I read in Hindu sometime back that Apollo Hospitals, Chennai has a music therapy center. A call-center employee had recurring migraines and associated health problems. She was asked to listen to the Raga Mohanam 6 times a day whenever she felt a migraine come on. The lady reported 4 months down the line that she rarely ever had headaches now!
I was feeling super-stressed this morning. For lack of anything else to distract me, I started playing a Ragam Tanam Pallavi in Mohanam by TV Sankaranarayanan. I can swear that the moment I heard the initial notes of Mohanam, I could feel the stress draining out of me, literally. My neck muscles loosened up and I was feeling much more peaceful in a few minutes.
I have felt that hard-core music enthusiasts discount Mohanam as a Ragam. They extol the virtues of Bhairavi, Todi, Kharaharapriya et al. because of the scope offered for manodharma. But if you ask me, I'll take a beautifully sung Mohanam over any other Raga in Carnatic music! :)
5 comments:
Anonymous,
who are you? god himself? pinrele pongo.
"pinrele pongo."
What does that mean?
I am one among you, except that I donot know Tamil. Hehehe...
Any specific reason that explanation was deleted or is it that the host doesnot like anonymous comments. If this is the case, then, Sorry. Will never post again if that offended you people here. Since I donot want to get identified purely for the purpose, that I want to share the 2cents (that I gained from the enlightened saints of the world who had given so much to the world without any expectations) that I knew with others with out expecting anything.
"pinrele pongo."
What does that mean?
This just means "You rock".
any ராகம் (I hate saying it as raag or raaga ) when sung properly, has its effects - be it a moving "riti gowla" or a melancholic "shanmugapriya" or a flowing "sankarabaranam".
what matters is who sings it - in this case of yours, a senior artiste, a sangita kalanidhi..
If I may borrow Arvind Adiga's term "half baked" from his book "the white tiger" -- those who are half baked, and who could not stress the right note, no matter what they sing, the ராகம் will sound prosaic.
the next comes the actual க்ருதி. Dikshitar has only a few in mohanam (“கோபிகா மனோஹரம்” being one thats famous)..tyagarajar has many (“எவருரா நின்னுவினா”, “நன்னு பாலிம்ப” , “ராம நின்னு நம்மினா” being the most famous)....sometimes the க்ருதி can be very moving, especially dikshitars...
Maharajapuram santhanam ( my manaseeega guru) was very famous for his Mohanam, so much so that, even the Mahaperiyava of kanchi requested him to sing mohanam...when he passed away, I wrote
இருந்திருப்பார்
இன்று வரை
இசைச் சக்கரவர்த்தியாய்
இரு மகன் சூழ. . .
இருக்க விட்டானா
இயமன் இவரை வாழ ?
”பெரியவரே” கேட்குமளவு
பெயர் கொடுத்தது மோகனம் !
உயிர் எடுத்தது வாகனம் !!
-- ganesh
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