Abhishek @ Unnati, Aug 20

[Rsachi]

Just came back from a typical blockbuster Abhishek Raghuram's concert, accompanied by Mysore Srikanth, Arjun Kumar and Guru Prasanna.
He sang Navaragamalika varnam, NinnuJuci, sAmOdaM (Shuddha dhanyasi, ST) Bagayanayya, Swara Raga Sudha, Ramana's song on Appalam, a Purandara Dasa song in Desh and Mangalam.
The concert picked up from the second song itself but Chandrajyoti and Sankarabharanam were outstanding. Srikanth did really well except for some short phase when the violin went out of tune in S'bharanam.
The tani lasted 20+ minutes and Arjun Kumar was sonorous and full of fire befitting an Abhishek concert. Prasanna did well too.

The Appalam song was new to me. Anybody would throw some light please? It is apparently an allegory for spiritual development and is in ragas Dwijavanti, Pantuvarali, Saramathi and Khamach.

[Rsachi]

Appalam song details here as also an MP3 link (only one raga Hindola)
http://www.arunachala.org/newsletters/2 ... ttu-paaru/

[vasanthakokilam]

Interesting. We learn something new every day. Thanks Rsachi.

[mahavishnu]

Agreed with VK. This was the best thing I learned today!
It is very interesting indeed that Abhishek chose to sing this song by Sri Ramana. Do we know who might have tuned this?

[Rsachi]

There was a trigger. There was a series of speeches, and Mr KrishnaMurthy, a vaggeyakara whose book was released by Abhishek, in his speech referred to Abhishek's music as symbolising something magnificent like the Arunachala hill and temple. He also said that Arunachala represents Agni tatwa, which suffuses Abhishek's music too!

So afterwards when the music restarted, Abhishek said he had been reminded of this song and he would sing it.

He sang it very well. First sketched the four ragas, and when he began the song, before each raga change Srikanth sounded the next raga.

I am almost sure that the tuning has been done by someone like TRS or perhaps even Abhishek.

[RaviSri]

The Appalam song was being sung right from the time it was composed, by devotees, when the Maharshi was living on the hill and also after he came down and settled near his mother's Samadhi in 1922. But it was in the 1980s that a regular parayanam of the Maharshi's Tamil works was started to be chanted from Monday to Saturday at 6-45 pm (now it starts at 6-30 pm) at Ramanasramam. It was then that the hymns were tuned. The Appalam song was tuned in Hindolam by Smt Anuradha who resides near Ramanasramam.

There is a mistake in the write-up on the website that carries the Appalam song. It says that this song was tuned when Bhagavan was 29 years old when his mother came to stay with him. That makes it 1908 (his dob: 1879). It is wrong. The mother came to stay with him only in 1914. He must have composed this song in 1916 or so when he must have been about 37.

[mahavishnu]

Thanks, RaviSri. Very interesting information.

[Rsachi]

Ok folks I find I had missed listing the raga Saranga in the Appalam song. It just came before Saramathi. Sorry.

[RaviSri]

I forgot to mention. The Appalam song is sung every Wednesday at Sri Ramanasramam. Today the parayana will start at 6-30 pm IST. Along with it will be sung the Atma Vidya kIrtanam tuned in punnAgavarALi. It is written by the Maharshi on the lines of ayyE metha kaTinam. The song starts as 'ayyE ati sulabham, Anma vidhai ayyE ati sulabham'. The song is pure Advaita as with almost every work of Sri Bhagavan..

[uday_shankar]

The mother came to stay with him only in 1914.

To be even more precise, she visited him in 1914 on her way back from Tirupathi, fell seriously ill, recovered and went back to Manamadurai and then moved permanently back to stay with Bhagavan, this time at Skandashram, in 1916. And the Appalam song must have been composed by shortly thereafter.

[harimau]

Rsachi wrote:

The Appalam song was new to me.

I am sure it would go well with the rasam song. )

[Rsachi]

You read my thoughts, Sir!
Here's celebrating it:

(Harimau emoticon)

[Rsachi]

And how could I have missed listing that wonder of a Thyagaraja song Srirama jayarama in Yadukula Kambhoji, sung with such feeling by Abhishek, my favourite and sung so many times by KVN and MDR, sung as a lullaby often heard at home.

[rshankar]

I am sure it would go well with the rasam song. )

To continue with the absurd - And finish up with 'rAma nAma pAyasakkE kRshNa nAma sakkarE' for dessert, perhaps?

[arasi]

Ravi,
A sweet conclusion from you
To be followed by bagALa bhAth, of course--pAl, thayir veNNai, but no paneer

[Leocap]

The appalam song, composed by Bhagawan Ramana Maharishi, was tuned by Abhishek himself at the instance of his late mother.

[Rsachi]

Well done, I must say!

[espras]

For rendering that appalam song Abhishek sure should have got a lot of applause (happalas).

[harimau]

rshankar wrote

And finish up with 'rAma nAma pAyasakkE kRshNa nAma sakkarE' for dessert, perhaps?

Absolutely.

Payasam is traditionally served after rasam. )

[harimau]

Can someone come up with a list of songs which mention food?

Maybe we can get someone to sing a thematic concert consisting of those songs. :p

[varsha]

The year is 2050.
It is a marriage concert . The bride's Father makes a signal to the Singer .
And he breaks into SVRangaraos classic from MayaBazar . Which has now taken an iconic status With the first line forming the words of many a pallavi .Theaudience rushes to the catering hall
And Mamis would have forgotten the exact date and inspiration for this song - some would be seen adding haree haree to each phrase , while the kids keep screaming mau mau

[arasi]

Harimau,

You said it (continuing your thoughts in the other thread about thematic concerts). Yes, thematic concerts of substance are hard to come by. Yet, the word thematic caught the imagination of Chennai folks and they started using it for any kind of concept they had about a presentation and used it--even for a regular concert, at that! Let's say, it became a popular tag for many a concert (with the exception of a few, which were/are truly so--well-researched and neatly presented).

The expression caught on, like lec-dem (they were called demonstrations before) and fusion (for any kind of mix--even for those which do not budge and refuse to fuse, like ezhu kaRi kUTTu and gObi manchurian!

As for the sAppADu thematic list:

kallu sakkare koLLIrO?
thani oruvanukkuNavillai enil jagathinai azhithiDuvOm (bhAratha samudAyam vAzhgavE)
panasa nAri kElAri jambu phala (Sri gaNapathi)
pAgum theLi thEnum, pAgum, paruppum (avvai)
madhura paripURNa mOdaka karanE! (tatvmaRiya tharamA?)

Movie songs are many, I guess. TR Mahaligam of the melodious voice singing: madhuramAna ruchiyuLLadE pAlgOvA, pAlgOvA!

[harimau]

Arasi,

How can you miss the Kannada song "Raagi thandheero"!

And Thyagaraja's

Paluku kanda chakkare.

Paluku paluku lagu thene (Rama nee samanamevaru).

[arasi]

Harimau,
I had to leave some for others to relish!

SSI's paluku paluku--also his splitting the words (sounding like 'laku' thEnE) is unforgettable. I know, it's like saying, that puLisEri was excellent, but needed a pinch more salt

[pvs]

As every concert has a Tirupugazh set to a difficult talam as penultimate item or pre-penultimate, please add 'kaithala niraikani appamodavalpori' to the food song list. But since it is about Ganesha, it should be the opening item or #2, lest it start a new debate! How common is it to open with tirupugazh?

[varsha]

I had to leave some for others to relish!

Rama Nama payasakke krishna nama saakkare
Hannu bandide ......

[mahavishnu]

Rama Nama payasakke krishna nama saakkare

Perhaps that is the best advice to give to an increasingly diabetic nation!

[KSJaishankar]

Aragimpave in Todi for main?

[arasi]

Mahavishnu,
The second one is haNNu bandidE! That should make one happy!

[Rsachi]

I have decided that the only way to be engaged and interesting in Rasikas.org is to talk about food. And this thread is bursting with menu ideas. I am compounding the subject with my own line for a major RTP in a new raga I have christened Shadruchipriya:

ingu-tinda manganante kuNiyabEDirO
belladoDane bEva berasi ruciya kANirO

Meaning:
Oh rasikas, don't jump around like a monkey who has eaten asafotida!
Be wise and taste jaggery after adding neem paste to it!

This pallavi can be accommodated in any tala or nadai. I expect some viloma on the monkey dance point.

The raga Shadruchipriya has a novel part structure combining Sankarabharanam and Charukeshi. In the descent it sounds like Sindhu Bhairavi.

If anyone challenges me, I will be in same same league as the SKs and non-SKs who courted controversy.

[mahavishnu]

Well, RSachi that seems to be a post inspired by Harimau.

One of his suggested pallavi lines from a few years ago: AhA bEri mukkanikku samAnam AgumA? (can a beri ever be equal to the one of the fruit trinity: mango, banana and jack To be sung in Aberi, no less!

mods: perhaps we should move all the food related posts to a separate thread...

[harimau]

#22 by arasi

pAgum theLi thEnum, pAgum, paruppum (avvai)

Tomorrow being Vinayaka Chathurthi, I must regretfully put in a correction:

"Palum Theli Thenum Pagum Paruppum ivai
Nalum Kalaundunakku Naan tharuven - kolanchei
Thungak karimugathu thoomaniye neeyenakku
Sanga thamizh moondrum tha"

[harimau]

pvs asked

How common is it to open with tirupugazh?

Please, please, please. Don't give any ideas to T M Krishna! )

[arasi]

Harimau,
You are right. I thought 'pAlum' but typed 'pAgum'. Thanks for all the lines. A mean bargain indeed on our part : you give us tamizh, the whole works--in exchange for a simple sweet!
Hope you had your fill of mOdakAs on his birthday.

Apologies to Abhishek. This newly sprouted strand of the thread at the mention of the appaLAm song, has to find its place in the lounge perhaps, for the foodies to indulge in!

[harimau]

pvs wrote

'kaithala niraikani appamodavalpori' to the food song list. But since it is about Ganesha, it should be the opening item or #2, lest it start a new debate! How common is it to open with tirupugazh?

Somebody been there, done that!

http://www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=21879

[arasi]

Another artiste who is not afraid of thinking anew when it comes to song lists!

[pvs]

Thanks, Harimau. If it has been done, guess it's too ordinary for TMK
Sorry if this is distracting from Abhishek's concert review.

[CRama]

Singing Kaithalaniraikani as opener is nothing new. MS has sung this in one or two concerts, I remember.