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Focus on vivadi ragas
In the Veterans series, Sri Krishna Gana Sabha presented S. Rajam offering a special feature on Kotiswara Iyer. A number of songs in rare vivadi ragas were presented by Rajam’s disciples.
Rajam spoke briefly about the life and times of the composer. He mentioned that Kotiswara Iyer desired to compose in all the 72 mela ragas and was keen on doing this in Tamil. He composed the Kanda Ganamudam songs in the 72 melas where he incorporated his grandfather’s name as his mudra. Kavi Kunjara Dasa and also included the raga mudra in each of his songs.
Rare ragas in concerts
Rajam emphasised the need to bring the rare melakarta ragas into the ambit of concerts. The Vivadi ragas have a special charm. They only need to be sung with care and emphasis in these ragas is on plain notes, he stressed. To fully bring out the truth of his statements, he was assisted ably by four of his sishyas — Gayatri Sundaresan, R. Kavya, Akshay Padmanabhan and Vijayalakshmy Subramaniam. The singers presented the compositions in Kokilapriya, Tanarupi, Gamanasrama, Sucharitra, Raghupriya, Gayakapriya, Hatakambari and some well known ragas like Kiravani and Subhapantuvarali.
The Tamil in the compositions is fairly simple but sophisticated, with a built-in interplay of laya, showing the composer’s command on raga, laya and sahitya.
Veena support was provided ably by Sri Anantanarayanan. J. Vaidyanathan on the mridangam enhanced the songs with subtle accompaniment, often drawing appreciation from the veteran vidwan.
For a rainy evening, the programme was well attended by an involved and appreciative audience.
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Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
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