sangaithakalanidhi award function-1-1-2007
The unparalleled, unexcelled, one and only and without a second creative genius, the n maestro of music, Madurai TNSeshagopalan, is now sangithakalnidhi and the function of conferring the title to him went on exceedingly well and in a grand manner. When the title was conferred there was a nonstop cheering from the rasikas for a few minutes.
After the formal function his students paid their tribute to their guru and presented him a huge tanjore-painting of Lord Lakshminarasimha and Madurai Sundar, Gayatri Girish and others honoured him. Dr. Hamsini NagEndhra his desciple from Bangalore who, inspite of her being visually impaired went to the stage with the help of a friend to pay her respects to her guru. Another member of the rasika_tns group, Dr. Jaikrishna went and paid his respects to his manasikaguru and presented him with a citation on behalf of the group.Some friends and disciples of TNS paid their tribute to the great master with lifesize garland (ALuyara mAlai)
In all respacts it was a grand function unparalleled in the recent history of the music academy. Some one in the Academy was heard saying that after the conferring of the title to GNB, forty years ago, there has never been such a public acclaim like this for any other sangithakalnidhi. Every one in the auditorium was exceedingly happy which reflected in their faces.
1-1-2007-at Tamizisai sang
1-1-2007-at Tamizisai sangam
TNS had taken 'Azagarkuravanji ' by kavikunjarabharathy for his thematic progrmme in Tamizisai this year. The first was 'pahigajamukha vibho'in Kanada for which TNS sang delightful svara. After this TNS gave an introduction wherein he mentioned that the Tamil language has become rich by incorporating some of the words from other languages especially sanskrit! TNS alone could do this in Tamizisai sangam ! He further said that even Subramania bharathy has composed lyrics in sanskrit such as "Bhooloka kumari.' He said Tamil is establshed firmly because of the adaptatruion of the words from other languages!
The azagar kuravanji he said, is a mutthamiz kaviyam as it contains isai, iyaal and natakam, that is, music , lyrical beauty and drama. Kuravanji deals with the nayaka-nayaki bhava, the heroine seeing the hero coming in a procession and falling in love with him. The hero of the work is usually a deity such as Lord Siva as in kutralakuravanji or Lord Azagar of Madurai as in this one. The rasa is sringara but of devotional fervour, madhurabhakthi.The heroine is Mohanavalli the amsa of Lakshmi.The sakhi or the friend to whom the heroin appeals and later the kuratthi, denote the guru or acharya who unites the jeevathma with paramathma.TNS said the thiruvarul, grace of God, will come only if one gets guruvarul, the grace of the guru first.
The type of music in this work is that of padham, folk music and classical music. Some of the compositions from the work demonstrated by TNS were 'arutcheyyavendumadi' in atana, 'kolamigum' in saranga and 'mandaradaramaadhavasundararaja' in thodi. the arrival of Mohanavalli to see the processsion of Sundararajan, Azagar, is in Hameerkalyani, TNS sang the raga Hameerkalyani in his own inimitable style making it a 'ameer'(rich) kalyani On seeing him the thought that came to the mind of Mohanavalli expressed in the song 'ivanaaro,' in kambhodhi which contains the whole lakshana of Kambhodhi, he said.
'Mohanavalli' in manji was the next and sung beautifully Manji, said TNS, is not Bharavi sung slowly as some seem to think but Manji has a separate 'moonji', face, and this song has been made popular by him in his concerts .This padam contains all the aspects of raga alapana, neraval and svara, said TNS, and called kavikunjara bharathy a svarakavi.
The next was 'paavaiye swami varum munnaal' in kedaragoula in which the sakhi advises Mohanavalli to be patient till the Lord comes to her of His own accord. TNS said that the grace of the Lord will come only when it would and the devotee has to be patient because He only knows when and how to give His blessing.
Mohanavalli addresses the sea and asks it whether it is also lovesick and the lyric in senchurutti is in folk tune and was pleasant and then the advent of the kuratthi is in begada 'malaikkurvanji vandhaale.' The words describing the malaivaLam, the mountainous regions from whcih the kuratthi hailed were beautiful being tastefully explained by TNS.
The raga was Anadhabairavi as it is usual in all kuravanji kavyas The male tiger is singing lullaby to a calf and the female tiger is giving milk Such is the glory of the hills.The most beautiul part exquisitely explained by TNS were ' vAnaippidi enru yAnai pidikkum,' the male elephant grasps the rain cloud thinking that it is a female elephant and realising its true identity squeezes it and drinks the water. The way he sung it was more picturesque.
Kuratthi extolling her own powers asks Mohanvalli to show her hand and the lyric is in yadhukulakambhodhi and the prediction 'vandhuseruvaar maane ' is in sahana.TNS said that the lakshana of the raga can be seen in this composition.
Then the marriage is sung in Mohanam. Here TNS remarkd that all kalyanams are having only the name of the bride as in sitakalyanam, rukmimikalyanam, meenakshi kalyanam etc with the sole exception of Srinivasa kalyanam But perhaps it is not an exception ,he said , because the word Sri, denoting Lakshmi prefixes the name of the Lord as Srinivasa.
Last but not least came a RTP on kavikunjarabharathi composed by TNS for the occasion in the raga simmendramadhyama.with words 'varakavi, svarakavi,kunjarakavi, kuraivillaadha veera kavi.' He said he composed the pallavi in simhendramadhyama because kavi Kunjara bharathi was not only a kunjara but also a simha and that too a king among the simhas, simhendra. TNS proved that he too is a simhendra, not madhyama but utthama, gayaka simhendra utthama singing simhendramadhyama raising it to the status of Simmendrauttama.
The programme ended with mangalam from the kurvanji kavya in surutti and Madhyamavathi and 'Vazia senthamiz' as it is the practice with the cocerts in Tamizisai sangam.
31-12-2006-concert at Brahmaganasabha
Rasikacame ti ot his concert full of expectation and they were not disppointed. The reason for this is that TNS was flanked with M.Chandrasekaan and Umayalpuram Sivaraman.
The concert started with 'bajanaseyave' in Kalyani a Thyagarajakrthi ith svara sung at 'vaadhacharcha.' The next was 'sadguruswamiki in anandhabhairavi ,a composition of Poochi ayyangar. The succeeding one, 'aanandhnatamaaduvaar' in poorvikalyania composition of Neelakanta sivan fulfilled the expectations of the rasikas to a great extent. the raga itself was aanandhamaya and the krthi with the accompaniment of UKS was very picturesque. The svara that followed depicted all kinds of nrthya attributed to Lord Siva, such as thandava, lasya, ajaba etc.Aided with the expert exposition of UKS it was really a joy to behold, yes to behold as it was nearly visual.
The krthis that followed were 'ambaneelayathakshi' of Dikshithar in Neelambar,a favourite of the rasikas for which UKS was playing to suit the mood of the song, and 'thappulanniyu' in bouli ,a composition of Mutthiah bhagavathar and 'sonnal oziya manam , a ootthukkadu composition in raga kannada.The next was on a listener's request, the krthi 'vAnchathOnu' in karnaranjani.by Muthiah bhagavathar.
The main raga was Thodi and the krthi was 'Dasarathi.' I give below the excerpt from the review of the concert by Ramakumar, a rasika of TNS regarding this piece with my remarks added in the end.
The tODi alapana was an elaborate affair. It lasted for about 18 minutes and reminded me of a much longer tODi I had heard him sing in Bangalore a few months back (the Bangalore one is probably the best tODi I have heard till now) . Sri TNS did graha bhedam with rishabam as the base to sing mOhanakalyANi and with dhaivatam as base to sing kEdAram. Sri M. Chandrasekaran during his turn in the alapana also did graha bhedam with madhyamam as the base to play Anandabhairavi in kavaDi chindu style. The neraval and kalpana swarams sung for the kriti were fantastic as well. After the last kalpana swaram by Sri TNS ended, Sri UKS requested Sri MC to play kalpana swaram on the violin before the taniavartanam began. Sri MC initially would play a few phrases and allow Sri UKS to play his replies on the mridangam. After hearing him exactly translate whatever he played on the violin on the mridangam with some very good use of gumukis, Sri Chandrasekaran said "aaha ... enakku idha kettunde irukkalaam pola irukku (aaha
" I just feel like simply listening to your mridangam)" to which Sri TNS jokingly remarked "naa rendu per odadhaiyum kettindirukken (and I am listening to you both")-Ramkumar .- Source: http://ram
The svara prasthara in 'Dasarathi' was at 'bodhinchina ' in charanam and TNS sang
'sa dha nee' bhodhinchina, ' sa dha bhodhinchina and 'nee paa dha bhodhinchina to the amusement of the rasikas.
After this was the thani avarthanam by UKS and Sundarkumar which was a real fanfare.
The concert ended with a sloka followed by a bajan "harigunagavatha' and a thillana in Bilahari.
The mangalam as usual ended with the sloka 'sriyahkanthaya' about which I reproduce the comment of Ramkumar which was as follows.
". The really delightful part of this slOkam rendition was when Sri TNS held his breath and elaborated the raga srI just using the word "srI" from the beginning of the song. A wonderful concert from Sri TNS once again."-Ramkumar.
concert on 29-12-2006 at KKNagar.
The concert being arranged by Ramabhaktha janasabha almost all krthis were from Thyagaraja with few exceptions..The first was 'Apparamabhakthi ' in panthuvarali for which TNS sang a short raga and exotic svara.This was followed by 'ninnuneranamminanaura' in devamanohari, a compositoin of Muthiah bhagavathar. the next was 'muddhumomu' of Thyagaraja in suryakantham preceded by raga alapana
'Sarasasamadhana ' in kapinarayani of Thyagaraja was the next which is always 'ka api' (something beyond description) when TNS sings it and the svaraprasthara at 'hithavumartalentho' was exquisite the way he kept on riverting to nishadha everytime emphasising 'nee hithavu maata.' The krthi 'nepokadakunte ' in varali followed this and then came an enchanting mohanam, Krishna also joining in to spread the magic. The krthi was 'nannupalimpa,' for which TNS did neraval in detail at 'karamuna kodhanda' like the drawing up of the kodhanda (Villai edutthu nANetri) and the svara that followed were the saras from the kodhanda, a saramaari.
The tail piece comprised of a verse from Kamban extolling Ramanama in raga desh followed by the si ong ib nthesane raga, 'ramanamme thudhi maname.' The concert ended with a sloka in sindhubhairavi and the bajan of swathithirunal 'ramachandraprabhu.'
concert on 28-12-2006 at bharat kalachar
TNS started hich concert with the Thyagarajakrthi 'yochana' in durbar with a short svara
at the end and it was followed by 'hecchrigagaraaraa' another Thyagarajakrthi in yadukula kambodhi.
Next was hamsanadham and the krthi was bantureethi kolu of Thyagaraja. Hamsanadham was rajahamsanadham and the svara singing was areal jugalbamdhi between father and son.After the thiruppavai pasram of the day 'pullinvi keendaanai' was the real treat in Brindhavanasaaranga., the main raga of the day.
The saranga (Bee) was fluttering from flower to flower, bower to bower in the Brindhavanam buzzing gleefully with cuckoo(saranga) giving out melodious notes which made way for the elephant (saranga) leading the path for the arrival of the simha,(saranga) Soundararaja. (The word saranga means all these). The krti was, as you might have guessed , 'sri soundhararajam' of Dikshithar, for which TNS sang beautiful and elegant (soundharyamAna) svara.
Brovavamma of Shyama sasthri in Manji was the next followed by 'padaravind' in saveri a composition of Kshetrajna. Next was alistener's choice, f requested by Mrs.YGP, the oothukkaducomo position 'vandhuketpaar illaiyo,' a beautiful song in ragamalikai portraying Krishna stealing the hearts by his doings, comprising of simple words but was made rich byt he singing of TNS, This and the ragamalika pasuram.puLLinvai pilaLandhittai' were audio- visuals as usual.
The concert ended with 'ajagiridhar' a bajan and thillana in Dhanasri.
Every item in the programme was a gem as Mrs. YGP said, and TNS was assisted by HKVenkatesh on the violin, Trichur Narendran on Mrdangam and BS Purushottham on Ganjira.
27-12-2006- Lecture demonstration on Mutthaiah bhagavathar
TNS was showing his superb mastery over any subject he handles and his sincerity and involvement during the morning session of the Music academy in his speech rounding off the days proceedings and the hall in the mornings were overflowing with rasikas who came especially to hear him speak.His own lec/dem found the hall crammed with people many of them standing through the whole programme.
Vardarajan and Velore Ramabadran were accompanying TNS on this programme. He said that to speak about the great musicians like Mutthiah bhagavathar within the time span allotted is like trying to cram the ocean into a small pot.
Muthiah bhagavathar came in a guruparampara of vaggeyakaras as his guru was Patnam Subramania ayyar. He was a verstile artiste having many faces, doing harikatha, Namasankirthanam, as a musician and a composer etc. TNS described his history shortly as being influenced by his uncle,Lakshmansuri a great scholar, and having had his addhyayanapata at the age of ten but that he was more interested in music. He first sang through listening only and later did nadhopasana for ten years as the disciple of Patnam Subramania Ayyar.
Muthiah bhagavathr could sing in three different voices. TNS said that in those days there was no mike facility available and musicians had to sing in full throated voice and quipped that what they had was no saarira for the mike but a mayakku saarira..One could not whisper secrets with the mike , he said. Muthiah Bhagavathar went to Thanjavur and had training in harikatha with Abraham Pandithar. He included all sorts of compositions in his harikatha. like kavadi chindhu. Here TNS sang the piece 'moosivandu ' in the manner of the great giant with the two ragas mohanam and mukhari in the phrase 'mohanamukhari ragam padudhe,' to the delight of the audience.
TNS mentioned that the note Maurai Mani Iyer used to sing was composed by Muthiah Bhagavathar. At this instance he praised Mani iyer as a nadhayogi, a super star who used to sing with svarasuddham and sruthi suddham.
Everybody knows that Muthiah bhagavathar composed krthis in new ragas and TNS said that he was able to do so only because he mastered what was already there and said that anyone who wants to do something new should first know the existing material well. Not only that, he was eager to learn anything new no matter who did it, let it be music or anyhing else and was the first to praise when he came across anything good.He was generous not only in giving away gifts but also in praise which ,TNS said is a rare thing to see especially in the society of musicians.At this juncture we cannot help the thought that TNS himself has been following his guruparampara not only in musical tradition but also in his broadmindedness in commending talent where it is due.
The kadhanakuthoohalam krthi of Patnam Subramania Iyer 'raghuvamsa sudha ' starts from the lower shadjam while Muthiah Bhagavathar composed his krithi 'giripriyam gangadharam' from the higher shadjam and TNS said that may be he thought that it should be so since Lord Siva is up in the mount Kailas! The chittasvaram of the krthi is described by TNS as 'kaalatthai venra chittasvaram.'
The raga Hamsanadham was handled by Muthiah bhagavathar differently according to the old sampradhaya as the janya of Neethimathi. TNS has sung this krthi as such in his concerts.TNS insisted that sampradhaya should not be changed to suit our facility and made into sowkaryasampradhaya. He defined sampradhaya as the powerful research done over the decades or centuries and which stays and will stay and it is the responsibilty of the vidvans to preserve it.
TNS demonstrated the svaraksharavarnam of Muthiah hbagavathar in suddhadhanyasi and displayed the aesthetics of the vadi samvadi svara combination. The mohana varnam 'Manamohana' was composed on the Ramanatha Sethupathy and contains the svarakshara sa haja dha dha, ga ri dha, pa ri dha etc as though asking the king to give horse etc calling him a natural benefactor. The dharu varnam of Muthiah bhagavathar is well known and has been sung by TNS beautifully in his concerts.The speciality of that is pointed out by TNS as containing chittasvaram with solkattu and sahithyam.
Muthiah bhagavathar, said TNS, became a full fledged composer only after he started enjoying the patronage of the king of Mysore. He established his composership there in front of the galaxy of vidvans of the samasthatna of Mysore.
As it is the usual hazard of the musicians who sing in a fullthroated voice .Muthiah bhagavar had trouble with his voice on his first performance in Mysore and he was not acclaimed.as he deserved and he felt that it was due to his forgetting the Devi, whom he propitiated through srividhya upasana during the time his voice was affected at the age of 35 or so and got it back, from then onwards becoming a staunch Devi upasaka. Immediately he went to Chamundi hills and composed and sang the krthi 'maanamukaavalanu thalli' in sahana which starts unusually in madhayamam. The king of Mysore who came there heard him and understood his worth and therafter held him in high esteem.
TNS said that the raga Hamsanandhi, founded by Ramadikshithar was popularised only after Muthiah bhagavathar. The raga Karnaranjani is one of those founded by Muthiahbhagavathar in which he has composed the krthi 'Vaanchathonunaa' for which TNS has composed the chittasvara on the command of his guru Ramanathapuram Sankarasivam, one of the foremost sishyas of Muthiahbhagavathar. This krthi as many others in rare ragas by Muthiahbhagavathar has been popularised by TNS, none the less by his famous chittasvaram, which has always been a listener"s choice in his concerts.Another one for which TNS has composed a skilful chittasvaram is the krthi 'saravanabhava' in Pasupathipriya.
TNS said that we owe it to Muthiah bhagavathar that we have so many swathithirunal krthis because he collected and presented them. Then TNS sang his own composition in kapi raga with the words ' raga brhmamaanaar harikesanadhabrhmam,' in which he has included the names of almost all the ragas composed and popularised by Muthiah bhagavathar. Then he demonstrated the raga niroshta in which Muthiah bhagavathar has composed the krthi 'rajarajaradhithe' and on public demand he also sang the thillana he himself has composed in Niroshta.
TNS further said that Muthiah bhagavathar was familiar with many north Indian ragas which were popular in Mysore and composed a thillana in hamsanandhi for the sake of the kathak dancers who were there at that time . TNS also demonstrated beautifuly how the thillana was suited to dance, to the delight of the rasikas.
After mentioning and singing a little of the other compositions of Muthiah bhagavathar, his pithamahaguru, like 'andavan darisaname , mavoor valam peruga, moovasai' etc he concluded the lecdem which went on for longer than the time allotted for whcih everyone felt happy and never wanted him to finish it. With his eloquence, humour and wonderful music he made the programme a memorable one and nobody noticed the time till he finished.As Sri V.S.sundaram pointed out he proved himself to be a complete vidvan.
Concert on 26-12-2006 at Thyagabrahmaganasabha -vanimahal
Begada varnam marked the beginning of the concert and it was followed by 'ramaninneganinannu' of Thyagaraja in Huseni. with neraval svara at 'rajarajavandhitha.' Next was Hameerkalyani aleways 'ameer ' (rich) kalyani when TNS sings it, the krthi was 'venakatasaila ' of Dikshithar. As a contrast to this mellifluous krthi the next was 'paridhanamicchithe' in Bilahari by Patnam Subramania ayyar. The svara to this racy krthi was something stupendous and was real bilahari, that is , a lion from its den, 'bilaath hari.' The oothukkadu krthi 'needhaan mecchikkolla' in sriranjani followed this and the main raga was sankarabharanam, with the krthi 'sahajagunarama' of Mutthiah bhagavathar, the neraval svara sung at 'parambhakthudaina.' The sankarabharanam had all the usual grandeur and the concert ended with a bajan 'thoo dhayalu ' of Tulsidas and 'saramaina' a jaavali by Swathithirunal.
concert at the Music academy on 25-12-2006
The concert started with the Malahari geetham 'lambodharalakumikara,' which came as a surprise to those who had not looked up the programme book but not for the rasikas of TNS who have heard him sing that before.It was an example to show how even the beginner's lesson which has been made threadbare by now can be transformed into a thing of beauty at the hand of the maestro of music.The Mohanavarnam came next followed by the sriraga pancharathna of Thyagaraja.
The panthuvarali that followed had the unmistakable stamp of the creative genius and was delectable to the rasikas as ever. The krthi was 'ramanatham bajeham,' which was a little surprise for those who were expecting 'apparamabahkthi or 'sarasaksha,' and the svasra was sung at 'kumaraguruguha' The panthuvarali from TNS is always a rasika's delight and this was no exception.
The next was a krthi of swatitirunal 'palaya mam,' in Nayaki, not frequently heard, followed by the Annamyya krthi 'Namoralakimpave ' in yadhukulakambodhi.What succeded this was a beautiful deliniation of Lalitha and the krthi 'nannubrovu' of Shyamasasthri. After this was a krthi of cheyyur chengalvaraya sasthri 'emamma vinave ' in suruti.
In a banquet noramally the dessert will be the most deliciuos . Likewise in this musical banquet the RTP which formed the tail part of the concert was the most fabulous and was acclaimed by one and all . It was a rare treat indeed not heard for so many years and in such a manner. It was the four raga pallvi of yore worded as 'sankarabharananai azaitthOdic vaadi kalyani darbarukke,' comprising of shankarabharanam, thodi , kalyani and durbar.The way TNS sang this proved that he is the emperor of ragas.The ragas sung in quick succession backwards and forwards in short phrases was astounding and he was like an elephant playing in the raga(coloured) waters splashing the ragas around which was like frolic during holi and which set the stage for what was to follow, that is, the sloka on Rasakreeda, 'sayankale.' There were more ragas and ragas in 'sayankale,' .a spectrum of colours (ragas). One could count as many as 20 ragas in the piece as a whole and in the phrase 'navarasabharithaih' alone.there were 16. He ended the sloka with sindhubahairavi and sang a thillana in sindhubaiaravi and mangalam, when the audience gave him standing ovation. The accompaniists were his seasoned partners in music, M.chandrasekharan and Guruvayur Dorai whose participation added to the richness of the music.
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