Raga Mayamalavagowlai - Special Medley # 2

Continuing my previous post on Mayamalavagowlai based medleys, I found that this raga is an absolute beauty, and Maestro Ilayaraja has presented many treasures based on this simple yet wonderful raga.

You can practically witness songs in almost all emotions coming out from this single raga - love, karuna, pathos, bhakti, education (guru-sishya), soulful music, western style and what not. It is just all encompassing, and I decided to publish this second medley right away without any further delay.

I chose tracks only from Maestro's compositions to showcase how deftly he has blended the western chords and the oriental east, how the jazzy strings meet the classical Carnatic, how this raga evolves into the rustic folkish genre and how it so beautifully transforms into Bhakti rasam as well.

Sure this should have given you some food for thought, and you could potentially have identified what lies in store. But before we get to listen to them, let me add some of the other beauties available in this raga - from old to new film songs - "Kallellaam maanikka kallaaguma", "Azhagaana ponnu thaan, adukkeththa kannu thaan", "Solladi Abhiraami", "Mookkuthi poo maelae kaathu", "Poonkadhavae Thaazh Thiravaai", "Poova eduthu oru maala thoduthu",  "Kaadhal Kavithaigal padithidum naeram".. the list is endless, including Isai Puyal ARR's recent "Sollayo Solaikili" which is a modernized rendition of this raga..Thanks to my FB friends Saradha Seshadri and Bhoomija Vijayaraghavan for identifying a few tracks on this list.

Back to the medley mix, here is what I have put together for you..

Starting with Raja's special composition for "How to Name it" Album - opens with western beats and chords, and smoothly transitions in to the Tyagayya Kriti - "Thulasi dala mulache". Watch out for the background violin orchestration carefully - the lead violinist (believe it is the champ Violinist Dr LS who played that for the album) goes on wonderfully and in the background, you can still hear many more violins playing special chords that continue to maintain a beautiful rhythm and introduce elements of surprise swings all through this kriti as well..

This goes on for the initial minute and more.. and then we transition with a strings based musical interlude of the song "Madurai marikkozhundu vaasam" which is a super folkish presentation of this raga with the quintessential Raja stamp of melody. Impressive composition by bringing in all the key swaras in to this so nicely and presenting it in a Jana-Ranjaka format, which is Raja's special capability.

I tried a different mix in to the third song - basically, the charanam of the second song is dovetailed into the pallavi of the third one - mixing up the pallavi of third song in the place where second one should actually have been. In other words, where the charanam ends and you would expect "Madurai marikozhundu" to come up, you will have "Mariyamma" filling your ears.

Yes, you will understand and enjoy this much better when you listen to the Minute point (02:46) in the medley.

So, that is the third and final piece in this medley - completely earthy, rustic appeal with brimming Bhakti rasa all through to the finish. Amazing energy levels from Malaysia Vasudevan & Chitra keep the tempo up so high, and we have heard in the past that lot of people in village theatres got fully charged up and danced to this song, making that movie Karakaattakaaran a run-away hit.

In effect, this medley brings in the combo of western chords, pure classical, fusion of the two, instrumental music, love duet, folk music all finally ending up in a bhakti rasa - which is how our life also has to finally fold - everything should end up and evolve in devotion to the Almighty. I hope this piece of soulful music helps you in the process of finding inner peace too.

Comments welcome as always..

 

Links to the full tracks for those want to download the individual songs: 1) How to name it - study for violin 2) Madurai Marikozhundhu Vaasam 3) Maariyamma Maariyamma

Medley in Mayamalavagowla

Here is a wonderful Medley based on the Raga Mayamalavagowla.

A bit of history and introduction to the raga - thanks to Wiki:

Mayamalavagowla (pronounced māyāmāḻavagauḻa), is a raga of Carnatic Music. Originally known as malavagowla, "maya" was prefixed to it after the advent of the scheme of the 72 melakarta ragas.  This is a morning raga.

This auspicious raga evokes śānta(peace) rasa and pathos. It creates a soothing effect. Suitable to sing at all times, particularly, the first yAMam (dawn). It is commonly used for beginners lessons such as Sarali Varisais or Sarali Svaras (Telugu), etc. Since it eschews vivadi swaras (relatively discordant notes), has a uniform distance between svara sthānas (relative position of notes) and has symmetry, they are easier to learn. It is an ancient rāgam and has been around for a long time. It is a Sampurna raga. This rāgam corresponds to Bhairav in Hindustani music. Mayamalavagowla has quite a few janya ragams associated with it, of which Bowli, Jaganmohini, Gowla, Gowlipantu, Lalita, Nadanamakriya, Revagupti, Saveri and Malahari are quite well known.

As many of us would know, the basics in Carnatic music are usually set in this raga and this happens to be the first raga a student receives from the Guru. This is typically a soothing raga which reflects the sunshine of a pleasant morning, and can produce positive vibes of Peace and Kindness.

This particular medley starts with one such Guru-Sishya learning session - delivered by none other than the greatest of greats - Dr Balamurali Krishna. He starts off with the brilliant notes of the Mayamalavagowla and a wonderful mini-aalapana - these are extracted from a song from the Malayalam film "Bharatham" which has music by the great Ravindran master.

As you hear this song, you will automatically be reminded of yet another similar song in Tamil - but that would follow a little later in the Medley.

The first piece of Dr BMK is all about Devi or Ambaal (Goddess Rajamaathangi), and the medley automatically evolves into the next piece from Maestro Ilayaraja - "Maasaru Ponnae Varuga" from the film "Devar Magan" - which is another song on the same Goddess. This is a short, but scintillating song with amazing accompaniments, bubbling with energy all through. The Maestro brings his efficient orchestration into full display in this wonderful piece.

This song describes Ambaal as the sister of Madhavan (Lord Vishnu), and that provides the link to the next piece in the Medley.

The earlier piece integrates into the brilliant musical interlude again of the Maestro, followed by the mystic, musical voice of Dr K J Yesudas - part of the track "Rama Namamoru Vedhamae" from the popular film Sri Raghavendrar. You would note that this song is all about Madhavan (Lord Vishnu) who got linked up in the previous piece of the Medley.

This divine link throughout this medley was an accidental discovery - much after I compiled the songs through, but appears to be a beautiful and logical connection. And this last piece by Dr Yesudas is the one that you would be reminded of when you heard the first portion by Dr BMK - these two tracks have an amazingly identical beginning, with a Guru-Sishya tradition at the start. You can listen to the individual tracks again to understand the beauty (see links at the end of this post).

There are tons of melodies to choose from Ilayaraja's treasures set in this raga, and I could not really make a satisfactory selection. In all likelihood, you can expect one more medley in the same raga anytime soon - else I would feel guilty of hiding away many other gems.

Hope you would enjoy this collection.. look forward to your views and comments..


Raga Mayamalavagowla Medley | Muziboo

Links to download the individual tracks:
1) Rajamaathangi
2) Maasaru Ponnae Varuga
3) Rama Naamamoru Vedhamae