Sowrashtram

[satyabalu]

*Has this forum discussed the kritis/RTPs &kritis/varnam/Lakshana Geethams in this Raga ?
*Elsewhere I had expressed there are not many who(could) give elaborate treatment to this Raga apart from the fact we have only a few kritis !Thiagaraja, Patnam, Ponniah Pillai....

[Lakshman]

There are over 450 kritis in this raga.

[CRama]

I do agree that Saurashtram is not chosen for elaborate alapanas in concerts- forget about the RTP. But recently I heard two very good and elaborate alapanas of this ragam. One was by TNS in Vani Mahal a concert of Thyagaraja Kritis. He commenced the concert with a splendid alapana of Saurashtram for about 7 minutes followed by Sree Ganapthini. I had posted a review of this concert in Rasikas. Second was a radio concert of TMKrishna relayed in Madras A a couple of months back. He presented a beautiful and elaborate alapana followed by Aduvum Solluval. Both the alapana and padam were presented very brilliantly.

To a certain extent this ragam is overshadowed by its cousin Chakravakam. But alapana of Chakravakam also is not frequently heard in concerts nowadays. DKP and Alathur Brothers have presented Chakravakam excellently in many concerts with alapana, neraval and swaras.

[satyabalu]

There are over 450 kritis in this raga.

*For so much of kritis in this,this Raga is under utilised.
*Let someone post the links of both TNS&TMK giving good treatment to Sowrashtram.

[Ramasubramanian M.K]

SAURASHTRAM--It is sung/played in every concert-the tailpiece in Mangalam--Nina Ma Rupamulaku!!! Sorry for the flippancy- my theory-- artistes who do NOT start with varnams sing Sri Ganapathi as the opening piece thereby eliminating its chance of being sung elaborately. However at times the song with its rich raga bhava-- e.g. Charanam charanam enrane--the Rama nataka piece became popular thro the dance mode. Further this is still evolving--each succeeding generation of artistes discover ,resurrect and "tune" old krithis of the trinity which may have been buried--so let's hope the TMK's Sanjay's and the female artistes would continue to seek,search and present more krithis in Sowrashtram.

As for Chakravaham,I am not sure it is any more popular--while Sugunamule,Edula Bro were popularised by the SSI-Alathur generation,DKJ used to bring out Sivan's(I think it is Sivan's-- I may be corrected if I am wrong!!) EEsane Inda Ezhaikkiranga Innum Thamadama in the sixties and the seventies--I am not sure if Vijaya Siva or other disciples of DKJ are carrying the guru's torch on these krithis. Point: Adherence to the lineage and krithi patterns may have inhibited artistes from singing songs that were not popularised by their guru--ofcourse there are exceptions--TNS for example has blazed new trails with his widened repertoire--not necessarily "hamstrung" by his Guru's (Sankara Sivam) tutelage. However some krithis do not take hold no matter how much "push" they get from leading artistes of the times--example-- SSI brought the Swathi Krithi--Sarojanabha dhayala in the late forties--sung in a few concerts,also had his contemporary Mayavaram Krishna Iyer (who was also a disciple of Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer) " cut" a gramophone record in the late forties and yet to my knowledge I doubt if it is sung beyond the"walls" of the Swathi Schools in Kerala.
I guess it is also a function of WHo brings the krithi out and who brings the raga bhavam fully--example Navarasakannada which was popular mostly thro the Ninnuvina --fast-paced tempo- in my humble opinion did not get much traction till Sivan's Nan Oru Vilayattu Bommayya and THAT TOO popularised by the forceful(Azhuttham style) of DKP/DKJ combine. On the other hand Thyagaraja's Paluku kanta was sung by the Musiri School,Poochi Iyengar's Nee Padamule(Ariyakudi), Swathi's Vande Sada Padmanabham(Swathi) by SSI and another Vasudevachar's kriti in Navarasa Kanada(sung by M.S.Sheela)--have not gained the same popularity despite efforts by musicians in their respective lineages -- whereas Nan Oru Vilayattu Bommaiya

has been widely sung.

This digression has nothing to with Sowrashtram--the topic of this thread--I admit. But I have tried to put a "Mudichu" between Motta Thalai(bald pate) and Muzhangal(foreleg)!!

[satyabalu]

*Here is the one I have cut&pasted from a similar thread.

lyrics for rAma gOviMdha-saurAshtram-Kanaka dasa

rAma gOviMdha-saurAshtram-Kanaka dasa

It contains the dasavathara of Lord Vishnu populairzed by Dr BMK

[rbharath]

a couple of elaborate renditions of saurAshTram that i can remember off the cuff...

Seerkazhi Sri Sivachidambaram sang 'srI gaNapatini' as a sub-main with a long alapanai and svarams, as a sub main at a concert in Music Club IIT Madras

Sri T M Krishna sang 'sUrya mUrtE' with an elaborate AlApanai and neraval, at a private chamber concert sometime back

[srikant1987]

I also recollect TMK's "aduvum solvAL" (padam in Adi by Subbarama Iyer) in a Tamil isai concert a little before the very same chamber concert.

[satyabalu]

There are over 450 kritis in this raga.

I think Thiagaraja is topping the list with 5+Sri Ganapathini +Utsava sampradayam :^)

[Lakshman]

Tyagaraja (18) is third on the list. Annamacharya (27), Purandaradasa (80), Vadirajasvami (13), Bhadrachala Ramdas and Kanakadasa (12), Narayana Tirtha (11), Arunachalakavi (15).

[satyabalu]

* Thanks ! That is Lakshman!