concert at the Music academy on 25-12-2006
The concert started with the Malahari geetham 'lambodharalakumikara,' which came as a surprise to those who had not looked up the programme book but not for the rasikas of TNS who have heard him sing that before.It was an example to show how even the beginner's lesson which has been made threadbare by now can be transformed into a thing of beauty at the hand of the maestro of music.The Mohanavarnam came next followed by the sriraga pancharathna of Thyagaraja.
The panthuvarali that followed had the unmistakable stamp of the creative genius and was delectable to the rasikas as ever. The krthi was 'ramanatham bajeham,' which was a little surprise for those who were expecting 'apparamabahkthi or 'sarasaksha,' and the svasra was sung at 'kumaraguruguha' The panthuvarali from TNS is always a rasika's delight and this was no exception.
The next was a krthi of swatitirunal 'palaya mam,' in Nayaki, not frequently heard, followed by the Annamyya krthi 'Namoralakimpave ' in yadhukulakambodhi.What succeded this was a beautiful deliniation of Lalitha and the krthi 'nannubrovu' of Shyamasasthri. After this was a krthi of cheyyur chengalvaraya sasthri 'emamma vinave ' in suruti.
In a banquet noramally the dessert will be the most deliciuos . Likewise in this musical banquet the RTP which formed the tail part of the concert was the most fabulous and was acclaimed by one and all . It was a rare treat indeed not heard for so many years and in such a manner. It was the four raga pallvi of yore worded as 'sankarabharananai azaitthOdic vaadi kalyani darbarukke,' comprising of shankarabharanam, thodi , kalyani and durbar.The way TNS sang this proved that he is the emperor of ragas.The ragas sung in quick succession backwards and forwards in short phrases was astounding and he was like an elephant playing in the raga(coloured) waters splashing the ragas around which was like frolic during holi and which set the stage for what was to follow, that is, the sloka on Rasakreeda, 'sayankale.' There were more ragas and ragas in 'sayankale,' .a spectrum of colours (ragas). One could count as many as 20 ragas in the piece as a whole and in the phrase 'navarasabharithaih' alone.there were 16. He ended the sloka with sindhubahairavi and sang a thillana in sindhubaiaravi and mangalam, when the audience gave him standing ovation. The accompaniists were his seasoned partners in music, M.chandrasekharan and Guruvayur Dorai whose participation added to the richness of the music.
Concert on 26-12-2006 at Thyagabrahmaganasabha -vanimahal
Begada varnam marked the beginning of the concert and it was followed by 'ramaninneganinannu' of Thyagaraja in Huseni. with neraval svara at 'rajarajavandhitha.' Next was Hameerkalyani aleways 'ameer ' (rich) kalyani when TNS sings it, the krthi was 'venakatasaila ' of Dikshithar. As a contrast to this mellifluous krthi the next was 'paridhanamicchithe' in Bilahari by Patnam Subramania ayyar. The svara to this racy krthi was something stupendous and was real bilahari, that is , a lion from its den, 'bilaath hari.' The oothukkadu krthi 'needhaan mecchikkolla' in sriranjani followed this and the main raga was sankarabharanam, with the krthi 'sahajagunarama' of Mutthiah bhagavathar, the neraval svara sung at 'parambhakthudaina.' The sankarabharanam had all the usual grandeur and the concert ended with a bajan 'thoo dhayalu ' of Tulsidas and 'saramaina' a jaavali by Swathithirunal.
27-12-2006- Lecture demonstration on Mutthaiah bhagavathar
TNS was showing his superb mastery over any subject he handles and his sincerity and involvement during the morning session of the Music academy in his speech rounding off the days proceedings and the hall in the mornings were overflowing with rasikas who came especially to hear him speak.His own lec/dem found the hall crammed with people many of them standing through the whole programme.
Vardarajan and Velore Ramabadran were accompanying TNS on this programme. He said that to speak about the great musicians like Mutthiah bhagavathar within the time span allotted is like trying to cram the ocean into a small pot.
Muthiah bhagavathar came in a guruparampara of vaggeyakaras as his guru was Patnam Subramania ayyar. He was a verstile artiste having many faces, doing harikatha, Namasankirthanam, as a musician and a composer etc. TNS described his history shortly as being influenced by his uncle,Lakshmansuri a great scholar, and having had his addhyayanapata at the age of ten but that he was more interested in music. He first sang through listening only and later did nadhopasana for ten years as the disciple of Patnam Subramania Ayyar.
Muthiah bhagavathr could sing in three different voices. TNS said that in those days there was no mike facility available and musicians had to sing in full throated voice and quipped that what they had was no saarira for the mike but a mayakku saarira..One could not whisper secrets with the mike , he said. Muthiah Bhagavathar went to Thanjavur and had training in harikatha with Abraham Pandithar. He included all sorts of compositions in his harikatha. like kavadi chindhu. Here TNS sang the piece 'moosivandu ' in the manner of the great giant with the two ragas mohanam and mukhari in the phrase 'mohanamukhari ragam padudhe,' to the delight of the audience.
TNS mentioned that the note Maurai Mani Iyer used to sing was composed by Muthiah Bhagavathar. At this instance he praised Mani iyer as a nadhayogi, a super star who used to sing with svarasuddham and sruthi suddham.
Everybody knows that Muthiah bhagavathar composed krthis in new ragas and TNS said that he was able to do so only because he mastered what was already there and said that anyone who wants to do something new should first know the existing material well. Not only that, he was eager to learn anything new no matter who did it, let it be music or anyhing else and was the first to praise when he came across anything good.He was generous not only in giving away gifts but also in praise which ,TNS said is a rare thing to see especially in the society of musicians.At this juncture we cannot help the thought that TNS himself has been following his guruparampara not only in musical tradition but also in his broadmindedness in commending talent where it is due.
The kadhanakuthoohalam krthi of Patnam Subramania Iyer 'raghuvamsa sudha ' starts from the lower shadjam while Muthiah Bhagavathar composed his krithi 'giripriyam gangadharam' from the higher shadjam and TNS said that may be he thought that it should be so since Lord Siva is up in the mount Kailas! The chittasvaram of the krthi is described by TNS as 'kaalatthai venra chittasvaram.'
The raga Hamsanadham was handled by Muthiah bhagavathar differently according to the old sampradhaya as the janya of Neethimathi. TNS has sung this krthi as such in his concerts.TNS insisted that sampradhaya should not be changed to suit our facility and made into sowkaryasampradhaya. He defined sampradhaya as the powerful research done over the decades or centuries and which stays and will stay and it is the responsibilty of the vidvans to preserve it.
TNS demonstrated the svaraksharavarnam of Muthiah hbagavathar in suddhadhanyasi and displayed the aesthetics of the vadi samvadi svara combination. The mohana varnam 'Manamohana' was composed on the Ramanatha Sethupathy and contains the svarakshara sa haja dha dha, ga ri dha, pa ri dha etc as though asking the king to give horse etc calling him a natural benefactor. The dharu varnam of Muthiah bhagavathar is well known and has been sung by TNS beautifully in his concerts.The speciality of that is pointed out by TNS as containing chittasvaram with solkattu and sahithyam.
Muthiah bhagavathar, said TNS, became a full fledged composer only after he started enjoying the patronage of the king of Mysore. He established his composership there in front of the galaxy of vidvans of the samasthatna of Mysore.
As it is the usual hazard of the musicians who sing in a fullthroated voice .Muthiah bhagavar had trouble with his voice on his first performance in Mysore and he was not acclaimed.as he deserved and he felt that it was due to his forgetting the Devi, whom he propitiated through srividhya upasana during the time his voice was affected at the age of 35 or so and got it back, from then onwards becoming a staunch Devi upasaka. Immediately he went to Chamundi hills and composed and sang the krthi 'maanamukaavalanu thalli' in sahana which starts unusually in madhayamam. The king of Mysore who came there heard him and understood his worth and therafter held him in high esteem.
TNS said that the raga Hamsanandhi, founded by Ramadikshithar was popularised only after Muthiah bhagavathar. The raga Karnaranjani is one of those founded by Muthiahbhagavathar in which he has composed the krthi 'Vaanchathonunaa' for which TNS has composed the chittasvara on the command of his guru Ramanathapuram Sankarasivam, one of the foremost sishyas of Muthiahbhagavathar. This krthi as many others in rare ragas by Muthiahbhagavathar has been popularised by TNS, none the less by his famous chittasvaram, which has always been a listener"s choice in his concerts.Another one for which TNS has composed a skilful chittasvaram is the krthi 'saravanabhava' in Pasupathipriya.
TNS said that we owe it to Muthiah bhagavathar that we have so many swathithirunal krthis because he collected and presented them. Then TNS sang his own composition in kapi raga with the words ' raga brhmamaanaar harikesanadhabrhmam,' in which he has included the names of almost all the ragas composed and popularised by Muthiah bhagavathar. Then he demonstrated the raga niroshta in which Muthiah bhagavathar has composed the krthi 'rajarajaradhithe' and on public demand he also sang the thillana he himself has composed in Niroshta.
TNS further said that Muthiah bhagavathar was familiar with many north Indian ragas which were popular in Mysore and composed a thillana in hamsanandhi for the sake of the kathak dancers who were there at that time . TNS also demonstrated beautifuly how the thillana was suited to dance, to the delight of the rasikas.
After mentioning and singing a little of the other compositions of Muthiah bhagavathar, his pithamahaguru, like 'andavan darisaname , mavoor valam peruga, moovasai' etc he concluded the lecdem which went on for longer than the time allotted for whcih everyone felt happy and never wanted him to finish it. With his eloquence, humour and wonderful music he made the programme a memorable one and nobody noticed the time till he finished.As Sri V.S.sundaram pointed out he proved himself to be a complete vidvan.
concerts of TNSeshagopalanon 25th26th and lecdem on 27th DEC
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rajeshnat
- Posts: 10121
- Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04
Very good review of HMB lecdem.Are you sure TNS mentioned HMB was the sishya of Patnam .May be shri TNS slipped or you may have slipped with details. Can you reclarify??.sarojram18 wrote:Muthiah bhagavathar came in a guruparampara of vaggeyakaras as his guru was Patnam Subramania ayyar.
HMB learnt under M.Lakshamana Suri and settled down at Harikesanallur.Music had such a powerful attraction for him that he became the Shishya of Sambasiva Iyer of Thiruvayur and of the Tyagaraja Shishya Parampara. Sambasiva Iyer and his son T.S.Sabesa Iyer not only taught him gitams, Varnams,Kirtanas but also lakshana gitams and Prabhandhams of Venkatamakhi.
source : http://www.geocities.com/harikesa/
Last edited by rajeshnat on 05 Jan 2007, 16:08, edited 1 time in total.