Another tune. A contrived name, possibly the worst of mine (although as always it hints at the raga in an obscure way if your interpret it like a crossword clue).
The new thing here is that it was created with Garageband but the iPad version. This version is different from the one the mac as it has a lot of controls designed to take advantage of the iPad touch screen. However, it has some limitations which makes it too hard for me to try to play a carnatic melody like I did with Bebot here. On the other hand, it has some fine guitar sounds which I was able to use as the background score. I also have grown bolder in that the entire melody is played by me. A careful ear can see it was done in bits and pieces, which should tell you all you need to know about my playing abilities! Only when you record something, particularly against a background score, you realize how perfect one should be and how one hard it is to even approach that!
The raga that is the “inspiration” for the tune is admittedly a bold choice since it is a weighty raga and whose character is dependent on some characteristic gamakas. The tune here though isn’t using those gamakas – just approximations in some places. Thus the raga character is again going to be perhaps just a faint hint if at all. The raga is also tough in that it does not have a straightforward scale and that its modern day interpretation has been questioned by some as “too liberal”.. Also, with a westernized tune with the westernized flat notes, it is very easy to give whiffs of other ragas if one isn’t careful. I don’t think my tune escaped that and so it is possible listeners may smell other ragas.
What is perhaps satisfying to me is that there are exactly 3 simple chords for the song – Cmaj, Aminor and Eminor – very standard stuff found in the major scale (i.e. Sankarabharanam). But I found that my adding another (plucking) layer with the other notes in this raga, I could change the character of those chords away from a standard western sound to something more “foreign”?
Here it is. Hope you like it.
Also, here are links to earlier numbers:
- Stormbreeze
- Rainmaker
- A Spring Union
- Five on Eight
- The Beginning
- Ballad Of The Highlands
- A Triple Mister’y Inspiration
- Ethereal Gypsy On Route Fifty Eight
Just thinking out aloud ... 
July 20, 2011 at 11:58 pm
Nice purvikalyani. The background symmetry of phrases like (d)srs gsrs (g)dnd sdnd (r)gmg pgmg is a good thought. Some parts of the lead melody lose rhythmic alignment, but a nice effort.
July 21, 2011 at 12:24 am
My post reworded
Nice purvikalyani. The symmetry of
phrases in background music like
(d)srs gsrs
()dnd sdnd
(r)gmg pgmg
is a good thought.
Some parts of the lead melody lose rhythmic alignment, but a nice effort.
July 21, 2011 at 9:18 am
Thanks and thanks for visiting my blog! I am glad that the raga was perceivable.
Indeed there is that misalignment which I was aware of. i was thinking of either tinkering with the rhythm for those parts (i.e. like how mrdangam adapts to the melody, rather than the other way around in cm songs) – but I guess was lazy 🙂 . But i was also using pre–set loops which can be limiting since most available loops in this case were a bit to harsh for the mood I wanted, and also did not all the variations. I could have constructed my own but the loops have the advantage of using real samples and sound better.
The other possibility was to fix the melody to always follow the rhythm – but i wanted some variation also. I am sure if I had spent more time I could found a happier medium – but again … lazy :-).
In someways this demonstrates what I think as one of the differences in cm-like melodies and popular/modern western melodies. At least this is my theory: In cm-like melodies (or say more generally in indian classical melodies), the inherent patterns of the melody show a lot of variations and that perhaps is why the indian percussion follows the rhythm without a steady beat. In popular/modern western melodies, there is a steady beat which has a significant presence and hence the melody should respect that – if not (like in this case) one can sense the misalignment more.
Arun
July 21, 2011 at 1:39 pm
Although on top of that you also have plenty of imperfections in my playing to tala. That also adds to all this