Raga Chintamani- A guide to Carnatic Music through Tamil movie songs

Disclaimer:

My knowledge of Carnatic music is quite primitive. I can recognize only 2 Ragas- Mayamalava Gowla, the basic raga any music student will be thought first, and Madhyamavathi-because of its simplicity- only black reeds of the harmonium. I used to play songs belonging to some other ragas as well, such as "రార వేణు గోపా బాల రాజిత సద్గుణ జయశీల-Raara Venu Gopa Baala" of Bilahari raga and "Lambodara lakumikara (a.k.a Sree GaNa naatha, Sindhoora varNa...)" & "ಕೆರೆಯ ನೀರನು ಕೆರೆಗೆ ಚೆಲ್ಲಿ -Kereya neeranu kerege chelli" of Malahari raga, but never studied ragas seriously.

With this limited knowledge I am reviewing a book titled Raga Chintamani, guide to Karnatik music through tamil movie songs, compiled by Sundararaman Chintamani.(Author's Blog)

Raga Chintamani is a simple book which contains all ragas of Karnatic music listed in alphabetical order. Arohana and Avarohana (Ascend and descend) of each raga is listed, along with any interesting/useful information related to the said raga. After this all tamil movie songs, composed using this particular raga are listed along with their movie name. The collection of tamil movie songs is pretty exhaustive, some 1800+. But I couldn’t make much sense out of it, as my knowledge/interest in tamil movies is near zero, except few whose Hindi versions have been popular. The book also has music related quiz in each page, some introduction to various types of ragas in the beginning and a comprehensive appendix of all tamil movie songs and their ragas at the end, as well as a quick biography of few doyens of Tamil film music.

"If people can recognize the raga of a cine song, they can also appreciate the classical music in the same raga. If they are able to listen to 10 cine songs in Kalyani, they can easily identify many classical songs that are set in Kalyani..." Author writes, explaining the purpose of the book.

Would have been great if someone could bring out a similar book in other languages-Kannada, Telugu etc.

Some key information/observations from my side (from this book and in general)

1. The harmonium or a keyboard has only 2 reeds for ri, ga, da and ni. But Carnatic music has 3 sub divisions for these (Shudhdha Rishabha, Chatushtrati Rishabha, Shadhyati Rishaba, Shudhdha Gaandhaara, Saadharana Gaandhaara, Antara Gandhaara, Sudha Nishadha, Kaishaki Nidhaadha, Kaakali Nishaada and so on) I am having utter confusion, how to identify the third one. I think G1 is seldom used. The first Ga we encounter is G2 and the one next to it is G3 but which is D3 and R3? Do the differ per raga? Ni used in MayamaLava Gowa is Ni3-which one is Ni1 and Ni2? Can anyone clarify the confusion for me?

2. Avarohana of some ragas are quite complex- for example Kapi- Arohanam: S R2 M1 P N3 S

Avarohanam- S N2 D2 N2 P M1 G2 M1 D2 P G2 R2 S N3 S (I can make 2 more ragas out of this lengthy Avarohana...)

Gopala Gopala song of Humse Hain Muqabula (Errani Gorrani Gopala of Kadalan)
Kuchi Kuchi Rakamma of Bombay. Roja Jaaneman (Kadhal Rojave) of Roja are all composed in kapi raga

3. Madhyamavathi raga is believed to have powers of washing away your sins attained by singing apaswaras (singing improperly)- If you sing a song of madhyamavati raga at the end of the concert, all your sins will be destroyed. So after irritating your audience for hours and forcing them to stuff cotton into their ears, be sure to sing a song in Madhyamavathi raga. If you’re not sure what song is of Madhyamavathi-here’s one Kannada song- ಬಾರ ವಿಘ್ನ ನಾಶಕಾ ವಿನಾಯಕಾ, ಬಾರ ಬಾ, ಬಾ ವಿವೇಕ ದಾಯಕ... Baara vighna naashakaa vinayaka, Baara baa baa viveka daayakaa…

4. Amritha Varshini raga is believed to be the one that can cause rains. It is not clear which raga can be used to stop rains (and Bihar flood may be)

5. Madhyamavathi raga consists of only black reeds of keyboard- Sa ri ma pa ni sa- Sa ni pa ma ri sa. Is there any raga that is made up of only white reeds? There has to be one- because this is how I play twinkle twinkle little star- gaga nini riri ni dada dada mama ga (all while reads-but it is odd to have both da –D1 and D2 in same raga) (Ragas that begin and end with Ni are called Nishadhantya ragas)

6. Which raga is “Appadi podu Podu….”? Anyone has an idea?

7. Tu hi re-Tu hi re song of Bombay is composed in Hari Kambhoji. The song- Telephone dun main hasne vaali of Hindustani (Telephone Manipol of Indian in Tamil) looks kind of modern, but sung in good old Anandha Bhairavi

8. Looks like there is a tamil movie named Kadhal ViruS (love virus)-Nice name I must say...

Where to buy it?

Raga Chintamani is priced at Rs 200 and is available only with few select shops in Chennai (Mylapore/Royapettha area in particular) Try http://www.kutcheribuzz.com/news/20060303/books.asp or try the option below:

Send a letter giving your full postal address and requesting to send a copy of Raga Chintamani by VPP. This person, with whom I spoke to, said he can dispatch the book by VPP within a day or two, postage charges Rs 30, total VPP amount-Rs 230

Mr. Vinod Kumar,
The Karnatic Music Book Centre
23-A, Sripuram First Street, Royapettah, Chennai 600014
Ph: 044-28113253

Disclaimer: This blogger is not involved in any way in the sale of this book and will not be answerable to any possible complaints such as delay, payment issues, non delivery etc. You'll have to deal directly with the seller in case of any disputes.

Watch these movies related to Music if possible: Morning Raga (English+telugu, Shabana Azmi), Ananda Bhairavi (Kannada), Upasane (Puttanna KaNagaal, Kannada)

Images from 3rd party websites.

Other posts on Music: Bangalore police Ban live music * My favorite lyrics * Muziboo.com * A poem I wrote * Summer of '05 * Review: Unwind Centre music school *
Other book reviews: The 3 mistake of my life * 2 States (Chetan Bhagat) * It happened in India * Bapu * Merchants of Deception * Not a penny more, not a penny less * Zero percentile by neeraj Chhibba

Also visit: Raga chintamani Blog

May 2009 update: Mr Sundararaman and his book are featured in ERGO: Refer adjacent image for full article.