SRUTI, The India Music and Dance Society BOARD OF DIRECTORS COMMITTEES President Usha Balasubramanian Resources & Development 215-699-2827 Committee: President-elect Uma Prabhakar (Chair) Ramana Kanumalla 215-616-0486 610-277-8955 Rama Gundurao Treasurer 215-591-0380 Venkat Kilambi Ramaa Nathan 610-631-2291 610-668-3691 Secretary Ramana Kanumalla Sujatha Patri 610-277-8955 Thyagaraja Aradhana 215-672-4365 Venkat Kilambi Villanova University Director of Resources & 610-631-2291 Development March 4, 2006 Uma Prabhakar Publications & Outreach 215-616-0486 Committee: Director of Publications & Raman Visweswaran (Chair) Outreach 610-647-7822 Raman Visweswaran Sundari Balakrishnan 610-647-7822 610-358-1673 Director of Marketing & Rangaprabhu Parthasarathy Publicity 781-964-8118 Jeya Sankaran Ramaa Nathan 610-279-3655 610-668-3691 Director 1 Rungun Nathan Ponnal Nambi 610-668-3691 610-647-7235 Director 2 SRUTI Ravi Pillutla The India Music and Dance Society 610-539-8686 Thyagaraja Aradhana, 2006 News Buzzz.. From Kutcheribuzz News Round Up February 24, 2006 Contents Honors for S. Rajam Chennai based Sruti Foundation honored veteran musician- Thyagaraja Aradhana Festival 2006 ……………... 3 painter S. Rajam with the 'Vellore Gopalachariar Memorial Award' on 10 February, 2006 in Chennai. The award func- Thyagabrahmam- His Musical Influence tion was followed by a talk on S. Rajam's life and work by By V.K.Viswanathan ………………………………..5 writer and arts historian Sriram.V The Vellore Gopalacha- riar Award has been instituted by mridanga vidwan Vellore Thyagaraja and HariKambhoji Ramabhadran in memory of his father the late Vellore By Rasikan ……………………………………………...11 Gopalachariar. Special Postal Cover on Papanasam Sivan Thyagaraja Crossword Puzzle A special postal cover in commemoration of the 115th birth By Anil Chitrapu ……………………………………14 anniversary of well known composer Papanasam Sivan, was released on February 3, 2006 in Chennai. Thyagaraja’s compositions on Gods other than Rama From the Hindu, Feb 17 2006 By T, Parasaran …………………………………….15 Saintly gems glitter with new charm—Sangeetha Sanga- mam was a unique homage to Thyagaraja at the Narada Gana Appreciating Thyagaraja’s Music – Please Help! Sabha recently. Dhananjayan danced to the music of Pasu- By Prabhakar Chitrapu ……………………… 18 pathi, accompanied by Vellore Ramabhadran on the mridan- gam and V.V. Subramaniam on the violin. Shanta Dhanan- SRUTI Concert Recordings……………………………….31 jayan was the nattuvanar. News Buzzzz………………………………………………………..39 Answers to Crossword Puzzle Across: 3. Sixty 6. One 9. Kakarla 10. Nidhichala 11. Thiruvarur 12. Sonthi 13. Cleveland Down: 1. May 2. Giriraja 4. Seven 5.Thodi 7. Ramabrahmam 8. Narada 11. Two 39 Thyagaraja Aradhana, 2006 Thyagaraja Aradhana, 2006 76. Dr. N. Ramani (Flute) 2004- 1 Cd Thyagaraja Aradhana Festival 2006 C.S. Anuroop (violin) P.K. Swaminathan (mridangam) The 159th Thyagaraja Aradhana Festival in Thiruvaiyaru was 77. Kanya Kumari (violin) 2004- 2 Cd’s celebrated between the 16th and 21st of January 2006. On Embar Kannan (Violin) the inaugural day of the festival, mridangam maestro Uma- Thiruvarur Vaidyanathan (Mridangam) yalpuram K Sivaraman made the following observation: “It 78. Sanjay Subrahmanyan (vocal) 2004 - 3 Cd’s was saint-composer Thyagaraja who was instrumental in Nagai Muralidharan (Violin) raising the position of Carnatic music to its pinnacle of glory Mannargudi A. Easwaran (Mridangam) among the different systems of music in the world today”. 79. Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman (Mridangam) 2004 - 2 Cd’s Nemani Somayajulu (Jalatharangam), E. M. On pushya bahula panchami, the anniversary of the day that Subramanian (Ghatam), Saint Thyagaraja attained Samadhi, a group singing of the Nagai Sriram (Violin), Pancharatna Kritis at Thiruvaiyaru is traditionally observed. Mattanur Sankarankutty (Chenda) Vocalists, instrumentalists and rasikas from all over the Unnikrishnan (Thimila, Edakka & Sanku) world gather at Thiruvaiyaru on the banks of the Kaveri and 80. T. N. Bala (vocal) & party 2004 - 2Cd’s take part in the Aradhana celebration. After Thyagaraja’s Murugaratnamala demise, his shishyas started a tradition of offering worship 81. Savitha Rao (Vocal) 2005 - 2Cd’s at his samadhi. The Aradhana festival as it is celebrated Sandhya Srinath (Violin) today at Thyagaraja’s Samadhi is the result of the efforts Srinath Bala (Mridangam) of Bangalore Nagarathnammal, a musician and a staunch 81. Ravikiran (Chitravina) & Shashank (flute) 2005 - 3Cd’s devotee of Thyagaraja. On the Pushya Bahula Panchami day, Satish Kumat (Mridangam), the musicians emulate Thyagaraja’s Unchavrithi (walking Phalgun (Kanjira) down the streets singing songs & collecting rice from the Sukanya Ramgopal (Ghatam) residents). 82. T. M. Krishna (Vocal) 2005 - 3 Cd’s R.K. Sriramkumar (Violin), On March 4th, 2006, Sruti will be celebrating Thyagaraja K. Arun Prakash (Mridangam) Aradhana Festival for the 19th time (officially) in the B. Purshothaman (Kanjira) Greater Philadelphia region. This is one of the many Aradha- nas that take place in the Indian Diaspora. The number of observances is growing all over the globe. For Sruti, this day marks the launch of the music and dance season for the year. The members of the Sruti community look forward to the group rendering of Saint Thyagaraja’s Pancharatna Kri- tis. This is also an opportunity for newcomers in the commu- 38 3 Thyagaraja Aradhana, 2006 Thyagaraja Aradhana, 2006 nity to join in with the very committed group of vocalists 66. Malladi Brothers (Vocal) 2002(3) and instrumentalists who take on this responsibility year R. Swaminadhan (violin), after year. The group rendition is followed by individual Palani C. Kumar (mridangam) performances- vocal and instrumental. This year, the culmi- 67. Pandit Vishwamohan Bhatt (Mohan Vina) & nation of the day long observance will be the featured vocal Chitravina Ravikiran (Chitravina) 2002(3) concert by Kiranavali Vidyasankar. Subrata Bhattacharya (tabla), Subhashchandran (mridangam) The 2006 Sruti Aradhana booklet includes four articles by 68. T.M. Krishna (Vocal) 2002(3) eminent rasikas. Sri V.K. Viswanathan elaborates on the B.U. Ganesh Prasad (Violin), “Musical Influence” of Thyagaraja especially with respect to J. Vaidyanathan (Mridangam) the compositions of Papanasam Sivan. His scholarly article is 69. Rama Ravi (Vocal) 2002(3) complete with analysis of the interpretations of various mu- B.V. Raghavendra Rao (Violin) sicians. Rasikan’s erudite article focuses on the genius of Prakash Rao (mridangam) the compositions with respect to one Melakartha raga and 70. Aparna Balaji (vocal) 2003(2) its janya (offspring) ragas. Thyagaraja is a well known Rama Radha Mani (violin) Bhaktha and his compositions overflow with devotion and Vijay Gopalakrishnan (mridangam) philosophical content. Sri Parasaran gives the reader insight 70. Aruna Sairam (Vocal) 2003- 3 Cds into the compositions dedicated to deities other than Sri B.V. Raghavendra Rao (Violin) Rama. Sri Prabhakar Chitrapu’s informative article is at the J. Vaidyanathan (mridangam) same time a plea directed to the more discerning amongst 71. Ganesh & Kumaresh (violin duet) 2003- 3 Cds music lovers. He echoes the feelings of many of us as we Neiveli Venkatesh (mridangam) struggle to understand why some pieces of music move us Giridhar Uduppa (ghatam) and take us to great heights. These thought provoking arti- 72. Kadri Gopalnath (Saxophone) 2003- 3 Cds cles provide us with insight into various aspects of music A. Kanyakumari (violin) and whet our appetite for the pursuit of knowledge Denkanikotta Mani (Thavil) Sumanth Swaminathan (saxophone) The Library Committee 73. O.S. Thiagarajan (vocal) 2003- 3 Cds Raman Visveswaran Delhi Sundararajan (violin) Sundari Balakrishnan Neiveli Narayanan (mridangam) Rangaprabhu Parthasarathy 74. V. K. Raman 2004- 2 Cds Ramaa Nathan Jay Shankar Balan (violin) Rungun Nathan Mali Santhanakrishnan (mridangam) 75. Vijay Siva (vocal) 2004 - 2 Cd’s R.K. Shriramkumar, Violin J. Vaidyanathan, Mridangam 4 37 Thyagaraja Aradhana, 2006 Thyagaraja Aradhana, 2006 M. Chandramouli (Violin) Thyagabrahmam- His Musical Influence Kumbakonam Ganesh (Mridangam) V.K.Viswanathan 56. M.S.Gopalakrishnan 2000(2) Narmadha (Violin) The only reason I decided to attempt writing this arti- Tiruvaroor Bhakthavatsalam (Mridangam) cle is the hope that someone reading this article will 57. Priya Sisters (Vocal) 2000(2) have the ability to properly project the not easily de- B. Raghavendra Rao (Violin) scribable GREATNESS of someone who lived amongst J. Vaidyanatha (Mridangam) people like us a few centuries ago. As a physicist I find 58. Mysore Nagaraj & Manjunath (Violin) 2001(2) myself in a predicament not too different from the Srimushnam Raja Rao (Mridangam) proper presentation of the miraculous 1905 year of Al- 59. M.S. Sheela (Vocal) 2001(2) bert Einstein. I am not going to say anything original but Radhika Mani (Violin), am going to depend on EXPERTS like Professor. A. R. Dattatreya Sharma (Mridangam), P.Sambamurthy, Rangaramanujam Iyengar(R.I.), V. Kashinath (Kanjira), G.N.Balasubramanian(GNB), Madurai Mani Iyer(MMI), Rudrapatnam Sathyakumar (Ghatam) S,Rajam(S.R.), T.S.Parthasarathy(T.S.P) and Lal- 60. P. Unnikrishnan (Vocal) 2001(2) gudi.Jayaraman(LGJ) . I was very fortunate to discuss Vittal Ramamurthy (Violin) with these experts this INFINITE soul’s contributions, Trichur Narendran (Mridangam) which cannot be fully comprehended by an ordinary mor- 61. Hyderabad Brothers (Vocal) 2001(2) tal. I will also discuss “Tamil Thyagarajar”