Monday, December 31, 2012

Themes for Carnatic Music Concert

I am writing on this blog after two years. Earlier I use attend as many concerts I can. But for the past two years my little daughter is keeping me busy all times. So I had been watching concerts on Jaya TV margazhi maha utsavam. Thats all. 

This year the concerts of  Sudha Ragunathan, Sanjay Subrahmanyan, Vijay Siva, Aruna Sairam I enjoyed a lot. Sudha's theme "Isayin thisai Isainthisai" was an enjoyable one. They way she bridged temples of north and south India was very nice. Coming to Sanjay, he is always an interesting personality. Ever keeping his rasikas alert. They way he sung doraiswamy kavirayar's kritis (infact I come to know about the composer only after his concert). were amazing. The madakku ragamalikai innum intha yezhai mel - hats off to him. Infact I was moved very much after reading Sriram.V's blog on wordpress. Vijay siva's paalinchu kamakshi, ananda natana prakasam were the most soul pleasing songs that I heard. Both are my favourites. Aruna Sairam's theme on "yengalil iraivan 123.." was a new one and of course interesting. Her reply to one of the question - what song she will sing for numbers 0 and infinity by  a rasika and her answer "silence" was a good one.

Ok. Coming to my blog on themes.. Listening to these thematic concerts during December season made me to think some more themes. I will list them now.

1. Navarasam - Ragas like mohanam, sahana, kedaragowla, subha pantuvarali, maand, bilahari etc can be showcased for each of the rasas.

2. Shaaktam - Kritis on Devi, set to ragas in devi names like durga, sri, saraswathi, lalita, kamala manohari etc

3. Mantra aksharam - Mantras like aum - 1 syllable, rama - 2 syllable, muruga - 3 syllable, narayana, namasivaya, saravanabhava, sriramjayram, aum namo narayanaya (4,5,6,7,8 syllabled) can be taken and kritis can be framed accordingly.

4. sa ri ga ma pa dha ni - Ragas bearing names like shadjam eg. poorna shadjam, rishaba priya, simmendra madhyamam, lalita panchamam etc.. I dont know about feasibility on gandharam, dhaivatam and nishadham for this.

5. Oli - Light - Ragas bearing names like surya, suryakantham, chandrajothi, chandrakauns, deepakam, chintamani, jothiswaroopini can be taken and songs can be sung.

6. Iraivanin angangal - Like kanjadalayadakshi for eyes, neelakantam for neck, thiruvadi charanam for feet and so on. (incidentally, I came across Sriram.V's blog on this particular theme. similar thought!)

Any more themes if I get I will update. Any idea if you get, feel free to share. :)

Happy New Year to all.