http://www.hindu.com/fr/2008/09/05/stories/2008090551120400.htm
Dr. L Subramaniam's special session at A.R. Rahman's K.M. Music Conservatory, brought into focus the importance of the nadha or sound which is the very process of creation and is the only medium to a state of consciousness. He ascribed t he development of Indian music to Vedic chants taken in monotone, with emphasis on the words, making it a free note chant. Dr. Subramaniam explained how this concept of seven notes can be derived from Sama Veda and it was around the 12th century that the two strong classical systems Hindustani and Carnatic developed. These seven basic notes are also present in western classical. During the 18th century, it was Venkatamaki who determined the 72 parent scales that have seven notes each. Vajra ragas The ragas which are created by omitting notes are called the Vajra ragas. Muthuswami Dikshitar's "Vathapi Ganapatim" in Hamsadhwani is a case in point. It has pentatonic scale. In the second category are the Vakra ragas, which indicate a break of continuity or regularity in the accepted order of notes. There's yet another category which is a combination of the Vakra and Vajra called the Bhashanga ragas. These are ragas with foreign notes (accidentals); Bhashanga are the 'derived scale ragas,' which grow out of a major scale by the inclusion of a minor komal swara. Anand Bhairavi, Piloo and Bhairavi and Hindolam are some examples presenting the Vajra Bhashanga combinations. There are innumerable opportunities in Vakra Bhashanga; on taking one parent scale many explorations are possible. Dr. Subramaniam pointed out the importance of the primary and the secondary notes that is Vadi and Samvadi in a raga. The key phrase of the raga would express the primary note. Similarly, on improvising, the ornamentation of the primary and secondary notes would give a clear picture to the raga. Raga does not emerge simply out of going up and down the scale; it is the ornamentation relevant to a particular raga which gives the right emotion, the right flavour and comes close to being a raga which is the exposition of colour emotion and feeling, he said. Dr. Subramaniam spoke about the seven basic talas,108 variable talas and the Chapu Talas. Dr. Subramaniam's inter-active exhaustive talk on the basics of the raga-tala system was a fitting introduction to the first batch of the Foundation Programme and to the faculty drawn from different parts of the world at the KM Music Conservatory. -- regards, Vithur ARR -- The Sweet Cube always
