SIVAN SANGEETHA ANUBHAVAM- LEC DEM BY GAYATHRI GIRISH AND RADHA BHASKAR

[CRama]

As a part of the Anubhavam series of lec dems organised by Mudhra, the above programme was held in Infosys Hall, Ramakishna Mission School, Bazulla Road on 9 Jan 2016.

We, all the rasikas should appreciate the efforts taken by Mudhra in building up a knowledgeable rasika base who will be the core listeners group in the years to come. The present core group of rasikas for Carnatic concerts form the age group of 50+ and in about twenty years time, they may vanish from the concert halls due to age related problems. Here comes the question. Who will be rasikas when our present day young stars mature and become icons in the Carnatic Music field. With this purpose, Mudhra has been conducting Music Appreciation Programme which have been highly successful as I can see those people attending concerts in Mudhra regularly. This lec dem series is one more feather in the cap of Mudhra. The resource persons of the lec dems handled the sessions with their in depth knowledge, clarity of expression, good communication skills. The audience turnout was very good nearing 80-100 on any day which is quite high for any lec dem programme. The interactive sessions at the end with the participation of a high level of attendees prove that the participants did not stay passive, but took active interest in dwelling deep into many aspects of Carnatic music.

The success of the lec dem largely depends on the resource person handling the subject. Mudhra has chosen the most appropriate resource person for all the lec dems. For this lec dem, Both Radha Bhaskar and Gayathri Girish are the best available musicians who have, besides a very successful singing career, a research oriented mind to go and dive deep into any subject to bring out the rare pearls of information with minute details as they have proved many times in the past. The Music Appreciation Programmes and Raga Anubhavam series of Radha Bhaskar and the Myriad Forms of Siva series and various thematic concerts of Gayathri Girish have been welcomed and appreciated by connoisseurs of music and music students alike. They have done enough research on the compositions of Papanasam Sivan for presenting this lec dem as can be seen from the wide gamut of details presented.

The lec dem began with a rendition of Sri Vatapi Ganapatiye in the raga Sahana by Gayathri Girish.

Papanasam Sivan was a prolific composer in Tamil and Sanskrit and earned the name TAMIL TYAGAYYA. His compositions were soaked in Bhakthi bhavam and he used the music as a media to attain salvation. His compositions encompass all forms in Carnatic Music like Varnams, kritis, thillanas, viruthams etc.

VARNAMS- His varnams fall in the category of pada varnams and tana varnams. Gayathri Girish sang the pada varnam in Dhanyasi- Nee inda mayam which is composed on Lord Krishna. Other pada varnams are in the ragas Mayamalavagowla, Sreeranjini, Natakurinji etc. which are widely popular in dance programmes.

KRITIS- Papanasam Sivan composed his kritis largely on the structure adopted by the Trinity of Carnatic Music- Thyagaraja, Muthuswamy Deekshitar and Syama Sastry. However, whereas Tyagaraja and MD have infused their mudhras in all the songs, we can see some of Sivan’s songs do not contain his mudhra.

STRUCTURE - Sivan has composed all his songs in the Pallavi-Anupallavi-Charanam format. Tyagaraja had a great influence on Papanasam Sivan that he composed a few songs exactly on the tunes of Tyagaraja kritis. Instances as demonstrated by Radha Bhaskar.
Karunai seyvay (Sivan) - Raghunayaka (Tyagaraja)
Ninnarul iyambalagumo(Sivan)- Ninnu neranamminanura (Tyagaraja)

Some of the songs of Sivan have multiple charanams in the same tune as we can see in the Divyanama keerthanams of Tyagaraja. To cite an example Gayathri Girish rendered the song Thirupparam kundra vela in Hindolam which has three charanams in the same tune.
BHAVAM. Sivan’s compositions are highly bhava laden mostly bhakthi bhavam. But his songs display many other bhavams also as demonstrated by Gayathri Girish through the following songs.

Nayaki Nayaka bhavam. This can be seen in the varnams of Sivan. The last charanam of the Natakurinji varnam was sung by Gayathri Girish.
Thay- Sey bhavam.
In many kritis, PS like a child, pleads for the attention of the lord. Here he follows the theme of SS compositions.
Instances. Nee maravathennai aal jagadeesa ( Parvathi nayakane saranam-Shanmugapriya)
Karunanidhiye thaye- Bhowli

Thannirakka bhavam (Self despising mood) Instances are many
Polla puliyinum polla kodiyan bhuvi thanil en padaithay (Mayamalavagowla)
Piravamai azhikka - Pirava varam tharum, Maname kanamum maravathe

Saranagathi-Arul amudai paruga ammaa ammaa enru alaruvadai ketka anandama (Naan oru vilayattu bommaya)
Thava charanau saranam Chamundeswari Sankari- Thodi

Ninda stuti- Pichaikku vandeero kapali neere (Suruti). The charanam of this song was presented by Gayathri Girish

RAGANGAL- Following the footsteps of Tyagaraja and Deekshitar, Sivan also composed most of his songs on Rakthi ragams. Tyagaraja has composed 19 kritis in Thodi, about 30 kritis in Kharaharapriya, and 24 kritis in Kalyani. In apoorva ragams, he has composed only one kriti each. Sivan has showed diverging dimensions of the ragam in his numerous compositions in major ragams like Thodi.
Like Thyagaraja, Sivan also composed cascading sangathis in most of his kritis- Kundram kudi konda velava- Thodi on Thirupparamkunram Murugan was sung soulfully by Gayathri Girish.
Adum deivam arulvay- Kambodi- Radha Bhaskar pointed to the oscillations in the word Adum. An unconventional way of starting from Ni. This was demonstrated by Radha Bhaskar.

We may think that Thyagaraja has exhausted all possibilities of the ragam Kharaharapriya. But Sivan has composed many kritis in this ragam with various eduppus and showing different colours of the ragams and in various kalapramanams.

Senthil Andavan (GG)
Sreenivasa thava charanau – Roopakam 2 kalai. This has not been handled by Thyagaraja. (RB)
Illai enra sol onru mattum vendam Kashtangal ethanai nammai thulaitheduthalum Deivam illai enra- Adi Tisra nadai (GG) ( I am sure nobody would have heard this song)
Dayavillaya dayalo (RB)
Janakipathe (GG)
Appan avatharitha kathamrutham (GG)

Keeravani
Karunakarane Sivasankarane- Mostly meandering in the Adhara shadja (demonstrated by GG)
Devi Neeye tunai- Never touches Adhara shadja. (demonstrated by RB)

It may be seen that Sivan has given the key phrases of the ragams in the opening line itself to avoid any ambiguity in the ragams. Eg,
Malarinai thunaye- Reethigowla, (GG)
Kanthimathi annai nee gathi- Kanada, (RB)
Thiruvarul thantharulvay Devi- Begada, (GG)
Bhuvaneswari padam- Begada. (GG)
Chitham irangathenayya-Sahana (RB)
Saamikku sari evvare-Kedaragowla (GG) (To be continued)

[CRama]

Continued.
SWARAKSHARAM
Sivan had a great flair for swaraksharams. He has incorporated swaraksharams very intelligently in many of his compositions. Instances can be found in Maaramanan, Samaganalolane, Parvathi nayakane saranam, Sree Vallidevasenapathe, Mahalakshmi Jaganmatha. The relevant lines were demonstrated by RB.

RARE RAGAMS
Sivan also composed in many rare ragams not handled by the Trinity. Kannan Madhura idazhai adainthay in the ragam Bimplas was illustrated by GG. It is composed extolling on the divine flute of Kannan. Another case in point is Valaji- Padame thunai Paramasiva and this was illustrated by RB.

MADHYAMAKALA SAHITHYAM
Sivan has adopted the style of Deekshitar in some of his compositions by having Madhyamakala sahithyams. Eg. Sree Viswanatham bhajeham, Karpakame, The relevant lines were demonstrated by GG.

CHITTASWARAM
Sivan has composed chittaswarams for many of his songs. Eg, Maadayai ninaintharul- Vasantha. (GG)

SWARASAHITHYAM
Some of the songs of Sivan follow the Syama Sastri pattern of having Swara sahithyam. A very rare composition Samajavaragamana in Madhymavathy was sung by Gayathri Girish which had a very lilting swara sahithyam.

KALAPRAMANAM
Papanasam Sivan composed songs in varying kalapramanams in the same ragam.
These were alternately sung by RB and GG to show the differences.
Eg: Maaramanan- Vilamba kalam. Here he has adopted the kalapramanam of Neerajaakshi Kamakshi which itself is in Dhrupad pattern.
Samaganalolane-Madhyamakalam
Nambikettavar ever ayya- Drutha kalam.

VARYING EDUPPUS : These were demonstrated by RB.
Unnai allal- Kalyani –samam
Pirava varam tharum-arai edam
Sree Ganesa saranam- mukkal edam
Sree Madhava- Behag- one and half edam
Saravanabhava guhane- Madhyamavathy- Adi 2 kalai.
Sivakamasundari-Mukhari- Atheetham
Venkataramana- Roopakam
Sreenivasa thava charnam- Roopakam 2 kalai
Thanigai valar- Khanda chapu.
Mahalakshmi Jaganmatha- Misra Chapu
Chitham irangathenayya-Sahana- Misra chapu

SANSKRIT COMPOSITIONS
Sivan has composed nearly 55 kritis in Sanskrit. His Sanskrit is very simple for any one to follow. In these compositions he has maintained various types of prasams.
Anthyakshara prasam - Sarva jagan mangalakara deeksham Sakalmanujakula kripa kataksham. (Song. Sree Viswanatham bhajeham- Bhairavi)
Ramam bhajatha manuja- Sree Ragam
Dwitheeyakshara prasam - Thodi- Thava charanau mama saranam Chamundeswari Sankari
In some of the compositions Sanskrit and Tamil are seamlessly combined
Eg. Kamakshi Gowri – Saveri.

PATRIOTIC FLAVOUR
Being actively involved in the freedom movement, Sivan composed many songs which carried patriotic theme. Instances-
Paamaalai kkinayundo- Harikambodi
Jayabherigai Kottuvom- Kambodi. This song contains names of many national leaders.

THILLANAS
Sivan has composed many thillanas also. A thillana in Behag was song by Gayathri Girish.
They concluded with Sree Rama Jaya Mangalam, a mangalam composed by Sivan in the ragam Suruti.

It a highly entertaining and enlightening programme for we could hear numerable Sivan songs ( some fully and some partially) rendered very melodiously and with apt bhavam by two great singers – Radha Bhaskar and Gayathri Girish. They have done enough home work on the theme and brought to light many unheard songs of Papanasam Sivan. While concluding Radha Bhaskar said that rasikas will be able to enjoy the songs in a better manner if they know these intricacies behind the compositions. In the interactive session that followed, many of the attendees expressed their whole hearted appreciation of the programme while some of them got their doubts cleared. THANKS TO MUDHRA, RADHA BHASKAR AND GAYATHRI GIRISH for the wonderful and enlightening programme for two and half hours without a minute of boredom. Don’t miss the webcast when it comes.

[vilomachapu]

Thanks for the review. Raga Harikambhoji also received extensive treatment from Sivan.

[rajeshnat]

Thanks crama for your detailed review -looks like a well researched presentation by Radha bhaskar and Gayathri Girish.

[dhanurasi]

Two and half hours LecDem! It takes tremendous efforts to do such a program even when the subject is 'Papanasam Sivan'!

Kudos to the Vidushis!

[rshankar]

CRama - thank you for the review. Detailed as usual!!
Dr. Radha Bhaskar, was this recorded?

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Papanasam Sivan used the Mudra 'Raamadaasa' in most of his compositions.

[rshankar]

Papanasam Sivan used the Mudra 'Raamadaasa' in most of his compositions.

In some, not most, IIRC.

[thanjavooran]

CRama,
Many thanx for the excellent and detailed writeup.
With wishes,
Thanjavooran
13 01 2016

[kvchellappa]

These will be webcast in Paalam from Jan 17. Stay tuned to paalam.
CRama has raised the issue of future rasikas. I wonder whether they will have another CRama to bring out such scholarly reviews.

[CRama]

Papanasam Sivan has composed a kriti on the Trinity of CM. It is Sangeetha trimoorthiyai ppaninthu in ragam Kedaragowla. Gayathri Girish mentioned this in the lec dem. TRS has popularised this song.

One rasika asked - Athana is synonym with Veera rasam. But Sivan has composed the kriti Nee irangayenil pugalethu in Athana- pleading to Ambal. Radha Bhaskar replied that in this song Sivan is raising a question to Ambal- So he would have used this ragam. Any how, the sangeetham and sahithyam do blend well.

[paalam]

Thanks C Rama Sir for that detailed review. Really appreciate how intently you have listened and made the write up. As Chellappa sir has said, CRama's passion for music is reflected in his writings. Most people today do not care to gain knowledge about music and there are very few who can analyse well like CRama sir.

[CRama]

Sivaramakrishnan, Thanks for mentioning about the mudra used by Papanasam Sivan- Ramadasa. I forgot to mention in my report.