Last update: 20 May, 2020
Let me make it clear at the beginning, these are not facts, but is the result of a fun exercise. Do not take it as a serious analysis. What I have done here to take the list of compositions and rAgAs from https://shankarkrish.blog/carnatic-vocal/m-d-ramanathan/ and do some basic processing in excel to generate some trends.
- Note that these are based on a very small subset of MDR concerts
- Concerts analysed may not be spread across his career, so the data may be biased to some periods
- Many concerts are incomplete in the above page, and some have been clubbed
- The page does not list all the items in a given concert
- I may have made some small mistakes here and there while editing/managing the text as well!
We may get different set of numbers if data from all his concerts are compiled and analysed, but, that will be a herculean effort. Though this analysis may not be very accurate, it give us some ideas about MDR’s choices. So, here is the result of a lazy number crunching effort… Enjoy!
Which were some of MDR’s favourite rAgAs?
![](https://musicofmdr.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/image-12-583x1024.png)
kApi, hamsadhwani and kedAram are in the top 10, but I think they managed this mostly due to their prominence in the tukDa and/or initial shorter items in the concerts. The rAgAs which are prominent across (and especially in the middle – main/sub-main/RTP – part) are:
- kalyANi
- toDi
- rItigowla
- pUrvikalyANi
- bhairavi
- yadukulakamboji
- srI
Each of these ragas shine in MDR’s hands and suit very well for his style of singing!
Which were some of MDR’s favourite krutis?
![](https://musicofmdr.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/image-14-660x1024.png)
“vAtapi gaNapatim“, “ninnu vinAga” & “endarO mahAnubhAvulu” appears at the top, along with his own kApi kruti “nandagOpa” (due to its regularity in his tukDa section)! The list has a mix of “heavy” krutis and his own krutis.
Which were some of MDR’s favourite ragas for varNams?
![](https://musicofmdr.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/image-4.png)
kalyANi (mostly aTa tALa varNam) is the clear winner here, followed by bhairavi (mostly viribONi I think) 🙂
Which were some of MDR’s favourite ragas for RTPs?
![](https://musicofmdr.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/image-11.png)
It is interesting to note that bhairavi (from the “big five”) is missing in the RTP list! Otherwise, the it appears that “big five” are the winners here 🙂
Which were some of MDR’s favourite ragas for tillAnas?
![](https://musicofmdr.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/image-10.png)
His own kApi tillAna seems to be the favourite, followed by the pUrya (pUrvi) one by Tirugokarnam Vaidyanatha Iyer.