beautiful- equally beautiful is the mandra shudh madhyam in maluha kedar..
ReplyDeleteDear Sumathi, Congrats on the blog! Its lovely to hear you speak so lovingly of Madhyam. What coincidence - yesterday I heard Aditi Upadhyaya singing Dinkarji, although not the same raag... at the Bhakti Utsav here at Delhi. Will look forward to more from you.
ReplyDeleteVery nice sumu...after a long time i am engaging with your descriptions of ragas and intensity with which you approach them.. Keep writing, do not stop!
ReplyDeleteUsha
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ReplyDeleteI just found your blog sumathi - it is so wonderful, please keep writing! i completely agree with kattiji - the way you have personified the swaras brings a fresh and more meaningful understanding of something so abstract. your love for shuddha madhyam is so palpable. i really look forward to reading more :)
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