What I am about to write about in this episode is more than just humming now. This is more like “humming forever”. I am going to write about 3 ragams, which may be different in their nuances, but are very close to each other and hence for somebody like me, hard to differentiate. And since I am writing about 3 ragas as opposed to my usual 1, consider this a grand episode with more details and more selections.

The ragams in focus are: Dharmavathi, Gowri Manohari, Madhuvanti

My favorites:

Fav #1: There are not many keerthanas in Madhuvanti, since it is primarily a Hindustani ragam. But there are some amazing recording available of Alaap, Gat, Thumri (conceptual equivalents of RTP in Hindustani) from people like Shiv Kumar Sharma, Bismillah Khan, Ali Akbar Khan etc…However, one nice song in Carnatic is Kanda Naal Mudhalai.

Fav#2: Dharmavathi RTP Jugalbandhi between U Shrinivas and Ustad Sultan Khan

Lite#1: Thathithom (Azhagan, Maragadhamani, Dharmavathi)

Lite#2: Vaanaville (Ramana, Ilayaraja, Dharmavathi)

Lite#3: Dhoorathil Naan Kanda (Nizhalgal, Ilayaraja, Gowri Manohari)

Lite#4: Malare Kurinji Malare (Dr.Siva, MS Viswanathan, Gowri Manohari)

Lite#5: Meendum Meendum Vaa (Vikram, Ilayaraja, Madhuvanti)

In addition to this, one of my all time favorites is a Zakir Hussain composition by name Bell’Alla in a Shakti album called Saturday Night in Bombay. With stalwarts like Debashish Bhattacharya and U Shrinivas, this is an amazing Gowri Manohari. The Zakir improvisation towards the end is to die for. Also in Gowri Manohari is a soothing melody in the Global Fusion album by L Subramaniam, called Harmony of the Hearts.

If I am wrong in any of the technicalities, let me know. I am learning.

For my earlier posts on related topics:

Humming Now Ilayaraja My initiation with Shakti

If you are interested in watching the pyrotechnics of the Gowri Manohari composition by Shakti, please watch the following video.