Subbaraya Shastry

Carnatic composers (other than performing vidwans)
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RaviSri
Posts: 512
Joined: 10 Apr 2011, 11:31

Re: Subbaraya Shastry

Post by RaviSri »

inkevarunnAru has been noted as Annasami Sastri's composition in the books. But the Dhanammal family always maintained that it was a composition of Subbaraya Sastri himself. The latter's mudra 'kumAra' occurs in the charanam. Annasami Sastri had no mudra.

Veena Dhanammal's grandmother Kamakshi was Subbaraya Sastri's disciple and Dhanammal's mother Sundara was Annasami Sastri's disciple.

When Sundara sang 'nannu brOchuTaku', Annasami Sastri would exclaim, 'Yes, yes, your mother is that Kamakshamma'.meaning both Sundara's mother ass well ass the Goddess The words 'mAyamma kAmakShammA' occurs in the pallavi of that song. That was how sublimely Sundara would sing it seems.

Lakshman
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Joined: 10 Feb 2010, 18:52

Re: Subbaraya Shastry

Post by Lakshman »

Here are the lyrics of inkevarunnAru. There is no kumAra in the caraNa sAhitya unless I am missing a second caraNa.

inkevarunnAru nannu. rAgA: shahAnA. Adi tALA. Annasami Shastri.

P: inkevarunnAru nannu brOva Ishvari I dharalOna jagadIshvari
A: pankaja bhavahari surapati pUjita pAda kamalE shrI kusuma kuntaLAmbikE
(ciTTasvara)
; rI ; ri ga ma pa dhA ni dha pa ma gA ; ; ga ma rI , ga ri sa *ni ri
sA ; ; sa ri *nI , *dhA *pA *ma *dhA , *nI sa nI sa rI sa *ni ri sA
sA sa pA pa mA dhA dha nI dha pa ma dhA dha nI sa* nI sa* rI* sa* ni ri* sA*
rI* ri* gA* ma* rI* ga* ri*sa* nI dha pa ma dhA dha nI sa* pA pa mA ma gA ga ri ri sa
C: mudgapuramunandu sthiramuga nelakoni mudamutO janulaku varamuniccEvu sadgatula nosagE
shAmbhavi nIvu sarasIruha lOcani shankari nI caraNAmbujamE namminavADu gadamma
(ciTTasvara sAhitya)
nA duritamu dIrcuTa bhAramA dInuDanu lalitAmbikE I jAgElanE tALajAla namma vinumu prEmatODu kApADu vArevaru dEvI nIvE gAka lOkajanani tAmasamu sEyakavE gAvumika talli nAdu tApamella dIrcuTakumu

RaviSri
Posts: 512
Joined: 10 Apr 2011, 11:31

Re: Subbaraya Shastry

Post by RaviSri »

Yes, there are two more charanams. I have learnt the 3rd one which has the kumAra mudra:

sachidAnanda ganuDaivalE nA srI
sAmbashivunikki kAmavihAriNi
kachikalyANaranga swAmini brOchE
karuNanidhini mahinE vini vachina vADu nItu kumAruDanammA

Lakshman
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Joined: 10 Feb 2010, 18:52

Re: Subbaraya Shastry

Post by Lakshman »

Thanks RaviSri.

meerag56
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Joined: 10 Oct 2017, 20:25

Re:

Post by meerag56 »

Lakshman wrote: 27 Oct 2006, 19:45 Dalachinavaru dhanyulayyeru-Dhanyasi-Adi
Emani ne ni mahima delupudunamma-Mukhari-Adi
Entanuchu vinnavintune-Shankarabharana-Adi
Janani ninnu vina triloka janani ninnuvina-Ritigaula-Chapu
Mina nayana nivu namida karuna judavamma-Darbar-Rupaka
Nannu brochutaku tamasamelanamma kamakshamma-Todi-Adi
Ninnu sevinchina janulaku nika i janana-Yadukulakambhoji-Chapu
Ninnu vina gati gana vanaruhakshi dharmasamvardhani-Kalyani-Adi
Shankari nivani ninu santatamu kori-Begada-Rupaka
Shri kamakshi katakshi-Vasanta-Adi
Shri kamalambana chinta dirpave-Deshyatodi-Rupaka
Shri kamalambike shrikamalambana chinta dirchave-Todi-Rupaka
Vanajasana vinuta nata varadayaki shri lalita-Shri-Rupaka
Venkata shaila vihara nive gati brovarada shri-Hamirkalyani-Adi
Sri Kamakshi katakshi is by Thiruvarur Ramaswamy Pillai, i think

RSR
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Joined: 11 Oct 2015, 23:31

Re: Subbaraya Shastry

Post by RSR »

Would like to share some video+audio clips of creations by Subbaraya Sastry , ( from a very recent post by Vishnu Vasudev in medium).
Google for ' vishnu vasudev medium subbaraya sastry'
But there is another kind of gem a composer of repute can deliver to the surface of the earth, perhaps more important than any one of their compositions. And this is a disciple. Without the disciple, an earnest, energetic one with many more disciples, all compositional genius is lost to posterity in a largely oral tradition like Carnatic music.

The history of Carnatic music is a history of lineages, of unbroken links. These links are less cold metal and more RNA and DNA, prone to the occasional mis-transcription and misreading, contributing to the to messy and glorious evolution of the art form. These disciples are remembered in gratitude largely for their industrious transmissions.

Some of these disciples however stand out for a second reason — their own discrete contributions to the Carnatic repertoire. Their compositions have not only passed the test of time, but shine singularly, even against the brilliant backdrop of the Trinity.

One, and perhaps the most exemplary such gem was Subbaraya Sastri. Subbaraya Sastri was the second son of the earliest among the Trinity — Shyama Sastri. His father was already over 40 years old when he was born in 1803. He was a disciple of his father, but also remarkably went on to become a disciple of Thyagaraja, and is also said to have learnt a few songs from Muthuswamy Dikshitar. He is the only one known to have studied under all three.

What I find awesome in all this, is that it was apparently Shyama Sastri’s idea to send his son to learn from Thyagaraja — it wasn’t as though young Subbaraya went to Thyagaraja only after his father’s passing in 1827. It takes a large heart and open mind to send your own son to learn your own art from a contemporary. Subbaraya Sastri used the mudra (signature phrase) Kumara in his compositions. Apparently this was because he was born in the Kritika / Karthigai month, associated with the god Muruga / Karthikeya / Kumara. But I’d like to think that it was in homage to his father and first guru (since kumara also means son).
A polished dozen will do
(continued in next post)
Last edited by RSR on 23 Dec 2019, 10:37, edited 1 time in total.

RSR
Posts: 3427
Joined: 11 Oct 2015, 23:31

Re: Subbaraya Shastry

Post by RSR »

(in continuation)
He creates just a dozen compositions (as far as we know), each in a different raga — Dhanyasi, Mukhari, Shankarabharanam, Reethigowla, Darbar, Thodi, Yadukulakambhoji, Hameerkalyani, Shri, Kalyani, Begada, and DesiyaThodi.
-------------------------
Vishnu Vasudev then gives the following kritis by Subbaraya Sastry
( hopefully , all in public domain)
1
) 1. Janani Ninnuvina (Reethigowla)- Voleti Venkateswaraulu
...And here is M.S. Gopalakrishnan’s own rendition, from a 1978 concert at the NCPA, Mumbai. He is accompanied by Kutralam Viswanatha Iyer on the mridangam. He begins the piece with an alapana.

2. Venkatashaila Vihara (Hameerkalyani)

Voleti sings this Hameerkalyani piece towards the end of this concert: http://www.sangeethamshare.org/manjunat ... ulu-vocal/
--
a live concert version by the Malladi brothers. Preceded and followed by alapana and kalpanaswaras.
--
3)
3. Shankari Neeve / Shankari Neevani (Begada)
Here is Voleti, who absolutely excelled in Begada.

One of the early validations of M.S. Subbulakshmi’s talent is when Karaikudi Sambasiva Iyer is said to have told the girl “you carry the veena in your throat”. But of course, she also played the veena. Here she is, with the great vainika K.S. Narayanaswamy playing Shankari Neeve. It doesn’t really sound like two veenas. Either their sangathis (variations of a line) matched to a tee or one was playing second-veena to the other. They are unaccompanied by percussion in this recording.
https://youtu.be/JQpBmyI2kBw
-----
4. Ninnuvina (Kalyani)

There are of course countless compositions in Kalyani, and many by the Trinity. And yet I find myself drawn to the simple openness of Subbaraya Sastri’s Ninnuvina. Here is Voleti with an expansive rendition, with a beautiful alapana:
https://www.jiosaavn.com/song/ninnuvina ... gA,biZaWng
( continued)

RSR
Posts: 3427
Joined: 11 Oct 2015, 23:31

Re: Subbaraya Shastry

Post by RSR »

(in continuation)
4. Ninnuvina (Kalyani)

There are of course countless compositions in Kalyani, and many by the Trinity. And yet I find myself drawn to the simple openness of Subbaraya Sastri’s Ninnuvina. Here is Voleti with an expansive rendition, with a beautiful alapana:
And here is Jayanthi Kumaresh on the veena. She starts with a short alapana, but moves quickly into a tanam, before launching into Ninnuvina
--
--
5. Meena Nayana Neevu (Darbar)
And I found a delightful, no nonsense rendition by Dr. Pinakapani. This is one of the four songs without swara-sahitya.

6. Ninnu Sevinchina (Yadukulakambhoji)
Here is Sanjay Subrahmanyam again with Ninnu Sevinchina.

I was curious to see how a G.N. Balasubramaniam, known for his ‘fast’ virtuosity would have handled a leisurely song like this, and was not disappointed. The fast brighas (quick melodic movements, similar to fast taans in Hindustani music) are present, but the serenity of the piece is left intact.

7. Vanajasana Vinuta (Shri)

This seems to have been a favourite of M.D.Ramanathan — he has sung it multiple times, and equally, he seems to have been one of the only musicians to render this song! So here are two recordings — the first with a substantial alapana before the song, and one with a substantial kalpanaswara improvisation after the song.

8. Dalachina Varu (Dhanyasi) and 9. Emani Ne (Mukhari)

It would be fitting to leave you with a pair of songs by T. Brinda. Subbaraya Sastri taught the legendary dancer Kamakshi, who was the grandmother of the equally legendary musician Veena Dhanammal. After Dhanammal, arguably the foremost torchbearer of her school of music was her granddaughter T. Brinda (along with her sister T. Muktha). T. Brinda was also a disciple of Naina Pillai, who in turn was the son and nephew respectively of Kanchipuram Kamakshi and Kanchipuram Dhanakoti. Both sisters were disciples of Kachi Sastri, son-in-law and disciple of Subbaraya Sastri. So the musical legacy of Subbaraya Sastri, flowing through two distributaries, converged at T.Brinda. It would be safe to assume that many of the renditions above were influenced either directly or indirectly by T. Brinda’s music.

Here is her rendition of Dalachina Varu in Dhanyasi. The song is preceded by an alapana.

And here is her rendition of Emani Ne Nee Mahima in Mukhari, rarely heard these days.
For the actual links to music, kindly visit Vishnu Vasudev at Medium.
"Subbaraya Sastri left us almost nothing, and left us everything"
google for 'vishnu vasudev,,, medium'. we can find this page within the first five or six as on 23-12-2019

RSR
Posts: 3427
Joined: 11 Oct 2015, 23:31

Re: Subbaraya Shastry

Post by RSR »

https://sg.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10 ... er%202.pdf
ANALYSIS OF SUBBARAYA SASTRY'S MUSIC -
SHODHGANGA DISSERTATION

thanjavooran
Posts: 2972
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 04:44

Re: Subbaraya Shastry

Post by thanjavooran »

RSR avl,
Many thanks for the great share.
With wishes,
Thanjavooran
26 12 2019

RSR
Posts: 3427
Joined: 11 Oct 2015, 23:31

Re: Subbaraya Shastry

Post by RSR »

@thanjavooran
Thank you Sir.

Dhruv
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Joined: 23 Oct 2013, 12:42

Re:

Post by Dhruv »

divakar wrote: 13 May 2007, 09:52 meena
it is talacinavAru

u can listen to it here
http://www.sangeethapriya.org/Downloads ... rinda.html

interestingly all the kritis are by father and son.
Talachi can become dalaci - in a poetic expression. SO talachi - is always almost sang as dalachi., nothing wrong in talachi [ta = more literal]

sreeni
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Joined: 16 Jul 2020, 03:30

Re: Re:

Post by sreeni »

Dhruv wrote: 16 May 2021, 23:26
divakar wrote: 13 May 2007, 09:52 meena
it is talacinavAru

u can listen to it here
http://www.sangeethapriya.org/Downloads ... rinda.html

interestingly all the kritis are by father and son.
Talachi can become dalaci - in a poetic expression. SO talachi - is always almost sang as dalachi., nothing wrong in talachi [ta = more literal]
I noticed generally dalachi is used in the middle of the sentence like - ninnu dalachi but for the beginning of the setence I think talachi works better.

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