This piece, ‘Nagumomu Ganaleni’ in Raag Abheri, is a popular kirtan composed by Saint Tyagaraja (1767-1847). Dr. Kadri Gopalnath chooses this piece as his fourth presentation during his concert at the Darbar Festival in 2011.

Devotion to Lord Rama being the mainstay of Saint Thyagaraja songs, this composition came as a welcome choice because of its appealing lyrics set to the haunting tune of this raga. Dr. Gopalnath renders an elaborate and powerful alapana with witty reciprocations from Jyotsna Srikanth.

The delightful swarakalpanas are brought to a calm end by the violin after which, they plunge into the song. Dr. Gopalnath brings out the softer nuances of this kriti delicately on this demanding western wind instrument.

Bangalore Praveen (mridangam) and RN Prakash (ghatam) provide a delightful and interactive support and play a brilliant tani avartanam at the end of this piece.

Abheri is an upanga janya raga of the 22nd Melakarta Kharaharapriya. It is an audav-sampurna raga, which means it uses 5 notes in its ascending movement and all 7 notes In its descending movement. The notes present in this raga are sadja, sadharana, gandhara, shudh madhyama, panchama and kaisiki nisada. Chatusruti dhaivata and chatusruti rishabha occur in the descending movement. Its ascending and descending movements are as follows:

S G2 M1 P N2 Ṡ - Ṡ N2 D2 P M1 G2 R2 S

In Western music notation, if C is taken as the base or tonic note, then the scale is

C D# F G A# C – C A# A G F D# D C

Abheri is a rakti raga, which means it has the power to please the listener’s mind instantaneously. The dominant note is Ga (3rd) and the sub-dominant is Ni (7th).

It can portray rasas like karuṇa (compassion) very effectively, just as it can convey the feeling of devotion or bhakti bhava.

Musicians
Dr. Kadri Gopalnath (saxophone)
Jyotsna Srikanth (violin)
Bangalore Praveen (mridangam)
RN Prakash (ghatam)
Kaviraj Singh (tanpura)
Raag Abheri. Composer: Saint Tyagaraja (1767-1847)