Harmonic Mayamaalavagowla

For the past few months, I have been learning Carnatic violin. It’s been fascinating being introduced to all the new raaga or scales, and the complexities in rhythm or taala. Where Carnatic champions melodic and rhythmic development, Western Classical music specialises in harmony. I have since been keen to see how these two may intermesh together.

Recently, when practicing harmonic minor scales on the piano, I realised how similar it is to the mayamaalavagowla raaga (wiki) in Carnatic. Only the second and third notes’ position are changed, with the rest staying where they are.

In carnatic notation, this looks like: Mayamaalavagowla raaga- Sa Re₁ Ga₃ Ma₁ Pa Da₁ Ne₃ Harmonic minor scale - Sa Re₂ Ga₂ Ma₁ Pa Da₁ Ne₃

Fixing the scale in the key of D, this becomes: Mayamaalavagowla raaga- D Eb F# G A Bb C# D Harmonic minor scale - D E F G A Bb C# D

This made me really enthusiastic to try to compose a piece that transitions between these scales, and see if this may be achieved seamlessly. This piece is a humble attempt at the same. The raaga permits very interesting chord structures, particularly the presence of both III (F# major) and iii (F# minor) chords within the scale, that demand to be explored. I also tried to induce a carnatic percussive feel on the piano at around the 1 minute mark, an influence perhaps from Mozart’s Turkish March.

Hope you enjoy!

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