Sanjay’s reflections
When I was a very young boy, my grandmother introduced me to the method identifying rAgAs. She would normally ask me to see if the rAga sounded familiar to a song I already knew. One of the first rAgAs that I could identify easily was
sAvEri and the reason was it sounded like bhAvayAmi
raghurAmam!
sAvEri is one of those typical Carnatic ragas that employ a lot of gamakas and have a distinct individuality. Many years ago I listened to a Carnatic-Hindustani vocal jugalbandhi in Bangalore. The artistes featured were S Shankar and Vinayak Torvi. What is significant was that Shankar chose sAvEri and Torvi its Hindustani equivalent (I think it was jOg or something). The differences between the two systems was brought out so beautifully, unlike many jugalbandhis where the choice invariably is kalyANi or hindOLam. This is just to show how the rAga sAvEri is one of the most Carnatic of
rAgAs.
 One very prominent and senior musician once told me that singing an AlApana of sAvEri in concert usually brought down the tempo! Bah! How can such a beautiful rAgam bring down the tempo? It can only elevate the listener. sAvEri is popularly regarded as a morning rAga and it is sung quite frequently by musicians in morning concerts. Unlike Hindustani music, we normally do not accord times to rAgAs, except for some like
sAvEri.
Tiger
and sAvEri seemed to have had this terrific combination. He was particularly known for his nEraval in 'valaci pada' in 'daritApu' of Tygaraja as well as in Etu nammina of Patnam. Two incidents come to my mind. Once TRS, in a lec-dem, said he was sitting with
GNB when he started on a Tiger trip singing an amazing sAveri for a few minutes showing how Tiger sang. TRS was taken aback and asked him how come he never sang these things in a concert. GNB just smiled, I believe, and said that kutchery music was different. My guru KSK once demonstrated to me how Tiger would sing a sampUrNa ArOhaNa of sAvEri and dare anyone to say it was not
sAvEri!
A few renditions of sAvEri stand out in my kutchery memories. One is a recording of durusuga by Rama Ravi and her mother Tulasi Ammal sung without any accompaniment. Another was an elaborate one by TNS at the Music Academy some 15 years ago, followed by shrI rAjagOpAla, the Dikshitar magnum opus. And lastly a superb rendition of rAma bANa and nEraval by T K Govinda Rao many years ago. Another unforgettable rendition of durusuga was by Vidwan R K Narayanaswamy. He is the father of the Rudrapatnam Brothers and granduncle of violinist
R K Shriramkumar. He gave a mind-blowing impromptu version that shall remain etched in my memory for its sheer grandeur and sweep!
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Saveri - II
