MADURAI T.N.SESHAGOPLALAN At Tatwaloka, Eldams Rd on 21 July

[CRama]

TNS gave a highly satisfying concert accompanied by V.V Ravi on the Violin and Thrissur Narendran on the Mridangom. The concert was arranged by Swarna Vaishnavi Trust. He presented the compositions of Sree Swarna Venkiteswara Deekshitar Vocal support by Shri.T.N.S.Krishna. The concert started at 6.15 P.M and ended at 9.15 P.M.The Chief Guest of the evening was Justice Gokulakrishnan, President of Tamil Isai Sangham and an ardent supporter of classical and Tamil music. The compositions of Swarna Venkitesa Deekshitar are not familiar among music lovers except the
few ones rendered by KVN. In this concert, TNS presented 15 compostions mostly in Tamil. The songs presented were in simple tamil, deeply devotional and conveying the emotions which all of will like to address lord at various points of our life. It was interesting to note that he has composed a set of Navagraha Kritis in the same talas as of Muthuswamy Deekshitar. There are also certain songs which are highly complex in lyrics as well as talams.
The song list is given below.
1. Slokam- Gurur Brahma Gurur Vishnu and Uchi meethu followed by song Kaa Vaa Gajamukhaa in Hamsadhwani set to Panchanadai. on Mukkuruni Vinayakar of Chidambaram (?). The swaras were rendered very elaborately in panchanadai. TNS remarked'" Periava ivvlavu azhaga panchamukha vinayagar peril pancha nadaiyil pottirukkumpothu ivvalavaavathu
swaram pada vendama""
2. Thuthi seythidu maname- Gowlipanthu- Brief rounds of swaras were rendered.
3.Vandeham Chandra Taarathmajam Budham - Begada - Misra Jhampa. Navagraha Kriti. That day being Wednesday it was rightly chosen. Excellent alapana of Begada for 5 minutes stressing on all the jeeva swaras and including all characteristic pidis of the raga. Violin return by VV Ravi for 5 minutes . His alapana was very good that showed his long experience.Except for the main song, no swaram. The focus was on rendering more number of songs.
4.Varam onru nee thara vendum- Panthuvarali. TNS was in great form while doing this alapana which lasted 8 minutes. It reminded me of TNS 15 years younger. VV Ravi returned for 3 minutes. The song was preceded by a virutham Puzhuvai pirakkinum. TNS told that the message conveyed in the song matches with that given in this virutham.
5. Neeye gathi dayapari-Vasanthabhairavi. I have heard this song in the era of 78 rpms when Ceylon radio used to broadcast carnatic music. I do not remember the artist who had sung this song.
6.En meethu kopamaa iraiva- Kokilapriya and Roopaaka thalam. - It was a real treat for 10 minutes with fast pased brighas in his inimitable style. His alapana covered the entire canvas of the raga and his voice was in great form.
7Nee inri ulakillaye-Anandabhairavi
8.Unthan sevikal enna manthamaai ponatho - Kunthalavarali. Raga Alapana for 5 minutes.
9.Parasakthi Jananee - Bhairavi- Adi talam. Very good alapana for 8 minutes. Neraval but swaras were very brief- only for 2 minutes. This was followed by tani for 3 minutes.
10. Thantha sukham enna solluven sakhiye- Sama. Looked like a padam.
11.Abhayam alikkum thillai aandavan irukkayil- Revati.
12.Poka poka theriyum-Chenjuruti
13.Kathiru maname kathiru-Punngavarali
14.Paadum murai therindu paadu- Hamsanandi. Here TNS made very interesting expressions - Sariyaaka paadum murai, Paattu paadum murai, thamizh paattu paadum murai, madi paattu paadum murai etc.
15.Ethilum inpame-Madhyamavathi.

TNS referred to papers while singing the songs. Neverthless it never marred his imagination while rendering the songs. The hall was full and the rasikas stayed till the end. Five alapanas in one concert. Excellent support by the accompanists. What more can a rasika get in a concert? There was a much deserved standing ovation at the end of the concert.

[kssr]

One more feather on his cap. Were the songs also set to music by him ?

[fuddyduddy]

thnaks for posting the list and with the details. i attended this too.. it was a divine concert!

[arasi]

Sounds like a great concert. Hope other performers start singing
Swarana Venkateswara Diksitar's songs too. After all, that's what such concerts are all about--to showcase an old composer whose compositions haven't reached the ears of listeners, that too by an eminent vidvAn. Wonder how many songs SV DIkshitar has composed.
Doesn't mukkuruNip piLlaiyAr grace the Madurai MInakshi temple?

[Sivaramakrishnan]

That was an outstanding review by CRama who has taken immense care to jot down the particulars of those rare compositions.

Well, I know that the Navagraha kritis were tuned by S V Dikshitar himself and I remember a function organised by Dakshina Bharata Sangita prachara sabha in Trivandrum during the eighties to felicitate Dikshithar who also spoke of his compositions. He won instant respect and admiration of all present there. A great scholar indeed!

[rshankar]

Doesn't mukkuruNip piLlaiyAr grace the Madurai MInakshi temple?

I thought that there was just one of these gaNESa temples, inside the madurai mInAkshi amman temple, but, apparently the temple complex in cidambaram also houses a mukkuruNi vinAyakar temple. What does mukkuruNi mean?

[rajeshnat]

Last year I had a chance to attend swarna venkatesha deekshitar jayanthi,when OST sang just two numbers some atAnA and the KVN popularized swarna kala bhairavam in kalyAni. The speech was so long that the concert was reduced to minimum. But this year TNS has taken almost all of them untried by many vidwans of the past. Kudos to this great vidwan TNS.

[sridhar_ranga]

What does mukkuruNi mean?

Kuruni is a volumetric measure (used with rice and other grains). Vaguely remember from my school days in Madurai that mukkuruni (three kurunis) euqal 18 paDi (1 paDi is approx 1 liter - or 2 litres depending on if it is pakkA paDi or some other paDi...again I may be wrong on this). I believe they make a single kozhakkaTTai (modakam) using 3 kurunis of rice on a particular day of the year as naivedyam for mukkuruni pillaiyar.

[cacm]

Last year I had a chance to attend swarna venkatesha deekshitar jayanthi,when OST sang just two numbers some atAnA and the KVN popularized swarna kala bhairavam in kalyAni. The speech was so long that the concert was reduced to minimum. But this year TNS has taken almost all of them untried by many vidwans of the past. Kudos to this great vidwan TNS.

KVN had released TWO CASSETTES to raise money for "VISIRI SAMIYAR" EXCLUSIVELY of Swarna Vekatesa Dhikshithar compositions& it was a BRILLIANT piece which did justice to these monumental composer& the magnificient compositions......I was fortunate to attend a lec-dem by him in the company of KVN& SSI! Shows dumb luck is better than knowledge or ability?.....VKV

[rshankar]

I believe they make a single kozhakkaTTai (modakam) using 3 kurunis of rice on a particular day of the year as naivedyam for mukkuruni pillaiyar.

Oi vey! A mahA kAya mOdakam indeed!

[MaheshS]

The Mukkuruni Vinayagar in Madurai is HUGE, 6ft x 4ft x 4ft I think. The found it found it while digging for the temple, that's what I've heard.

[mahakavi]

Kuruni is a volumetric measure (used with rice and other grains). Vaguely remember from my school days in Madurai that mukkuruni (three kurunis) euqal 18 paDi (1 paDi is approx 1 liter - or 2 litres depending on if it is pakkA paDi or some other paDi...again I may be wrong on this). I believe they make a single kozhakkaTTai (modakam) using 3 kurunis of rice on a particular day of the year as naivedyam for mukkuruni pillaiyar.

As I remember it, kuRuNi is the same as marakkAl (in ThanjavUr parlance). A marakkAl takes 4 paDis (sinna paDi which is half of paTnam paDi). A paDi is a liter equivalent. Thus you can relate the kuRuNi to a gallon.

[kssr]

I was fortunate to attend a lec-dem by him in the company of KVN& SSI! Shows dumb luck is better than knowledge or ability?.....VKV

Interesting conclusion! KVN and SSI are great. So, TNS has dumb luck without knowledge or ability. Excellent analysis.

[Anandhabhairavi]

Whether TNS, SSI or KVN has dumb luck without ability is not very sure, but cacm has definite dumb luck because he has got the chance to attend to Swarna Venkateswara Dikshithar's lecdem with SSI and KVN.

[Tharangam]

One more feather on his cap. Were the songs also set to music by him ?

Kssr, Heard a rough recording of the concert. But for the Pilliar krithi, Navagraha krithi and the Vasanthabhairavi ones, the other krithis bear the unmistakable TNS stamp. Got news that but for these the other songs were given with raga and tala alone and was set to music by Sri TNS.

Also another small correction. The Kokilapriya krithi was not in rupaka talam as mentioned by Crama. It was misra chapu ( atheetha eduppu, 12 swaras from samam.)

[grsastrigal]

I heard one kriti "Paramacharyam pranamamyaham" in Keeravani sung Mah Ramachandran in BVB, Mylapore 5 months back. I googled and got the site for SVD. A short note about Chidambaram in Tamil was very interesting. I could talk to his son at length about his illustrious father. He was so popular, dedicated his life in the service of Lord Nataraja of Chidambaram. List of songs were mentioned in that site.

Where do I get the book of SVD Kritis ?

[arasi]

VKV was speaking of his own 'dumb luck', not of any vidvAns.

[kssr]

VKV was speaking of his own 'dumb luck', not of any vidvAns.

If that is what he meant, I had misunderstood and therefore apologise. The quote that he has used in the post would lead people to interpret as I did.

[Sundara Rajan]

I think that "mukkurNi" of the "lambodara" refers to the large size of the tummy of the idol at the location and such large vinAyaka vigrahAs in many temples are referred to as mukkruNi vinAyakar. Thus they may be fed mukkuriNi kozhukkattais to fill thieir bellies !

TNS appears to have provided an almost all Tamil songs concert, which is rare !

[Lakshman]

I bought the book of SVD's compositions at Karnatic Music Book Centre in Chennai.

[sivapriya]

To hold the audience with songs that are pretty much unfamiliar to the audience , takes the musical brilliance of someone like TNS,who built a magnificent edifice around all the compositions !

[kssr]

If only we can get the recording and also the text... I am sure it will be a valuable collector's item. The two hour Kambaramayana cassettes of TNS are among the jewels in my possesion. I have also made a crude book with copies of the songs that are chosen in the cassettes along with meaning. It makes a complete music reference set!