Sri Tyagaraja Aaraadhana 2015, Tiruvaiyaru

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Tyagaraja Aaaradhana, Tiruvaiyaru 2015

The 168th Aaradhana of Satguru Sri Tyagaraja at Tiruvaiyarur (near Tanjavur) was inaugurated on 6 Jan by Justice Ramasubramaniam of High Court, Chennai. The Sri Tyagabrahma Mahotsava Sabha (Regd.) which organises the ‘Aaaradhanai Vizhaa’ is headed by G R Moopanar and the Secretaries are Haridwaramangalam A K Palanivel, noted Tavil Vidwan and Srimushnam Raja Rao, renowned Mridanga Vidwan.

Musical offerings of duration from 10 mnt. to 20 mnt. depending on the ‘standing' of the artist were held on the 5 days from 6th to culminate on the Aradhana day, this year on 10 th Jan. with the Pancharatna kritis singing in the morning and Aajaneyotsavam late evening.

The concerts in the evenings by popular artists from far and near attracted a good 'crowd’ of devotees and rasikas. It was certainly a divine atmosphere with the vizhaa pandal in front of the Samadhi on the banks of Kaveri (which was in ‘good’ flow this season). The 'twin platforms' where music performances take place are located in front of a small shrine for Nagaratnamma facing the Tyagaraja Samadhi.

Slots of 1-1.5 hours from 9 a.m., 2.30, 6.00 and 10.00 p.m are set apart for Nagaswara recitals. The noon sessions were invariably earmarked for amateurs. NRIs with the country name prefixed to theirs (London, USA, Mauritius etc.) were also seen.

I could attend only a few concerts in the evenings (some of them in parts) and hence the report/list of songs could be incomplete. But I was fortunate to stay back at Tiruvaiyaru for the Aradhana day.

Maduari T N Seshagopalan performed just after the inaugural function wherein he rendered Aparamabhakti(Pantuvarali) with aalapana and a couple of other kritis. K J Yesudas who sang next (Maakelara, Merusamaana) made a fervent appeal to the audience not to ‘clap’ as the performances are offerings to the bard. Ganesh, Kumaresh performed next (sogasujuda). The instrumental solos included those of Mala Chandrasekhar(flute), U P Raju(mandolin) & Nirmala Rajasekhar(Veena).

The second day evening prime slots had N Ramani (Smarane sukhamu) followed by Gayatri Girish, P Unnikrishnan (seen wearing a tidy panchakaccham and singing Dasukovalana with elaborate niraval), TKV Ramanujacharyulu & daughter Raamapriya-violin (Y.kamboji), Trichy Sivakumar (Veena), B Sivaramakrishnan(Sitar) with Kalpana Venkat(Violin). Saliamangalam Ramdas(Veena) was followed by nagaswara recitals.

Mahathi was singing when I arrived at the venue on 8th evening. VK Manimaran, S Aiswarya, the revered Bangalore M T Selvanarayana, Tiruvaiyaru brothers Narasimhan and Venkatesan and Carnatica brothers Shashikiran & Ganesh were the other vocalists.

Friday evening was unusually ‘crowded’ at 6 p.m. (It was also the aradhana eve when most devotees from distant places for the next morning aradhana had landed at the holy place) Nagaswaram performances of young duo Sinnamanur Vijayakarthikeyan & Prakash Ilayaraja followed by the renownwd Sheik Mahboob & khalisha Mahboob and the celebrated Tiruppamburam brothers were brilliant. Vijayakarthikeyan is an artist to watch.

It was a delight to see a number of Nagaswaram & Tavil artists in the audience enjoying the melam in their characteristic method of keeping time and encouraging the artists. The aaradhana is arguably the biggest congregation of melam artists in the world!

Kanyakumari (viola?), Nithyasree Mahadevan, Kadri(Saxophone), N Ravikiran (Chitraveena), T M Krishna, O S Arun, Krishnakumar/Binni duo etc. were the others who performed. Ravikiran rendered Saanthamuleda Soukhyamuledu much to the delight of A K Palanivel who supported on the Tavil. TMK put his stamp by singing Tanam and swara prastara in addition to aalapana and Niraval (@Tyagaraja vinuthuni) for Ksheenamai (Mukhari).

The Aradhana day witnessed long but disciplined queues right from 6.15 a.m. in front of the pandal with special passes for particpating in the pancharatna Kriti rendering ( at 9 a.m.). Pamphlets containing the pancharatnakritis were distributed free by sponsors.Tyagarajar Illam at Tirumanjana veedhi where the religious rituals were conducted and from where a unchavritti proceeded to the Samadhi also had devotees in good numbers. So also the sannidhi for Panchanadeeswarar-Dharmasamvardhani, the presiding deities of the Aiyyarappar temple.

The pancharatna rendering by vocalists(widely covered by the media) with the customary 'Chethulara" prelude in flute started by 9 a.m. and went off well. I had, this year, the fortune of participating in the offering. The chorus rendering with the right level of amplication was widely appreciated this time.

The volunteers had a tough time 'controlling' those wielding mobile hand sets, ipads, video-cams and a variety of gadgets. Face book statuses & pics were being flashed across the world instantly.

Evening vocal slots had Sirkali Sivachidambaram (who sang the unique 'Diname Sudinamu' in Lataangi having the ragamudra - a rarity in Tyagaraja ktitis), Vijay Siva (who rendered the kritis without any frills in the right spirit of the occasion), Papanasam Ashok Ramani, Neyveli Santhanagopalan and Mambalam sisters. Special slots from 9.30 p.m. and 10.15 p.m. were allotted to Sudha Raghunathan(vocal) and Mambalam Siva(Nagaswaram) broadcast live by AIR in their National Programme.

Needless to say, the chunk of the audience left after this!

A brief Nagaswaram recital by the grand old Kalyanapuram Ganesan followed.

Aanjaneyotsavam -the final session of the Aaradhana had 'Geethaarthamu' (Surati) sung by local vidwans and a few staff/students of the Tiruvaiyaru music college with the Utsava Committee members and audience -numbering around 50- joining in. Aarathi was performed at the Tyagaraja Sannidhi. (Arathi was performed earlier by 8 p.m. for the Nagaratnamma idol too).

It was rather disappionting to note that not a single professional vocalist or violinist was there to partake in the Aanjaneyotsavam.

Vote of thanks to all those concerned in the aaradhana was read out on behalf of the committee. T M S Mani, the announcer for all the events for years, was also appreciated. By then it was 11.40 p.m. Devotees dispersed after receiving prasada, Sarkkarai pongal, puliodarai and sundal.

The 'most sung' kritis were 'Manavyalakimchara' (Nalinakanti), 'Nidhichaala sukhama' (kalyani-perhaps the most appropriate krirti for aaradhana), Baagayanayya(Chandrajyothi), Swraragasudha(sankarabharanam), Naadaloludai (kalyanavasantham), Shobhillu(jaganmohini), aparamabhakti(pantuvarali), Samaanamevaru(Kharaharapriya) etc. Rare kritis were also heard but occasionally. Many artists have started rendering rather elaborate Aalapana & Niraval of late. This trend is not welcome.

The sponsors mainly included banks. 'Stalls' selling products of Self help groups, clothes and readymades, Sambraani to 'spare parts' of Tavil , snacks, books, CDs, ‘Soap-cheep-kannadi’ etc made brisk business. A carnival.

I must thank my friend Arjun kumar- a son of the soil and an authority on Tyagaraja kritis who played host to me on a couple of days during the series and who has recently realised his dream of building a small house on the opposite banks of Kaveri from where a divine view of the Samadhi is possible!
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A lot can be done by civic authorities to improve amenities particularly in and around the vicinity of the Samadhi. The traffic-choked town needs to be revamped and developed into a major pilgrimage Centre.

[pattamaa]

nice report... thanks for sharing...

[Sundara Rajan]

Many thanks for the beautiful description of the event and brief reviews of the program. I was reminded of my visit to the function in 1953 when it was attended by doyens of carnatic music and the function was much simpler and less crowded. Many of us slept in the "thiNNais" of the agrahAram ! Yes, with so much crowd, as seen in media coverage, the village could use good planing and civic amenities for the pilgrims/patrons. What is the present condition of the bard's residence in Thirumanjana veedi ? I remember reading that the original house was remodeled (!) recently.

[VK RAMAN]

It was rather disappionting to note that not a single professional vocalist or violinist was there to partake in the Aanjaneyotsavam.

That part of the activity is not of interest to professionals because it will not add value to their profession.

[VRV]

SRK,

Excellent write up. Back home in California and already missing the music scene. I have never visited the aradhana in Tiruvaiyaru. Hope fully next year I may be able to make this pilgrimage and enjoy the celebration.

It was a pleasure meeting up with you on Jan 1st.

VRV

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Thanks Sri Sundara Rajan!
The frontage of the original residence of Tyagaraja at Tirumanjana veedhi is fully remodelled. Old timers say that the interiors still maintain the antiquity. The place is well maintained.

Sri V K Raman, hope the Committee will look into the matter.

VRV ji, welcome to Tiruvaiyaru!

[rshankar]

Sri Sivaramakrishnan - beautiful report - thank you for sharing - your way with words made the scenes you described come alive!

[harimau]

It was a delight to see a number of Nagaswaram & Tavil artists in the audience enjoying the melam in their characteristic method of keeping time and encouraging the artists. The aaradhana is arguably the biggest congregation of melam artists in the world.

Today's newspapers reported that 133 Nagaswaram and 133 tavil artists participated in paying homage to Tiruvalluvar on the first day of the Tamil month Thai.

That may be the world record.

[thanjavooran]

Shri Sivaramakrishnan,
Many thanx for the wonderful report.
with wishes,
Thanjavooran
18 01 2015

[Sivaramakrishnan]

[/quote] harimau

Today's newspapers reported that 133 Nagaswaram and 133 tavil artists participated in paying homage to Tiruvalluvar on the first day of the Tamil month Thai.

That may be the world record.[/quote]

harimau ji,
Am sorry, I think your comparison is rather out of context!

[HarishankarK]

In Sangeethapriya - there was uploaded, a Sandehamu in Ramapriya sung by K J Yesudas.
There was an Alaga lalla Nadaka Madhyamavati by TNS Krishna etc etc. This report seems to be different from those?

[Sivaramakrishnan]

HarishankarK,
Thank you for the observation.
As already mentioned in my first post, I have not given the entire list of songs- just one or two or even none at all as it was only an overall reporting! But whatever you have noted are correct.

[bombal]

excellent reporting Sivaramakrishnan sir, which kind of sums up neatly and crisply. It felt like as though we were there, albeit through your words.

namaste

[gajaa]

Does anyone have a link of the podhigai tv telecast of - the pancharatnam singing? Sorry if this is irrelevant in this thread. I couldn't find it in youtube

[CRama]

Sivaramakrishnan, Thanks for your meticulous review. I am much reminded of the visit of both of us to Thiruvayyar last year. I am yet to visit the place at the time of Aradhana.
TNS also sang alapana of Kiranavali and the song Parakuneekelana.

[CRama]

gajaa. It is uploaded by TVG in Sangeethapriya. Pl check this.
Artist: Various Artists - Carnatic Vocal
Concert ID: 01-C3693
Download from http://www.sangeethapriya.org/down.php

[harimau]

harimau

Today's newspapers reported that 133 Nagaswaram and 133 tavil artists participated in paying homage to Tiruvalluvar on the first day of the Tamil month Thai.

That may be the world record.[/quote]

harimau ji,
Am sorry, I think your comparison is rather out of context![/quote]

Yes. let us correct the original context:

The Aradhana arguably is the world's largest collection of melam artists this year under one pandal on Bahula Panchami day in Tiruvayyaru.

Now my comparison is most certainly out of context.

[vasanthakokilam]

Many of us slept in the "thiNNais" of the agrahAram !

The only time I went there, I slept at the Pandal itself. I could get a place to stay elsewhere. I got to meet interesting people and witness all the late night preparations that go on for the main event. Late Sri. Kunnakudi was there and he was kind enough to give me a pass which enabled me to sit a bit closer to the artists inner circle. Starting with the early morning bath in Cauvery, the Aradhana day extended well past midnight. Quite a memorable experience!

[Jigyaasa]

Sirkali Sivachidambaram (who sang the unique 'Diname Sudinamu' in Lataangi having the ragamudra - a rarity in Tyagaraja ktitis)

There are doubts whether this is a composition of Shri Thyagaraja.