Margazhi Isai Vizha 2017

Chennaiyil Tiruvaiyaru concert at Kamarajar Arangam, 22-12-2017, Friday, 8.30 AM to 9.30 AM.

Vocal Concert by Ms. Harini Krishnan.

Accomapaniments:
Ms. Ranga Priya - Violin
Mr. Balaji - Mridangam
Mr. Sai Kishore - Kanjira

Theme: Self Realisation (தன்னை அறிதல்) through Music.

Self is made of 3 naadis (ida, pingala and sushumna) and 7 chakras (moolaadhaaram, swadhishtaanam, manipoorakam, anahatam, vishuddhi, aagya and sahasraaram). If we meditate on these points, they will get clensed. As a result, any problems in organs associated with these chakras will vanish away. The songs covered in the concert were on deities who represent these chakras or the quality controlled by these chakras.

I am indeed lucky enough to meet Harini (junior to me in my school Kamakoti Vidayalaya, Trichy) at her concert for Chennaiyil Tiruvaiyaru.

This was her first concert in Chennai. Harini's voice was so sweet and deep. One could feel the strong foundation on listening to her songs.

The way in which she conveyed the raga in very few seconds need to be applauded.

She started the concert by dedicating her actions and fruits to Sri Narayana. With a brief outline of sriranjani she sung the sloka "Karomi yathyath sakalam parasmai" and then headed towards Papanasam Sivan's composition in the raga Sriranjani - Gajavadana Karuna sadana in Adhi taalam.

Vinayaka is the controller of moolaadhara chakra. As said by Sri Muthuswami Dikshitar in Vatapi Ganapathim Bhajeham (moolaadhaara kshetra sthitham).

The next song was Saraswathi Dayainidhi in the raga Saraswathi, in Adhi talam, composed by Sri Papanasam Sivan. Swadhishtanam is the centre for creativity, arts.. And it is totally good to listen to a kriti on the gnana devatha - Saraswathi. Well paced kalpana swaras added beauty to the rendition.

The next song was Maa Ramanan Uma Ramanan, in hindolam, yet another master piece of Sri Papanasam sivan, where he would have mentioned about Vishnu and Shiva in each alternating line. This song (vishnu - manipoorakam and shiva - Anahatam) started with an alapana. Niraval was placed at Thaayin migu dayaparan.. Accompanists too played a vital role in making this song a grand feast.

Violin portions by Rangapriya at alapana, swara sections were good. Tani aavartanam by Balaji and Sai Kishore were pleasing to our ears.

Then came the ever green theeraatha vilaiyaattu pillai of Subramaniya Bharathi in Ragamalika. This song is for vishuddha chakram. The akaara sanchaaram at kuzhalile soottuven enbaan in Khamas raga was beautiful. Due to hectic schedule at the Chennaiyil tiruvaiyaaru and overlap by the previous programme, this song was cut shortened with sindhubhairavi and khamas raga. Missed to listen shanmukapriya and maand raga charanam of this song. Would have been beautiful if those were also sung.

To compromise the missed maand raga in the previous song, Harini sang a short viruttham in maand raga. This viruttham on Aagya chakram focussed on forgiveness.

This was followed by the maand raga tillana by Lalgudi Sri G.Jayaraman. This tillana was on Kanchi Kamakshi. Parasakthi is the devatha for Sahasrara chakram. The pace of the tillana was very well maintained with the able support of percussionists.

Overall it was a good one hour realisation (satisfaction) of oneself through music.

Best wishes for the young artiste and her team to perform more and more in the coming days. They have a Bright future.

Last but not the least, I got an opportunity to enjoy this concert along with my sanskrit teacher at School Ms. G.K.Chandrika. So happy to meet her nearly after 2 decades.

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.

AnandatAndavapuram Sri AyyanAr

Sri sokkAyi udanurai tiruvarasamoorthy ayyanaar - Well the term says about a graama devatha ayyanaar. But this ayyanaar is none other than the dharma sAsthA (Ayyappan). Famous musician Sri G.N.Balasubramanian has sung a song in praise of this lord at anandatandavapuram (small village near mayiladuthurai - place where the composer Sri Gopalakrishna Bharati lived). Yes. That song is mamakulEswaram shAsthAram in the rAga tOdi, set to Eka tAlam.

The song goes like this.

Pallavi
mama kulEshvaram shAstAram santatam cintayEham
Ananda tANDava puravihAram

Anu pallavi
shamita nata jana duritam nIlAmbara shObhitam
amita sukha shrIpradam atulita divya guNAnvitam

Charanam
kamala rucira karadhrta kAshAyudha vibhUSitam
amara munIshvara bhUta vaTuka nAyaka sEvitam
kamanIya nava yauvana sundarAmbA sahitam
sumashara guhAgrajam shrI rAjam harihara sutam

madhyama kAlam
rAkA shashinibha vadanam ravi sOmAnasa nayanam
rayagati turanga gamanam rakSita samasta bhuvanam

In this kriti, GNB declares that sri ayyanar of anandataandavapuram is his family deity.

mamakuleshwaram - mama (my) kula (family) eeswaram (deity)

I always think about my family deity, sAsthA, who resides at anandatandavapuram. The lord, drives away the sins of the bhaktas who pray to him and he looks great in blue coloured garment that he wears. He grants joy to them and he is an embodiment of sevaral virtues.

He holds a weapon made out of grass (kAshAyudha) in his lotus like hands. He is worshipped by the best of devas, rishis and vedic brahmins. He is accompanied by sundarAmbA who attracts all by her beauty and youthfulness. He is the elder brother of manmadha, muruga. He is the mighty king, son of vishnu and shiva. He has a face like full moon. His two eyes are the sun and the moon. He moves swiftly like that of a water current and protects the whole world.

Many thanks to rasikas.org which guided me with the exact lyrics and meaning of this great song.

In tamil, the goddess is called sokkAyi, which means, a lady who attracts every one by means of her beauty. The same word gets translated to sundarAmbA in sanskrit. Normally Ayyanaar is accompanied by poornA and pushkalA. In this place, he is with sundarAmbA, which is very unique.

SivakatAksham

Gopalakrishna Bharati, a well known composer of songs on Chidambara NatarAja is the supporting force for me to write this article. We will get the siva kataksham (or the blessings of Lord Shiva) by reading through his lines.

A man (refers to the reader) asks a saint (Gopalakrishna Bharati), "Pranaams to you, respectable Saint. I want to attain mOksham (salvation). I have neither done any poojas nor have observed fastings. I completely surrender to you to show me the path towards the ultimate reality."

Saint answers, "My dear disciple, I am so happy on hearing these words from you. Dont worry. Just listen. I will show you the way to attain your goal."

Saint:

siva lOkha nathanai kandu sEvithiduvOm vAreer

bhava bayangalai pOkki avar parama padhatthai koduppar - andha
siva lOkha nathanai kandu sEvithiduvOm vAreer

arpa sugathai ninaindhOm aran thiruvadi marandhOm

karpidhamAna prapancham idhai kAnal neer pOlE yennin yenni

mAnuda jenmam kodutthAr thannai vaNanga karangaL aLithAr

thEnum pAlum pOlE sendru thEradiyil nindru kondu

siva lOkha nathanai kandu sEvithiduvOm vAreer

"Lets go and pray to the lord of the shiva lOkham. He will grant salvation and will destroy the fear and sorrows. All these days we were thinking of the cheap worldly pleasures and we forget his (shiva's) lotus feet. We were keeping on thinking about the temporal universe which is like a mirage. The lord gave us this human birth, hands to worship Him. Lets all go to the thEr adi (holy car in the chidambaram temple) like freely flowing milk and honey and pray to the Lord".

Saying so the saint sees the face of the disciple.

Disciple asks "I understood that surrendering totally to the Lord will grant us salvation. Could you please elaborate about the chidambaram sthalam that you mentioned in the previous song?"

Saint says, "Here it is."

thillai sthalam endru solla thodanginal

illai piravi piniyum paapamum

solla thagum ithuvE siva lOkham

yeLLathanai aram seyyil amOgam

aagama vEda purAnangaL saathiram

arul thavam purivArkku aruliya paathiram

aalayam aayirathettinil nEthiram

Ananda thAndavam aadiya kshethiram

parama ragasiyam ondru pArkalAm

bala krishnan kavi pAda kEtkalAm

karma vinaigaL anaithayum pOkkalAm

kasadatthu mukthiyum undAgalAm

"If you start to say thillai (chidambaram) then there is no more re birth, disease and sin. One can say that this ksetra is the siva lokham (or abode of shiva). If you do a little amount (like a grain called yeL) of good then it is awesome. Shiva is the one who grants blessings to those who do a sincere meditation on him as mentioned in the ancient works (vEdAs, purAnAs, sAstrAs, AgamAs). This sthalam where shiva has performed aananda thandavam (blissful dance) is vital among thousands of other temples as an eye in our body. You can see a big secret (chidambara rahasyam!), hear songs sung by balakrishnan (the composer), drive away all the deeds (karma) and its consequences (vinaigaL) and at last you can get the salvation."

Disciple's happieness knew no bounds. He asked, "Thats nice to hear about Chidambaram. Could you please tell about the presiding deity over there?".

The saint became so happy on seeing the curiosity of his disciple. He said,

sabhApatikku vERu deivam samAnamAgumA thillai

sabhApatikku vERu deivam samAnamAgumA ?

kripAnidhi ivarai pOla kidaikkumO indha dhArani thannil

oru dharam siva chidambaram yendru sonnal pOdhume

paragathi pera vEru punyam panna vEnuma?

ariya pulaiyar moovar padham adaindhAr yendrE purAnam

arindhu solla kEttOm Gopalakrishnan pAdum thillai

sabhApatikku vERu deivam samAnamAgumA ?

"Will any other deity become equal to sabhapathi (lord of the kanaga sabai - Chidambaram)? One cannot find a more graceful god like him in this world. You need not do any other good deeds to attain salvation. Just if you chant "siva chidambaram" once, thats enough. Three great poets (appar, sundarar, sambandhar) have attained salvation by chanting the name of Shiva as told in the puranam. He is in the thillai sthalam about which Gopalakrishnan (saint) is singing."

Disciple was moved to tears. He then asked, "What is Aanandam?"

There was a quick reply from the saint that if we see the lotus feet of Lord Nataraja in the dancing posture, it is the real bliss (Anandam). It was with the lines "aadiya paadha dharisanam kandal aanandam"

The next question from the disciple was "Who is mightier?"

Saint said, "Mightiest among all is the person who gets the grace of Ponnambalan (Nataraja). By having houses, cows, goats, money in this world can one become the mightiest?" Saying so he sung the following lines.

pArukkul veedugal maadugal aadugal panam irundhal avan periyavanAvanO?

yArukku ponnambalan kripai irukkudho avanE periyavanAm

Disciple said, "Thank you my beloved guru. You have enlightened me on the ultimate reality. I would like you to say when there will be an end to all the sufferings of this kali yuga"

The saint sings,

kanaka sabApathi dharisanam oru nAl kandAl kali theerum

sanaka mahA muni kaithozhudhetthiya dinakara kOti thEjOmayam aagiya

kanaka sabApathi dharisanam oru nAl kandAl kali theerum

parpala yojanai seiyvathum thollai

paragathi adayavum paadhyamum illai

arputhamaagavE aangoru sollai

aniyum gopalakrishnan paniyum thillai

kanaka sabApathi dharisanam oru nAl kandAl kali theerum

"One day if we see the darshan of kanaka sabapathi, all the sufferings would be put to an end. Great sages like sanaka have worshipped the lord, who is as bright as 1000 suns. If we keep on thinking a lot about things other than the lord, it will create a lot of problems. It wont help us to get the path towards salvation. There is one great word "thillai" which will help us in attaining salvation."

"Oh guru! I can understand the greatness of Thillai sthalam and of Nataraja. It would be great if you tell how Nataraja will dance."

The guru sings,

thA thai yendrAduvAr avar thath thith thai yendrAduvAr

thA thai yendrAduvAr avar thath thith thai yendrAduvAr

thakita thakita thai yendrAduvAr avar jam thakita thai yendrAduvar

dheem tharikita thai yendrAduvAr avar jam tharikita thai yendrAduvar

Adhi parAparam aagiya chith aanandam kondoru kAlai yeduthu

anda charAcharam yengum nadunga

aadhi sEdanAr mudigaL nerunga

pAr pugazhum thillai chidambara nathan

balakrishnan panindhEthiya paagan

"He will dance with the jathis. He will dance with one leg raised and with pure bliss. When he dances, the entire univers will feel the vibration. Lord Vishnu's serpant, Aadhi sEshan's head will also dance. He is the one who is praised by Gopalakrishnan and the whole universe."

Now the disciple could experience the aananda thandavam of Lord Shiva. He wanted to confirm with the guru whether his experiences were right. o he asks his guru to tell about the ananda thandava experience.

Guru says, "I am feeling so happy on seeing the dance of Lord shiva. The sages like Sanaka, Sanandana, SanAthana, SanathkumAra were all singing. Lord Brahmma is putting the taalaas. About 3000 (thillai vAzh moovAyirathOr) people are celebrating the occasion daily. Nandi, Bringi and other Siva gaNangaL came together to witness the occasion. Sage Narada and sage Tumburu were singing. Not only there was a feast for the ears but also for the stomach. All the dEvas are enjoying themselves by having the divine food. Maha vishnu was playing the Maddalam (drum) and Shiva was dancing with all these celebrations happily."

These were captured in the following lines.

kanaka sabhai thirunadanam kandu kaLithu Anandam adaindhEn

sanakasanandana munivarum pAda

chatur muka dEvanum taalangaL pOda

dhinamum moovAyiram pErum kondAda

dhith thOm thOm thaka thOm thOm dhimi thOm thOm thakita thadhimithOm yendru

kanaka sabhai thirunadanam kandu kaLithu Anandam adaindhEn

nandi bringi siva gaNangaLum kooda

nArada thumburu sangeetham pAda

pandhi pandhi yaai amarar koNdAda

gopalakrishnan matthalam pOda aadiya

kanaka sabhai thirunadanam kandu kaLithu Anandam adaindhEn

The disciple saluted the guru and started to meditate upon Nataraja and there by attained salvation.

Hope I was able to provide a picture of the Aananda thandavam and let us all pray to the Kanaga sabapathi to attain the state of Divine Bliss and DivineBlessings (Siva katAksham).

Oothukkadu Venkata Kavi

"Oothukkadu" - If any one utters this word, then immediately - the divine composer - Venkatasubbier will come to most of our minds. His compositions are young forever. Even in the recent movie - "Alaipayuthe" starred by Madhavan and Shalini, we can listen to his song, Alaipayuthey kanna in the raga kAnadA (S R3 P G3 M1 D2 N2 S - S N2 P M1 G3 M1 R3 S). He is an ardent devotee of Krishna. Krishna has visited him in the form of a small child. The incident is explained below.

One day the singer was singing the song written and tuned by him in the temple of the village oothukkadu. Suddenly he felt a weight on his lap. He felt that a child was sitting on his lap. Out of pain, he pushed the child away from his lap. He then opened his eyes to see what was that and floated on the ocean of joy to see Lord Krishna, decorated with beautiful ornaments, standing before him. From that day onwards, he stopped putting talam on his lap, treating Krishna to be always seated on his lap.

All his kritis will make one to stand up and dance. They were such effective ones. All his compositions were written under the context that Krishna will be dancing on listening to them. In all his kritis, one wil find the jathis that are used in classical dance. He has written several songs on Vinayaka, Rama, and of course on Krishna.

His master piece that I would say is - Kalinga nardhana tillana in the raga Gambhira nattai (S G3 M1 P N3 S - S N3 P M1 G3 S). If any one listens to that song, one can experience the Kalinga nardhana episode in the life history of Krishna. The song will start with jathis rendered in the Gambhira nattai raga with chathusra gathi aadhi taalam. Then some words will come. Then jathis and words inter twined will be rendered with tisra gathis and chathusra gathi alternating with one another. The song will give one a lively experience. The concluding part of the song will be in chathusra gathi. There will be mixed experiences of Joy, sorrow, tension, confusion in the progress of the song. At last one will feel that they are relived out of tension as soon as the song gets over - signifying Krishna has killed the serpant kalinga.

Especially the phrase (thagida thagas thadaaya butha hara mandhas............mithakaravara poojitha padhayugala) will be so realistic. The mandas......... indicates that Krishna is standing on the head of the serpent and it is emitting poison from its mouth. Then the next line will be "hari jaya vijayee bhava nanda kumara..." which states that nanda kumara has won the war that was going on. That is Kalinga was defeated and the Yamuna river's purity has been restored.

Another gem of his songs is the Rajagopala swamy pancharathnam - a set of 5 songs on Mannargudi Rajagopala swamy. The madhyamavathi (S R2 M1 P N2 S - S N2 P M1 R2 S) song - Sundara nanda kumara - will be so nice.

All the songs of Oothukkadu Venkata Kavi will be nice. To analyse each and every song, time wont be sufficient. We need several centuries to analyse all of them. So let me put a logical end to this post

Remembering D.K.P - The Lioness of Carnatic Music

I am writing this blog with deepest sorrow in my heart. The lioness of carnatic music, one of my favourite singer sangeeta kalanidhi - Padma Vibhushan Smt D.K.Pattammal passed away yesterday on July 16, 2009 at 1:30 PM at her residence.

Born on March 19, 1919 at Damal, a village near Kanchipuram to Shri Krishnaswamy and Smt KAnthimathi, DKP was a trend setter. She was the first woman to handle RTPs in the concerts. There was a illusion in the world of Carnatic Music that women cant perform as much as men do. DKP shattered that illusion and created a platform for female artistes. Her demise is definitely an irreplaceable loss to the music world.

She is famous for Bharathi songs, Dikshitar kritis. Her pronunciation of sanskrit words or any language word is definitely a variation factor from others. Every word will be uttered with utmost sincerity and her voice will be majestic as well as mellifluous. Whether she sings SoundararAjam in brindAvana sAranga or sree satyanArayanam in subapantuvarALi of Muthuswami Dikshitar or vetrri yettu dhikkum yetta of subrahmanya bharati or shanti nilava vENdum in tilang, or any other song, I will definitely lose my worldly consiousness and enter into a state of eternal bliss. Such a soothing singer.

D.K.Pattammal(1919-2009) along with M.S.Subbulakshmi (1916-2004) and M.L.Vasanthakumari (1928-1990) formed the female trinity of carnatic music world.

There was a popular saying that DKP is not pattammal but paattammal (paattu - music -> mother of music.) My respectful homage to the legend and deepest condolence to DKP's family, students and fans.

Photo of Smt Pattammal with Smt. Rukmini Soundararajan for a concert at Music Academy.