Vaggeyakara Sangeeta Kalanidhi Dr Rallapalli Ananthakrishna

metnanda · Post by **metnanda** » 31 Aug 2009, 21:30

Vaggeyakara Rallapalli Anantha Krishna Sarma, Prof R A Phani Shayi, Carnatic Music Composers, A Collection Of Biographical Essays, 1995, pages 397-400, Published by Triveni Foundation. Hyderabad

Vaggeyakara Rallapalli Anantha Krishna Sarma - By Prof. R A Phani Shayi

My late father, Shri Rallapalli Anantha Krishna Sarma, was a Vaggeyakara of great merit in his own right. His compositions, unfortunately, have not come to light, largely due to his own reluctance to give them publicity. He did not sing them in public, did not teach them to his disciples and made no attempt to print and publish them. He taught some of them to his daughters, only to be sung during their daily worship and on festival days such as Sri Ramanavami, Sri Krishna Jayanthi, Varamahalakshmi Vratam and the like. When asked by his younger son, R.A.Jayantha, why he should not publish them, he replied, " I did not compose them for publication. I wrote them when I felt impelled to do so by some divine force". When further questioned whether they would not be lost permanently if they are not published, he answered, " Lord Srinivasa at whose calling I wrote them, will himself take care of their welfare". If it had been observed that God gets his work done on this earth only through human agency, and that human effort - Purushakara - is necessary for realising God's will, he would, perhaps, have replied that then Lord would find his agent.

Father's earliest attempts to compose " Geya Rachanas ", seem to have begun even while he was teenager. At Rallapalli, his native village, he and his two brothers, Gopala Krishnamacharya, the elder and Lakshmana Swamy, the younger, were competing with one another, in composing songs in Sanskrit. Since the brothers were not musically talented, it would appear that they wrote only the Sahitya and the music was provided by father, for his own as well as the compositions of his brothers. Father's first composition was, perhaps, the one on Mahalakshmi, Vishnu's Consort, which begins with the words, "Jalarashibale Lole".

In his eleventh year, he migrated from Rallapalli to Mysore. "Sree Krishna Bramhatantra Parakala Yathi", who was the Peethadhipathi of the "Parakala Matha" of Mysore, at that time, was impressed by the boy's sharp intellect and yearning for learning, and took him under his care. Himself a composer of songs, the Swami encouraged his pupils musical interests. In 1909, the young composer became a disciple of the great Master Of Carnatak Music of Mysore, Sri Bidaram Krishnappa.

It was at this tome, father began composing songs in the traditional form, the Krithis. His first composition was Ganarasamurti Tyagaraja Paatalu Tenela Tetalu, a kirthi in the raga Kedara Gowla, set to Vilamba Adi Tala, and starting at the Tarasthayi Shadja. In this composition, he has drawn a picture of the beauty and grace in the songs of Thyagaraja. It is a tribute to the Musical genius of this great saint. In this he tells us that, " the songs of Thyagaraja are sweeter than the essence of Honey. Even the creator, Bramha may prove unequal to the task of describing their beauty. They transform Non-believers into Devotees of God. They can create Musical sensibility in the minds of the dull. And they can create a vision of Lord Sri Rama, to gain which saints have had to perform penance for long years. Preceptor, Bidaram Krishnappa was so delighted with this krithi that he would ask his pupil to sing it every year thereafter, on the occasion of Thyagaraja's "Punya Thithi". which was observed at his house. This song is in Telugu while his earlier ones were all in Sanskrit.

In this krithi, there is nothing to show who authored it. Father, in his earlier years, used a short form of his own name, Anantha - as his Mudra. But later, he appears to have decided against it, perhaps because he felt that it was a sign of Egotism. His subsequent compositions reveal two changes. First, he reverted to Sanskrit as the language medium and secondly, used the expression " Ananda - Paramananda " as indicative of his authorship. This expression conveyed his belief that the ultimate attribute of God was Paramananda-Eternal Bliss-and it denoted his authorship, sans Egotism.

His compositions encompass all the recognised forms of songs in Classical Music, viz., Geethas, Swarajathis, Varnas, Krithis in both Madhyaman and Vilamba Kalas and Thillana. They are set to different Talas - Adi, Rupaka, Atta, Jhampa, Eka and Dhruva. The compositions are set in familiar Ranjaka Ragas such as, Kalyani, Bilahari, Kedara Gowla, Kambhoji, Purva-kalyani etc., as also in ragas which are not so familiar, such as Umabharanam, Suddha-seemanthini and Lalitha Panchamam.

One could detect the influence of the great Vaggeyakaras, Thyagaraja - Shyama Sasthry, Muthuswami Dishitar and Swathi Thirunal in father's compositions. Thyagaraja's Bhakthi and experimental approach, Shyama Sasthry's Tala patterns, Dikshitar's espansive conception, Vilamba movement and mixing of the Vilamba and Madhya speeds, Swathi Tirunal's hoice of simple, appropriate and sweet-sounding words. All these had their impact. But he did not imitate anybody. His compositions were original creations.

Muthuswami Dikshitar described his God as " Bhukti Mukti Dayaka", the dispenser of Earth and Salvation after death. Thyagaraja sought from Sri Rama, mukti and nothing else. Father's approach was quite different. Although the central theme of his compositions was also Bhakti, he appealed to God, " to light the recess of his mind and remove its darkness " ( Mama Manasa Kuharam Pradeepaya) , " to stimulate his Intellect" ( Dhiyam Prachodaya ) and to give him salvation ( Dhyayami Srinivasam Nisshreyasaya ). His compositions contain the essence of the teachings of Bhagavad Ramanuja's Visishtadvaita, of total surrender to God, as exemplified in the famous expressions, " Anyatha Saranam Nasthi, thwameva Saranam Mama". He implicitly believed in this path and attempted to put into practice all his life.

No description, in words of a musical composition, however brilliant, can be an effective substitute to the listening of its practical rendering, preferably vocally, by a competent singer who is sensitive to both the word and sound of the song. The saying that the proof of the pudding is in the eating of it, is most appropriate in the context of the appreciation of a musical composition. To enjoy the beauty of the songs of Rallapalli Anantha Krishna Sarma, we should listen to their rendering, or if we can, learn to sing them ourselves.

Rallapalli Compositions and Rallapalli Mangalams : For a full list of the songs composed by Rallapalli Anantha Krishna Sharma refer the website

http://sites.google.com/site/rallapallisharma

# NOTE : Prasara Bharathi, Broadcasting Corporation OF India, All India Radio, Bangalore, have in their letter No .BAN 9 (3) 2003-P3(M) dated 23.05.2003 have accorded approval for broadcast of compositions of Late Sri Rallapalli Anantha Krishna Sharma.

vidya · Post by **vidya** » 01 Sep 2009, 00:41

metnanda,
Thanks for starting this topic! Forum member Keerthi had posted a link to this site and it ended up buried in some other thread unfortunately.

I really loved his Kedaragaula and the HamirKalyani compositions in that site and had listened to them several times. The Hamir Kalyani one was especially very beautiful and original. Listening to his compositions and reflecting on their high musical quality reinforced my belief that only a combination of such high musicianship and lyrical vidvat that can make one a vaggeyakara. All of Ananthakrishna Sharma garu's compositions display such structural fidelity, melodic flow, musical values and provide us a lesson and insight at how a musical composition ought to be.

keerthi · Post by **keerthi** » 01 Sep 2009, 09:32

Hi metnanda,

it is wonderful that you have started a thread on this great musician/ vaggeyakAra.. do post other interesting things like photo-s, and his Sangeeta kalAnidhi speech if you have them..

And which station is the broadcast is to be from..? who will sing.. This is so exciting.. they should also have a programme where they present the songs of Annamayya which he tuned.. In all those original raga-s..

metnanda · Post by **metnanda** » 01 Sep 2009, 19:51

To keerti & vidya :

Thanks for your encouraging replies. Many photos and audio songs of his compositions are available in the website, for which the link was given earlier. His speech on AIR is also available. Unfortunately other recordings like sangeeta kalanidhi speech etc is not available with us ( family members ); we are also on the lookout.

Compositions of Annmacharya set to music by my grand father ( Rallapalli Anantha krishna Sharma ) , a few audio tapes are available. They are rendered by his son & desciple Pro R A Phani Shayi ( my father )
these will be updated shortly in the webpage.

I once again thank you for your interest and look forward to more suggestions.

regards
Nanda Nandan Rallapalli

knandago2001 · Post by **knandago2001** » 02 Sep 2009, 18:00

metnanda: i would love to hear the tillana in begade, if possible.. thanks so much for audio recordings.

nandagopal

metnanda · Post by **metnanda** » 02 Sep 2009, 18:44

I will upload the tillana either today or tomorrow. In fact I tried to load it twice somehow the link is not working in zshare. Thanks for your interest and encouraging words.

regards
nandan

keerthi · Post by **keerthi** » 02 Sep 2009, 19:30

Wasn'T srI.Sharma also a repository of several ksEtrayya pada-s..? I noticed you mention poyi rammanarE muddugumma, the kEdaragauLa padam, in your site.. which I have never heard (of) Also the mohana 'maguva tanakelika' still survives, because Dr.pinAkapAni learnt it up from your thatha, and taught it to his students..

which were the other padam-s in your family..? they are doubly precious since your grandfather was one of few who knew these padams, which don't figure in the Dhanammal parampara..

also, the kalanidhi speech.. audio isn't necessary.. couldn't you post the text.. whenever time permits..

metnanda · Post by **metnanda** » 02 Sep 2009, 21:28

Dear nandagopal,

I have added the Begade tillana link to the website and it is working now. Alternatively you can listen to the tillana here

http://www.zshare.net/audio/6502974591bb03b3/

regards
nandan

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 06 Sep 2009, 01:03

metnanda,

Is it me, or have you removed the page which had links to your father's singing of your grandfather's compositions from the webpage?

metnanda · Post by **metnanda** » 06 Sep 2009, 17:16

Sir,

I have checked the website and all song links are working fine. Any way thanks for the info, I was able to check them all.

You can listen to the songs.

nandan

vs_manjunath · Post by **vs_manjunath** » 01 Oct 2009, 04:42

During the recent Dasara festival, E TV(Kannada) had visited Dr Ralapalli Anantha Krishna Sharma's house in Mysore and broadcasted interactions with Prof Phani Shayi and was concluded with a lovely melodious Devi's song in Kalyani (sanskrit), rendered by metnanda ?. Prof Phani Shayi was talking of rich cultural heritage of Mysore due to patronage by Mysore Kings. He also did mention the paintings found in Sri Ranga Patna & Mysore Palace dating to 1750s has Violin being painted and was suggesting that Violin was already in vogue in Mysore as early as 1750s.

metnanda · Post by **metnanda** » 05 Oct 2009, 07:18

Dear Manjunath,

It is news even to us , family members. It may be a re-telecast of an old coverage. Regarding the song in Kalyani, it starts ' Kalasha Jaladhi Jatam .... ' , in vilamba Adi talam. I will try to post a recording of the song.

The song would have been rendered by my father or aunts, as I am a flutist and not a vocalist.

Many thanks for the information.

regards,
nandan

vs_manjunath · Post by **vs_manjunath** » 05 Oct 2009, 14:59

I think, the interactions might have been with Dr R Sathyanarayana than Prof Phani Shayi as reported earlier.

The Kalyani song was " Sri Veene Namosthuthe ". I really don't know who is the composer of this lovely Sanskrit composition ?

metnanda · Post by **metnanda** » 06 Oct 2009, 11:10

May be you are right. Thanks all the same for the info.

nandan

saiganesh · Post by **saiganesh** » 06 Oct 2009, 18:43

saiganesh · Post by **saiganesh** » 06 Oct 2009, 18:44

yes interaction was with dr ra satyanarayana. shree veeNa namostute is his composition i suppose. and nanda kumar was singer.

vs_manjunath · Post by **vs_manjunath** » 06 Oct 2009, 18:51

saiganesh- Thanks for this info.

csnalini · Post by **csnalini** » 11 Oct 2009, 08:03

Dear rasikas,

Bhakti channel by TTD regularly feaures Annamacharya songs sung by various vidwans. On many of these occasions, one can see a brief glimpse of Dr Rallapalli Anantha Krishna Sharma, whenever the songs sung by the artists have been set to music by him. What a great scholar ! The website launched on him by one of the members, is also superb. Kudos .

saiganesh · Post by **saiganesh** » 11 Oct 2009, 17:27

@csnalini

could you please share the link of that website ?

thanks in advance.

csnalini · Post by **csnalini** » 12 Oct 2009, 05:46

The website link that I saw is

http://sites.google.com/site/rallapallisharma/

regards

csnalini · Post by **csnalini** » 12 Oct 2009, 16:33

To add to my earlier comments, since the website has been launched by his own sons / grandsons,
( as mentioned in the contact details ) it is very authentic.

So much info about Dr Rallapalli Sharma, is not available at one place. The website talks about his contributions to both carnatic music and his published literary works in Telugu, Prakrit, Kannada and Samskrit.
I also enjoyed the media section where his own compositions, rendered by his son Prof R A Phani Shayi has been put. Great effort really.

nalini

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 13 Oct 2009, 02:26

I listened to the Hamir Kalyani varnam and Begada Thillana. Very nice melody and laya.

T.T.SRINIVASAN · Post by **T.T.SRINIVASAN** » 14 Oct 2009, 09:38

Sangeetha kalanidhi Dr Rallapalli Anantha Krishna sharma was a straight forward, honest, sincere and sensitive person. He never used to compromise facts in music and literature to satisfy any body. The knowledge possessed by him was 100% authentic.
Many great vidwans both in music and literature used to approach Dr Sharma for all clarifications.
We all know that he is a great scholar in Telugu, Sanskrit and kannada languages besides being an expert musician - vocalist, violinist and Flautist.
In addition to singing KsetrayaÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s padams and tuning Tallapakkam Annamachrya compositions, he was an expert in rendering compositions of Thyagaraja, MDS, Syamasastrygal and others with full of bhavam and nice paatanthara.
As told by my father violin Vidwan Sri T.S.Tatachar who is a disciple of Dr. Rallapalli Ananthakrishna Sharma, he used to teach him for hours together. No time restrictions.
I had great opportunity to listen to Dr. SharmaÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s concerts with Sri T.S. Tatachar on violin,M.S. Ramaiah on mridangam and myself on Tanpura. Songs he rendered in the concerts like Ninne bajana in Natai ragam, Rama bana in Saveri ragam etc., are still ringing in my ears even though this happened 3 or 4 decades ago.
We had the fortune of having him in our house on several occasions from morning till evening, where discussions used to go on about music without wasting a single minute. The participants were Sri T.S Tatachar, Dr Veena Doraiswamy Iyengar, Dr R.K.Srikantan,Sri M.A.Narasimhachar and others. I used to stay behind the door of the Room in our house and listen to discussions which were very very useful.

Coming to His Compositions they are really very nice and superb as he has composed it by the grace of Lord Venkateswara of Tirupathi Where Dr. Sarama used to stay in a house in Govinda raja swamy sannidhi road for many years. "Unfortunately, his compositions have not come to light, largely due to his reluctance to give them publicity. He did not sing them in public, did not teach them to his disciples and made no attempt to print and publish them"

keerthi · Post by **keerthi** » 14 Oct 2009, 19:22

the kanada swarajathi is a very beautiful composition, with interesting khanda patterns. even the raga treatment is unique, with emphasis on the Spnmp aspect of kAnada, along with glimpses of the northern raga 'dEsi'...

It is wonderful that so many people are sharing their memories of this mahAvidwan.

Sreeni Rajarao · Post by **Sreeni Rajarao** » 14 Oct 2009, 20:18

I have been meaning to upload this picture since July!

Rallapalli AnanthaKrishna Sharma, Veena Raja Rao and B V K Shastry in a picture from January 1974 during Karnataka Ganakala Parishat's Fourth Musicians Conference.

Perhaps they were reminiscing about the glory days of Mysore they had witnessed during the 1920s and 1930s!

vs_manjunath · Post by **vs_manjunath** » 15 Oct 2009, 04:24

Sreeni - Nice Photo!!!

metnanda · Post by **metnanda** » 15 Oct 2009, 07:23

dear sir,

Thanks a million for the rare photo. I will put it on to the website with your permission.

regards
nandan

metnanda · Post by **metnanda** » 15 Oct 2009, 07:26

Dear keerti,

Thanks for your nice comments on Kanada swarajati. I want to upload the Shankarabharanam swarajati also, which also has very unique raga patterns and gives a full glimpse of the raga. Unfortunately, I do not have any ready made recording of the same. Similar is the fate of two more Geetams and a few more compositions.

Nandan.

metnanda · Post by **metnanda** » 15 Oct 2009, 07:29

Dear T T Srinivasan,

Thanks for your kind observations on my grandfather. It was nice on your part to share them. Can I request you to share any other available recordings or photos connected to your father and my grandfather. For ex I do not have a recorded version of Harini Hari Ramani and a few such songs.

nandan

metnanda · Post by **metnanda** » 15 Oct 2009, 07:31

Thanks to vasanthakokilam for the nice comments on Begade and Hamir Kalyani compostions.

I hope you can listen to the other recordings and enjoy the same.

nandan

T.T.SRINIVASAN · Post by **T.T.SRINIVASAN** » 25 Oct 2009, 10:52

Dear Nandan,
I have seen photos of my father with his guru along with stalwarts. After demise of my parents I renovated my house. I am not able to trace those photos immediately. I shall search for it and send it to you. As for the song is concerned I have the recording and I shall load it at my leisure.

cienu · Post by **cienu** » 26 Oct 2009, 16:36

Lovely picture Sreeni . Thanks for uploading

metnanda · Post by **metnanda** » 30 Oct 2009, 18:40

Dear T T Srinivasan,

Wonderful news. Thanks for your offer and help to locate photos and upload them. Eagerly awaiting
to listen to the upload of the song also.

Thanks once again.

regards,
nandan