Thyagaraja Aradhana at Tiruvaiyaru -2007

meena · Post by **meena** » 15 Dec 2006, 05:26

The annual aradhana at Tiruvaiyaru will be held from Jan. 4 to 9, 2007.

meena · Post by **meena** » 11 Jan 2007, 06:36

Deleted

ramakriya · Post by **ramakriya** » 11 Jan 2007, 07:20

Who is the singer singing bAgAyanayya?

-Ramakriya

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 11 Jan 2007, 07:31

Manimaran

a fine singer........

Suji Ram · Post by **Suji Ram** » 11 Jan 2007, 14:32

Thanks meena for the link.

meena · Post by **meena** » 11 Jan 2007, 23:59

ur welcome suji

chalanata · Post by **chalanata** » 12 Jan 2007, 13:18

rendering of the pancharatna has been commented upon very uncharitably elsewhere. any reactions from our rasikas who had the occasion to witness the live homage?

Sam Swaminathan · Post by **Sam Swaminathan** » 12 Jan 2007, 15:45

I happen to listen to this thread of Pancharatna rendering just for a few minutes. Chalanata's question "witness the live homage" should have been worded "live damage". Disgusting !

saranga · Post by **saranga** » 12 Jan 2007, 17:11

It was a cacophony with no sruthi alignment whatsoever. A few heavily made up ladies hogged the main mikes. There were no senior male vidwans around barring the mridangam legend UKS. And the saving grace-- the crisp introduction by fast rising star Gayathri Venkatraghavan. One did not see her amongst the singers however.

jayaram · Post by **jayaram** » 12 Jan 2007, 17:43

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 12 Jan 2007, 18:56

Sam Swaminathan wrote:I happen to listen to this thread of Pancharatna rendering just for a few minutes. Chalanata's question "witness the live homage" should have been worded "live damage". Disgusting !

Could not agree more - especially, the first few minutes were exquisite, (or should I say divine?) torture - there were a few people (one was a woman) near mikes who were 'singing to a different drummer' is all I can say! They did get somewhat better as time went on - but this ArAdhanA was no where near the tracks from ArAdhanAs past posted here and elsewhere. I wonder if those musicians actually practiced singing together before they sang in the sannidhi...

jampathe · Post by **jampathe** » 12 Jan 2007, 20:36

rshankar wrote:I wonder if those musicians actually practiced singing together before they sang in the sannidhi...

Fat chance of that! I do not know about this year, but couple of years back when I made the trip, the singers were made to stand in queue for a long time along with a horde of militant mamis, before being let into the enclosure. Even seniors like aruna sairam were seen remonstrating with the police! As for the mikes, only a few of the mikes are apparently fed into DD telecast.

This year on TV, it sounded like the sruti was set at male level, when there were hardly enough voices. At least sudha raghunathan used to be audible in previous telecasts. This time, I heard her only during the first line of jagadanandakaraka.

Radhakrishnan · Post by **Radhakrishnan** » 12 Jan 2007, 20:56

Vairamangalam was a regular performer at Thiruvaiyaru for the utsavam with his guru TKR,but later,stopped going there for obvious reasons,he preferred to be at vidwat samajam,mylapore(they conduct the utsavam the same bahula panchami day,as in Thiruvaiyaru)in fact many musicians like BMK,KVN,MSG,Bombay sisters come there. The pancharatna alapana used to be cordial and harmonious,no TV coverage,no announcements, no banners, no protests, no security problemsâ€¦.even the feast used to be delicious.
But Vairam used to mention about akhandam at Thiruvaiyaru on siva rathri,when many musicians come and sing.

MaheshS · Post by **MaheshS** » 12 Jan 2007, 21:07

Radhakrishnan wrote:.
But Vairam used to mention about akhandam at Thiruvaiyaru on siva rathri,when many musicians come and sing.

I was there for the Sivarathiri agandam once! Went with Neyveli Santhanagopalan and it was brilliant. There were about 15 of us, bliss to hear Swami's songs in peace with no hinderence.

kadambam · Post by **kadambam** » 12 Jan 2007, 22:00

Every year in the name of Aradhana, there is this big circus going on at Thiruvayaru. Most of current musicians are well educated, rationally sound folks, who wouldn't miss noticing this comedy/tragedy.

Why can't they take an initiative to come together uniformly & set some standards and proceedures for singing the pancha ratna kritis?

sridhar · Post by **sridhar** » 14 Jan 2007, 06:30

I guess the artists are more or less in the same boat as rasikas. The organizers and the local people who run the show are I guess to blame for lack of organization/coordination.

rajumds · Post by **rajumds** » 14 Jan 2007, 09:18

Arardhana in Thiruvaiyaru is more than just Pancharatna kritis. You can't get the feel by just listening to the pancharatna kritis over TV / radio. The ambience, the enthu of youngsters who perform in the mornings, the lovely settings ( more so if the river is full) , the general greenery in the villages around, those magnificient temples arond (just take a tour of temples in 30 km radius) are something you have to visit to experience.

It is easy to blame the organisers but to conduct a festival of this size by people who are musicians first ( not sabha secretaries) is to be appreciated inspite of many misgivings.

The amount of money to be collected thro' donations, the logistics of providing food , coordibnationg with the govt agencies,sponsors,... it is a difficult task.

Generally nowadays the artists don't have the committment to go & sing in the aradhana & take a simple way out by blaming the present organisers.

The artrists & sabhas must rise above their poltiking atleast in this issue & feel it is their duty to sing in the aradaha

The state tourisim dept is now planning to take a more active role in showcasing aradhana & it is a welcome development since infrastructure & logistics support will be better.

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 14 Jan 2007, 09:57

rajumds wrote:The state tourisim dept is now planning to take a more active role in showcasing aradhana & it is a welcome development since infrastructure & logistics support will be better.

Raju,
To play the devil's advocate here: any involvement by the Govt of TN could play havoc with the ArAdhanA - they might insist on singing the pancharatna in tamizh, or worse...

CM-Fan · Post by **CM-Fan** » 14 Jan 2007, 10:24

rajumds wrote:Arardhana in Thiruvaiyaru is more than just Pancharatna kritis. You can't get the feel by just listening to the pancharatna kritis over TV / radio. The ambience, the enthu of youngsters who perform in the mornings, the lovely settings ( more so if the river is full) , the general greenery in the villages around, those magnificient temples arond (just take a tour of temples in 30 km radius) are something you have to visit to experience.

It is easy to blame the organisers but to conduct a festival of this size by people who are musicians first ( not sabha secretaries) is to be appreciated inspite of many misgivings.

The amount of money to be collected thro' donations, the logistics of providing food , coordibnationg with the govt agencies,sponsors,... it is a difficult task.

Generally nowadays the artists don't have the committment to go & sing in the aradhana & take a simple way out by blaming the present organisers.

The artrists & sabhas must rise above their poltiking atleast in this issue & feel it is their duty to sing in the aradaha

The state tourisim dept is now planning to take a more active role in showcasing aradhana & it is a welcome development since infrastructure & logistics support will be better.

I very much agree with you Rajumds.
It was my first experience of the Thyagarajar Aradhana at Thirvaiyaru.The lush greenery,the beautiful gopurams,the Thiruvaiyaru village feeling,the enthu crowd etc just mesmerised me.
I was in so much awe looking at the enthu rasikas as well as the enthu singers.It is very easy to blame the organisers and the artists.I have no complaints as I was overwhelmed by the number of singers singing the pancharatna kritis.I think it is a very tough task for all the singers to coordinate with each other when the number is so big.It is an honour for all the artists to sing Thyagarajar's pancharatna kritis on such an auspicious day in Thiruvaiyaru.All the minor glitches can be overlooked.
Maybe the organisers can divide the panchratna kriti program into two sessions one for male singers & one for female artists.I dont think it is feasable but thats something which can be considered.

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 14 Jan 2007, 10:30

best way to assess is have a rasikas.orgites special trip , next year.

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 14 Jan 2007, 10:43

ananth
You said you were planning to go to thiruvayaru. Can you make a detailed post...

rajumds · Post by **rajumds** » 14 Jan 2007, 14:06

Ravi

your concern is valid in a way but the dance festival conducted by the state tourism dept in Mahabalipuram is a big success. If the tourism dept stops with promoting the event & providing infrastructure then it is a good thing.

The govt is also keen on promting music season & Vijay has started a new thread on this in Gen Section.

Ananth · Post by **Ananth** » 14 Jan 2007, 20:51

rajeshnat, here it goes:

I made my maiden visit to the Tiruvaiyaru festival this year.
I am sure many members must have visited Tiruvaiyaru several times. Please bear with me if I rant too much.

Compared to the expectations and excitement I had when I started off, I must say that I was disappointed with many of the aspects. But there were some memorable moments too.

- the same set of routine kirtanas, even from senior artists. Sudha sang Nagumomu, there were several bantu-reethi, neravathi... The kind of variety we get at the Chennai music festival was missing. So was the quality.

- many of the listed senior artistes did not turn up. (T M Krishna, Soumya...) Yesudoss and his son turned up very late.

- the general standard of music appreciation was low. People gathered mostly for the tiruvizha atmosphere - every one is going, how I can miss it - and were chatting and eating away. Except when the crowd pullers go on stage. Then they jostle to get a better look at them. As soon as Sudhaâ€™s concert is over, there is a visible exodus.

- volume levels were very high. They can do away with mike for nadaswaram concerts.

- Took bath in the near-full river at 5 am. Compared to the nippy air, the river water is surprisingly warm at that hour. One of the defining moments of the trip.

- impromptu bhajans at the sannidhi. i was lucky to listen to one unjavritti style bhajan, and one bmobay troupe led by Chembur Ganesh kumar. He has an amazing 3-sthayi voice, and the public enthusiastically joined in. I cannot believe that I chanted full throat for one hour! It was DIVINE!

- There were SO MANY nadaswaram concerts - about a third of all concerts. And every one of them was good! Seniors such as Mahabob Subhani, Kasim, Mambalam Siva, Thirupamburam brothers played very well. Also Pinnaimanagar brothers (I am hearing for the first time, though they are well known in these parts, going by the applause when they took stage) played excellently. Two teenagers - Needamangalam Karthik & Kannan played exquisitely.

- the afternoon concerts by youngsters was a mixed lot. Obviously there are no merit-based criteria. Even the junior-most in Chennai would be much better than some of the singers. I heard atleast 4 hopelessly out-of-sruthi banthureethi and 4 neravathisugatha. There were some mature performances too â€“ R Saranya on Veena; R Aishwarya sang Dorakuna well. One youngster played keyboard awfully â€“ this instrument itself is not good enough to play CM. He made it sound worse. The proud faces of parents of these wonder kids made the reason clear â€“ it is all a prestige show. Learn for 6 mths, go on stage, get videographed. Thank god, you cannot do that yet in Chennai sabhas.

- Special mention 10-minute concert by the Govt. music school students, Sirkazhi. Meticulous training and all 5-6 of them sang as one voice.

- Srimushnam Sri Raja Rao is the real man behind the whole show. He was there from 8 am to 12 midnight on all the three days I was there, setting up pakkavadyams for the juniors, encouraging the good ones by calling them and blessing them, occasionally playing mridangam himself, visiting the dining hall to supervise the free annadanam thereâ€¦ he was every where. Kunnakkudi was hardly to be seen, except for the pancharatnam renditions.

- Contrary to what every one says, I really enjoyed the pancharatna kritis group singing. Just to keep talam for 40 minutes, and sing the occasional pallavi line, made the day for me. I did not find that much out-of tune or out-of talam singing overall. But there were SO FEW vidwans and vidushis this time, compared to what I have seen on DD every year. And not even one senior male vidwan. Umayalpuram Sri Sivaraman was the sole exception. And of course N Ramani, who is always there to start off with Chetulara.

Some tips for first-time visitors: A â€˜VIP passâ€™ for pancharatna is issued on the previous evening 4-5 PM at the sabha building (dining hall building). It is free, and the only way to get a vantage position right behind the artists. Overall, crowd control arrangements on Aradhana day was excellent.
The best concerts are scheduled between 6 pm and 10 pm on the day preceding the Aradhana day. Take your place by 5, else you cannot even enter the pandal. The list of concerts is available in shops for Rs. 3/- , but I could not find it in internet when I was planning the trip.
Dont leave your slippers with the slipper shops outside, atleast on Aradhana day. With 3000-4000 people trying to rush out in 10 minutes, it is just impossible to find yours. I lost mine.

mri_fan · Post by **mri_fan** » 14 Jan 2007, 21:41

Having seen Srimushnam at work at the Cleveland Aradhana's occasionally, I've come to respect him. He's the only main artist who comes there who attends every single concert over the 10 day period. He's also a very honest, candid man. There's a video on youtube where a young B.S. Purushothaman is playing kanjira with T.K. Murthy, and for the last song T.K. Murthy plays a mohara/korvai. M. Chandrasekaran, daughter are playing, so theres no thalam, and so srimushnam appears on the side and starts putting thalam. It's likely that B.S.P. could have followed what TK Muthy was doing with Srimushnam's help, but the fact that he did was a nice gesture.

mri_fan · Post by **mri_fan** » 15 Jan 2007, 09:57

I should have added that I respect for more than just his excellent playing skills

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 15 Jan 2007, 15:55

Ananth,
What an excellent posting! Your impressions paint a vivid picture of your experiences. It is obvious that you went with an open mind, and that's what makes it count. There are those who think they shouldn't miss the ArAdhanA and others who simply want to avoid the whole caboodle. What you say makes both kinds of rasikas look at few aspects of the event which probably didn't register. Personally, I don't like crowds. Still, you make me think anew about attending the ArAdhanA...

ramakriya · Post by **ramakriya** » 15 Jan 2007, 22:56

ananth,
can you tell us about the current state of Tyagaraja's house?

-Ramakriya

mri_fan · Post by **mri_fan** » 16 Jan 2007, 00:01

I read earlier that it was destroyed...very sad

vsnatarajan · Post by **vsnatarajan** » 16 Jan 2007, 07:22

thanks Ananth.

Nice to see you made the trip.
i saw it only on DD.

I thought i would go later. I guess it will happen only when the time comes. I have traveled through Thiruvaiyaru though and the country side is amazing, especially when the cauveri river has abundant water.

The fact that the Soil was blessed with the likes of Trinity and the Nayanmaars itself is elevating.

Did you go to the DharmaSamwardhani Temple?

Inside the temple there is a spot near the Saptha Kanyas.

If you do the Japa of any Mantra sitting there, you get instant Siddhi in that place

rajaglan · Post by **rajaglan** » 16 Jan 2007, 12:24

ananth,
Thanks for your descritpion. Very nicely described.

Ananth · Post by **Ananth** » 16 Jan 2007, 15:11

arasi and rajaglan, thanks.
natarajan, i did visit the PanchanadhIswarar - Dharmasamvardhani (Aiyarappan - AramvalarthanAyaki ) temple. Huge and ancient, the structure reminded me of Thiru AnaikkA and Trichy Thayumanavar temples. As per recorded history, the swami temple has existed since the days of Raja Rajan (10th century AD), and as per legend, right from Karikal Chozhan's days. The near darkness of late evening, the smell of bats and burning oil lamps, and the distant voice of some one chanting a tEvaram combined to give me that goosebumps feeling even before I lreached the swami sannidhi. The lingam is very small - hardly a foot tall. The archakar told me that 'Prithvi lingams' are generally small. Two elderly ladies (there were only the four of us in the whole complex probably) sang 'Ilalo PranatArti' in Atana. The Amman sannidhi is quite far away and the structure here is newer. Sorry I did not know about Sapta kanyas, so I missed it.

I did visit the site on Tirumanjana veedhi where Thyagaraja's house once stood. Now there are no remnants of the old building, and a concrete structure is coming up.

chalanata · Post by **chalanata** » 20 Jan 2007, 20:14

did you visit 'alavandhar' sannidhi? he helps when you have insect bites. the prayer will be to buy 'kungiliam' for him!

shripathi_g · Post by **shripathi_g** » 21 Jan 2007, 07:10

mri_fan, What's the search term to bring up the M.Chandrasekaran video?

shripathi_g · Post by **shripathi_g** » 21 Jan 2007, 07:13

Ah, never mind. I searched for M Chandrasekaran and the video was the only one to come up in the search results.

bala747 · Post by **bala747** » 21 Jan 2007, 09:39

folks,

For a while I planned to visit Thiruvaiyaru but I have no idea how to get there, or what is the best time to go (no I don't want to watch the clusterschmazz that is the aradhana, I want to go 'off season').

Any travel guides?

I will be going there from either Mumbai or Chennai

Ananth · Post by **Ananth** » 21 Jan 2007, 17:43

chalanata: i visited 'AtkoNDAr' sannidhi, where devotees offer kungiliam. 'ALavandAr' is an alias?

bala747: http://www.kutcheribuzz.com/thyagarajaradhana/guide.htm

bala747 · Post by **bala747** » 22 Jan 2007, 06:22

Thanks ananth.. I'll probably go during November/December (school holidays in Singapore).

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 22 Jan 2007, 11:50

Bala - fairly detailed description in the article. If you are going to Thiruvaiyyaru you must fit in 2-3 days for the temples around. My picks are Daaraasuram near Kumbakonam, Periya Koil in Tanjore , Gangaikondachozhapuram (simply amazing) and the Raamaswamy temple in Kumbakonam.

chalanata · Post by **chalanata** » 23 Jan 2007, 13:52

ananth,
i'm soory for the goof up! it is 'atkondar' only.

bhaskan · Post by **bhaskan** » 18 Nov 2007, 09:56

HI, anyone can share notations and rendering of BinduMalini-Enda muddo
Bhaskaran

bhaskan · Post by **bhaskan** » 16 Oct 2008, 20:50

Hi,
Anyone can helop in getting Virboni-Bhairavi played by Dr.Ramani in flute in mp3 format.

Bhaskaran

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 16 Oct 2008, 23:08

Bhaskan, please join the Sangeethapriya discussion group for song requests: http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/ra ... a-dot-net/ Before you request a song, please also use the Sangeethapriya search function to see if what you want is already online.