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Monday 18 April 2016

Geetham: Sree Gana Natha

Geethams are simple songs that are usually taught after students have gone through the basic exercises and have reasonable voice control. They are not intended as performing pieces but as additional training to understand/appreciate the respective ragam.

The first geetham that is usually taught is Sree gana natha in ragam Malahari. It is an asymmetric scale and a janya of Mayamalavagowlai (15th melakarta). The notes of the ragam are

Arohanam: S R1 M1 P D1 S'
Avarohanam: S' D1 P M1 G3 R1 S

So it uses all the notes in Mayamalavagowlai other than N3 but the arohanam has 5 notes (skips G3) and avarohanam has 6 notes.

Its a pretty simple song with the same combination of notes repeating frequently - learning the notes of first three lines is sufficient to play the entire song.

Sree gana natha
composer: Purandaradasa

M    P | D    S'   S'   R'   || R'     S' | D  P  M   P ||
Sree -   Ga  na   na tha  || sin  dhu  -   ra var na ||

R  M | P   D M  P || D  P | M  G   R  S ||
ka ru   na sa ga ra || ka ri  va dha -  na

S R | M ,  G    R || S  R | G  R  S  ,  ||
lam  bo - dha ra || la ku  mi ka ra - ||

R   M | P  D M  P    || D  P   | M G  R    S  ||
am  -  | ba -  su tha  || a  ma   ra vi  nu tha ||

S    R | M ,  G    R || S  R |  G  R  S  ,  ||
lam -   bo - dha ra || la ku   mi ka ra - ||

M    P   | D   S' S' R'   || R'  S' | D P M  P   ||
Sid dha  cha -  ra na   || ga na  se - vi  tha ||

R    M  | P  D  M P   || D   P | M  G   R   S  ||
Sid dhi | vi na ya ka || the - | na mo na mo ||

(repeat lines in blue)

M  P   | D S'  S'   R' || R'  S' | D  P M  P   ||
Sa ka   la  vi dya -   || -  dhi  pu  -  ji tha ||

R  M | P   D  M    P    || D   P | M  G   R  S   ||
Sa -    rvo -  ttha ma || the   - | na mo na mo ||

(repeat lines in blue)

----

The tab and notation for the song is below. Here Sa = D. The notation below shows the simple way to play the song by just picking notes.
















Here is what it sounds like:



Usually geethams are taught to be sung/played plain - without gamakam. However, they can be used as a method to learn gamakas. The audio clip below demonstrates how to play this song with gamakam and slides. I have played each line or the song in two octaves just as a variation.





In this ragam the notes R1 G3 D1 can be played with gamakam. But those notes can be played plain as well. the tab below shows one way to play this song.




This video demonstrates how to play gamakas for the notes R1, G3 and D1. In the tab, none of the R1s in the song are played with gamakam. This is merely because it is difficult to do so with S as the open string and R as first fret.





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