Krsna Kirtana Songs est. 2001 www.kksongs.org

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Chapter 24: Song Practice (IX)

During the month of Kartika (the Vaisnava month of Damodara), the eight verses glorifying Lord Krsna in the form Damodara is sung. Unlike any of the songs that were studied before, this song is set in Bangla ektal (some will play this as dadra tala). While Bangla ektal is twelve beats per cycle and dadra is six beats per cycle, overall, it has a “waltz” style that counts in threes. Please keep this in mind when practicing this song.

Another unique feature of this song is the use of off-beats. Off-beats are whole matras that start and terminate in the middle of the matras in a cycle. Look at Line 2 of the asthayi. Notice how the syllable “ma” starts off at the half-way point in matra 1, and ends at the half-way point at matra 2. The “ma” is held for one beat’s worth, but it does not evenly fall on any of the beats of the cycle. In practicing, try saying each line as if the tempo slowed down and saying everything in half-time.

Therefore Line 2 would be said as:

na-ma-a-mi-sva-a-ram-m-sa-ac-ci-i

Structurally, this is a very simple, “asthayi-antara” repetition. The colored lyrics represents a relatively common pattern known as “antara-antara-asthayi” which is used for many astakams and or long stotrams.

FORM A:

X					2
1		2		3	4	5	6
S	g		S	g	m	m	P
na	ma		mi	sva	ram	sa	ci
0					3
7		8		9	10	11	12
S	g		S	P	m	-	-
da	nan		da	ru	pam
X					2
1		2		3	4	5	6
S	g		S	g	P	m	g
la	sat		kun	da	lam	go	ku
0					3
7		8		9	10	11	12
R		R	g	r	S	-	-
le		braja		ma	na	a	am
X					2
1		2		3	4	5	6
P	P		P	P	P	d	P
ya	so		da	bhi	yo	lu	kha
0					3
7		8		9	10	11	12
m		m	g	P	m	-	-
lad		dha	va	ma	na	a	m
X					2
1		2		3	4	5	6
S	g		S	g	P	m	g
pa	ra		mr	stam	at	yan	ta
0					3
7		8		9	10	11	12
R		R	g	r	S	-	-
to		drut	ya	go	pya	a	a

FORM B:

X					2
1		2		3	4	5	6
P	S’		S’	S’	S’	r’	S’
i	ti		drk	sva	li	ra	bhir
0					3
7		8		9	10	11	12
n		n	d	n	P	-	-
a		nan	da	kun	de
X					2
1		2		3	4	5	6
m	d		d	d	P	m	g
sva	gho		sam	nir	maj	jan	tam
0					3
7		8		9	10	11	12
R		R	g	r	S	-	-
a		khya	pa	yan	tam
X					2
1		2		3	4	5	6
P	S’		S’	S’	S’	r’	S’
ta	di		ye	si	ta	jne	su
0					3
7		8		9	10	11	12
n		n	d	n