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Kural and kriti, a common thread
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Tiruvalluvar’s couplets have been set to Carnatic ragas, rendered by Sankari Krishnan. SUGANTHY KRISHNAMACHARI
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Setting kurals to music: Sankari Krishnan .
In July 1949, All India Radio broadcast a programme to popularise the Tirukkural. The meaning of a kural would be given, and this would be followed by Dandapani Desigar singing the kural in a Carnatic ragam. Little effort has been made since to set t
he kurals to music.
It was a pleasant surprise therefore to listen to Sankari Krishnan singing kurals in Carnatic ragams in the album titled appropriately ‘Azhage..Thamizhae.’
The album is the brainchild of Satish, of Rajalakshmi Audio. He chose 13 couplets, and for each he chose a Tamil kriti that matched the same sentiment as the couplet. For example, the kural “Patruga patratraan patrinai” is about total surrender to God, like the Saranagati concept of Visishtadvaita. So he chose Tondaradipodi Azhwar’s ‘Pachaimaamalai’ as the most appropriate for this kural.
The album
‘Nanavinaal nalgaadavarai’ relates to a woman fantasising about being with her lover. “Andal’s Vaaranamaayiram seemed most apt for this kural,” says Dr.Satish.
“Her dream represents vipralamba sringara. She is not united with her consort. She only dreams of him. So Vaaranamaayiram has been sung with a tinge of sadness,” explains Dr. Satish.
Scope of subject
Why did he not include the kural “Kannodu kanninai nokkokkin,” and match it with “Annalum nokkinaan” of the Kamba Ramayanam? “That would have been good, but the scope of the subject is tremendous. How many kurals can one include in an album?” he asks.
What about setting the Naaladiyaar to tune, and then finding a kriti that echoes the sentiment? That would show the common thread that runs through the messages of two different religions. “That’s an excellent idea. Maybe in future we could work on that idea,” Satish agrees. He’s bringing out an album on the theme “Maiyal” (love) by Sowmya. It not only includes songs on the nayaka-nayaki sentiment, but also has kritis like Cheraravedemira that are on a philosophical plane.
Anything novel in the offing? “There are plans to make a CD on the empowerment of women. I plan to draw parallels between the modern emancipated woman and women like Sita, Damayanthi, Kannagi, Madhavi.”
He was inspired to do this when he read a translation of a Malayalam book ‘Kanchana Sita,’ which portrays Sita as a powerful woman.
What was Sankari’s experience like, singing kural? “I’ve always had a passion for Tamil literature. And I also like exploring music from different angles. So when Dr. Satish suggested I do the album, I jumped at the opportunity,” she says.
She and some of her colleagues from Brhaddwani have done a programme on Doordarshan on the connection between folk songs and Carnatic music. She demonstrates by singing “Veppilaiyaal” a village song in praise of Goddess Maariamman in the ragam Yadukulakambhodi, and she shows how beautifully village women have put simple words in a classical ragam. Tyagaraja’s “Hecharikaga” in the same raga follows.
Folk instruments
For the folk songs they have used folk instruments like taarai, tappattai and ghatasingari. For the classical compositions they have the violin and the mridangam.
Sankari likes studying similarities between different types of music, and Dr. Satish’s project of pointing to similarities in thought between kurals and kritis also appealed to her. She plans to include kurals in her kutcheris this season.
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Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
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