Vasantha - Raga Ruminations

The name Vasantha invokes images of springtime and the burst of energy that comes with it. When I think of raga Vasantha, the first song that comes to mind is Hariharaputra, a composition of Muthuswamy Dikshithar. This is a beautiful slow-moving piece that describes the glory of Lord Ayyappa, the presiding deity of Sabarimala. Tyagaraja's Seethamma Mayamma is another popular song in raga Vasantha. I had sung this song at a recent concert in Bangalore. My guru, the late Seethalakshmi Venkatesan of Bengalooru tuned many devarnamas in different ragas - here is a devarnama of Purandaradasa in raga Vasantha. The recording is from a concert at Vadiraja Kala Bhavana in Hulimavu Bangalore and the accompanying artists are C.N.Chandrashekhar (violin), C.Cheluvaraju (mridangam) and M.A.Krishnamurthy (ghatam). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovHREONYgYk Students of Carnatic music become familiar with this raga early on when they learn the sprightly varnam "Ninnu kori", a composition of Tacchur Singaarachari. Other songs in raga Vasantha include Maragathalingam (Muthuswamy Dikshithar), Maal Maruga (Papanasam Sivan) and the popular number with dancers Natanamadinar (Gopalakrishna Bharathi). Vasantha has no corresponding melody in Hindustani music though raag Girija shows some similarities. The song "Minsara poove" in the Tamil movie Padayappa is based on raga Vasantha. A vibrant song, the voices of playback singer Srinivas and carnatic vocalist Nityashree brought to life this composition of A.R.Rahman. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmE9dzvHlDM For those who want details, raga Vasantha is a derivative of Melakartha Suryakantham (17) and the scale is as follows. SM1G3M1D2N3S SN3D2M1G3R1S