LecDem :: Rare pallavis of Stalwarts by Vid. D. Balakrishna @ MA 16.12.2015

[semmu86]

Vid. D. Balakrishna (Son & Disciple of Sangitha Kalanidhi Mysore Doraiswamy Iyengar) presented an absolutely outstanding lec-demonstration on the above subject to kick start the conference sessions at the MA. The presentation just oozed class and vidhwath right from the word go.

In all, he presented 9 beautiful pallavis made popular, predominantly, by the yesteryear greats. All the 9 of them were demonstrated masterfully, by doing the trikAlam, anulOmam & pratilOmam. Giving just a gist of the pallavis and their structures. Am trying to break down their structures as simplified as possible, as it’s tricky to notate them along with their eduppus & kArvais. Rasikas may kindly excuse me if they find this notation difficult to comprehend and follow.

1. Pallavi popularized by Veena Seshanna/ Thodi/ Misra Jhampa (Chatusra Nadai- 2 kalai)/ Eduppu- Atheetham/ Total tala count-40 aksharas.

sAhithyam of the pallavi: "chakkani sAmi kivi manchi samayamurA nEDu"

cha ka ni (3)
sa,,mi ki,,, vi,,, (12)
man,,,chi,,,sa,,ma,,ya,,mu,, (14)
rA,,,,,, (7)- Arudhi kArvai
nE,Du, (4)......You count the numbers in the bracket, you should get 40, unless i screwed up somewhere.

2. Pallavi popularized by Mysore Vasudevacharyar/ khAmbhOji/ Adi thalam (Chatusra Nadai- 4 kalai)/ Eduppu- ¾ after samam (MukkAl eDuppu)/ Total tala count-64 aksharas.

sAhithyam of the pallavi: “ElaranAthO chalamujEsEvurA shrI krishNA” (This pallavi was apparently composed by ThirukkodikAval Krishna Iyer and in turn was taught to Doraiswamy Iyengar by Vasudevachar)

E,,,la, (6)
rA,,,,,nA,,, (10)
thO,,,,,,(7)
cha,,la,,(3)
mu,,,,,,,,,,,,(14)- Arudhi kArvai
jE,sE,,,,, (8)
vU,rA,,,,, (8)
shrI,,,krish,NA, (8). You count the numbers in the bracket, you should get 64, else something is wrong.

3. Pallavi popularized by Mazhavarayarendal Subburama Bhagavathar/ KuntaLavarALi/ thisra triputa (thisra naDai)/ atheetha eduppu/ Total tala count-21 aksharas.
sAhithyam of the pallavi: “nA moralu vinavE kanna thalli”.....

na, (2)
mo ra lu,,, (6)
vi na (2)
vE,,, (4)- Arudhi kArvai
na, kan na (4)
tha, lli (3). The sum of the brackets being 21........

4. Pallavi popularized by Karaikudi Bros/ mOhanam/ chatusra rUpakam (khanDa naDai)/ little finger eduppu/ Total tala count-30 aksharas.
sAhithyam of the pallavi: “palukavE pathitha pAvanI nEEvu chinari chilukavE ambA”

pa lu ka vE, (5)
pa thi tha pA, (5)
va ni nE,, vU,,, (9)- Arudhi kArvai at vU
chi na ri chi lu ka vE (8)
am, bA (3).. the sum of the brackets being 30.......

5. Pallavi popularized by Doraiswamy Iyengar/ shankarabharaNam/ Adi thalam (chatusra naDai).
Pallavi sAhithyam: “chakkagAni bhajanA....” Am not elaborating this structure here, as its already getting a bit wordy & also this is a very popular pallavi, or made popular i should say by SSI too in many of his concerts. Shri Balakrishna demonstrated by singing swaras to 3 different eduppus for the same pallavi, which was also again made popular by SSI in quite a lot of his concerts. Its a fairly simple straight forward pallavi with no complicated structure.

6. Pallavi popularized by Alathur Bros/ hEmavathi/ khanDa jhampai (khanDa naDai)/ atheeta eduppu/ Total tala count-40 aksharas.
Pallavi sAhithyam: “ninnu nammithi nIvE gathi nIrajadhaLa nayanA hare rAmA”

Nin, nu, nam, mi thi,, (10)
Ni, vE, gat hi,, (8)
Ni, raj a dha, La, na,, ya,, nA,,, (14)- Arudhi kArvai at nA
Ha rE,, rA, mA, (4)... The total count of the brackets being 40...........

7. The famous Sankeerna naDai pallavi of Alathur Bros. Am not elaborating that one, since we have a recording of that available.

8. Pallavi popularized by Chengalpet Ranganathan/ shankarAbharaNam/ Adhi thAlam (misra naDai)/eduppu- 1 aksharam after samam/ Total tala count-56 aksharas

Pallavi sAhithyam: “venkaTaramaNA sankaTaharanA pankajanayanA tirupathi thirumalai sapthagirivAsA”. (PS :: this pallavi has also been extensively demonstrated by Vid Trichy. J. Venkatraman)

Ven, ka Ta, ra ma NA, (9)
San, ka Ta, ha ra NA, (9)
Pan,, (3)
Ka,, ja,, na,, ya,, (6)
nA,,,, (5)- Arudhi kArvai
thi, ru, pa thi,, (8)
thi, ru, ma lai,,, (9)
sap tha gi ri vA, sA (7)... The bracket count adding up to 56.

9. I was wondering how come a discussion on pallavis can sound complete without a mention of the inimitable Prof. TRS and there he was. This is the famous pallavi of Prof. TRS (“dasharatha tanayuni maravaku manasA dhinamu kshaNamu”), where 3-kAlapramANams come next to each other. Since a recording of this is also popularly available, am skipping its elaboration.

The lec-dem ended with brief comments from Sangita Kalanidhi Prof. Trichy Sankaran, who recounted all the great pallavis, with the stellar accompaniment of LGJ esp to that of Alathur Bros’ ones.
On the whole, a fascinating lec-dem, one of the best of the season, so brilliantly presented.

[pattamaa]

Semmu - great write up, thanks... Which is the most complicated pallavi in this list, and why? Please educate.. Hope MMA is archiving lecdems.

Do we have TRS pallavi recording ? love to hear.

What was the comments from sangeetha kalanidhi designate ? Any questions asked by expert committee or audience ?

[semmu86]

Which is the most complicated pallavi in this list, and why? Please educate..

Each and every pallavi is unique/ difficult/ beautiful in its own way for me, if they are at the hands of the right vidhwans. I personally found the sankeerna naDai pallavi of Alathur Bros to be the most complicated. I still cannot fathom as to how LGJ must have captured it like a camphor, on stage, during a live recording of AIR and then reproduced that

Do we have TRS pallavi recording ? love to hear.

Should be Available in Sangeethapriya. I got it from there.

What was the comments from sangeetha kalanidhi designate ? Any questions asked by expert committee or audience ?

Sorry i had to leave immediately after Prof TS spoke and before the floor was thrown open to the experts committee.

[munirao2001]

semmu86,
Very good report, with good efforts.

[quoteduring a live recording of AIR ][/quote]

It was live broadcast,not recording. Lalgudi mama himself had said it and brought my attention to this aspect of higher challenge, during my conversation (verily, the last). I remember to have posted on this, in some other thread.

munirao2001

[thanjavooran]

Shri semmu,
Excellent write up ! Thanx for the detailed report
Thanjavooran
17 12. 201 5

[mahavishnu]

Semmu: Thanks for all your reviews this season! I enjoyed reading all of them.

[rajeshnat]

semmu,
Thank you for your review , if musicians read this they should take up the pallavis and present it when they are given time which may happen once in a bluemoon. Ramkumar has also written a writeup on this lecdem in his blog , few missing details like pallavi lines of Chingelpet ranganathan is there.
https://ramsabode.wordpress.com/2015/12 ... shna_ma15/

[kssr]

Vidwan Balakrishna to have been given such an important slot and he in turn making it so valuable a session makes us (esp.Bangaloreans) proud. Thanks for the review sir.

[Sreeni Rajarao]

This is the kind of program that I hope was recorded and it will be preserved and shared for easy access.

No such luck with this particular event, I guess.