Garnering a little from the sea of music
S. R. Janakiraman ... enlightening concert. — Pic. by S. R. Raghunathan.
"WHAT WAS the first kriti composed by Tyagaraja? Which episode of the Ramayana did Tyagaraja touch upon in his composition "Srirama Padama" in raga Amrita Vahini?" The Multimedia Quiz at the four-day Tyagaraja Aradhana celebrations organised by Carnatica (run by S. Sowmya and Shashikiran) at the Narada Gana Sabha recently had several in the audience bubbling with enthusiasm to tackle these interesting questions.
Said Ramanathan Iyer, editor, carnatica.com, involved in the crafting of the quiz: "Going by our earlier exercises, we find even tiny tots answering complex queries related to hard-core classical music. Even here the answers, `Namo Namo Raghavaya' and `Ahalya Shapa Vimochanam,' came instantly from both the participants and the audience.
This obeisance to Tyagaraja, `Tyagaraja Nada Yoga Vaibhavam' which was flagged off with the traditional rendition of the Pancharatna kritis, was followed by Sowmya's concert of Tyagaraja's utsava sampradaya kritis — 26 compositions in rakthi ragas as Dhanyasi, Reetigowla, Bhairavi and Suruti. Musicologist S. R. Janakiraman's explanatory concert on Ekaika Kriti Ragas threw light on those speciality scales used only once by the composer, for the said kriti.
The Sahitya Antakshari was a test thrown open to the participants for assessing their knowledge-and-skills on the Tyagaraja repertoire. The audio-visual narrative by T.V. Ramprasadh, on Tyagaraja Ramayanam, juxtaposed the saints' kritis and facets of the relevant portions of the epic taken up in his compositions. Udayalur Kalyanaraman's Namasankeertanam and Divya Namam brought out the different ways in which Tyagaraja offered musical prayer to his Ishta Deivam. The thematic concert-series had a specialised train of thought running in each — Tyagaraja's kritis on music; his fast-paced kritis and bhakti compositions etc., by Manda Sudharani from Andhra Pradesh, O. S. Thyagarajan, Gayathri Venkataraghavan and Suguna Varadachari.
"This was exactly the kind of variety-hued festival we had planned, to bring out Tyagaraja in his entirety," said Shashikiran and Sowmya. "There are multifarious ways in which the saint can be portrayed, given the magnitude of his contribution. Here is a composer who isn't just behind his hundreds of compositions on Lord Rama. The saint that we revere in our musical aradhana has myriad facets that need to be highlighted to get a sampling of his Nadopasana. As we do not get to listen to even half of his works in concerts, we thought the best way to notice at least one wave in his sea of work would be a thematic festival during his aradhana, showcasing a cross-section of his creativity... be it kritis, ragas, rare pieces or his ghana raga gems."
Add Shashikiran and Sowmya, "It's not just a positive or negative feedback that we are aspiring for. Sincere involvement from the public, especially children, is what we are looking at. This generation needs sumptuous musical nurturing to understand the nitty-gritty of our fine arts."
Some interesting highlights
# The wholesome vakra patterns in ekaika kriti ragas dwelt upon by Prof. Janakiraman detailed novelty in ragas such as Supradeepam, Kokilavarali, Vijaya Vasantham, Manohari and Deepakam.
# Shashikiran's tidbits in Antakshari added some excitement, for example, the information on the add-on chittaswaram in `Shobillu Saptaswara' that is supposedly bigger then the kriti itself!
# T. V. Ramprasadh's thoughtful narrative on `Maa Janaki' in Khamboji, helped one infer Tyagaraja's subtle contemplation on the inner strengths bestowed to Rama and Sita, and also the pre-ordained interplay of Fate even in the life of Gods and Goddesses.
# And Udayalur Kalyanaraman's mellifluous exposition of the lyrical beauty in Tyagaraja's lullaby for Lord Rama, as in the lines "Jo Jo Ravi Shashi Nayana."
RANJANI GOVIND
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