Inner Manodharmam

June 10, 2009

Dear VS,

You have been prompt in asking what is meant by "Inner Manodharmam" and the "Manodharmam" school all about in Carnatica Sangeetham.

This would be my last posting for a few weeks from now.I request members to post whatever you have to my email ID.I will view and reply at a later day.Im really tied up with something here and have to do justice to it.

Also with a recent death in my family of a close person, my family members are grieving and I have to be with them at this moment of grief.Please excuse me.

Let me start answering your query on popular front.See this clipping(below) from Shankarabharanam, the famous Telugu movie which came in 80s.I was a kintergraden kid then but cried in the end when the movie was over, eventhough I could not understand much what was said and going on in the film when we watched it in Cudappah those days.I have watched the film many times since then.

The film is about an orthodox Telugu Brahmin who has a pure,artistic and divine relationship with a prostitute who dances really well(acted beautifully by Manju Bhargavi) much to the chagrin of the society.The film is really beautiful and though you watched it long time ago I guess you can watch it again, the beauty of the film lies in its sublime message very relevant for youngsters like us.The best way to ruin any great and divine art(which is spirituality in itself) is to bring in casteism,linguism and chauvinism in it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVebQqNOkH4 & feature=related

In this song,when the Manodharma goes awry, the father of the girl(the protagonist acted by J.V.Somayajulu) stands up angrily and corrects her.She goes into a romantic mood for the divine song and the change in the Aarohana-Avarohana Vidhi produces the Jarring notes to his well-trained musical ears.

In this scene supra the manodharma of the song is maintained.This scene depicts the purity of relationship of a Neechakula stree(woman from the lowest prostitute class) and that of an orthodox brahmin,beautifully.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lY2hoGKaBmY & feature=related

(Both cases Sri SPB Garu has sung beautifully in Telugu with proper diction(for the first song) and proper Swara-shudham for the second, lacking in even great singers these days with the exception of a few.Only that some people would not accept him(SPB Garu) as a classical singer.But I should say he was sterling in this film and one more song too)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOnRsUT6k3k & feature=related Another scene from Shankarabharanam

See this song rendered by SPB for Endaro Mahanubhavulu:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWJki0sutt8 & feature=related

(This is from the Telugu film called Thyagayya.In this song, the diction which is missed by 98% of the singers with the exception of MS Subbulakshmi Garu,Balamurali Krishna Garu,Nagayya Garu and a few others, consitutes for the perfection of the Inner-manodharma with bhavam flowing through the song.Some complain that the song is over in just 3 minutes but then there is some filimatic contraints involved,understandably.)

This is another scene wherein even when a tipped singer(who is fallen in his behaviour due to his alcoholic habit) has manodharma can render a song better than even a sober singer.But such Manodharma is rare and can be found only in films

This comes in another famous Tamil movie Sindhubhairavi in Durbar Raga.Sung in the end by Yesudas.The song is sung mechanically wih no bhavam that is the complaint.Yesudas sings with exuberant Bhavam, which is how Durbar Raagam(Durbaar means Royal exuberance) should be sung.

Wish I could do something like this next time, I go to some cutchery! Haha!

These are just a few dramatic/cinematic examples which I have picked from modern day cinema to make a layperson like you understand, because if I reel out carnatic lingo you might not be able to understand.

Manodharma is a form of improvised music and is created on spot during the performance, but within the confines of strict Grammar of music. It can be likened to speakers resorting to impromptu speech while reading from their prepared texts. It serves as an important aspect of Carnatic Music.

Some think Manodharma is just playing with the raaga within the confines of Carnatic Grammar but it is not.

Arising out of Manodharma, Individual styles are developed. There is ample scope for manodharma while rendering raga alapana,tanam, neraval,pallavi,swaram and also krithis.

The manodharma is cultivated after several years of constant learning and experience in rendering various set compositions like varnams,krithis,javalis, etc and also by listening to consummate artistes.

Manodharma plays such a significant role that a capable artiste may never render a raga the same way twice. To bring out the quintessence of a raga, one has to resort to the exclusive and distinct raga prayogas of the raga which are mostly taken from the 'set compositions' like varnams, kritis etc. Unless, these prayogas are brought out in the raga alapana, the bhava (identity) of the ragam can seldom be established. For a beginner to identify a raga, these "exclusive" prayogas are of immense assistance. Keeping in mind, the "lakshana" (swarupa) of the raga, its jeeva swaras and also the special prayogas, the artistes develop the raga, weaving patterns after patterns, using various combinations of swaras.

In the first example, I gave you from Shankarabharanam, the song had gone awry because of "alakshana swarupa" of the song.

In the last example, wherein Actor Sivakumar chides the singer, the Jeeva Swarupa of the Song is lost in too much technicalities and nuance adjustments.(Kudos to the singer who sang it wrong purposely too!)

Sri Madurai Mani Iyer

The caliber and finesse of a musician is often judged by his/her ability to bring out the excellence of a raga. Many musicians of the recent past, such as GN Balasubramaniam, MSSubbulakshmi,Madurai Mani Iyer,Rajarathnam Pillai,Karaikurichi Arunachalam,etc excelled in their application of manodharma bringing in many a sweet combination of notes of melodies, while limiting themselves to the confines of the raga concerned, embellishing the raga with their ability to produce melodic prayogas.This is the sister of Bhavam.

Rajarathnam Pillai.(Though he did not belong to the "Isai Vellalar community" he became so popular among Nathaswaram community that many kept their wards name as Rajarathnam)

See these movements of a Young GNB who used dance steps from Bharathanatyam and Body language mastering to create a musical effect with his body while singing, this did not distract the audience it seems(I did not have the opportunity to check upon his videos).He found that he could not sing without raising his hands and moving his body to get the Manodharma and the Bhavam, so he adopted a saner approach on his own with improvised body gestures.It was a form of sitting "Natyam"!

Such was the dedication of the conscientious singers those days as opposed to people who "brush imaginary strokes in air", "who bring something down from the heavens with their hands", "who look to the ceiling blissfully unawares of the dubious distinction bestowed upon the rasikas below of their enlarged nostrils!","who keep saying "sabhaash" themselves in between the songs","who look at the accompanists and smile often, expecting them to return back the smiles, which they(the accompanists) forcefully and pitifully do", who smile at the audience and sometimes even get up from their seats in "euphoria,"who drink coffee or hotwater during the song!","who dont hear what the accompanists are playing and go on a seperate track", "who do namaskarams and signs of recognition to people in the audience","who kepe pace of Thalam with electronic Thalam meter",etc

Except a few students who have musical lineage and tradition, and who are consequently able to sing Manodharma Swaras by intuition, almost all others need some tips or guidance to develop this aspect.But I feel that Manodharma is of an inner kind and can come by only purity and divinity of the singer.

Bombay Jayashree

You ask which modern singers I like?...Hmm, Im mesmerised by Bombay Jayashree's Manodharma these days.She has exellent technical knowledge and also Bhavam.Only that sometimes she tries too hard, but otherwise she is by far the best I have heard in recent times(I mean modern singers).

Manodharma is the true essence of Carnatic music and only people who are seeped in Bhakthi can do it intuitively.This is not much different from our sadhanic process.

You have just tuned on my musical nerves but I guess it would become a Carnatic music forum if I dwell too much on such queries.But thanks for the break.

Yours Yogically,

Shreeram Balijepalli

Hreem Rajarajeshwari Paradevatha!

Purity, Powers, Parabrahmam...