Kapi and Captivating!

Ilaiyaraaja is a magician when handling Carnatic Raga's as he knows how to bring out the inherent subtlety of it without diluting the essence one bit. Even if he adds an alien note or two, it just doesn't seem out of place at all. Prima-facie all this appears to be a mystery but the way he manages to do it is simply impossible to comprehend.

One of the Raga's where he has showcased his mastery time and again is 'Kapi'. Kapi is a derivative of the 22nd Melakarta Ragam Karaharapriya and uses a pentatonic scale on the ascendancy but on the descendancy it touches all 7 notes. It is a mood inducing raga known for it's twists and turns. Both the Nishadams (Ni2 and Ni3) are used judiciously and you'll see a leapfrogging texture that adds a distinctive unique quality to it. 

A majority of the compositions which Ilaiyaraaja has employed in Kapi ragam have been nothing short of astounding. He is literally seen toying with the ragam and since this is an experimental scale, you'll see pyrotechnics at play eventually resulting in an aural spectacle.

I have handpicked 2 masterful compositions of his in Kapi Raaga - one from Kannada (Sandalwood) and another from Malayalam (Mollywood) to showcase the prowess in using Kapi Ragam. 'Jeeva Hoovagidhe' has been a perennial favorite and is an evergreen iconic love composition sung by Dr Rajkumar & S Janaki. 'Thumbi Vaa' is a song which has been redone in multiple languages but nothing beats the original from the movie Olangal sung by S Janaki with chorus back up.

I've attempted a tiny lunge at both these songs trying to intersperse one onto another to show the delightful curvy flavour that is Kapi. Began with the middle portion of Jeeva Hoovagidhe which gets transported back to the starting portion. From there picked up on the Charanam of Thumbi Vaa and traversed along to the opening bits of the song finally ending with a touch of the famed 'I Love You' line from Jeeva Hoovagidhe.

Coffee comes in many different flavours and the decoction plays a role in determining the firmness of it. It can be light, medium, strong or whatever. Similarly Kapi ragam like it's drinking mate has a quality where the concoction that is thrown up decides the variety of the outcome. And IR is simply a kingmaker in knowing how to handle the mix as seen from these 2 captivating Kapi numbers.