‘Sarasuda Ninne’ is a composition by Kothavasal Venkatarama Iyer, a renowned composer, singer and also the guru of Patnam Subramania Iyer. This varnam is set to Raag Saveri in a rhythmic cycle of Adi talam. Mysore A Chandan opens his concert with this evocative piece, bringing out the flavours of bhakti or devotion aptly in this performance.

Accompanying him are Dr. Jyotsna Srikanth (violin), Neyveli Venkatesh (mridangam) and RN Prakash (ghatam) who add soulful textures to this varnam.

Chandan plays a brief alapana, quickly embarking on the composition. He builds the emotion of the raga schematically, embellishing parts of it with elated phrases. Dr. Srikanth gives wonderful support with melodic reciprocations, enhancing the ‘karuna bhava’ (compassion) of the composition effectively.

Venkatesh and Prakash give a tight rhythmic support, regaling the listeners with a variety of rhythmic improvisations within a short span.

Saverii is a janya raga that is derived from the 15th meḷakarta Mayamalavagaula. It is an auḍava-sampurṇa raga. The swaras present in this raga are ṣaḍja, suddha risabha, suddha madhyama, panchama, suddha dhaivata in the ascent; in addition to these swaras, kakali niṣada and antara gandhara occur in the descent. Its arohana and avarohana are

S R1 M1 P D1 Ṡ - Ṡ N3 D1 P M1 G3 R1 S.

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

C C# F G G# C – C B G# G F E C# C.

Raag Jogiya of Hindustani music is similar to this raga, but has a slightly different scale.

The ragachaya swaras are gandhara, madhyama and dhaivata. Niṣada and gandhara, though of the third variety, have special rare usages where they appear slightly diminished.

A rakti raga, it can portray rasas like santa (peace), karuna (compassion) very effectively, just as it can convey the feeling of devotion or bhakti bhava.

Musicians
Mysore A Chandan (flute)
Dr. Jyotsna Srikanth (violin)
Neyveli Venkatesh (mridangam)
RN Prakash (ghatam)

Raag Saveri, Varnam composed by Kothavasal Venkatarama Iyer