A Tour-De-Force of Tyagaraja
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
LEC DEM MELA A tour-de-force of Tyagaraja he Sruti Foundation and expertise. The ragas Kharaharapriya Karnatic Music Forum jointly and Harikambhoji owe their existence Torganised Lec Dem Mela 2017 to the genius, he said. He was the first at the Arkay Convention Centre on to compose kritis in many melakarta 9 and 10 December to mark the 250th ragas like Ganamoorti, Manavati, and birth anniversary year of Tyagaraja. Vakulabharanam. He created nearly The series was supported by The 82 new ragas such as Jayamanohari, Ministry of Culture, Government Manjari, Andolika, Malavasree, and of India. Visually challenged young Vijayasree (to name a few) following musicians of the Freedom Trust— basic tools like varjya (omission of Akshaya, Shreelekka, Manoj certain swara), vakra (non linear), CONVENTION CENTRE ARKAY COURTESY: and Nagaraj (all students of janya (part of a whole), anga (mixing Dr. S. Sunder)— gave a flying start to of many parts), and anya (something the proceedings with a Tyagaraja kriti from outside). Some examples he rendered as an invocation. cited: Chandrajoti is formed by omission of the nishada of the Chief guest Akhila Srinivasan, 41st melaraga Pavani. Vijayasree is Managing Director of Shriram Life formed by the varjyam of dhaivata of Insurance Company and Director Varali. Raga Andolika is a fascinating at Shriram Capital, presented creation where the gandhara and Sriram Parasuram scholarships administered by the dhaivata are varjya in the arohanam Sruti Foundation to deserving young and the panchama and gandhara his compositions. The treatment of artists. The Manna Srinivasan are varjya in the avarohanam. The vivadi swaras in Gangeyabhooshani, Endowment Scholarships for an hallmark of his creations is the Vagadheeswari and Chandrajyoti instrumentalist and a Bharatanatyam amazing blend of sahitya-sangeeta was clearly demonstrated. dancer were presented to vainika bhava. A unique feature is that the Sujatha Vijayaraghavan made a Ramana Balachandhran and full scale of the raga as also the presentation on Tyagaraja’s musical P. Sundaresan respectively. rhythmic gait are unfolded in the opera Nauka Charitram, assisted The Meenakshi Ramakrishnan pallavi itself. by Jhanani Mahalingam. The geya Endowment Scholarship for a young R.K. Shriramkumar handled natakam contains many gadyams, vocalist was given to Sahana Samraj. the topic “The vision of Raga padyams, viruttams and simple Four lecdems were held each day—in in Tyagaraja’s compositions”. keertanams in Telugu called daru the morning and evening—and they Tyagaraja’s kritis give the contours which are composed in rakti ragas drew a very good response, especially of the raga clearly, they show how like Pantuvarali, Saurashtram, Surati, from young musicians. The resource to handle a gandhara, panchama or Sahana, Punnagavarali, Neelambari, persons had done enough groundwork madhyama in Sankarabharanam. and Ghanta. Tyagaraja has used to make their presentations enriching He demonstrated select portions many folk dance forms in this opera and enjoyable. They shared a wealth from various kritis. In Begada, there like kolatta daru and kummi. Nauka of information on the compositions of are many kritis in which Tyagaraja Charitram describes a boat journey Tyagaraja. Their lectures were aptly shows how the madhyama can by the gopis along with Krishna, in supplemented with music by their be handled in a diverse manner. the river Yamuna. As they sail, the gopis become arrogant and tease disciples. Only a genius like Tyagaraja could imagine a phrase like Sarasijasana Krishna. He teaches them a lesson Dr. Sriram Parasuram focused sanandana vanditankhri in the kriti in humility when they are caught on the topic “Raga creation of Lokavanachatura in Begada. If you in a strong hurricane and the boat Tyagaraja”. He remarked that take raga Devagandhari, its colour, capsizes. Krishna reveals himself, we are fascinated by Tyagaraja’s gait and approach vary in each kriti the gopis shed their arrogance and intelligence, analytical ability, poetic composed by the bard. Many rare finally worship Him. There are totally capability, musical prowess, and laya ragas are known to us only through 21 keertanams and select portions of 10 l SRUTI March 2018 the songs were presented with the original flavour. Lalgudi G.J.R. Krishnan and Vijayalakshmi dealt with “Sangatis in Tyagaraja’s compositions”. At the outset, they mentioned that their lecdem was based on the wealth of Tyagaraja’s compositions they inherited from their great grandfather Lalgudi Rama Iyer, a direct disciple of Tyagaraja. Sangatis can be Shriramkumar with L. Ramakrishnan (violin) and N. Manoj Siva (mridangam) interpreted as creative melodic progression, and aesthetic expression for enhancing the lyrical value and musical appeal of the kritis. You can find a logical development in the sangatis in Tyagaraja’s compositions. Sangatis are possible when the line is not packed with too many words and there is space for enough karvai. They demonstrated how sangatis are Sujatha Vijayaraghavan with Jhanani Mahalingam (vocal support), more attractive in madhyama kala Karaikkal Venkatasubramaniam (violin) and H. Vineet (mridangam) kritis. Tyagaraja introduced a new concept called Desadi tala or 1-½ Lalgudi G.J.R. Krishnan and Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi with H. Vineet (mridangam) edam. Such kritis have, symmetry, provide visranti and peppy sangatis (Raghunayaka). Various methods have been adopted by Tyagaraja while creating sangatis: in kritis like Dayarani, and Easa Pahimam, they are in the form of question and answer. In Idi samayamura in Chhayanata and Bhajare bhaja manasa in Kannada, the second line of the pallavi is a repetition of the refrain with a punch. In the Sahana kriti E vasudha, the pallavi sangatis which enhance the beauty and Brinda Manickavasagam. is replete with sangatis to convey of the kriti. Some sangatis add to the As a vaggeyakara, Tyagaraja was the message of the song, while the vibrancy of the lyrical content, for unparalleled in layam. Most of anupallavi does not have sangatis. example in Yochana kamalalochana. his kritis suit the madhyama kala Similarly, in the kriti Chakkaniraja, In some songs, akara sangatis are tempo of singing. However, he has sangatis are given for the first line of used to enhance the beauty of the composed in all the tempos suitable the pallavi: Chakkani raja margam kriti, like in Marubalka, and Adamodi to the sahitya bhava reflected in whereas the second line sandula galada. The cascading sangatis the kritis. Although the majority does not have any sangati. In the in Najeevadhara bring about a of his compositions are in Adi kriti Brovabharama, sangatis are symphony effect as also enhancing tala, he has also employed other given for the phrase Raghu Rama the emotional appeal of the song. talas like Roopakam, tisra Triputa, which sounds like a namavali. In new misra Chapu, khanda Chapu, misra ragas like Manoranjani (Adukara) Mridanga vidwan K.S. Kalidas Jhampa, in different nadais and the sangatis are used to reveal the threw light on the “Laya intricacies kalais. Many kritis which are now various facets of the raga. Darini in Tyagaraja kritis” with the sung in Roopaka tala were originally telusukonti is noted for the adukku vocal support of Aiswarya Sankar composed in Adi tala tisra nadai. 11 l SRUTI March 2018 Dasukovalena in Todi is the best representative for misra Jhampa which lends itself beautifully to elaborate niraval, swaram and tani avartanam. He used Desadi tala in a good number of kritis. In some of his Adi tala kritis, the second line of the pallavi ends with the arudi and the rest is sung as akara. for example, in Nannupalimpa (Mohanam) K.S. Kalidas with Brinda Manickavasagam, Aishwarya Shankar (vocal) and and Upacharamulanu (Bhairavi). He L. Subramanian (mridangam) has employed different eduppus— R.S. Jayalakshmi, assisted by of the kriti can rightly be attributed ateetam, anagatam, onnu talli, rendu Swetha Balasubramanian, made a to the Trinity. But within the kriti, talli, moonu talli, etc. The eduppus comparison of the compositions of the format of Tyagaraja kritis varies vary even within a kriti as in Raju Tyagaraja with those of Dikshitar vastly—from the simple kriti to vedala (Todi). and Syama Sastry on certain key weighty kritis like O Rangasayee and While pondering the “Kriti format of aspects. The credit for introducing the the Pancharatnams. The ghana raga Tyagaraja”, veteran scholar pallavi-anupallavi-charanam format Pancharatna kritis are comparable to the swarajati format of Syama Sastry. Among the Pancharatnams, Sadhinchane follows a varnam pattern—where after each charanam it lands in the charanam refrain Samayaniki. Jagadanandakaraka offers enough patterns to formulate kalpana swaras. His kritis provide enough inputs for a musical student to formulate raga alapana, tanam, niraval and kalpanaswaram. Just like Dikshitar, Tyagaraja also employed madhyama kala in many of his compositions either as a part of the charanam, or in a section of the kriti. Another format used by the bard is pallavi and multiple R.S. Jayalakshmi with Swetha Balasubramanian charanams in varying dhatus like Sree Raghuvaraprameya in Kambhoji and Brochevarevare in Sreeranjini. S. Sunder with J.B. Keerthana (vocal support), J.B. Sruthi Sagar (flute) and His utsava sampradaya keertanams Poongulam Subramaniam (mridangam) and divyanama sankeertanams have multiple charanams in the same dhatu. They are in simple language and melodies suitable for congregational singing. Dr. S. Sunder spoke of “Tyagaraja’s nadopasana”. He had the vocal support of J.B. Keerthana Shriram and flute accompaniment of J.B. Shruti Sagar. He mentioned compositions of many vaggeyakaras like the tevarams of Gnanasambandar 12 l SRUTI March 2018 and Sundarar on the abstract form of music and presented Tyagaraja’s compositions extolling saptaswaras. For Tyagaraja, Rama and music are inseparable. In the Arabhi kriti Nadasudharasa he says that Rama is the music, his kodandam (bow) is the raga, saptaswaras are the bells in the bow, ghana, naya and desiyam are the ropes of the bow and gati is the arrow from the bow.