C h a r u k e s i ..... !

C h a r u k e s i

Love and lust flashing out from the depth of the heart. A passionatelonging now. A feigned anger then. A smile floating on the curved redlips for a moment.

Giving way to a tightly pressed one above a strongchin. A tiny ridicule in the sparkling eyes. A stern and reproachfulexpression which goes about the face like a lightning. All that go tosuit the danseuse of the Raja Darbar - they go as attributes forthis raga viz Charukesi. As the name itself means, it personifiesGrace.

No wonder beauty has no other name. The raga is known by the same nameboth in HCM and CCM. A melakartha raga, Charukesi has a simple surpattern:

Arokan : S R G M P d n S
Avro : S n d P M G R S

Five of the seven remaining major, the only two minor notes provide theelegance and beauty to the raga.

The film which introduced Rajesh Khanna (Raaz) had this beautifulnumber, "Akele Hain Chanle aao" based on Charukesi.
The zig zagbends of the raga fitted very well the song "kisi raah mein kisi moadpar" in Mere Hamsafar. In Diwanana, a love lorn girl sang "teriummid tera intezaar karte hain".
The sur chanchar of the raga wasbeautifully presented in "bekhudi mein sanam".

Coming down south, who could forget the singing star Bhagavatharpleading with the elegant Rajakumari "ennudane nee paesinal vaaimuthu udhirnthu vidumo?"

justify for being alesson to Charukesi learners. An equally love struck Ganesan cajoleshis lady in Sarangadhara "Vasantha mullai pole vandhu".

KunnakudiVaidyanathan, the magician on violin used Charukesi in Agathiyar tobring about the flow of the river Cauvery - as Seergazhi sang"Nadanthai vaazhi Kaveri". That the raga best suited "srinkarabhava" was again demonstrated by MSV in his very aesthetically wovencomposition "vara cholladi " in Padugappu, perhaps the only savinggrace of an otherwise mundane film.

Grace is basically feminine.

While it elegantly enchants as becoming ofa Queen in Hamvir Kalyani, it becomes the enticing bait of a Nartaki in Charukesi.

Aaa Be Ree (Abheri)

A B E R I

Take a trip to Rishikesh from Delhi.

You reach over there in the earlymorning and even on a hot and sultry summer day you would find theplace cold and breezy. The Ganges is still, serene, secretive andphilosophical. You dare not even drench your toes into her. You takethe trip back down the hill and reach Haridwar around mid day. The sun pours down heat all over above your head, the Ganges below is cold andswift. Being almost the first place where the river touches plains, the swiftness of the current is beyond any description. It embodies youthfulness and the joy and the mischievous laugh that go along with youth. You are stunned by its beauty and almost jump into the river only to feel its all pervading cold and swift. In moments you are deep immersed in enjoying it and hardly can you make up your mind to get outof it.

Abheri or Bheemplasri as is called in HCM, gives you a similarexperience.
Once in, you can never get out.
The sur track in CCM is rather simple

:Arokan : S g m P n S
Avro : S n D P m g R S

In Bheemplasri of HCM, it takes the shape of a vakra raga:

Arokan : n S g m P n s
Avro : S n D P m g R s

Yet both are equally enjoyable.

Who could have forgotten the almost immortalized song in Kishore's
voice when he sings of flowers which blossom only to droop down?

Whenhe sings "khilte hain gul yahaan" the song at once gets into theform of flowers, so you could even feel the fragrance of it! "Ohbequaraar dil" from Khamoshi and "tu mile dil khile" fromCriminal are equally enchanting numbers from Bheemplasri.

In Tamil films numerous songs have been churned out of this raga. Be itthe one which gave Jankai the name and fame ("Singaravelane Deva")or her subsequent song where she proved her mastery in scaling highpitch and comfort level at dropping down birgas as casually as flowersdrop down from a tree ("kannan mana nilayai thangame thangam") orthe later "kuyile kavikyile" in Mastero's music, each and everyone of them is rich with the innate beauty of the raga.

Not to lag behind, male voice has suited equally well the raga with TrichyLoganathan's "vaarai nee varaai" or Ghantasala's "OhoVennilave" or AM Raja's "Varoyo vennilave" - in duet withP.Leela or the high pitched T.R.Mahalingam's "Iasai Thamizh".

The robust flow of the surs down the track in any of the songs quotedtakes your mind just to the Ganges at Haridwar.

M a d h y a m a v a t h i ...Pentatonic !

Sant had provided a very beautiful description of Madyamavati.

Madyamavati is a janya raga of Karagarapriya and is pentatonic.
In HCMit is known by the name "Megh" and belongs to the Thaat of Kafi.

There is a slight variance in the sur track of the raga in itsapplication in HCM and CCM.In CCM it follows a straight route:

Arokan : S R m P n S
Avro : S n P m R S

While in HCM, it goes zig zag adding to its beauty

:Arokan : S m R m P n S
Avro : S n P m R m n R S.

A very melodious song in Chashm-e-bud-dur, "kahan se aaya badra" is based on Megh.

In Tamil Madyamavati has been used in a number of songs, as quoted bySant.
A few more could be "en kalyana vaibogam" in Azhage UnnaiAaradhinkiren, "aagaya pandhalile" in a Sivaji Ganesan starrer.
Thereare a few tuned by MSV which have semblance to Madyamavati like"thangamal vayitril" or "poovondru kanden".
In both the songs, MSVfrequently resorts to the prayog of both the nishetams (minor n andmajor N). In "poovondru kanden" the charanam contains even "D".

A similar trend can be found in Hemant Kumar's composition "jaadugarsaiyaan" in Nagin (old).Interestingly Ilayaraja's "aagaya gangai", although very faithful tothe sur track of the raga, has a prayog of the Megh pattern. Recollectthe the third line in the pallavi "melam kotti thaalam thatti", in"thaalam thatti" Raja resorts to the Megh pattern of R m n (which makesit look more like "kahaan se aaya badra" than his own "thulli thulli").Madyamavati, as Sant described, is a sobre raga. Yet the passionateside of the notes were effectively used by K.V.Mahadevan in his"Sankara, naadasa llela para" in the legend "Sankarabharanam". The fastpaced charanams fitted very well the emotionally charged, thoughbordering on cinematic exploitation,