THE JOURNAL OF THE MUSIC ACADEMY DEVOTED TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE SCIENCE AND ART OF MUSIC Vol. LXII 1991 mimumHHmMjUUMmBimMlIBBBBBBBlIBBBBUIlllIHlBW" ■■nBBBBBBBBBBBflBBBBBBBflBBBBBBBBBBBBM 5n? * jiffitfro to* i tr^TT to nrafci to firoiftr n “I dwell not in Vaikuntha, nor in the hearts of Yogins nor in the Sun; (but) where my bhaktas sing, there be I, Narada!” Edited by T. S. PARTHASARATHY The Music Academy, Madras 306, T.T.K. Road, Madras-600 014 Annual Subscription - Inland Rs.40: Foreign $ 3-00 V OURSELVES This Journal is published as an Annual. All correspondence relating to the Journal should be addressed and all books etc., intended for it should be sent to The Editor Journal of the Music Academy, 306, T.T.K. Road, Madras - 600 014. Articles on music and dance are accepted for publication on the understanding that they are contributed solely to the Journal of the Music Academy. Manuscripts should be legibly written or, preferably, typewritten (double-spaced and on one side of the paper only) and should be signed by the writter (giving his or her address in full.) The Editor of the Journal is not responsiblev«r for the views expressed by contributors in their articles. CONTENTS . PAGE y The 64th Madras Music Conference - Official Report — 1 Advisory Committee Meetings — 19 The Sadas — 52 Margadarsi Whom Swati Tirunal Followed — T.S. Parthasarathy — 72 Compositions of Ettayapuram Rulers -—Dr. Gowri Kuppuswamy & Dr. M. Hariharan — 82 Development of the Repertoire in Modern Bharata Natyam —-Annie-Marie Gaston (Anjali) — 95 Tana Varnam - Its Identity and Significance -—Lalita Ramakrishna — 135 How many Janya Ragas are there? — P. Sriram and Valavanur N. Jammbunathan — 144 Book Reviews 156 Statement about ownership and other particulars regarding The J ournal of the M usic A cademy M adras FORM IV (See Rule 8) Place of Publication The Music Academy, Madras-14 Periodicity of its publication Once a year Printer’s Name T.V. Ramani Nationality Indian Address Rajan & Co., Printers 1, Goomes Street, Madras - 1. Publisher’s Name T.S. Parthasarathy Nationality Indian Address 306, T.T.K. Road, Madras - 14. Editor’s Name T.S. Parthasarathy Nationality Indian Address 306, T.T.K. Road, Madras - 14. Name and addresses of The Music Academy individuals who own the 306, T.T.K. Road, newspaper-and partners or Madras - 600 014. shareholder holding more than one percent of the total capital I, T.S. Parthasarathy, hereby declare that the particulars given are true to the best of my knowledge and belief. (Sd.) T.S. PARTHASARATHY Dated, 18-09-1992 (Signature of the Publisher) THE 64th MADRAS MUSIC CONFERENCE OFFICIAL REPORT ^ The Opening Day 19 - 12 - 1990 The 64th Annual Conference of the Music Academy, Madras, was held at the T. T. Krishnamachari Auditorium in the premises of the Academy from the 19th December 1990 to 1st January 1991. The Conference was to have been inaugurated by Sri R. P. Goenka. But, owing to his unavoidable absence, Sri V. R. Deenadayalu inaugurated the conference and read out the speech of Sri R. P. Goenka. The inaugural function- began with the singing of prayer by Mrs. Seetha Rajan and Ms. V. Girija, Lecturers of the Teachers’ College of Music. MESSAGES Messages received from the President of India and the Prime Minister were read: Sri R. Venkataraman, President, in his message said: On the occasion of the 64th conference of the Music Academy, I have great pleasure in extending my felicitations to the Vidvans, exponents and students of classical music, who will be participating in the conference. The Music Academy, Madras has played a determining role in the fostering of our performing arts. 2 THE JOURNAL OF THE MADRAS MUSIC ACADEMY [VOLLXII May the Academy be blessed with every felicity in its noble endeavours. I send my very best wishes for the unqualified success of the conference and the fulfilment of all the participating musicians and scholars.” Sri Rajiv Gandhi, Prime Minister, in his message congratulated the Music Academy on its work and wished the Academy the very best for the future. The President of the Academy, Sri T.T. Vasu, welcomed the distinguished guests, members of the Academy and the public. In his address, Sri Vasu said: “It is my privillege, as President of the Music Academy, to extend to all of you, a hearty welcome to the 64th Annual conference of the Academy to be inaugurated this evening and the concerts to follow today and to the concerts that are to be held hereafter. On the eve of the inauguration of every Conference every year, our thoughts turn back to the Founding Fathers of the Academy who, with immense foresight, anticipated the urbanisation and the consequent shift of the nerve-centres of art and culture to the cities and towns and turned the Kaveri toward Madras to make it the seat and centre of the artistic and literary life the former cradled and fostered. We salute them for making the Music Academy a precious heritage to protect and build upon. For a long time, the patrons of music and other allied arts were confined to a hierachy ranging from Maharajahs to Mirasdars. When the focus shifted to urban areas, the Sabhas slowly took over this patronage. With the arrival of TV and - pardon me for saying this - with coarsening of tastes, the Sabhas became shaky. At this point - I am happy to say - some industrial houses started extending their patronage to fine arts indirectly through the Sabhas and directly in several cases. Shri R.P. Goenka, who is to inaugurate THE 64th MADRAS MUSIC CONFERENCE 3 the 64th Conference of the Academy, is a modern version of the Maharajah and his empire in an industrial empire. Shri Goenka is one of the India’s best known industrialists and the Founder Chairman of RPG Enterprises Limited whose licensee companies have a turnover of around Rs.2000 crores. He belongs to a family of well-known businessmen which traces its business origin as far back as 1820 at Calcutta. His grandfather, Sir Badri Das Goenka, known as the ‘Grand Old Man of Calcutta ’ was a member of the State Legislative Council, Sheriff of Calcutta and the first Indian Chairman of the Imperial Bank. Shri R.P. Goenka is currently a Director of the Central Board of the Reserve Bank of India. In addition to being the chief of a number of key core sector business concerns, he is involved in a large number of public service activities like the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund. Because of his long association with the late Smt. Indira Gandhi, he also takes keen interest in the Indira Gandhi Memorial Fund as a Managing Trustee. The RPG Group which has taken over the Spencer chain of concerns in the South, is currently embarking upon a major expansion plan and it is expected that within another five years, the Group’s turnover will touch Rs.5000 crores. Shri Goenka is deeply interested in the cultural heritage of India and its performing arts. He recently acquired the Gramophone Company of India which has been rendering yeoman service in the field of recording music for many decades. I thank Shri Goenka most sincerly for agreeing to inaugurates this Conference and offer him the traditional SWAGATHAM. Talking of Gramophone Company of India, one cannot but talk about that queen of music, Smt. M.S. Subbulakshmi and her consort and music career-architect, Sri Sadasivam. Well wishers 4 THE JOURNAL OF THE MADRAS MUSIC ACADEMY [ VOL LXII of the Music Academy would recall that last year Sangita Kalanidhi Smt. M.S. Subbulakshmi recorded on a cassette, exclusively for the benefit of the Music Academy, the MELA-FAGAMALIKA of Maha Vaidyanatha Iyer and donated the entire royalty to this Academy. I have great pleasure in informing you that 11,000 Cassettes have been sold so far by the Gramophone Company of India and we have also received the royalty from them. Smt. M.S. Subbulakshmi and Sri Sadasivam are here and I welcome them warmly on behalf of the Academy. Vidvan D.K. Jayaraman is to preside over this year’s Conference. It will be presumptuous on my part to introduce Jayaraman to this audience, though Jayaraman and myself were classfellows in the Loyola College in the ancient past. Early in life Jayaraman was enveloped by the musical environment provided by his renowned sister, Sangita Kalanidhi Smt. D.K. Patammal and was exposed to classical Kamatic music from the age of four. With the loving care and affection showered by his sister, he soon flowered into a front rank Vidvan at an incredibly short time. He built up an enormous repertoire of compositions which he learnt not only from his sister but from giants like Muthayya Bhagavathar, Papanasam Si van, Kotisvara Iyer and others directly. He is an uncompromising adherent to classical tradition and an adept in Laya which he imbibed from great masters. He is a much sought after vocalist who is popular with accompanists, the elitist rasikas and the lay admirers. I welcome him with all my heart and thank him for agreeing to preside over our 64th Conference to commence from tomorrow morning and I am sure the Conference will benefit by his vast experience and able direction. The choice of Vidvan Jayaraman to preside over the Conference is unique in another way also. This is the second case of a brother succeeding his sister as the President of the Conference, the earlier instance being that of T. Viswanathan THE 64th MADRAS MUSIC CONFERENCE 5 who suceeded Balasaraswati after a gap of 15 years. No less than five Vidvans of the Umayalpuram parampara, namely Swaminatha Iyer, Viswanatha Iyer, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, T.M.