lyrics- consciousness while rendering different items

kalluri satya rama prasad · Post by **kalluri satya rama prasad** » 31 Jul 2008, 18:37

As a person who made a literary explanation of 333 songs of tyaagaraaja in the book 'tyaagaraajakeertanaamritam' in telugu in 2005, I shall be too glad to share the meanings of different words used by tyaagaraaja. Unfortunately most of our telugus do not care much for karnnatik music, though most of the songs were made in telugu! I found that many singers of other languages are not aware of the importance of the words they pronounce while singing. Unfortunately there are not many people to guide them.

Few examples -

1)'brochevaa' - by itself does not carry any meaning. 'brochevaarevaru' (who is the protector?) would be the correct wording.
2) karaharapriya - It is 'Kharaharapriya', meaning 'dear to Raama, viz. the killer of Khara (a demon)
3) 'maanasavaracharavarasaMchaaramu salipi' instead of 'maanasavaracharavarasaMchaaramu nilipi'. The former means 'allowing the mind to waver', whereas the latter means 'arresting the movement of the mind'.
4) 'enta taaginaado?' instead of 'endu daaginaado?' . The former means ' How much he is drunk!' , whereas the latter means ' Where has He hidden Himself?'

This is not to blame/belittle anybody.

Each song of the musical trinity contains 'dhaatu (musical portion) and 'maatu (lyrical portion'. Each of these songs is a happy blend of both. One complements the other. If one gives undue importance to one at the cost of the other, there can be no 'rasasiddhi' (attainment of the intended mood/rasa).

Pl. do not take it as a challenge, but as a request to give me an opportunity to discuss about the lyrics, as I have done some basic work on the aspect of the lyrical/poetic beauty of many songs.

Regards to all,

Satya Rama Prasad Kalluri
[email protected]

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 31 Jul 2008, 20:46

Thank you for your post, SRPK--and please continue to post.
CM compositions are language rich. Not all singers speak those languages. Even the ones in their native language pose a problem. The spoken parlance of today is basic and is spiced with english words. Even the easiest of compositions contain a few literary (or at least, composition oriented words). So, anything which enhances the singer's understanding is welcome.
The'lyric requests' wing of the rasikAs is always buzzing. Thanks to Lakshman, rshankar (who is good at several languages) and others who help out. rigapada helps out with telugu lyrics among others. VGV is a great contributer to the forum when it comes to TyagarAjA.
'rasa siddhi' is enhanced by understanding more words and the emotional content of a song. TyAgarAjA tops the list when you think of the number of songs we hear in a CM concert.
As you say, dhAtu and mAtu well balanced in a song is a treat to listen to...

srikant1987 · Post by **srikant1987** » 31 Jul 2008, 23:23

'enta taaginaado?' instead of 'endu daaginaado?'

Won't sandhi turn the t into d? Like cUpu becomes jUpu in OrajUpu cUSEdi nyAyamA? When does and when doesn't the sandhi apply? Is it just intuitive to Telugu speakers? (But afai have noticed, Telugu speakers don't combine and "voice" the initial consonant when speaking casually. Voicing means turning c into j, k into g, t into d etc.)