Mixed bag: Mystic Harikamboji, some related raga fundae and some unrelated stuff
The 28th Melakarta ragam 'Harikamboji', is an interesting ragam. It is, in western terms, a 'mode' of the major scale. Harikamboji's 'algorithm' is tone tone semi-tone tone tone semi-tone tone (so if your 'shruti' is set to 'G', then Harikamboji's scale would be G A B C D E F G... yes, the 'G Mixolydian Mode' which is derived by playing the same notes as that of 'C Major scale' but starting and ending at 'G' (if you do that long enough, the listener gets the feel of a 'different' sounding scale thats unlike Major Scale).
The greatest asset to Carnatic is the Micro-tonal 'shakes' or 'slides' called Ghamakkams that give a strong characteristic to a given 'ragam'. Looking at Shankarabharanam as just the 'major scale' will be quite like pooh-poohing Shankarabharanam :). If you get a chance to listen to Shankarabharanam, you would find a lot of beautiful oranamental 'ghamakkams' on top of the notes and that is essentially what makes every raga more than just a 'scale' (atleast most, except probably very 'light' ragams like, maybe, Sindhu bhairavi?). Unlike a 'scale' which is just a set of notes, a ragam by itself has a 'swaroopam' and that means that a tonal / semi-tonal gap need not sound the same in two different ragas.
It is interesting to note that so many derivatives of Harikamboji has a... umm... 'ramyamana' effect. A mystical melancholy can be produced due to the 'D2 N2 S' (the last 'semi-tone' near the end (in our example, the B C D of the scale) makes for the 'melancholy' and the first tone tone semi-tone (D E F G) sequence makes for a 'happy' feel (much like the C Major (minus one tone and you will arrive at C D E instead of D E F))).
Think of sahana, think of saama raga, think of Khamas. They all have that 'ramayam' in them. Of course, there are several 'peppy' derivatives of Harikamboji (like 'kOkiladhwani or even very 'bluesy' baashanga ragams like 'Tilang') but my point is that its very difficult to make a 'sad' or 'serious' sounding ragams that are pure derivatives of Harikamboji. In contrast, compare against even 'well spaced out' ragams like Saaramati or, the classic example, thodi which is a 'mode' on the major scale. (I don't know what the mode is called. Basically, its a mode with 'B' as the root note on the C major scale). While rendering thodi 'flat' would make it sound quite 'sad', the micro-tonal ornamentations on thodi gives it a beautiful unexplainable effect.
Take Nattaikuranji: A classic example of 'influence'. Reminds me of this thread on 'culture'. Kuranji is a beautiful ancient tamil ragam. Natakuranji is an inspiration from kuranji, clearly. Had Carnatic folks not come across, probably some tamils singing what might have been similar to Kuranji (and later got a formal 'form' and acceptance into the Carnatic system under the name of 'Kuranji'), would we have such a beautiful ragam like Nattaikuranji? Nattaikuranji is one of my favourites of all time. If I'm alone and without a music system all I do is happily hum / whistle Nattaikuranji. :) "Paal Vadiyum Mugam" composed by Sri Oothukadu Venkatasubbaiyer is a popular song in Nattaikuranji ragam. What a mystical raga, this!. (oh, btw, Nattaikuranji is also a child of Harikamboji). The film song 'Kannamoochi Yenada' (Kandukondein Kandukondein) is a good Nattaikuranji (subject to the physical laws of the Movie music Industry? :) ).
Yet another 'beautiful' derivative of Harikamboji is Kaambhoji. It is yet another 'bashanga' ragam. It has the 'Ni' (Ni2) of both Harikamboji and also the 'Ni' (Ni3) of Shankarabharanam (with a very distinct prayogam of Ni3). I prefer to call this Ni3 a 'cool' Ni (if 'C' was the root note, Ni3 is B while Ni2 is one full tone below C, ie.,. Bb). While the 'cool' Ni adds a bit of 'happiness', Ni2 continues to add to the melancholy. The end result is that, its a beautiful balance. Kuzhaloothi Manamellam, yet another Oothukadu Venkatasubbaiyer composition! Makes one sway and get high. I think the 'bubble' time of Carnatic was the early 1900s... What amazing folks we had! Gopalakrishna Bharathi... Papanasam Sivan... Just Papanasam Sivan was enough, I just love his 'patterns' in his lyrics. He gets obsessive sometimes and the first letter of the song also happens to be the note! (like 'Ma... Ramanan' begins with a 'Ma' note in it). Probably because it was the golden period -- the freedom struggle and all that brought some folks like Papanasam sivan to write non-religious songs (well mostly patriotic in nature). I read on sangeetham.com that DKP was one of the revolutionaries in her own way during the Freedom struggle. That she sang an 'illegal' song that was banned by the then British Raj. Interesting period, must be.
Alright, That is enough for a boring saturday ;/ On an unrelated note, I'm about to complete the last of the 'Robot' books -- 'The Robots of Dawn'. I had actually kept this in the 'pending' area of my shelf after completing 'Caves of Steel' and 'The Naked Sun'. Only after I finished 'Prelude to the Foundation' did I realize that the robots series is related to the Foundation series! Holy Zeus, Asimov rocks! There is just no comparison to how the plot unfolds and is usually beyond the obvious.
The greatest asset to Carnatic is the Micro-tonal 'shakes' or 'slides' called Ghamakkams that give a strong characteristic to a given 'ragam'. Looking at Shankarabharanam as just the 'major scale' will be quite like pooh-poohing Shankarabharanam :). If you get a chance to listen to Shankarabharanam, you would find a lot of beautiful oranamental 'ghamakkams' on top of the notes and that is essentially what makes every raga more than just a 'scale' (atleast most, except probably very 'light' ragams like, maybe, Sindhu bhairavi?). Unlike a 'scale' which is just a set of notes, a ragam by itself has a 'swaroopam' and that means that a tonal / semi-tonal gap need not sound the same in two different ragas.
It is interesting to note that so many derivatives of Harikamboji has a... umm... 'ramyamana' effect. A mystical melancholy can be produced due to the 'D2 N2 S' (the last 'semi-tone' near the end (in our example, the B C D of the scale) makes for the 'melancholy' and the first tone tone semi-tone (D E F G) sequence makes for a 'happy' feel (much like the C Major (minus one tone and you will arrive at C D E instead of D E F))).
Think of sahana, think of saama raga, think of Khamas. They all have that 'ramayam' in them. Of course, there are several 'peppy' derivatives of Harikamboji (like 'kOkiladhwani or even very 'bluesy' baashanga ragams like 'Tilang') but my point is that its very difficult to make a 'sad' or 'serious' sounding ragams that are pure derivatives of Harikamboji. In contrast, compare against even 'well spaced out' ragams like Saaramati or, the classic example, thodi which is a 'mode' on the major scale. (I don't know what the mode is called. Basically, its a mode with 'B' as the root note on the C major scale). While rendering thodi 'flat' would make it sound quite 'sad', the micro-tonal ornamentations on thodi gives it a beautiful unexplainable effect.
Take Nattaikuranji: A classic example of 'influence'. Reminds me of this thread on 'culture'. Kuranji is a beautiful ancient tamil ragam. Natakuranji is an inspiration from kuranji, clearly. Had Carnatic folks not come across, probably some tamils singing what might have been similar to Kuranji (and later got a formal 'form' and acceptance into the Carnatic system under the name of 'Kuranji'), would we have such a beautiful ragam like Nattaikuranji? Nattaikuranji is one of my favourites of all time. If I'm alone and without a music system all I do is happily hum / whistle Nattaikuranji. :) "Paal Vadiyum Mugam" composed by Sri Oothukadu Venkatasubbaiyer is a popular song in Nattaikuranji ragam. What a mystical raga, this!. (oh, btw, Nattaikuranji is also a child of Harikamboji). The film song 'Kannamoochi Yenada' (Kandukondein Kandukondein) is a good Nattaikuranji (subject to the physical laws of the Movie music Industry? :) ).
Yet another 'beautiful' derivative of Harikamboji is Kaambhoji. It is yet another 'bashanga' ragam. It has the 'Ni' (Ni2) of both Harikamboji and also the 'Ni' (Ni3) of Shankarabharanam (with a very distinct prayogam of Ni3). I prefer to call this Ni3 a 'cool' Ni (if 'C' was the root note, Ni3 is B while Ni2 is one full tone below C, ie.,. Bb). While the 'cool' Ni adds a bit of 'happiness', Ni2 continues to add to the melancholy. The end result is that, its a beautiful balance. Kuzhaloothi Manamellam, yet another Oothukadu Venkatasubbaiyer composition! Makes one sway and get high. I think the 'bubble' time of Carnatic was the early 1900s... What amazing folks we had! Gopalakrishna Bharathi... Papanasam Sivan... Just Papanasam Sivan was enough, I just love his 'patterns' in his lyrics. He gets obsessive sometimes and the first letter of the song also happens to be the note! (like 'Ma... Ramanan' begins with a 'Ma' note in it). Probably because it was the golden period -- the freedom struggle and all that brought some folks like Papanasam sivan to write non-religious songs (well mostly patriotic in nature). I read on sangeetham.com that DKP was one of the revolutionaries in her own way during the Freedom struggle. That she sang an 'illegal' song that was banned by the then British Raj. Interesting period, must be.
Alright, That is enough for a boring saturday ;/ On an unrelated note, I'm about to complete the last of the 'Robot' books -- 'The Robots of Dawn'. I had actually kept this in the 'pending' area of my shelf after completing 'Caves of Steel' and 'The Naked Sun'. Only after I finished 'Prelude to the Foundation' did I realize that the robots series is related to the Foundation series! Holy Zeus, Asimov rocks! There is just no comparison to how the plot unfolds and is usually beyond the obvious.