Even the slightest mention of gowri manOhari, makes me want to listen to this beautiful melody…
John Mclaughlin, honestly, does not cut it for me… The very sound of his electric jazz guitar, is somewhat a turn off.. my friend D didn’t seem to agree when she sent me this clip a couple years back. But the initial aalap by Debashish Bhattacharya on the Slide Guitar is just soul-melting to say the least. That’s the entire raga definition presented in a quick shot…. intoxicating… it is perhaps like a quick shot of speed. (being purely imaginative here… haven’t tried speed or coke or anything….just watch too many weird movies, that’s all 
) And of course the genius Srinivas…. just perfect! IMO, Zakir overkilled it a little… Sivamani is awesome. Okay, enough blather about it. Enjoy the video.
A couple of TFM melodies in this raga – Kanna Varuvaya, featuring the horrible dance moves of Suhasini, and our legendary Paattum Naane, from Thiruvilayadal, featuring overacting Sivaji Ganesan, and an over-the-top vocal performance by the late great TMS.
Filed under: carnatic, music, musings, video, youtube | Tagged: gowri manohari, Remember Shakti
Have you seen their ‘Way of Beauty, Remember Shakti’ DVD? Awesoem stuff. I even love ‘Lotus Feet’ – the Hariprasad Chaurasia version of course. I quite love Shakti’s music, though I must agree that I don’t ‘get’ what John McLaughlin does half the times
And yes, U Shrinivas is God..you see that halo sometimes when he’s playing??
Dude, I luuuurve TMS’ voice in “Paattum Naane..”!! I thought he turned in an extremely energetic performance. A month ago, I was listening to a youngster reprise that song on-stage. This guy was really good and I know that a stage is no studio. But still, one felt the energy missing from the song. Made me realise how much effort TMS had put into it.
As for Sivaji, Tiruvilayadal is one movie where I won’t complain about him over-acting. Even today, when I think of Siva in human form, it is Sivaji that comes to mind..:)
subha – agree that Sivaji pulled off an awesome performance in Thiruvilayadal. However, this song was Sivaji being himself..hehehe… So konjum, lighta, overacting.
TMS TMS dhan… no parallels there…
aishwarya – thanks for visiting…
havent seen the DVDs.. didnt even realize that Shakti was available in DVDs…. ditto about John Mc… haven’t listened to way of beauty either, or the Chaurasia version. are these available on youtube or anywhere online?
and watched Shakti once live @ Columbus…. OMG!!!! is all I have to say about U.Srini…
To me, this is definitely a hindustanish gowrimanohari (very understandable considering the ensemble) particularly with heavy emphasis of g2 with slides down to it in a hindustani fashion (almost pa ga…..), and also heavy emphasis on ni (say compared to dha).
Actually TMS (of K.V. Mahadevan)’s interpretation in thiruvilayadal is simply superb as he effectively brings the carnatic flavor of gambheeram to the raga (very apt for the scene). This flavor you dont even find that much in normal cm krithis in the raga. There are other krithis (like brovasamayamide) which are sedate – closer to kiravani (but still different from the clip above which has that hindustani sedateness to it – atleast initially)
Arun
Arun – Phew! I was secretly hoping you’d comment with some technical insight here..
and yes, all I could reason about Debashish’s aalapanai, was it is hindustani-ish. And I am still barely getting the hang of raga lakshanams in terms of underlying notes, like you have mentioned. So no clue about gowri manohari. 
Thanks for the info!
Awesome. Had no idea that Paattum Naane was in this raga. I liked everyone in the Shakti video save John McLaughlin. I like his older stuff. One of his older Shakti songs was “Joy” which I liked since it was sprightly (although off tune, at times). I also liked some of Remembering Shakti, especially Giriraja Sutha Tanaya in Bangala with Shankar Mahadevan on vocals. Brilliant stuff, and added mandolin shredding.
U Srinivas was the biggest addition to Remember Shakti that enhanced Shakti. I wish Prasanna and U Srinivas came together sometime. The fireworks would be interesting to watch! My personal favourite of U Srinivas is one of him playing Bindumalini (a Janya of Chakravakam). The video is on Youtube: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TID7WyxbCOE&feature=related)
Staying on Gowrimanohari – Karnatik.com says that Kavithai Arangerum Neram from that old Bhagyaraj Movie (with bhagyaraj as “palakkattu madhavan”
) is in the same raga, but I disagree since that song contains a D1, which is not in Gourimanohari. It seems to be in Natabhairavi, on the contrary.
On the classical songs, I remember one Purandaradasa kriti rendered by Sudha Ragunathan (and once also by MLV) – Sri Varalakshmi Namostute.
phil – Considering his world wide reputation as an astounding musician, it is a shame that we don’t find John McLaughlin’s guitar palpable.
I think I have the audio of ‘Joy’, yet can’t remember how it goes… have to listen again. and yes, I did see the ‘Giriraja Sudha’ by Shankar Mahadevan – WOWIE!
he is insanely talented!
Prasanna + USrini would be a superb mix! totally agree!
Have watched the USrini – Bindumalini video…. actually listened to Bindumalini first from Aruna Sayeeram’s rendition of ‘Enta Muddo’ and Bombay Jayshree’s rendition of the same krithi in a ‘lighter’ and ‘peppier’ manner. However, liked Srini’s aalapanai THE BEST of the lot!
Cannot remember how the ‘Kavithai Arangerum Neram’ tune goes… will listen to it to understand your explanation better.
I have not listened to any classical krithi so far in gowrimanOhari. hehe… have to do that first I think.
Hmm – was’nt Kanna Varuvaya a janya raga of GM ?
arvind – really? was it janya ragam? hmm…
heh, as they say, i googled, and guess what site came up first
try it out yourself.
http://www.google.com/search?q=kanna+varuvaya+raga
arvind – i am afraid i didnt get the ‘as they say’ part… but yes, i almost guessed it might’ve been your blog….looked at it as well.
when you want to look stuff up, you google
so as they say, i googled
what happened to you dude ?
arvind – uh….
Hi..
Very nice…
I am happy to introduce a site ‘Dynamycdesi’.It is a online talent contest site for people and gives an award to the ‘Best Talent’.
hi there….came to see this blog when i was googling 1 of my all time favs – Bell’Alla (the gowrimanohari) from shakti….will try and read more