Kannaḍa is an upāṅga janyai of the 29th mēḷakartaii Dhīraśaṅkarābharaṇa. It is an auḍava-vakra sampūrṇaiii rāga. The svarasiv occurring in this rāga are ṣaḍja, antara gāndhāra, śuddha madhyama, chatuśruti dhaivata and kākali niṣāda in ascent. In addition, pañchama and chatuśruti riṣabha occur in descentv. Its ārōhaṇavi and avarōhaṇavii are
S G3 M1 D2 N3 Ṡ – Ṡ N3 Ṡ D2, P M1 G3, M1 R2 S.
In Western music notation, if C is taken as the base or tonic note, then the scale is
C E F A B C – C B C A, G F E, F D C.
It is a rakti rāga or a rāga which pleases instantaneously.
Riṣabha, gāndhāra, dhaivata are rāgachāyā svarasviii. Gāndhāra, dhaivata are nyāsa svarasix. Sa-ma, sa-pa, ri-da, ri-pa, ga-da, ga-ni are vādi-samvādi svaras (consonant notes).
It can portray rasasx like adbhuta (wonder), vīra (valour) very effectively, just as it can convey the feeling of devotion or bhakti bhāva.
Some of the signature phrases of this rāga are
G M D N Ṡ, Ṙ Ṡ N Ṡ, D, P, – G M D, P G M P G M, R, – R S Ṇ S Ḍ Ṇ S G, M R, S, – Ḍ Ṇ S G, – G M D P G M R S Ṇ S M G M D, – D N Ṙ Ṡ N Ṡ D P – G M D N Ṡ Ġ, – Ġ Ṁ Ṗ Ġ Ṁ, Ṙ, – Ṡ Ġ Ṁ Ṙ Ṡ N Ṙ Ṡ N Ṡ D, P, – G, M D, P M G, M R, – Ṇ S Ḍ Ṇ S G, M R, S,
A few compositions in this rāga are-
Sāmi idi vēḷa (varṇam)
Paṭṇam Subrahmanya Iyer
Bhajarē bhaja mānasa
Tyāgarāja
Ninnāḍanēla
Tyāgarāja
Sākēta nikētana
Tyāgarāja
Śrī mātṛbhūtam
Muttuswāmi Dīkṣitar
Intakaṇṭē kāvalena
Paṭṇam Subrahmanya Iyer
Bibliography
Hariharan, M. and Kuppuswamy, Gowri. 2011. Comparative Music- Fundamentals of Western Music. Nagercoil: CBH Publications
Keshavamurthy, R.R. 1964. Rāgalakṣaṇa mattu Rāgakōśa. Bengaluru: Gāna Viśārada Biḍāram Kṛṣṇappa Smāraka Saṅgīta Vidyālaya
Rajarao, Mysore L. 2003. Saṅgīta Śāstra Chandrike. Bengaluru: Karnataka Sangeetha Nritya Academy
Rao, B. Subba. 1980. Raganidhi. Madras: The Music Academy
Sambamoorthy, P. 2018 (reprint of eighth edition published in 1998). South Indian Music (Volumes 1 to 6). Chennai: The Indian Music Publishing House
Web Links
Abhishek Raghuram presents Ragam Kannada with Sri Mysore V Srikanth (violin) and Sri Trichy Harikumar (mridangam).
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