I am ASTOUNDED that we are yet to open a thread on Veenai Kuppaiyar!
I would like someone (such as Lakshman ) to please list out his compositions -- especially the kritis, since a reasonable number of his varnams are in circulation. I only know of koniyADina nApai, but that alone establishes him as no ordinary composer of kritis. And is vinAyaka ninnu vina really his? It's also attributed to Pallavi Gopala Iyer.
*Lakshman! you have kindled the interest in Veenkuppier compositions by giving an exhaustive list with mostly unheard nos.
*How about giving a link from the albums by uploading ;or you can give a lecdem/presentation on his kritis.I am prepared to join you for the Begada varnam &Namoralakimchi nanubrovavamma -Dhanyasi .
*Why these are not popularised? Are they difficult?
The following songs of kuppayar have some currency -
1. kOniyAdina nApai, the kAmbhOji masterpiece from the kAlahasti pancaratnam
2. Mammu brocupatla - simhendramadhyama, from the venkateswara pancaratnam; which is sung by Smt. vEdavalli, her students and Smt. Prema rangarajan.
3. intaparAkElanamma- bEgaDa, sung at mysUr on chAmuNDEshwari, know to several old timers, sung by very few now. Prof. SRJ surely konws it.
4. paradEvi in surati, was know to rAmnAD sankarasivam, and has since evaporated.
5. B.S.Rajiyengar gave a record of the kAnaDa piece jagadabhirAma.
6. DKP and RKS have sung the anandabhairavi song kanikaramulEka.
7. KannataNDRi in kuntalavarALi is very popular, and is sung by contemporary singers.
8. nA morAlaginci in dhanyAsi, is more popular among mysore old timers.
9. bAgumIraga in Sankarabharanam is also from the venkateswara pancaratnam, and was sung by many artistes including MLV.
There are the popular, the borderline known and the near-unknown varNam-s of kuppayyar - Anandabhairavi, begaDa and rItigaula being former category;nArAyanagaula and dhanyAsi the second, mOhana AtatAla varnam (SRJ) varALi and vasanta AtatAla varnams (T.Brinda) are the last category.
He has collosal and enchanting varnams in nAta and baUli - both stava varNams in praise of deities, full of the most charming phrases that only a vainika-gAyaka could envision.
It is fortunate that kuppayyar's songs were recorded in notation and printed by his son tiruvotriyur tyAgayyar, who taught many of them to dhanammal. kuppayar's compositions are all of excellent lyrical and musical quality. Also, the fidelity of transmission can be trusted, since they were notated by his son and disciple (TT).
His two pancaratnams, especuially, demonstrate great musical maturity; and grasp of rAgalakshya. His sAma piece give us an idea of the rAga treatment that he learnt; which is closer to the vEnkaTamakhin variant of the rAga; and is evidence of how we are moving farther and farther away form classical rAga-lakshaNa-s.
Nice job Keerthi!! FYI. Item#8--Bagumeera in Sankarabharanam was first popularised by Semmangudi Mama in the late forties. The song itself for a Gana Raga in my opinion was not much to note but when Mama sang the neraval in Neelavanyamu t was pure ecstacy.I learnt it from my aunt when I was 12 years old and I still remember the lyrics(now I have trouble remembering my wife's birthday!!!) .
Veenai Kuppier was one of the most famous and dedicated disciples of Saint T and was influential in getting the Saint to travel to Tirupati and Madras.
He was also called narayanagowla Kuppier for his felicity in handling the raga.
Thank you so much Lakshman! I feel sure you've got magical powers -- just HOW do you do this?!
Thank you, Keerthi, too, for listing those kritis which are in circulation separately -- we know which ones to hunt for first! Also thanks for your critique of the great composer's style.
I didn't know he was called Narayanagowlai Kuppaiyar! But after the varNam "maguva ninnE kOri", it's not surprising!
About lakshman, srikant1987 has already answered his own query - he has magical powers! Just wanted to check that (g) in his list stands for gitam (?) and (tv) for tana varnam. Surely none of VK's compositions are fit for television! Also just wanted to check whether the capital U in kUppier in lakshman's listing was a typo?
Agree with srikant1987 that one koniyadina makes this man worthy of discussion. When keerthi says that it is 'in currency', I must say that I have still not heard it sung it live by anyone in a concert. But among contemporary musicians, Sanjay does sing it, and I do know a couple of concert-worthy people who know the song. So I agree that it is very much alive.
Just to take off tangentially for a minute, I did not know that this man Tiruvotriyur Tyagayyar was VK's son. I knew of such a person, but more importantly, there is this intriguing Athana song Tiruvotriyur Tyagarajan (classified as a padam, but more like a javali, if you ask me). My memories of it are far off but distinct, since I have heard Aruna Sairam sing it a couple of times in the good old days. I believe it is a composition of Ghanam Krishnaiyer. (How does one spell all these names, even VK has got three floating around in this topic itself!). That song was interesting as it seemed to talk directly about a person, like calling out the address on an envelope! Any connection between the man and the song?
Returning to VK, I too will look out for more songs - the varnams, at least the first five on keerthi's list - are firmly in place in our lexicon at least in our lifetimes.
kOniyAdina is sung by ramA ravi on a commercial recording. T.Viswa has a lovely recording too. I have heard it by the malladi duo and several old Mysore people.
tiruvotriur tyAgarAjan chidvilAsaraDi is a padam referring to the deity tyAgarAja at the shrine in tiruvotriyur.
Tiruvottriyur tyAgayyar was his father's student and amanuensis; assiduously noting, and notating down his father's compositions. [vide my earlier post]. tyAgayyar used to visit dhanam's house in his old age, and taught her a large number of his fathers varnam-s and also a few of his own, and especially told her to add polish to his varnams; which she did.
Dhanam was indeed a dhanam - a treasure of compositions, and her children - Lakshmiratnam, Chinnakutty, Jayamma and kAmAkshi learnt from her.
DhanammAL's grandchildren - specifically Bala, Mukta, Brinda and Vishwa learnt a sizeable chunk of the Kuppayar 'dhanam' and kept it alive in their musical career.
There are countless people who learnt from one or the other of these people; only to later forget those songs, or to sing them in styles that mangled the pAThAntara-s beyond recognition.
Many contemporary musicians lay claim to having been taught by Viswa, Mukta or Brinda - All of these represent a parampara, for what it is worth.
If your question is regarding A parampara of tyAgarAja's compositions through Kuppayar; I am not aware of a disciplic tradition.
In the last couple of days I have heard AIR refer to him as Vinay Kuppier
Apart from the other hilarious ones
Tyagaraja beseeching Lard ....
Violin being spoken of as Voilin - ....
Pratyaksham Bala wrote:What is the meaning of 'Kuppuswamy'? Kuppan, Kuppammal and Kuppuswamy are familiar names in Tamil Nadu.
In Tamil, 'kuppai' means 'garbage'. When a child is born after much prayer and penances, it is named like that in order to obviate evil eye. There is a similar usage 'maNNangaTTi' --meaning 'clump of earth'.
Lakshman wrote:The book is called Pallavi Swara Kalpavalli.
I am going to buy this book!
vgovindan wrote:In Tamil, 'kuppai' means 'garbage'. When a child is born after much prayer and penances, it is named like that in order to obviate evil eye.
Oh, I'd been wondering about that too -- it's particularly blatant in Kuppaiyar, in fact.
When a couple get a child many years after marriage, they consider it as a 'bikshai' given by God, and name it as 'Pichai'.
As for Kuppai, I come across one more reasoning. When a couple lose their children one after another, they name the next child as 'Kuppai' so that Yama would consider that it is not worthwhile taking its life!
When a couple have a number of children, they give exotic names to the next child. I have come across kids with names 'Ini Podum' and 'Anavasiyam'!
When a couple have a number of children, they give exotic names to the next child. I have come across kids with names 'Ini Podum' and 'Anavasiyam'!
What's more the persons thus named do not seem to suffer from teasing, which is very admirable. I have not encountered a person named these exotics but I can easily imagine "anAvassiyam iyer" -- the name rolls off the tongue nicely.
On related note, this is a pan-Indian phenomenon. I have seen persons from more northern points with similar names.
As for Kuppai, I come across one more reasoning. When a couple lose their children one after another, they name the next child as 'Kuppai' so that Yama would consider that it is not worthwhile taking its life!
Very True
In Karnataka we have Kallappa , Gundappa for the same reasons ( Kallu - stone - strong as stone - ...)
Veena Kuppayyar was a famous vainika (veena player), disciple of Shri Thyagaraja and a composer of merit.
Veena Kuppayyar was born into a musical family in Tiruvottiyur. His father Sambamoorti Sastri was a famous vocalist and a veena player. Kuppayyar had his initial training from his father. Later he became a disciple of Thyagaraja and learnt composing from him. He was also a Sanskrit and Telugu scholar. He also learnt violin, which was a new instrument in Carnatic music at the time. But, it was for his profiency in Veena that Kuppayyar came to be well known and veena became a part of his name too.
narayan wrote:
Agree with srikant1987 that one koniyadina makes this man worthy of discussion.
I have heard koniyADina from Aruna Sairam via her album titled "kAmbhOji", a very enjoyable piece.
Can anyone comment on what makes the song melodically unique among the myriad compositions in the ragam? My first take is the leading phrase 'koniyAdina" itself -- I have not heard the phrase PMG,RG,RS, as a lead off in this ragam, especially the RG,RS in isolation, though it does appear commonly inside larger patterns.
Also I would like to hear a discussion about this composer's unique take on common ragams in general. I see the mention of a unique treatment of sAmA -- I am curious to know what exactly that is.
that we are yet to open a thread on Veenai Kuppaiyar!
) to please list out his compositions -- especially the kritis, since a reasonable number of his varnams are in circulation. I only know of koniyADina nApai, but that alone establishes him as no ordinary composer of kritis. And is vinAyaka ninnu vina really his? It's also attributed to Pallavi Gopala Iyer.
