VIRUTHAMS IN MUSIC CONCERTS

venkat1926 · Post by **venkat1926** » 25 Jul 2010, 12:56

I was interested in hearing some good viruthams. I always find viruthams of pasurams, slogams and others are scintillating part of carnatic music concert, which have become little out of fashion now perhaps during paucity of time. Viruthams are highly melodic. It is delightful to savor the words in the virutham and also the delineation of the ragas therein. I was hearing a few of them in musicIndia online web page.. In viruthams the words and meaning of those words are extremely important and the pakka vadhyams (mostly violin) must be extremely subservient and play in very low volume while following the words of the vocalist. They would have always time to express their profiency in the solo parts of the virutham. But to my horror I find some of the violinists play with such dominant manner that they submerge the words. There was one virutham, where the vocalist is famous for her diction, is accompanied by a loud flute in the virutham.. This is, something in politiciansâ€™ language, unacceptable. The accompanists should be very careful. Most of the vocalists are having their own set of accompanists and the vocalists should advise the accompanists to play subtly while following the vocal part of the concert particularly in viruthams.

I wonder how many of the members of the newsgroup will appreciate my view point.

mahakavi · Post by **mahakavi** » 25 Jul 2010, 19:13

You are right on the money, venkat1926.

Ragjay · Post by **Ragjay** » 28 Jul 2010, 21:03

Sir There is an excellent virutham in a K.V.N. M.S.G.Trichy Sankaran concert uploaded in sangeethamshare.org/sl/ It is an excellent virutham which I am sure you will enjoy .Please download and give your feedback Ragjay

VK RAMAN · Post by **VK RAMAN** » 28 Jul 2010, 21:21

I am for viruthams and marathi abhangs

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 28 Jul 2010, 23:29

Here's one of those questions I never got around to asking...

How much of a virutham/slokam (q.2 what is the difference?) is improvised? is the raga fixed? Is the melody composed? Does the same artist always sing to the same raga?

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 28 Jul 2010, 23:55

Nick - answer to q2: If one gets nit-picky, a viruttam should be in tamizh. Nowadays, when sanskrit verses are sung in a free flowing manner with no rhythmic underpinning (like a viruttam) they are also called viruttams.

cacm · Post by **cacm** » 29 Jul 2010, 00:04

Not necessarily. SSI& GNB were famous for their Sanskrit renderings in Viruthams. My observation has been that they USUALLY cover very profound topics of multi-dimensinal IMPACT & if understood properly transports one beyond mundane aspects of technical considerations as the words typically are TRANSCENDENTAL in nature& impact. VKV

bhavarasa · Post by **bhavarasa** » 29 Jul 2010, 00:10

Nick H wrote:Here's one of those questions I never got around to asking...

How much of a virutham/slokam (q.2 what is the difference?) is improvised? is the raga fixed? Is the melody composed? Does the same artist always sing to the same raga?

Viruttham can be sung with any poetic phrase - slokam, pasuram, poems, the pallavi of a krithi.

A slokam is usually from the scriptures (vedas, upanishads, bhagavadam etc) which can either be recited as a quadratonic hymn OR set to a raga and sung as a viruttham.

The melody is not really fixed or composed. The artist can choose to sing the phrases in any raga and with as much imagination and creativity as he/she likes. Most artists however do sit down and practice the phrases with some basic structure - i.e., which words are to be sung in the lower sthAyi, which ones in the middle and which ones in the upper sthAyi. They also choose the ragas so that the transition from one to another is clear and impressive. For e.g., they may choose Bilahari, Ranjani and Sindhu Bhairavi BUT they will most likely not choose Mayamalavagowlai, Saveri and Malahari as the latter two are janyams of the first and are too close to each other to make a clean transition and impression. However, it need not necessarily be in multiple ragas - one can sing it in just one raga and move on to the tukkada.

I personally remember having heard Shri TVS sing the same viruttham in more than one set of ragas - "ThirumAlin SodariyE" on the TiruvErkkAdu Amman was sung in Behag and also another time in Hamsanandi.

In today's crop of musicians, I like Ranjani-Gayatri's virutthams. As I understand it, most of them are composed and set to various rAgAs by their father. I like the way the viruttham and its meaning blends into the krithi at the end. For e.g., they sang a Viruttham beginning with the words "nAdiya porul" in Bilahari, Hamsanandi and Desh. They then sang "Rama Namam nee thuthi maname". The transition from Viruttham to Krithi was very smooth and seamless.

MS Amma also sang nice virutthams. Who can forget "petra thAithanai magha maranthAlum" in nAdanAmakriyA. Once it was followed by Shiva Shiva Shiva BhO and one other time by ArAr Asai padAr. Excellent pieces.

Mahrajapuram Santhanam was also a master of virutthams. He often used to follow a viruttham with a LGJ Thillana. Very nice "effect".

smala · Post by **smala** » 29 Jul 2010, 00:41

When viruttams are sung with azhzhuttam there is nothing like it.

Sanjay Subrahmanyam has sung several viruttams that are stirring.

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 29 Jul 2010, 01:36

bhavarasa, many thanks for your very useful reply. Beautifully explained.

bhavarasa · Post by **bhavarasa** » 29 Jul 2010, 01:54

Nick H wrote:bhavarasa, many thanks for your very useful reply. Beautifully explained.

Nick, you are quite welcome!

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 29 Jul 2010, 02:20

Viruttam singing can be pulled off by singing the same verses in the same rAgams as some of the veterans did, their having done the homework by choosing verses with rich emotional content, choosing the right rAgams and smooth transitions. KVN waas my favorite in that department.
However, when a contemporary performer chooses the right verses, sets the rAgams (he/she may change the rAgams dependent on the rAgams handled in the concert on that particular day) and delivers it to appeal to our sense for lyrical beauty and feel for a rAgam, it's special, indeed. Yes, s-p, Sanjay Subrahmanyan achieves this in his viruttams.

mankuthimma · Post by **mankuthimma** » 29 Jul 2010, 06:31

http://www.esnips.com/web/Viruttams
Kindly browse through .
I request experts to add their commentaries giving the serial numbers . In due course of time I intend tagging all this information on to the file itself so that everytime we play it on our media players , we can scroll through this info.Try and use a player like zircam which scrolls the lyrics and gives you control over moving up or down, as the song continues.
Our generation is having it so good ...

01-Kutthagaiyayeduttha Viruttham-MSS
02 - Orudaram Sharavanabhava (Viruttam) - Sirai Aarum (Tevaram) -MSS
03-Kadalenra - MDR

There are tonnes of such beauties and so please pace your reactions , leisurely.
Updates at the folder will be intimated here and we can proceed that way.

mahakavi · Post by **mahakavi** » 29 Jul 2010, 08:23

Well I heard all the 3 vruttams.
1. KuttagaiyAyeDutta pala piRavi (MS) is on PArthasArathi of TiruvallikkENi in Chennai. It is not an AzhwAr pAsuram. It must be by a latter day vaishnavite scholar. It talks about the so-called bhavasAgaram (multiple births) and the attendant lamentation. It is similar to GKB's "bhavasAgaram karaiyEralAm". The author has finally recognized that the way to get liberated is through worshipping the Lord at TiruvallikkENi.
2. orutaram saravaNabhavA enRu is on Lord Murugan (I can't figure out the lyricist--perhaps Periyasami Thooran) followed by tEvAram by Sambhandar. This is somewhat a disconnected combo in the sense the first vruttam is on Murugan but the subsequent song is on Lord Siva at SIrgAzhi (I guess). Delivery is pleasant.

3. MDR's "kaDalenRa puvi mIdil" sung in sAmA, dhanyAsi, and nIlAmbari is pregnant in diction and philosophy. I can't locate it anywhere. It is on Lord Nataraja of Cidambaram. It looks like a tirumuRai song but to search for it is cumbersome. Basically it talks about the human life which is like a wave on the ocean which itself is a dream and getting trapped in a whirlpool. Life itself is like seeking food for the perishable body day in and day out and sleeping it all off day after day. It finally appeals to the Lord about the futility of the life.
MDR goes on elaborating the two short verses for 25 minutes. Done very well though.

smala · Post by **smala** » 29 Jul 2010, 10:04

Sri Kulkarni, I am able to listen to all three viruttams but not download them. Do I need to have something that will download it to Mac? Thanks.

mankuthimma · Post by **mankuthimma** » 29 Jul 2010, 17:18

no idea about mac .
rshankar must be in chennai , anytime now . let me check up with him.

venkat1926 · Post by **venkat1926** » 29 Jul 2010, 18:18

Ragjay wrote:Sir There is an excellent virutham in a K.V.N. M.S.G.Trichy Sankaran concert uploaded in sangeethamshare.org/sl/ It is an excellent virutham which I am sure you will enjoy .Please download and give your feedback Ragjay

Thank you. KVN's forte is melody. I shall hear it.

MaheshS · Post by **MaheshS** » 29 Jul 2010, 19:01

shyama-priya wrote:Sri Kulkarni, I am able to listen to all three viruttams but not download them. Do I need to have something that will download it to Mac? Thanks.

I've got a Macbook at home [my new toy, I love it, I love it], I will try it from home and let you know.

vidya · Post by **vidya** » 29 Jul 2010, 19:04

mahakavi wrote:
3. I can't locate it anywhere. It is on Lord Nataraja of Cidambaram. It looks like a tirumuRai song but to search for it is cumbersome.

Third stanza of (Sirumavur/Sirumanavur) Munu(i?)sami Mudaliar's Natarasappatthu. Lyrics available in Tamizh script via Project Madurai

mahakavi · Post by **mahakavi** » 29 Jul 2010, 19:44

vidya:
Thanks. I got it. MDR skips the latter half of that verse and jumps to the last line although he repeats the first half several times. No wonder I couldn't connect what the appeal to the Lord was. The author was asking the Lord to help him out of the morass in which he wallowed.

MaheshS · Post by **MaheshS** » 29 Jul 2010, 20:18

Sethalapatti Balasubramaniam sings Perayiram Paravi followed by Sivan's Kana Kankodi Vendum - Kambodhi. I've heard the same from DKJ in Mohanam followed by Kapali.

My first time on eSnips.com, any problems please let me know.

Edited to change the link

mahakavi · Post by **mahakavi** » 29 Jul 2010, 20:34

MaheshS:
It is not opening. The page is blank.

MaheshS · Post by **MaheshS** » 29 Jul 2010, 20:55

Mahakavi - Can you try now please?

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 29 Jul 2010, 20:58

...still not opening!

MaheshS · Post by **MaheshS** » 29 Jul 2010, 21:04

I just double checked from my colleague's machine, it seems to be OK here after the edit?

URL - http://www.esnips.com/web/maheshs4677sStuff

If not, I will have to go home and sort it out. Apologies.

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 29 Jul 2010, 21:15

No! still blank page only!

mahakavi · Post by **mahakavi** » 29 Jul 2010, 21:26

Yes, MaheshS, it is playing now. The vruttam is on VaidIswaran koyil.

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 29 Jul 2010, 21:51

Yes it works! Very nice !
sure will cure stomach ache! (if bhakti accompanies..)

MaheshS · Post by **MaheshS** » 29 Jul 2010, 23:59

mahakavi wrote:The vruttam is on VaidIswaran koyil.

Yes. Can I trouble you to explain "Pullurukku Veluran" please? I have heard there were four things mentioned about Vaitheeswaran Koil.

Pul - I think is a reference to Arugampul, though why Shivan? isn't that for Ganapathy?
Ruk - Rig Vedam?
??
??

I have got more of the legend singing viruthams thanks to our own legend

mahakavi · Post by **mahakavi** » 30 Jul 2010, 00:41

MaheshS:
VaidIswarankoil is referred to as "puLLirukkuvELUr", i.e, puL + irukku (rig) + vEL + Ur
puL = bird (JaTAyu). It is believed that JaTAyu was given the final obsequies at this spot by Rama.
irukku is as you guessed Rig vEdam.
VEL refers to Lord Subramanya (MuttukkumAra Swami)
Ur = Sun
All the four cited above worshipped the Lord here.
You can refer to:
http://ta.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%AE%9A% ... 2%E0%AF%8D
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MaheshS · Post by **MaheshS** » 30 Jul 2010, 01:12

Thanks, much appreciated!

mankuthimma · Post by **mankuthimma** » 30 Jul 2010, 06:12

http://www.esnips.com/web/Viruttams
Snippets by Kalyanraman , S Ramanathan and Pinakapani added

kssr · Post by **kssr** » 30 Jul 2010, 10:49

Heard MDR and one MSS. Brilliant. Thanks. Never seperated out viruttams and heard, although I have felt them to be very touching pieces before a main piece. Thanks Mank..a.

CRama · Post by **CRama** » 30 Jul 2010, 11:24

When we discuss viruthams, It is but natural that the numerous virthams/slokas sung by MSS comes in the first. Forumites have already mentioned some of the viruthams sung by her. Some other viruthams sung by her in concerts:
1.Chediyaya val vinaikal theerkum- Kulasekara Alwar. Mostly it is sung in Hamsanandi followed by Sreenivasa of Papanasam Sivan
2.Ethanai vidam than karpinum ketpinum en idayam odungavillai. I do not know the composer. MMI has also sung this virutham
3.Namosthu devyai bhringu nandanayai in Lalitha followed by Hiranmayeem.
4.Kailasa saila bhuvane thrijagathjjanithree
5.Nithyanandakari- three slokas from Annapoornashtakam- in Chenjurutti, Punnagavarali, Nadanamakriya follwed by a song in Nadanamakriya. Mostly Dasanamatiko or Yogeejatha of Swathi Thirunal.

In concerts she generally used Shanmugapriya, Saveri, Mohanam, Dhanyasi, Begada, Kedaragowla etc for singing viruthams. But in one concert she has sung a lilting Chandrakauns. In the two Ramavatharam programmes relayed over AIR (it is commercially available) lot of viruthams/slokams have been sung most soulfully. Then there is one concert titled "Shanmatham Concert"in which each song is preceded by a Slokam. These are all aural treasures. I daily thank God for giving me an opportunity and mind to listen and savour these songs. Her LP Record Radhamadhavam is a divine rendering of slokas in Malayalam in 10 ragas. It is simply haunting. In many of the songs, the shlokas sung as a prelude to the song added to the devotional element of the song. The following are some of them.
1.Sathchithrasayi bhujagendrasayi before O Rangasayi
2.Karacharana khritham vaa before Sambho Mahadeva
3.Kailasa kaladi before Sree Chandrasekhara yatheendram or Sankaracharyam
4.Mukhe the thamboolam before Ksheerasagarasayana (Mayamalavagowla)
5.Thaazh sadayum before Enthamathramuna
6.Gopalam prabhu leela vigraha gopalam before Bhajare yathunatham.
7.Sive Sringarardra (Soundaryalahari)before Kanchadalayathakshi
8.Drisaa draakeeyasya(Soundaryalahari) before Vinayakuni
9.Kamaparipanchikamini before Sree Kamakoti peedasthithe

Sivaramakrishnan · Post by **Sivaramakrishnan** » 31 Jul 2010, 15:56

CRama has given a studied list of the 'preface viruttams' sung by MSS for kriti-s. A nice exercise.

Viruttams / sloka-s do impart a bhakti-laden charm in concerts.

Semmangudi used to render several rare sloka-s (raagamaalika) in the Tukkada session which he admirably used to cover many 'left out' raga-s of the concert. 'Ayi Murali Mukundasmera vaktraaravinda' & 'Susnigdham Neeladeham' etc were some of his masterpieces.

GNB rendered 'Saayankaaley vanaanthe' with verve.

Chembai popularised the raama-mantra sloka. He would lose himself fully in the concluding line 'Jihve Sree rama mantram japa japa satatam janma saphalya mantram'. An old EP of the sloka is available. (A young Chembai renders this at a high pitch). He invariably sang the Naaraayaneeya sloka 'agrey pasyaami' in his concerts.

smala · Post by **smala** » 02 Aug 2010, 10:37

Aruna Sairam sings this very moving viruttam, ragamalika

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDs4rTBj ... re=related

And here, you visualize the Lord, offer Him a thousand humble namaskaarams.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rov3sWLE6xU

smala · Post by **smala** » 02 Aug 2010, 10:48

A rare video of Unni Krishnan, very blissful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BwzB-Hm_b4

smala · Post by **smala** » 02 Aug 2010, 10:55

Viruttam of a different kind?

TMK - a viruttam drawn from sangam poetry, with intro.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8ZCTfs1 ... re=related

CRama · Post by **CRama** » 02 Aug 2010, 12:23

One more virutham rendered by MSS is Paal Ninainthoottum thaayinum chala pariindu
Semmangudi used to sing Sringaaram - a beautiful slokam depicting the navarasas with incidents from Ramayanam He used to cast a magic spell while rendering the slokam. Another slokam he used to sing is Maulav Ganga composed by Appayya Deekshitar. He used to sing in 5-6 ragas.His ragas like Kapi, Sindubhairavi, Nadanamakriya used to be very enthralling.
MDR also used to sing Sringaaram which was eagerly anticipated by his rasikas.
Ariyakudi used to sing Ongi ulagalanda - tiruppavai as a virutham.
GNB has made Vande maataram ambikaam bhagavathim most popular.He also sang Janathi nama thava nama ruchim mahesa,
Many of the old timers used to sing Vaidehi sahitham, Vaame boomisutha etc.
Santhanam used to sing virutham in Hindustani ragas like Brindavana saranga, Revati, Hamsanandi, Hamirkalyani,Basant Bahar eic. It was also much appreciated by rasikas. He sang the ugaboga Anayu karadare, Thirandezhuthazhai mazhai mugil vannan etc.
DKP also sang viruthams most appealingly. Her favourities were Paal ninainthoottum, Raamam Lakshmana poorvajam, Sree Raaghavam Dasarathaathmajamaprameyam
TNS sang viruthams in his inimitable style. Once while singing Vaidehi sahitham slokam which ends with Raamam bhaje syaamalam the three words he commenced with Madhyamavathi and sang it in all the ragas of Bhavayami raghuramam in reverse order- culminating in Saveri and followed up with Bhaavayaami. Many times he prefixed songs like Sree Sathyanarayanam, Nannu brovu Lalitha etc with slokas in those ragas which added to the devotional aura of the song. Once in an Academy concert he sang Vande Matharam slokam in the ragas embedded in the slokam. He sang Keeravani, (for vani---), Hamirkalyani (for Kalyani), Sree ranjini and not ranjini ( for vishvanmanoranjini) and Vijayasree!!(for Sree chakrangita.).

ksrimech · Post by **ksrimech** » 03 Aug 2010, 02:48

mahakavi wrote: It is believed that JaTAyu was given the final obsequies at this spot by Rama.

Isn't that tirupuTkuzhi?

mahakavi · Post by **mahakavi** » 03 Aug 2010, 05:35

Yes, I wrote about that divya dEsam a while ago. But you know it is like Homer. When he was living he was begging through the streets in Greece. When he died seven cities claimed him as their native son. Same thing with mythology. If a town or village was in the path of ayOdhya to lanka then they claimed anything they can get away with. sthalapurANams are dime a dozen and either you believe it or you don't. tiruppuTkuzhi is in toNDai nADu (they can have one claim) and vaidIswarankoyil is in sOzhanADu (so they can have one claim too). Who knows what is legitimate and even if anything is legitimate?

smala · Post by **smala** » 03 Aug 2010, 05:45

VK - can you merge this thread with the older one on viruttams - would be useful to have all related info in one place.

ksrimech · Post by **ksrimech** » 04 Aug 2010, 02:54

mahakavi, sure. Its been there in many divya desams too. Who can change it now even it were false.

BTW, please add "Udum attInkuzharkE uyyEn yAn", nammAzhvAr pAsuram, sung by SrImati MS in kApi, nAdanAmakriyA, punNAgavarALi and, senchuruTTi, followed by kaNNAniDam eDuttucchollaDi of Smt ambujam kRSNa. Brilliant nAyikAbhAva pAsuram given life by Smt MS.

mankuthimma · Post by **mankuthimma** » 06 Aug 2010, 07:58

http://www.mediafire.com/?xrom7np27evxn98

Bangalore Sankar at the tailend of one of his concerts.There is a filler too which i have not chopped off .Such a fine singer !!!

mankuthimma · Post by **mankuthimma** » 09 Aug 2010, 09:05

I am able to listen to all three viruttams but not download them. Do I need to have something that will download it to Mac? Thanks.

Shyamapriya
I continue here

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=kcb78ht1rfn1t

Sivaramakrishnan · Post by **Sivaramakrishnan** » 10 Aug 2010, 15:21

CRama has done a commendable job in 'unearthing' a treasure of Viruthams. Hope it would have an impact on the young stars