A beautiful composition of Sri N.Ch. Krishnamacharlu in Vasantha Ragam is available in sangeethapriya. The singer (Dr. N.C. Rangacharlu seems to be from the same family)
shadjam: Thank you for the song and info on the composer. mahArAjapuram ShrInivAsan and his son rendered it in his concert for Margazhi Maha Utsavam just this last year. IINM, "mAra jananIM" in nATakapriyA is another intersting piece by this composer with yati patterns.
I think TVS has sung this in a concert (available in a cassette) and Malladi brothers sing this frequently. I haven't heard anyone singing the natakapriya song in any concerts or cassettes. Are there any other songs of this composer sung in the concerts?
Here is a brief article about this vidwan from kutcheri buzz.
Born in 1924 in Jaggayyapeta, Krishna district in Andhra Pradesh, Nallan Chakravarthulu learnt his initial lessons from Chilakamarri Kesavacharyulu. He had his advanced training under Parupalli Ramakrishnaiah Pantulu Garu, well known classical musician of those times. Pantulu Garu also happens to be the guru of vetaran musician Mangalampalli Balamurali Krishna.
N. Ch. Krishnamacharyulu decided to stay at Vijayawada, where the patronage was confined only to local borders. Krishnamacharyulu served as station artiste in All India Radio, Vijayawada from 1948 to 1983.
He was the recipient of several titles including the Ganakala Prapurna from Andhra Pradesh Sangeetha Academy. He was awarded "Visishta Vyakthi" puraskar by Akasavani on its Golden Jubilee. He received the Vaggeyakara Award from The Music Academy, Chennai in 2005.
He was well versed in Telugu, Tamil and Sanskrit. He was also well-known for his 'Harikathas'
Krishnamacharyuly had written many book sin Telugu and Sanskrit. His writings include Thyagaraja Charitam, Thyagaraja Ashtottaram, Sampradaya Vangmaya Sourabham and a book of his own kritis Krishnamacharya Sangeetha Kruthulu among others.
In sanskrit he wrote Ramayana kathaayaam vyapadesaah, a drama - Mrita Sanjeevanam, Sathagopa Charitam and Nouka Charitam
His disciples include well settled vidwans like T. K. V. Ramanujacharyulu of All India Radio, Trichy and up coming artistes like T. K. Saroja and T. K. Sujatha (Popularly known as T. K. Sisters of Vijayawada).
Can the mods please change the title to N.Ch from N.C.H since 'Ch' seems to stand for Chakravarthi (Chakravarthulu)? It was a mistake on my part. Thanks.
Last edited by shadjam on 13 Aug 2007, 09:38, edited 1 time in total.
Sri N.Ch.K has composed many krithis .. I had the bhagyam of learning his Hemavathy krithi "Ni pada saarasamu' from him directly. He has composed many krithis .. I have learnt: Gowri Sukumari - Vasantha, Ehi sannidehi - Huseni, Marajananim - Nataka Priya, Sharanamemi - saranga, Gajavadanam - Kedaram, Sri kanaka durge - Kalyani, Tillana in Atana, Paramarthamide - Keeravani, Namanarayana - Namanarayani. All the compositions are gems!!
Sri Oleti Venkateswarulu would occasionally sing Gauri Sukumari. It seemed to be very complex.
Prasanna, please also tell us about the unique elements of his songs.
Sure, I think I have Sri Kanaka Durge and Gowri SUkumari in Mp3 format. Shall check and upload the same.
Sri N.Ch. K's krithis are certainly not complex. He is a great sanskrit scholar which is reflected in each of his compositions. I think he didn't want to use any mudra, but in Sharanamemi - Saranga he used "KrishnamArya" as his mudra. Patterns of swaras and respective sahitya is the uniqueness of his compositions. The madhyma kala sahityams in his compositions are noteworthy. For example, Sri kanaka durge madhyama kalam goes like this - the word gaja repeats in all the lines with different contexts:
Also waiting patiently for the tracks. Prasanna: does the aThANA tillAna's starting go like:" tOm thru dhImta taraNa dhiranA?" It has the word "kr.shNa" in the sAhitya.
Also in the nATakapriya piece, he has cleverly used the yati pattern in the pallavi.
Atana Tillalana starts with "tom ta dhim ta dhru dhru tillanana - udara taani"
I believe Sudha Raghunathan sang Marajananim in one of her Academy concerts and the live recording was also released by AVM. Lalgudi Sri Jayaraman played Marajananim in 1983 (I think) Sangeet Sammelan @ Kolkata, which again was released a a CD / Tape.
kmrasika, YAti pattern has been handled in the Madyamakala sahityam in Marajananim (not in the pallavi) - the sahityam goes like:
vasumahitAm
sumahitAm
mahitAm
hitAm
tAm (mArajanaIm)
hai n c madhav staff artist Violin A I R tirruchi, Desciple of Nch Krishnamacharyulu,WE R Nallan chakravarthy only. Generations back Hailed from Kumbhakonam<Now settled in andhra
srinivasrgvn wrote:Who is this mysterious Nallan Chakravarthy?
Somebody, please throw light on this!
Nallan Chakravarthy was a devout vaishnavite brahmin. Once he saw a dead body floating in the river and it had srichurnam on the forehead and in other places of the body. Chakravarthi decided and performed the last rites because of his conviction that the dead person was a viashnavite despite the objections raised by his clan. This revolutionary act those times was appreciated by the society and he was called 'nallan' and his descendents were called after this name. One of the famous descendents in this tree is the famous C.Rajagopalachari (Rajaji)
May be you can upload some of the recordings of these great compositions for us. I have a collection of three songs sung by Sri Bucchayyaacharyuku (NchK's son and violinist-lecturer at Hyderabad Music college) at the request of my father, but I am not sure if I can upload them without his consent. I learnt all three of them from that recording and they are real gems !!!
IMHO, compositions of Sri Krishnamacharyulu have the same stature as Muttuswami Deekshitar's, but for the 'Guruguha' mudra.