TAMIL VAGGEYAKARAS- THEMATIC CONCERT BY DR.RADHA BHASKAR AND TEAM

[CRama]

Dr. Radha Bhaskar and her team of musicians namely Aiswarya Sankar, K.P.Nandini and Deekshita Venkatraman accompanied by Melakkaveri Tyagarajan on the violin and Kaushik Balsubramaniam on the Mridangam presented the above thematic concert in the Infosys Hall, Bazulla Road under the aegis of MUDHRA on 14 Jan 2016. It was most appropriate to welcome Pongal with a concert of entire Tamil Composers from Thevaram period to contemporary composers. The songs were sung by the musicians alternatively with Dr.Radha Bhaskar giving a brief introduction about the composer and his important compositions.There were no manodharma elements like raga alapana, kalpanaswarams etc. List of songs.

Gananadhane gunabodhane- Saranga- Periaswami Thooran (KPN)
Sirai arum madakkiliye-Sudhasaveri- Sambandar Thevaram—(AS)
Oru pozhuthum iru charana- Chakravakam-Thirupugazh (RB)
Thoomani madathu- Thirupavai- Hameerkalyani- (DV)
Ramanukku mannan mudi- Hindolam- Arunachalakavi (DV)
Navasidhi petralum- Kharaharapriya- Neelakanta Sivan (KPN)
Maravathiru nenjame- Malayamarutham- Muthu Thandvar (AS)
Paarkka paarkka kidaikkumo undan paada darisanam- Harikambodi- GKB (RB)
Kadaikkan vaithennai aalamma- Begada –Ramaswami Sivan (KPN)
Pazhamo pazhamo pazham- Gowrimanohari-OVK (DV)
Sree Kamakshi kataakshi-Vasantha-Tiruvarur Ramaswami Pillai (RB)
Kumaran Taal paninthe thuthi-Yadukulakambodi-Papanasam Sivan (AS)
Hariharasuthane Ayyappa- Abhogi-Periaswamy Thooran (DV)
Mohanakumara Muthukmara-Neethimathi-Kotiswara Iyer (RB)
Paamaalai Soottiye padinen-Shanmugapriya- Tanjore Sankara Iyer (KPN)
Thillana- Sivaranjini-Lalgudi Jayaraman (KPN)
Manju nigar- Kavadichindu-Annamalai Reddiyar (AS)
Nalai varum enre nambalama-Chandrakauns- Madurai G.S.Mani (DV)
Arula vendum thaye-Saramathi- M.M.Dandapani Desigar (AS)
Azhaga azhaga-Sudhadhanyasi- Ambujam Krishna (DV)
Nenjukku neethiyum-Sindubhairavi-Bharathiyar (KPN)
((RB)- Dr. Radha Bhaskar, (AS)- Aiswarya Sankar, (KPN)- K.P.Nandini, (DV) Deekshita Venkatraman)

• Carnatic music is a very ancient art form. It has got references even in Tholkappiyam and Silappadikaram. From those ancient period, till date, many great poets and saints have enriched Carnatic Music with their unparalleled compositions. This thematic concert is an effort to present an over view of their contributions.

• Appar, Sambandar and Sundarar are called the Thevara moovar. Thirugnana sambandar has started composing songs right from his third year. He can be called as the world’s youngest composer. They lived between 6-9 century

• Then came the Alwars of Vaishnavaite tradition who composed works like Tiruppavai and Divya Prabandham.

• Arunachalakavirayar, Muthu Thandavar and Marimutha Pillai were called Tamil Trinity composers who lived before the period of Tyagarajar, Deekshitar and Syama Sastry. In fact, Muthu Thandavar is the first composer to compose in the Pallavi, Anupallavi and Charanam format. This was further developed by the Trinity of Carnatic Music. Muthu Thandavar was the first composer of padams and all his compositions were on Natarajar of Thillai. The famous padam Teruvil varano in Khamas is his composition.

• Tiruvarur Ramaswami Pillai is famous for his compositions which contain lot of swaraksharams. Dr. RB demonstrated the chittaswaram of Jagadeeswari in Mohanam which da is used as swaraksharam in many places. In the composition Sree Kamakshi Katakshi rendered by Dr.Radha Bhaskar, we could see the swaraksharam ma very intelligently woven in the kriti and chittaswaram.

• Koteeswara Iyer composed kritis in all the 72 melakarta ragams. Without his contributions, many melakartas will simply remain as a scale. Dr.S.Rajam took it as his life’s mission to popularise these compositions.

• Madurai G.S.Mani is a prolific composer besides a successful concert artist. Many people are not aware of his compositions.

Dr. Radha Bhaskar mentioned that all the composers could not be included for want of time. To name a few who were left out, Sudhananda Bharati, Mazhavai Chidambara Bharati, Kavi Kunjara Bharati, Mayuram Viswanatha Sastry, Vedanayakam Pillai, Kalki Krishnamurthy, D.Pattammal. padam composers like Ghanam Krishna Iyer, Vaitheeswarankoil Subbarama Iyer etc. This programme was for two hours and well attended. All the songs were sung by the musicians with full bhavam and dexterity. The singers should be applauded for singing all the songs without any reference of book or ipad. This programme gave an opportunity to hear many unheard compositions like Paarkka paarkka.

The accompanists provided very good support and played with good level of understanding.

Thanks to Mudhra and the team of musicians.

[rshankar]

Dr. Radha Bhaskar - first off, congratulations on a beautiful program. Was it recorded?
CRama - as usual, thank you for your comprehensive reviews!

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Thanks Mudhra for the valuable theme and CRama for reporting a fund of information!

[HarishankarK]

Very good mix of rare and popular compositions.
Can we say that the composers list is exhaustive though only Vedanayakam Pillai is missing?

[pvs]

...though only Vedanayakam Pillai is missing?

and Suddhananda Bharathi?

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Another event with 'still later period composers' will be most welcome.

[MaheshS]

Another event with 'still later period composers' will be most welcome.

Who else would you like? Names and songs please.

[kvchellappa]

MDR, GNB, Ravikiran, there are more names.

[Ponbhairavi]

May be there is enough material to do it in two sessions : before 20th century and 2oth century.
and then if presented chronologically, may be we can see if there is any pattern in evolution.

[radha bhaskar]

MDR, GNB, Ravikiran, there are more names.

Sir, we had all these composers in our list as well as trs, rukmini ramani, suguna purushothaman but had to cut short due to the time factor.

[HarishankarK]

May be there is enough material to do it in two sessions : before 20th century and 2oth century.
and then if presented chronologically, may be we can see if there is any pattern in evolution.

Sounds very interesting.

[CRama]

Radha Bhaskar Madam, You can do another programme titled POST TRINITY TAMIL COMPOSERS.