Versatility, his forte
RANJANI GOVIND
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The contribution of Prof. Sambamurthy to Carnatic music was highlighted.
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"We all know Sambamurthy as a musicologist, but he has created some heavyweight compositions, which speak of a high level of musical grammar," said Dr. M.A Bhageerathi, Faculty Member, Department of Music, Queen Mary's College, in her lec-dem at Parthasarathy Swamy Sabha.
"According to Sambamurthy, a composer of Indian classical music, is referred to as a vaggeyakara or dhaatu-maatu-kaara, which means he is the author of both music and sahitya," she said.
While a composer with many compositions to his credit is termed prolific, Sambamurthy defines one who has created several musical forms as being versatile. Since Sambamurthy has composed a variety of musical forms, it is apt to place him in the versatile category, Bhageerathi explained. Exceeding more than 150, the collection includes kritis, sutra gitas and murchanaakaaraka mela ragamalika.
Compositions that date back to 1919 are preserved at The Music Academy, she said, and also spoke about the major role Sambamurthy played, at the Academy proceedings in those days.
Amazing observations
Some of the astonishing facts that Sambamurthy covered in his compositions include the modal shift of tone or the graha bheda where the said scale offers another set of swara-scales. The lyrics here are embedded in such a way that every shift enables a student to recognise the emerging ragas with graha bheda.
Sambamurthy's gita `Mohana Madhya Hindola Suddhodaya Ravi Chandrika' is a classic example of this, said Bhageerathi. In murchanakaaraka mela ragamalika, his long composition, `Kanakangi Ri Kamavardhani' explains the scales and their swaras that arise out of each mela.
Also, his `Varuna Gitam' in Amrutavarshini, which is said to bring rain when sung 12 times with unswerving devotion has been mentioned by him in one of his books. So, if the Trinity had Lord Rama or Ambal as their `ishta devata,' Sambamurthy worshipped music itself as a devata, concluded Bhageerathi.
Post-Trinity study
Ragas and features of Post Trinity period was M.B. Vedavalli's (Retired Professor and Head, Department of Indian Music, University of Madras) topic.
"I have collected 225 ragas used in the post-Trinity period. These contain old and new scales. The post-Trinity period used about 50 melas, she said. Muthiah Bhagavatar was one of the earliest composers to use Valaji, the symmetrical arohana-avarohana ragam for `Jalandhara.' Varnams, kritis, javalis, Purandaradasa kritis and tillanas of the post-Trinity period are famous in this raga, she said.
`Swaranthara' with four swaras in the scale was another feature with D. Pattammal's usages in several pieces. `Sadasivanai Sadaninaindal' is couched in these minimum swaras, while the more recent wonders created by Dr. M. Balamurali Krishna include Lavangi and Mahati which have to be cautiously tread upon, said Vedavalli.
Those days saw even Veena Sivaramaiah compose three-swara ragas referred to with swayambu swaras, she said. Vakra ragas became popular during this period and exciting combinations that bring in Karna Ranjani of the Karaharapriya scale, was first used by Muthiah Bhagavatar in `Vanchatonu.' Ambujam Krishna's `Om Namo Narayana,' is another well-known kriti in the raga, she said.
An interesting observation was that certain ragas used during the Trinity period were called by a different name in the post-Trinity period. "While Tyagaraja's period had Andolika, it was called Mayuradwani later, and Urmika raga was called Shuddha by D. Pattammal," she said.
Vedavalli also touched upon the Hindustani ragams that the post-Trinity was influenced by. While Sindhubhairavi, Bhimplas, Peelu and Tilang are basically scales that were from the Hindustani thaats, it is said that Mia Tansen was the first to elaborate Dharbaari Kaanada (Asaaveri thaat) at Akbar's court, she said.
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