Varga: Sampoorna-Sampoorna

Arohana: Sa ri gu mi pa dha nu sa

Avarohana: Sa no dha pa mi gu ri sa

Chhaya swara-s: ga, pa, ni

Nyasa swara-s: ri, ma, ni

Prayoga-s: pa-maa-pa-dha-ni-dha-ni-sa; Sa-ni-dha-pa-dha-ma-pa-dha-ni-sa;

Sa ri ga ga ri pa ma ga ri sa; pa dhanidhani, sa ri sa ni dha pa,

ma ga ri pa ma ga ri sa, sa ni dha ni sa.

Latangi, the 63rd Mela raga in the 72-melakarata scheme, is a raga which has gained considerable popularity in recent times. It is the pratimadhyama counterpart of Sarasangi, the 27^th Melakarta raga (see Sruti 50).

Latangi is a sampoorna-sampoorna raga, with all the seven swara-s occuring in both the arohana and the avarohana. It takes the following swara-s: shadja, chatusruti rishabha (ri), antara gandhara (gu), pratimadhyama (mi), panchama, suddha dhaivata (dha) and kakali nishadha (nu).

In the asampooma mela scheme of Dikshitar, this raga is called Geetapriya but has the same arohana and avarohana, without a zig-zag or crooked order.

All the swara-s of Latangi, a rakti raga, yield to the use of gamaka, bringing great charm to it, except of course sa and pa. Nevertheless, there are not many compositions in this raga. In fact, Latangi's popularity is of fairly recent origin. The best known songs in it are both compositions of Patnam Subrahmania Iyer: Aparadhamula and Marivere. The latter, set in the tricky Khan da Chapu tala, comes in handy for a vocalist who may want to discomfit his accompanists. These songs owe their popularity considerably to that pioneer of lesser known raga-s and songs, the late G. N. Balasubramanian and later on to Lalgudi Jayaraman. The film 'Nandanar', which featured many songs rendered by M. M. Dandapani Desikar, includeda gem in Latangi, Pirava varam tarurriy by Papanasam Sivan. Muthuswami Diskhitar'ssole effort in the raga Geetapriya is Sadhujana vinutam. There is no raga of the name Latangi in Hindustani music. Rag Latika of the Poorvi thaat has a similarity to Latangi, but it has no madhyama swara.

SELECTED SONGS IN LATANGI

Balamuralikrishna- Tamralochani

Cuddalore Subrahmaniam- Vnnai anri

Koteeswara Iyer— Kaikooda venum

Mayuram Viswanatha Sastri— Summa nee irukkaia

gadu

Muthu Kavirayar —Padam nambinen

Muthuswami Dikshitar— Sadhujana vinutam

Mysore Vasudevachar - Enta nirdaya

Papanasam Sivan- Karpakambikayut, Pirava

varam, Piraviadaindal, Sakala

loka, Sree Jagadambikaye,

Venkataramana

Patnam Subrahmania Iyer-- Aparadhamula, Marivere

D. Pattammal- Gajamukha

Tyagaraja — Diname sudinamu