How sound and meter are inseparable
Eminent musicologist, Prof. S. R. Janakiraman in his erudite lec-dem on Sruthi, swaras and ragas, held under the auspices of Alapana, Coimbatore, said that music of any kind should be capable of being translated into swaras that form the base of a raa.
The melody track is controlled by rhythm. Sound and meter are inseparable and complementary to each other. There can be no sound without metre and no metre without sound.
Beginning his exposition with an invocatory sloka, Prof. Janakiraman illustrated the difference between sound and metre taking his own composition of a varnam in the raga, Vandanadarini. Swaras emanate from sound to form definite notes.
Basics of music
Describing the difference between musical forms and compositions, the speaker said that while musical form is raga alapana with the help of words forming the lyrics, the composition is a rachana of raga, bhava and tala.
A musician has to bring about a harmonious blend of swaras, arohana and avarohana of the raga to bring out the aesthetic finesse in his concert.
The lecturer pointed out the komala swaras of Todi and the intensive swaras of Kalyani to bring out their special quality of dhwani in order to captivate the listeners. The raga when handled by Tyagaraja had more nuances, bhava and lyrical content.
A sangati is nothing but an annotation of the lyric, explained the musicologist with an illustration of the kriti, "Koluvamaragada."
Highlighting the features of Reetigowlai, a rakti raga and Anandabhairavi he pointed out that the artistes should be careful in the combinations of swaras to make a real impact on the rasikas.
Every raga has its own stature and the musician has to bring out the melody in ragas in the songs he chooses for the cutcheri. The acid test for raga is dhwani. It is an important component in providing aesthetic delight to the cognoscenti, he declared. A lively interaction with the audience on the salient features of other ragas was the fitting finale for the highly informative lec-dem.
T. K. GANAPATHY
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