Krishna Yog

Welcome Back..

I am yet again excited..Well I think I have good enough reasons for that..:-). I have just released my debut album Krishna Yog. It has been a long journey , but thankfully all ended well..


Ok , here I present, some videos that I posted in the youtube, for which I have been getting some good responses, thankfully.

1. Krishna Yog Theme
2. Krishna Yog Trailer

If you liked these videos, and you would like to own a copy of it, please follow the link to my website at http://www.vasucv.com/krishna_yog-buy.html

A sneak peek into the back stage drama

About an year back, sitting in my office canteen at lunch time, for some reason pantuvarali ragam ( scale in carnatic music system) was running in my mind.. In the desire of giving that tune a shape, some words started weaving up in my mind, and slowly a couple of lines formed.. I came home and ended up making the whole song. I had then bought riyaz studio, a software for tabla that loops the beats and it was very helpful in making me record loops and then sing on top of it. I dint have any good mic with me then, so i recorded the initial version of this song with my ordinary internet mic and my new Multitrack recording software called N-Track. The song was Darshan Do. I sent this very crude version of the recorded song to my friends and relatives and they became quite emotional after listening to this new song of mine.. Hmm, I thought ,, shall we go ahead and do something more serious?? After some initial hick-ups, I then caught hold of some people in the film music direction circle, who agreed to assist me in making the album. Nothing but a gift from god, I wrote 5 full songs in a span of one month.. what started off as a free experimental work, was already getting a shape of more professional undertakings.. I was happy.. The Album had all the songs ready with all the backing orchestra etc, sometime around July in 2009. All it needed was to get my voice recorded properly and then the mixing.. After some tries with my brand new recording gears, and sending it across to mix engineers, I wasn't very happy about the final product, and I thought I am probably rushing this, as it was meant to release in August last year. I said to myself, no way can we go ahead with the mix quality that we had, and realized that it was quite important that I be around when the mixing happens.. I took a deep breath and called it off as I couldn't go to India during that time.

Sometime around May this year, I decided that I could restart the project as I had enough time before Krishna Janmashtami ( the auspicious day on which lord Sri. krishna was born). That was the release date I had in mind, as all the songs were in praise of the glorious lord. Dreaming about this project became quite natural for me and I couldnt see or hear anything other than this product... During one of those dreams, I dreamt that Ganesh Rajagopalan ( of the Ganesh Kumaresh Fame) who is one of the greatest violinists of the country, played an instrumental version of one of my songs. I woke up with a smile and searched for their number.. Lucky enough that I got it, I called Ganesh Ji and spoke to him and later followed up with a mail with my intent of the project and a sample of the song I had imagined he would play. Fortunately, Ganesh Ji responded back with a positive note that he quite liked the music and he is more than happy to work with me.. My dream finally realized in India when we all finally sat together and finished what I had dreamt of.. Real Dream Come True ..

All set, the project was successfuly released on the Janmashtami Day as Planned. The CD's were signed off to the popular label Swathi Sanskriti Series ( http://www.kalakendra.com/) .
Its now in the market..:)
Thanks for sharing this joy with me, and for all those who appreciated me for my work , thanks a ton, as it does encourage me to work more along the same lines and make more good music..

Thanks folks!!

Blog Poetry....

My cousin Suhasini ( whom I call chutkee, Su ) Published a blog and it had a poem in it..
see it in her blog http://idyllic-musings.blogspot.com/2010/06/i-love-you.html

Pasting here again just for ease of the readers..

I cant swallow

no more.

This gulp of airstruck there.

My throat,

suddenly sore.

This arrest deep inside

the bosom,

An escalating fear,

within, this ever

widening chasm.

It's dreadful,

It's choking,

Just if I could be

for once,reckless,

in loving.

I cant bring myself

to say it,

Much as I try

bit by bit.

To word all

I feel.

that I cant ,alone,

no more deal.

The moment slid past,

you are gone.

They come now to me,

torrentially.

every now and then,

they come upon.

Swiftly ,stealthily.

This build up

inside my head.

Throbbing,sobbing

till I feel like dead.

Momentarily

its washed away.

And ,for now,

guess I am okay.

For now I can

swim ashore

but I cant swallow

no more.

I liked the poem and commented :
Vasu Chakkera said... lovely.. do u have a fixed reader for this poem?? I hope you do, and if u dont, I wish you have one :-)

for which Su replied :
Suhasini said... @ Rajeev n Rekha: Txs:)
@ Bhaiyya: Txs but are u wishing unrequited love for me? I m only exploring unfamiliar emotions as yet.A figment of imgaination.And may it be there forever. ( For non hindi readers, Bhaiyya means elder bro ( Da big bro.. Me :D )

I dint like when she said "unrequited love" , and I wanted to make sure my wish comes true for her, so I wrote this one as a sequel, from the point of view of the guy that was portrayed in Su's Poetry..

So I replied ..

Just in response::
need not be unrequited... read on.. Ignore the fact that this is your bhaiyya writing this.. ignore the context of u and me here.. I am writing this just in some imaginary context..

*** I love you ***

Oh. Silently I stood in front of you!
looking at those two beautiful eyes.
Million words spoken by your eyes..
None came through in clear voice.

I know that I choked ..
I know I shudnt have...
I know my throat dried..
I know my heart cried...
I know million words filled with emotions
were pushing itself up my throat.
Like the mighty waves trying to set itself free.
My lips sealed with numbness, what the heck was wrong with me?

I noticed a couple of tremors in your lips..
I wished u spoke something..
even if that something was to say you hate me.
that would have meant a lot to me.
for it would have given a good reason for me
to silently walk past you...

It was probably just my body that was gone
My heart soul and mind still revolves around you.
I know I should make the first move,
as i imagine its more difficult for you..

I am more composed now,
Your absence is not in my options.
Something tells me that you love me too.
The waves of my emotions will come to you..
I hope they will wet your feet.
I hope they wont go back into the ocean.
I hope you will come with me...
For, I know not a reason to live without you.
For, I know not a definition of love without you..

I love you!!

Other responses to the post are in Su's blog..

My cousin Srinivas Sheshadri, who blogs at http://timepass-kadlekaayi.blogspot.com/2010/06/blog-post_25.html got inspired and wrote a kananda poem :-)

He read my poem in Su's post and Said :

Srinivas: put this poem in ur blog
12:03 me: this one?
Srinivas: yeas
and all others if u have it handy
12:05 me: Ok..

Hence the post. Hope you liked it..

How Many Melakartha Ragams are there?

Yea.. We all know that dont we?? Ok so why am I starting to write this blog??


During high school days when I first learnt about the permutations and combinations in my Mathematics,The first thing that occurred to me is the set of notes in Carnatic music and the number of ragams that can be generated out of it. This looked like a classic example to me. Those days I used to jump into solving and used to get unusually high number of ragams .. Then I left it and did not think I should be looking into it. While I said I left it, I really did not leave it.. I then decided, i should first write down the rules of forming Melakartha Ragams if I should really solve this !!
the result is what you will read here.

I wanted to see if I can mathematically arrive at the total number of ragams/ ragas/ scales we can have with 17 notes.
So the problem definition is given as :
Find the number of ragas. let us be a bit more clear and define this mathematically with definitions/rules and exceptions?

Definition : Melakartha Ragam/Raga/Scale : Series of 8 notes, where the first and 8th note are essentially same, but are in different octaves. Also the important rule is that these notes come down the way they go up. that is same notes appear in the aarohanam ( upscale ) and avarohanam (downscale).Definition from Wikipedia says


Rules for Melakarta ( from Wikipedia)


Ragas must contain the following characteristics to be considered Melakarta.

1. They are sampurna ragas - they contain all seven swaras (notes) of the octave in both ascending and descending scale[1][2]
2. They are krama sampurna ragas - that is the sequence is strictly ascending and descending in the scales, without any jumps or Vakra Prayogams
3. The upper shadjam is included in the raga scale[2] (ragas like Punnagavarali and Chenchurutti are not melakarta as they end with nishadham)
4. The ascending and descending scales must have the same notes [2]

Definition and Specification of Notes. Total number of notes : 17 including the first note from the second octave. These notes are as follows.

1. Sa ( shadjyamam)
2. R1 ( Shudha Rishabham)
3. R2 ( Chatushruti Rishabham)
4. R3 ( shatshruti Rishabham)
5. Ga1 ( Shudha Gandharam)
6. Ga2 ( Sadharana Gandharam)
7. Ga3 ( antara gandharam)
8. Ma1 ( shudha Madhyamam)
9. Ma2 ( prati madhyamam)
10. P ( Panchamam)
11. Da1( Shudha Dhaivatam)
12. Da2(chatushruti Dhaivatam)
13. D3( Shatshruti Dhaivatam)
14. Ni1 ( shudha Nishadam)
15. Ni2(Kaishiki Nishadam)
16. Ni3( Kakali Nishadam)
17. S ( Shadjyamam top : of next octave)

Rules :

1. Total 8 spaces
2. 1st space is always taken by Sa
3. 2nd space is taken by any one of the three notes from { R1,R2,R3}
4. 3rd space is taken by any one of the three notes from { G1,G2,G3}
5. 4th space is taken by any one of the two from { M1,M2}
6. 5th space is always taken by Pa
7. 6th space is taken by any one of the three notes from { D1,D2,D3}
8. 7th space is taken by any one of the three notes from { N1,N2,N3}
9. 8th space is always taken by top Sa

Exceptions: Permutations of R and G

1. R1 can go with G1,G2 or G3
2. R2 can go Only with G2 or G3 ( not G1 as R2 and G1 are the same notes essentially . I dont want to digress into the topic of why they are named different when they are actually the same notes... Scroll Down to the Vivaadi Raga section for explanation on this ..)
3. R3 can go only with G3 ( not G1 and G2 because G1 is R2 and Going up, R2 can never come after R3 , and G2 is Same as R3 for the reason in point 2 above.

Permutations of D and Ni

1. D1 can go with N1,N2 or N3
2. D2 can go Only with N2 or N3 ( not N1 as D2 and N1 are the same notes essentially )
3. D3 can go only with N3 ( not N1 and N2 because N1 is D2 and Going up, D2 can never come after D3 , and N2 is Same as D3 for the reason in point 2 above.

Solution: Looking at the Permutations of R and G together .. If we assume one of the three notes R1,R2 and R3 can occupy the second position, then the number of Permutations of R and G together is 6 as:

>> R1 can appear with 3 versions of G
>> R2 can appear with 2 versions of G
>> R3 can appear with 1 version of G

So this can happen in 6 ways

Now that the positions of R and G are fixed, Let us move on to Ma.. 4th position Ma can be occupied by either one of M1 or M2. So its 2P1 ways which is 2 again The permutations of D and N is identical to R and G permutations.. so the number of permutations again is 6 for the D and Ni positions.
First position can be occupied in 1 way, 5th can be occupied in 1 way and 8th can be occupied on 1 way.. so the total permutations is :

============
1*6*2*1*6*1 = 72
============

Another way to get to the solution is :

For the Positions of Ri and Ga, If no rules were applied, then the number of permutations would have been 3*3 = 9
but applying rules,

1. R2 can not come with G1 ( both are same notes)
2. R3 can not come with G1( G1 = R2 .. so since R2 can not come after R3, this combination can not happen
3. R3 can not come with G2 ( both are same notes)

Therefore out of 9, 3 possibilities are not possible. So positions for Ri and Ga can be filled in 9-3 = 6 ways

Identical reasoning for the positions of Da and Ni.

For position of Ma there are 2 possibilities.

So total possibilities are

1*6*2*1*6*1 = 72 || QED ||



I stressed on saying permutations here because the order was important.
So total number of Melakartha Ragas is 72.

Vivaadi Ragas

Interesting point here is, while doing the melakartha , the creator of the scheme decided that the vivadi note should be considered in the Melakartha Scheme and can be a Janaka Raga ( Parent Raga ).. By Vivadi , I mean when the 2 notes of the same jaathi come together. That is when R1 and R2 come together or G1 and G2 come together. In Carnatic Scale, it is NEVER pronounced as R R when R1 and R2 come together. R2 is then pronounced as G and that G ends up becoming shudha gandharam. So technically Frequency of the Shudha Gandharam note is the same as Chatushruti Rishabham note. This is what I was talking about earlier in this blog when I said they are same.This could be a perfectly valid reason , because the definition of Melakartha , and by having the vivadi notes concept in picture, they fit the bill. But.. Should the Vivadi Notes be qualified as proper notes and should they be considered for melakartha scheme is again something I wouldn't want to comment. It probably is possible that if they are not , then the Melakartha will be reduced to 2*2*2*2*2 = 32 and the remaining 40 ragas ( that are formed out of vivadi swaras) will have to be made as Janya Ragas ( child ragas ) of the main 32 ragas.. Which could be an interesting thing to do.. but is a completely different paradigm of thought. I wouldn't want to go there :-)



Ambiguity in Some notes

So after all that discussion on the notes and the schemes and the scales etc.. Those who have learnt carnatic music, especially those who are violinists or some other instrument players of carnatic music, will know that they actually play some notes which are not in any of these 16 frequencies ( i dint say 17 because 17th in this blog is the first note in upper octave) .. So what are they?? Carnatic classical music and also Hindustani Classical music defines a unique 22 shruti concept .. Read about it here ..
I can straight away give examples of these ragas ..Varali for example.. The scale is

S G1 R1 G1 M2 P D1 N3 S | S N3 D1 P M2 G1 R1 S
This ragam is Janya ( Child ) of Jaala Varali which is 39th Melakartha Ragam.

Although the Documents and text books read M2, the Instrumentalists know that it is actually slightly higher than M2 and Slightly less than Pa. So really should these notes have their own names ? and should it then have been added into the Melakartha scheme? If theoretically we did, then will it be sounding the same?? Will human mind be able to differentiate between the prati madhyamam and the frequency after that and before the Pa ( Panchamam) ??
All of these for the pure pleasure of theoretical study..