Raga tasting — Reetigowla synesthesia

In this series, let’s put on our raga connoisseur hats on and taste some fine ragas of the East! A Red wine fan? Here have some Carnatic, sir! More of a white wine person? Some Hindustani with a dash of this beautifully sizzled paneer tikka masala on the side just might turn your night around! And today we shall be tasting this blend from the land of Kharaharapriya. Raga Reetigowla!

If we can personify ragas, Reetigowla is like a soft spoken traditional yet open minded woman with the heart of gold. If Sita devi herself incarnated into a musical raga, it would be this one. No doubt!

A quora search on Reetigowla

This quora question is an apt description of the feeling this raga generates in its listeners.

Beautiful and endearing

Tasting notes

Want a sip? Nope, this raga is not supposed to be sipped, drink it from the water tanker straight from the streets of Chennai!

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A. R. Rahman composed the song that’s a black hole for any other song in Reetigowla! Hum any song in Reethigowla and you will end up humming towards Azhagana rakshasiye from Mudhavalan (Andala Rakshasive from Oke Okkadu). Stay along to find out if you agree.

Saint Tyagaraja composed a disproportionate amount of compositions in beautiful Reetigowla. He used the raga equivalent of Sita herself to tempt Rama to pay him a visit in the song “Nannu vidachi kadalaku ra”. Which translates to, just never leave me (O Rama)! His infatuation with Lord Rama in this song is that of a medieval wife longing for her husband to return from war.

A painting of the imagery Tyagayya paints in his kriti

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Long live Tyagaraja’s artform.. No less than the sculptures of Michelangelo and the paintings of David.

Reetigowla — the river

The beauty of S G₂ R₂ G₂ M₁ N₂ D₂ M₁ N₂ N₂ Ṡ and Ṡ N₂ D₂ M₁ G₂ M₁ P M₁ G₂ R₂ S — The arohana and avarohana notes of this raga is perfectly exemplified by Kangal Irandal.

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This songs just beautifully flows like a river weaving thru a beautiful glasslands landscape while nurturing countless hungry souls gracefully! I wished this song never ends! One of those songs which can be listened to in a loop and never feels like it has a natural end.

Kangal irandal in a visual form

Tangents — Kharaharapriya

Uniting a father and a son, Hariharan does a beautiful job at a transition from the Janya (child raga) Reetigowla to the Melakartha (parent) Kharaharapriya in his concert performance below. Just listen to the first couple of minutes…

[embed]Pachai Nirame (Alaipayuthe) was composed in Kharaharapriya and the intro here was Reetigowla.

… and see if you can resist the rest of it ;)

Want more?

I got you covered. Listen to my playlist on Reetigowla here.

[embed]**https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1qyBpV5hFTbt0HborawvLA?go=1&sp_cid=8c238dfa13ccf4ae0bc59c36ec9fe09f&utm_source=embed_player_p&utm_medium=desktop&nd=1&dlsi=9aa70f92505e4917**