Sri Thyagaraja Vaibhavam

[radha bhaskar]

Sri Thyagaraja Vaibhavam
Dr.Radha Bhaskar presents a musical feature, “Sri Thyagaraja Vaibhavam”, highlighting the musical excellence embedded in the compositions of Sri Thyagaraja. It will trace the overall contribution of Thyagaraja towards the growth of Karnatic music, the various formats of kriti as conceived by him, the ragas and talas handled, the kalapramana and themes of the compositions etc. This programme is on 22nd April,6.30p.m for Saraswathi Vaggeyakara Trust at Narada Gana Sabha Mini Hall, Alwarpet. Dr.Radha will be accompanied by K.J.Dilip( violin) and Thillai Suryanarayanan (mrudangam). All are welcome.

[thanjavooran]

Dr. Radha Bhaskar,
Best wishes

Thanjavooran

[thanjavooran]

Thyagaraja vaibhavam

The program started exactly at 18 30 hrs. though Dr. Radha bhaskar was very well ready even before accompanied by K.J.Dilip( violin) and Thillai Suryanarayanan (mrudangam). Only selected audience were present. Infact there were only 35 and all rasikas only. Some of the interesting and informative points noted are given below. In first place Iet me request Madam to excuse since the coverage is not complete, and more E &O are Expected.
1. The Lec Dem started with Sourashtram Kriti of T . Lot of slides were displayed insupport of different statements
2. Trinities Musical contribtion is enormous and S S is the senior of the contemporary
3. The Trinities have left us compositions with elaborate music structure, laya/ tala frames, compositions which are truly classical in nature.
4 In T's kritis it can be noticed perfect amalgamation of beauty, associated with spirituality
5. Raga cannot be reproduced the same pattern whereas a composition can.be sung .
6. Only through compositions Raga swaroopam can be ascertained.
7. T had explored the aesthetic beauty of Thodi through his compostions numbering more than 30 in this raga
8. T had confined only in composing Kritis and Keerthanas and not ventured on Varnam, Swarajathi, Padams, Thillana and Bajans.
9. Keerthana and Kriti are different in structure.
10 Keerthana can be sung by all since it is simple in structure whereas Kriti has lot of musical beauty and should be learnt only through a Guru
11 At present nearly 700 kritis of T are available
12 All the themes are taken from Ramayana
13 SS kritis are pleading in nature expressing total surrender
14 Though his compositions are in Telugu one need not learn this language to understand since they are very simple in nature.
15 T looked at Rama more than an human embodiment, amazed , at times expressed anger , his feelings & different moods are expressed in his kritis.
16. The language also simple Telugu. Few sanskrit compositions are also there. Though he had composed songs on Lord Krishna, Vinayagar and Ambal, T's main focus was on Rama
17 He had given shape to Ganamoorthy, Jayanthasri, Bindu malini, Chandra Jyothi etc.
18 The real and full swaroopam of ragas can be seen in krits and based on these kritis only raga swaroopam was made to be known
19 In support of the above statement the following kritis were sung
Gana moorthe
Marukelara
Baga enayya
20 In Malaya marutham only T had composed and either SS or MD not touched this raga.
21 Keeranavali a creation by T is simply amazing with Arohanam of Keeravani scale and Avarohanam--different and this aspect brought out very nicely on the kriti
and beautifully structured.
22 Few more rare ragas of his creations
suddha seemanthini Janaki Ramana
Jagan mohini Sobillu sapthaswara
Hamsa nadham Pandu reethi kolu simple raga with no heavy programme
Gambira Nattai Sabapathim
Saramathi Mokshamukalatha
Kalyana Vasanthan Naadhalodai
Kapinarayani
Bahudari Brovabaramma
23 In few ol the above ragas, in kritis , permutation and combinations of notes are experimented . Bahudari was popularised by this kriti.
24 Anyone can create a raga , but only a composition in that scale of notes will bring out the beauty of the creation
25 Where there is enormous scope for expansion that raga is called Major
26. Hari kambodhi, Karakarapriya and kapi are the few ragas handled only by T.
27. As regards Kriti form T is the supreme architect of this. All cast in a typical Pallavi
28 Sangathi is available only in CM and not in HM
29 Variability of sangathis may be different from one school to other
30 The credit of introducing sangatis in Kitis with a definite musical purpose goes to T
31 Etavunara in Kalyani was sung by Dr. Radha bhaskar
32 Sangatis add beauty to the compositions . Eg Kritis in Kalyani, KK priya etc

Use of Deasadi Tala by T

33 T utilised them profusely . The special beauty is the symmetrical construction of Poorvanga and Utharanga
34 There are two assertive pauses on falling exactly in the centre of Tala as the padagarbha and other at the beginning of the Tala

The Kriti form as seen in T's compositions

35 A Kriti with palavi, Anupallavi and charanam are similar
B Kriti with Pallavi, A P where tune of AP anc Charanam are not similar. Eg Bale Balendu in Ritigowla Each section explores different aspect of the Raga
36 Srirama srirama sri Manorama in Sahana was taken up for dem
37 T structured this composition in such a way sothat anybody can sing this P with ease and can very easily reproduced
38 Kriti with Pallavi, AP and multiple Charanam all swaras in the same tune. As Lecdem Eti janmamu in Varali was sung
39 Kriti with P and mulitiple Charanams all in different tunes Eg Brochevarevare in Sriranjani Dem
40 Kriti with P, AP and several Charanam wherin Charanams follow swara sahithya pattern and finally a charanam with only with a Sahithya portion

Use of Madhyama Kala Sahithyam

41.Like MD , T had also made use of M Kala sahithya in his compositions Eg Esha Pahimam in Kalyani

Eduppu or commencint points
42 A variety of Eduppu have been employed by T viz Off beat, 1/2, 3/4 , 4 aksharam off from the beat 6 aksharam etc.

Kalapramana [ Tempo ]

43 T had explored several tempos viz Fast, Medium and Slow
44 T's contribution for the growth and shaping up the Kritis in its multifaceted form is something w/o a parallel in Carnatic Music

Finally vote of thanks by the secretary was full of praise for Dr Radha bhaskar and her tireless efforts in bringing out such a knowlegable Lec Dem.

My observations
The entire programme lasted for 120 mts packed with lot of information with pleasing music suitably acccompanied by mirudangam and violin. Since all the rasikas are chennites as referred in a different thread the entire Lecdem was in Tamil but whenever was not comfortabale with varnacular, explanation in English was very welcome trend. The sorry state of affairs is not even a single practicing musician was present and all Rasikas were senior citizens only. I could be able to note down only few visuals , if possible and feasible, request the Author to upload in this thread the slides consisting valuable information.

Thanjavooran

[ragam-talam]

Thank you for a great report. Hope the lec-dem was recorded. Any chance we can get access to it?

17 He had given shape to Ganamoorthy, Jayanthasri, Bindu malini, Chandra Jyothi etc.
18 The real and full swaroopam of ragas can be seen in krits and based on these kritis only raga swaroopam was made to be known
19 In support of the above statement the following kritis were sung
Gana moorthe

Apparently Ganamoorthe is one of the kritis that's misattributed to Tyagaraja.
See here: http://www.krishnaganasabha.org/article ... Madhav.pdf

[Ramasubramanian M.K]

Thanjavooran: Thanks for a succinct report on the proceedings-Yes it is a lamentable fact that musicians do not find it worth their time to attend such lec dems--the insights that they could provide from their own training and Gurus would be useful to supplement/refute some of the ideas presented. The Walajapet Venkataramana Bhagavathar's school of sishyas have done yeoman service to CM--Given T's long life span the latter-day disciples like the Harikatha exponents like Umayalpuram Sundara Bhagavathar and Krishna Bhagavathar have given us a rich legacy. The vivadi raga krithis to a large extent popularised by the Walajapet School were sung mostly by Kanjeevaram Naina Pilai,Chithoor et al(also by Brindamma as the family was close to Naina Pillai). The latterday disciples(Umayalpuram School) steered clear of the vivadi ragas as I suspect T himself may have had a change of heart and focussed on more popular ragas(pure conjecture on my part!!!) towards the twilight of his career and the Umayalpuram brothers may have been the benficiaries of this latter-day development.

Back to one of the points presented by Thanjavooran. The statement that one needs to know a few compositions in a raga before one can do the Alapana (as the swaroopam is revealed by the compositions) is something I totally agree with. Once my father asked Ariyakudi WHY he did not sing kritis like Sada Mathim(Gambhiravani) Nannukannathalli(Sindu kannada-these were songs that the Chitoor school,and some of the Andhra musicians --Balamurali Krishna used to popularise. To which Ariyakudi is reported to have replied "How many kritis has Saint T composed in these ragas and to him that was the "litmus test" for doing alapana or popularising those ragas.

Eons ago I experimented with constructing a raga which replaced the Arohana in Andolika with the Avarohana and tried a symmetry(audava raga)-- Sa Ri Ma Dha Ni Sa--- Sa Ni Dha Ma Ri Sa(Andolika has the Panchamam in the Arohanam which I substituted with Dha as in the Avarohanam. I do not know if such a raga exists and if so if there are any kritis in it. Forumites.help!!!

[VK RAMAN]

Dr Radha Bhaskar - "request the Author to upload in this thread the slides consisting valuable information" - Is this possible?

[sr_iyer]

Eons ago I experimented with constructing a raga which replaced the Arohana in Andolika with the Avarohana and tried a symmetry(audava raga)-- Sa Ri Ma Dha Ni Sa--- Sa Ni Dha Ma Ri Sa(Andolika has the Panchamam in the Arohanam which I substituted with Dha as in the Avarohanam. I do not know if such a raga exists and if so if there are any kritis in it. Forumites.help!!!

In carnatic, as per Sri Ranga Ramanuja Iyengar's Raga List in 'History of South Indian Music', this srmdns-sndmrs scale is called nADIka (listed under mELa 28).

Some versions of the hindustani rAga gOrakh kalyAN use this scale (while some skip the ni in the ascent , i.e. use dha-sa and also use an occasional pa).

I have not heard any kRtis in this rAga. Apart from some hindustani renditions in gOrakh kalyAN, I have heard this scale used for a very short while in a quick rAgamAlikA segment in a jugalbandhi in the eighties (Sri LGJ and Ud Amjad Ali Khan). I have seen a mention of a tillana in gorakh kalyan composed by (Veena) Prof R Visweswaran but have not heard it - (someone who has heard it could confirm if he has used the same scale for gorakh kalyan).

Of course, a grahabhEda on the madhyama of this srmdns-sndmrs scale yields the well known nAgasvarAvaLi.

[Ramasubramanian M.K]

SR Iyer: Thanks for the clarification.This is the first time I have heard of the ragam Nadika. Is it not amazing that a perfectly symmetrical raga(no different than a Mohanam or hamsadhwani) has not gained any traction whereas a Kadanakuthuhalam or a Nalinakanthi with an elegant assymmetry has become popular over the years-thanks to compositions. It just goes to prove that in CM a raga is more than a string of swara "beads" and its popularity derives from the number of kritis which succeeding generation of artistes bring out.

[keerthi]

T The vivadi raga krithis to a large extent popularised by the Walajapet School were sung mostly by Kanjeevaram Naina Pilai,Chithoor et al(also by Brindamma as the family was close to Naina Pillai).

Are you sure about this..? Naina, Chittoor(and his student sOmu) and brindA, all seem to have sung very very few rAga-s with vivAdi notes; and when they did, often, the vivAdi-ness was bowdlerised.

Examples include nE mora beTTitE in rUpavati, which they all sang in thODi; and the gAnavAridhi song (shUlinI janyaM) is sung by BrindA as a shankarAbharaNa janyam.

Brinda and Mukta used to sing varALi and vAgadhIshwarI. these are the only vivAdi-note-rAga-s that I have known them to sing.

chittoor has sung ChandrajyOti. I can't think of any other vivAdi-s handled by Naina's students.

What else..? I have heard an unconfirmed rumour about DhanammaL playing the shUlinI piece prAnanAtha birAna, in the same raga.

This is highly suspect, as RangaramAnuja IyengAr and Dr. pinAkapAni, both of whom swore by Dhanam's music; have notated the song in shankarAbharaNaM. the song is sung in this rAga, by Dr.PAni's student's and prashishya-s - srirangaM GOpAlaratnam and the Malladi siblings.

[Ramasubramanian M.K]

Keerthi:While I agree with some of the points made in your note about Brindamma may have modified some of the vivadhi kritis, I still maintain that Naina Pillai(whom I have never heard) and Chittoor(who I have heard although not many I must admit) sang more of the Vivadhiraga krithis than their contemporaries(Semmangudi,Ariyakudi,Musiri,Maharajapuram et al.). Example--Paritapamu ( Manohari) cAme to my mind(ALTHOUGH IT IS NOT STRICTLY AVIVADHI RAGA)--Chittor,Swaminatha Pillai(Flute) used to sing/play these songs.

The hypothesis I am making is that over T's life span he experimented with some of the Vivadi ragas in his early years and as he evolved in his own spiritual journey he moved over to the popular ragas--Gana Ragas,etc etc. and that the earlier disciples kept the Vivadhi kritis alive and handed THEM down to their lineage of sishyas. As the Umayalpuram School was the last of the Saint's lineage,following of the Vivadhi ragas by the school's disciples "waned".
I MUST ADD I HAVE NO SCHOLARLY BASIS FOR MY ABOVE HYPOTHESIS AND I WOULD LIKE TO STAND CORRECTED.!!!

[venkatpv]

Naina Pillai also sang Gambeeravani (Sada madhin), a vivadi janya of Naganandini.

[vidya]

I still maintain that Naina Pillai(whom I have never heard) and Chittoor(who I have heard although not many I must admit) sang more of the Vivadhiraga krithis than their contemporaries(Semmangudi,Ariyakudi,Musiri,Maharajapuram et al.). Example--Paritapamu ( Manohari) cAme to my mind(ALTHOUGH IT IS NOT STRICTLY AVIVADHI RAGA)--Chittor,Swaminatha Pillai(Flute) used to sing/play these songs. The hypothesis I am making is that over T's life span he experimented with some of the Vivadi ragas in his early years and as he evolved in his own spiritual journey he moved over to the popular ragas--Gana Ragas,etc etc.

1.The correlation of vivadi ragams and non-vivadi ragas with musical stages in Tyagaraja's life (and the underlying implication of a correlation w.r.to age/musical/other maturity -> vivadi/non-vivadi ragas) is very simplistic and seems baseless

2.It is generally understood that performing musicians of the early part of the last century changed the vivadi ragas as non-vivadis and reconstructed that musical structure of some of the compositions to suit their then-modern-day performance aesthetics.

3.Contrary to what has been written here, it is well-known that Nayana Pillai was the one who changed the earlier lakshana of the raga hamsanada to its present form. It is also interesting to note that this is in line with Brindamma and several others version of ganavAridi. Also Kirtanacarya CR Srinivasa Iyengar was the one who gave manavati as Gauri manohari. Naina Pillai is also said to have a repertoire that crossed shishya-parampara lines.

4.Many musicians sing dayajUcutakidi - gAnavAridhi as a janya of sUlini and this composition is generally believed to be composed towards the end of Tyagaraja's life, which again disproves that vivadi -> lifetime correlation which is being implied here. The above is a reflection of the performance biases and preferences in the last century which are ingrained in listeners too and nothing else.

5.While it is true that the umayalpuram repertoire sang only a few vivadi compositions and the Tillaisthanam school employed the most dramatic usage of vivadi it only refelects the preference of the individual disciples and their paramparas. A school of disciples with stronger moorings in the bhajana sampradaya and harikatha traditions may have preferred the utsava sampradaya, while the Walajahpet school had a stronger 'documentation tradition' and contains the largest collection. Similarly some Tillaisthanam disciples had a penchant for vivadi ragas.

[rajeshnat]

I read somewhere that sri thyagarAja in the last 5 or 10 years , only taught a subset of krithis for each of the sishyas so that his entire krithis are kind of not lost and thoroughly notated , possibly each of the sishyas like tillaisthanam, umayalapuram, WVB.etal and their sishya paramparas only mastered those subset of krithis , in modern parlance sri thyagarAya was a knowledge management guru.

vidya or others
If you could gives pointers of what krithis of T's that these three streams namely WVB,umayAlapuram and thillaisthanam were known for that would be great

[uday_shankar]

It is generally understood that performing musicians of the early part of the last century changed the vivadi ragas as non-vivadis and reconstructed that musical structure of some of the compositions to suit their then-modern-day performance aesthetics.

Another example that comes to mind is morabettithe in "Todi". Smt R Vedavalli sings the kriti in the presumably original Rupavati while Brindamma sang it in Todi. Therefore there is strong reason to believe that Shri Naina Pillai altered it. Such things alter the perception of the chronology of vivadhi usage in T. Another thing is that "the musical structure of some of the compositions" can often never be accommodated to completely encompass the key "pidis" of the new raga.

morabettithe is sparse in phrases that incorporate the extremely important pUrvAnga of Todi (the life of tOdi if you will)...phrases that start at D and go like DPDNS,, or simply DNS,, (e.g., "danimatulu" of varnam charanam, "Thaaye" of Thaaye Yasoda, "juchuvaralalona" in the anupallavi of dachukovulena, etc..). Such a phrase would be the life and soul of tOdi but has no musical logic in rupavati which has D3-N3 (try singing thaaye as D3-N3-S!) and hence don't find a place in rUpavati kritis. So tyagaraja's genius lay in making judicious and limited forays into the "vivAdhi" portions of a vivAdhi rAga while making extensive use of the non-vivAdhi parts.

Clearly, it was silly on the part of Shri Naina Pillai to have turned an instructively valuable kriti in rUpavati into a limited kriti in tOdi. In Kannada, one might say that "morabettithe" has been thumba "morph aay bittide".

[Ramasubramanian M.K]

Uday; liked the double en tendre(kannada bhasha) in Morabetti!!
Vidya: Like Rajeshnat I too would like to know how the sishya lineage handled these kritis.
Particularly kritis like Sanni Thodi(Harikambodhi),Buddhi Radhu--the former I have heard slightly different(minor) versions from DKP/DKJ and Brindamma although both were influenced by Naina Pillai.

[munirao2001]

It was really interesting reading the report of the lec-demo and the fellow rasikas discussions.
1) On the musical contributions of Shyama Sastri, Thyagaraja and Mudduswami Dikshita, it is akin to the epics-Bhagavatham, Mahabharatham and Ramayana, respectively. Thyagaraja's creations are all encompassing with focus on both Lakshya and Lakshana aspects of Karnatic Music. Ghana and Nyaya were handled admirably. Only very few ragas did not found his deep interest or creative urge. His compositions in vivadi ragas were not only apt for the lyrical content but are instructive. Saint was very much aware of the limited scope-as majority of the vivadi ragas were scale based.
When the concerts were of 6-8 hours duration and very few ragas and compositions were handled by the performers, only major ragas were taken up and vivadi ragas were deliberately avoided. Vivadi ragas were handled mainly in musical discourses, natya and nataka sangita. Vivadi ragas were decided suitable only for instrumental handling and not for vocal music- rich with gamakams. All the Great Maestros/Maestros found deep classical excellence only in ragas and compositions with high potential for the usage of gamakas - quintessential feature of Karnatic music and rarely handled the vivadi ragas. With interest for other genre of music-Hindusthani and western growing, scale based ragas and compositions received appreciation and gained popularity. The immense popularity of Thyagaraja compositions was mainly due to the unlimited scope it offers.

2) Rasika forunites in this thread have to avoid the mistakes in the lyrics, like:
Marukelara – Marugelara, Baga enayya- Bagaya nayya, Sobillu sapthaswara-Sobhillu sapthaswara, Pandu reethi kolu – Bantu reethi kolu, Mokshamu kalatha – Mokshamu galada, Nadhalodai- Nada loludai, Brovabarama- Brovabharama, Sanni Thodi- Chani todi, Buddhi Radhu- Buddhi radu.

3) With few exceptions, Vivadi ragas were admirably handled by Andhra and Mysore school of music. Tanjore /Ramanathapuram schools of music avoided the vivadi ragas.

[thanjavooran]

2) Rasika forunites in this thread have to avoid the mistakes in the lyrics, like:
Marukelara – Marugelara, Baga enayya- Bagaya nayya, Sobillu sapthaswara-Sobhillu sapthaswara, Pandu reethi kolu – Bantu reethi kolu, Mokshamu kalatha – Mokshamu galada, Nadhalodai- Nada loludai, Brovabarama- Brovabharama, Sanni Thodi- Chani todi, Buddhi Radhu- Buddhi radu.



Shri Munirao avl,
ThanQ for the corrections. Yes , lack of knowledge in Telugu is the root cause. Once again many thanx.
Thanjavooran