visit also my website on TNS to see concert and other photos and hear his music.
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Concert of TNS at Rasikaranjanai sabha on
Abhogeendhra Arudra darisanam
TNS was flanked by his best accompanists , namely, Sri MC on Violin and Guruvayur Durai on mrdhangam. Sri N.Guruprasad was accompanying on ghatam.
The concert started with the sreeragavarnam and as expected the entire programme consisted of the compositions on Siva, the day being that of Arudra darisanam. The first was the krthi of Gopalakrishna bharathiar, in mayamalavagoula, ‘sivaloka nathanaikkandu.’ TNS gave the entire raga in a capsule form which was taken up by MC fittingly.
Then came a song of Neelakantasivan in kambhodhi, ‘sivanai ninaindhu paadi.’ This was followed by a enchanting panthuvarali and the krthi was ‘siva siva siva enaraadhaa,’ of Thyagaraja with neraval-svaram at ‘aagamamula.’ The svara brought to mind the arudra thandava of Nataraja that was to take place that night in Chidambaram. But the rasikas were treated with an audio-visual portrayal of the same by the music that followed during the rest of the concert.
The anandathandava started with the kedara raga alapana, heralding the arrival of ‘ananda natanaprakasam,’ of Dhikshitar. TNS sang the krthi in a slow tempo making it a lasya thandava. The svara was at ‘sangeethavadhya vinodha thaandava,’ and it was indeed a vinodha thandava accompanied with sangeetham and vadhyam by the assemblage of the eminent musician and accompanists. Each phrase of svara proved to be an adavu , being differently executed. The rasikas were enamoured with the darsana of arudra thandava, only to be enraptured more and more later.
After ‘innamum sandheha padalamo,’ in keeravani by Gopalakrisna bharathiar, TNS started the raga abhogi, leaving the rasikas with no doubt, (sandeham) what so ever that this is indeed the arudradarisanam. The abhogi alapana was ‘aabhogeendhram,’ in two ways.
First, Adhisesha, bhogeendra, wishing to see the dance off Siva came to Chidambaram in the form of Patanjali. .The alpana of TNS of abhogi portrayed Adisesha encircling the region with all his thousand hoods. Abhoga means extension and expansion. Abhogi is that which has extension and expansion which jus describes the raga abhogi sung by TNS this day, justifying the name of the raga.
Secondly, in the spread hoods of Adhisesha the Lord Govundaraja was seen enjoying the dance of Siva, This was evident in the elaborate thanam. The word thaana means extension and thanu means sareera and the thaana was as beautiful as the Lord Govinda and after the Adhisesha has encircled and spread his hoods naturally the Lord Govinda would come and lie on it. Hence it was the complete picture of Chidambaram and all that is left was to enjoy the arudra natanam. This was brought on stage by the pallavi ‘orudharamsivschidambaram enRuraitthaal pOdhumaam., anu dhiam orE orudharam,’ All the kinds of nrtthas attributed to Lord Siva could be seen in the pallavi and svara prasthra which was a ragamalika. Each raga was wonderfully brought out in full by the svaras while the kapi was exclusive , kumbakonam degree kapi!
After a skilful thani by Sri Guruvayur Dorai and Sri Guruprasad, TNS sang the virutthams., paal ninaiddhoottum, thadittha Or maganai and ammaiye appaa,’ in ragamalika. When TNS finished the viruttham Thadittha Or maganai in dharbhari kanada, and what a durbari kanada it was, rasikas might have expected him to sing next
‘Chandrachooda ,’ of Purandara dasa. But TNS went on to the next viruttham ‘ammaiye appaa ‘ also in ragamalika and finished with mangalam. The ragas of the virutthams were exquisitely rendered and brought the concert to grand finale.
It is superfluous to mention about the accompanists who are well known for their expertise and also the seasoned accompanists of TNS who were the accompanists for at least half a dozen concerts during this season. to TNS. The ragas beautifully played by MC and the laya lasya thandava by the playing of Guruvayur Dorai made everyone of the concerts enjoyable besides the extraordinary music of TNS.
Concert of TNS at padmasarangapani Trust ,virugambaakkam on
Mittee mitaayee
The concert started with the ada tala varnam in kanada and TNS was accompanied by VVRavi on the violin, MSVaradan on mrdjhangam and S.Sundarkumar on kanjeera.Vocal support was given by TNS Krishna.
The varnam for which TNS sang a wonderful kalpanasvaram, was followed by the Thyagarajakrthi, ‘yojana,’ in durbar with fantastic svara . Next was the raga mohanam and the krthi was ‘raajagopaalam,’ by Dhikshitar. If the raga was mohanakaram , more was the neraval-svara sung at ‘naaradhaadhi krtah bhajanam,’ ,which was really extraordinary. The variations and the variety of the svaras and the hooking up of the svara pharases with the line naaradhaadhi each time was fascinating.
By this time here were some listeners’ requests given to TNS and he gracefully obliged with them and almost all the rest of the songs were listeners’ choice.
The next was the elaborate raga dvijavanthi, rendered in a gradual and leisurely manner, painting stroke by stroke till a beautiful portrait of the raga emerged and the krthi was ‘akhilandesvari,’ of Dhikshithar. The dvijavanthi of TNS is always dvajavanthi, with his banner flying high.. The krthi itself was sung in such a manner to bring out all the nuances of the raga.
The rasikas who were put in a lull mood by now are whipped up into briskness by the vijayasree composition of Thyagaraja, ‘varanarada.’ The svara sung at ‘prakatambuga,’ provided a different facet altogether in which TNS made the percussionists accompany the violin while he sang the svaras just with the accompaniment of sruti. It was fantastic and the svara itself abounded in laya magic.
Next was the serene ‘ranganayakam,’ in nayaki of Dhikshithar and there is no need of mentioning how TNS would have sung it as all his rasikas know this very well.
After a quick ‘brovabaaramaa ,’ in bahudari of Thyagaraja with a racy svara TNS started the raga bhairavi which was enchanting and the krthi was ‘upacharamulanu,’ of Thyagaraja. The krthi was sung with tremendous display of bhava and Thyagaraja asking Rama to accept his offering of all upachara with mercy was brought up beautifully in singing the words ‘dhayachesi,’ reminding us that to offer our services to the exalted and to be accepted is a great blessing and not vice versa. TNS also explained the vyangyaarTha in this krthi, that the implied meaning must be as follows:
Rama and Seetha on the eve of their coronation go to worship the Lord Ranganatha and the krthi describes the various upacharas done by them to the Lord Ranganatha, referred to as uragarajasayanain the krthi. This krthi was one of the requests and so was the krthi ‘rasnganayakam,’ and TNS said that it was long since he sang this bhairavi krthi and to do it now after the former one had put him in a joyous mood., as though the Lord had willed it . Sure he was right because in the charnam Thyagaraja says, ‘kapatanaataka suthradhaari vai, ‘ which was the charanm sung by TNS, and the Lord being the director of the drama of illusion in this world, surely willed it to be so He had decided to hear TNS sing the two krthis on Him today. And, how TNS sang the krthi and the svaras etc. is another story.
TNS not only sang the krthi with the bhava oozing out but also by the svaras he actually performed the shodasopachaara to the Lord. The svara was mellifluous and subsequently became laya pradhana but all in keeping with the mood of the song. TNS offered a gem laden umbrella and the golden .chamara shining like the lightening and autumn moon and he fan made of fragrant flowers and roots , all with his svaras. He really seemed to revel in doing upachara to the Lord by his music. Those who heard him today were indeed fortunate.
TNS, after the thani by MSVaradan and Sundarkumar which was elaborate and enjoyable and a short speech and honouring done to the artistes, chose a Kabirdas bhajan which he as usual sang in Hindustani style, in the first c verse of which contained the words ‘mitti mitaayee,’ which aptly described the concert today.
Final part of the concert consisted of the thiruppavais with the thanians in ragamalika. TNS concluded the concert with a thiruppugaz and the usual mangalam.
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Concert of TNS at Tamiz isai sangam on
Sugamaana sangeetham
It has always been the good fortune for the rasikas of TNS to start the New year with his music. This year also there was a treat in store of an assortment of tamil songs at Tamiz isai sangam on the New year day.
TNS was having a full bench consisting of VVRavi on violin, Guruvayur Dorai on mrdhangam, TVVasan on ghatam, S.Sundarakumar on kanjira and A.S. Krishnan on morsing. Only konnakkOl missing!
TNS started the concert with a composition of Bharathiar, vinaayakar agaval ‘neeye saranam ,’ as viruttham and ‘ganapati thaaLai,’ set to thala in nattai.
Next was the raga panthuvarali and the song was ‘aLLi undidalaamaa senthamaiz thenai,’ and the rasikas enjoyed the honey which was given in scoops.
Then TNS started kamas and sang the portion called kandhukavari from Sialappadhikaram, ‘ponnilangu poongodi,’ which was composed as tribute to Seran Senguttuvan for his victory on northern kings and the maidens sang this while playing ball. The speciality of the verses is that there is only soft consonants in them and TNS sang this in kamas ,kamaasu in tamil which when said fast sounds ‘sukhamaa,’ which describes the music aptly. The gentle damsels playing with the ball gently was portrayed by the raga beautifully by his music and Guruvayur Dorai also played ball effectively.
What came next was the thiruppavai of the day, ‘ambaramE thaNneerE,’ preceded by the thaniyans, in the raga kalyani. In the thaniyan ‘paathakangaL theerkkum,’ TNS adopted the style of kondukootti, joining the word ‘kodhai thamiz ,’ with the other words successively.
Then TNS sang raga anandha bhairavi and the viruttham ,thadittha Or maganai,’ and a song on Lord Nataraja. This was followed by the song ‘appaa naan vEndudhal kEttu,’ in sahana, ‘ennEramum ,’ in devagandhari and ‘yaarukkutthaan theriyum,’ in devamanohari., all rendered beautifully with full raga bhava and sahithya bhava.
The senthamiz thEn dished out by TNS so far was ‘thigattaadha then.,’ Now it was mixed with milk and fruits. It was the panchamrtham from Kamban. TNS started the verses from Kamban describing the meeting of Rama and Seetha. The words itself are beautiful and the music of TNS made it more so. To those who have heard him sing this know very well what was in store. The rasikas actually visualized Rama looking up at the balcony where Seetha was standing by singing the words ‘aNNalum nOkkinaan ,’ raised to high notes and Seetha looking down bashfully by the gentle singing of ‘avaLium nOkkinaaL,’ coming down to low notes. Then we saw them devouring each other with their eyes by the words ‘,kaNNodu kaNNinai kavvi.’ Vaav! What an expression in ‘kavvi’! Last line ‘pirindavar koodinaal pEsal vendumO,’ was full of bhava bringing out the meaning in full. Those who have had the good fortune of listening to the harikatha of TNS could vividly remember his beautiful explanation of each word of this passage.
The next was ‘yaarenRu
raaghavnai,’ in Yadhukula kambhodhi, the rendering of which I have already
described in my earlier write up on the concert at The Mylapore Fine Arts on
Then TNS sang a RTP in saveri the pallavi consisting of words ‘guruvaai varuvaai murugaa aruL thara.’ It was a melodious saveri with svararagamalika. The RTP had the usual gaambheerya and maadhurya of TNS.
The last but not least was a compositon of Bharthidasan on thenRal with beautiful words sung even more beautifully as a viruttham in behag The last line was ‘sindhai udal aNu ovvonRum silirkka selvam onRu varum adhan pEr thenRal kaattRu.’ The words ‘ovvoruaNuvum silirkka,’ was sung by TNS in such a manner that it brought out the exact feeling expressed in the poetry. When TNS sang the word ‘thenRal,’ we could actually feel the zephyr wind blowing gently. If the poet could come to life and heard the music today he would have echoed the words of the song of KaNNadasan, that followed in behag, ‘sugamaana sangeetham naan paadi naanpaadi sorgatthai kkaNugirEn.’ This reflected the sentiment of the rasikas , not only in hearing this concert but the all concerts of TNS during the season – ‘sugamaana sangeetham naam kEttu naam kEttu sorgatthai kanduvittOm.’
The concert ended with the thiruppugaz ‘eRumayilERi,’ in suruti with the usual laya magic.
Concert of TNS at GKF on
TNS was accompanied on the violin by VVRavi on the violin , Thiruchur Narendran on mridhangam , nerkunnam Shankar on ghatam and Ramdas on kanjira.
The concert started with the ada tala varnam in kalyani for which TNS sang kalpana svaram also as usual and it was followed by the Thygaraja krthi, ‘krpajoochudaku,’ in chaauatharangini. Then came an exquisite chakravakam, not heard from him for long by me, though, as one rasika remarked later that he was renowned for his chakravaka, and the krthi that followed was also the well known ‘naamanavini vinavayya,’ of Muthiah bhagavathar, which TNS is famous for. The svaraparasthara was at the word ‘kamaneeya,’ and it was just that., lovel, charming and beautiful.
TNS then sang a brief begada as a prelude for the Thiruppavai of the day, ‘ellE iLam kiLitye,’ preceded by the usual thanians and a sloka on Godha. He sang svara for the thiruppavai also It is always a pleasure to hear thiruppavai from TNS who brings out the full bhava of the sahithya by his singing.
Next was raga suruti followd by the navagraha krthi of Dhikshithar, ‘angarakam,’ the day being Tuesday and then TNS took up the raga vijayasree. What I have mentioned in my previous reviews of his singing the same raga for two days in succession holds good for this also. There could be no satiety for any raga sung by him even for days together which, on the contrary, leaves the rasikas asking for more. The krthi was ‘varanarada,’ of Thyagaraja and the svara at ‘prakatambuka,’ was fast and beautiful,
Next was the main raga of the day, suddhasaveri. The elaborate and awesome alapana warranted a krtji of no less grandeur than ‘dharini thelusukonti,’ of Thyagaraja and it was the same that followed The svara was sung at ‘raajitha maNi gana ,’ which was in keeping with the eminence of the sangathis of the krthi and it was a cascade to which the accompanists joined to create a rhapsody.
Next TNS sang the composition of Kavi KunjaraBharathi from azagar kurvanji, ‘ivanyaaro.’ In kambhodhi.. When TNS sang the line ‘,ivanthaan emperumaanO,’ he portrayed the Lord on His bed of Adhisesha with His three consorts.
The tail end, (which was mayoorapiccham, meaning the beautiful tail like that of a peacock) of the concert consisted of the ashtapadi ’chandanacharchitha,’ in behag. In the last verse, ‘sreejaydeva bhaNitham idham adhbutha kesavekeli rahasyam,’ TNS depicted the adhbhutha rasa experienced on seeing the kesavakeLirahasya, by a sahrdhaya, which is true in the case of his music also.
TNS concluded the concert by the thiruppugaz ‘erumayileri,’ which is always delightful with the change of nadai and to boot TNS made the audience leave with a joyful mood by referring to the organiser Sri Krishnamani by the verse with which he ended the concert, uruvaai aruvvaai,’ from kandhar anubhoothi, by repeating the words,’ maruvaai malaraai maNiyaai, oLuiiyaai’ until he drew the attention of Sri Krishnamani to it. The same reference was made in his singing the ‘raajitamaNiagana,’ in the krthi ’dhariNi thelusukonti,’ also, but this time he left no doubt of his intention! On the whole the concert was jubilant and buoyant.
Concert of TNS at Vanimahal on
Vidvan who became Ustad in the end
TNS was accompanied by MChandrsekhar on Violin, KVPrasad on mrdhangam and Udipi Sreedhar on ghatam.
The concert started with kambhodhi ada thala varnam rarely heard nowdays, which was followed by raga shanmukhapriya and the krthi was ‘siddhivinayakam of Dhikshithar. TNS sang svara at ‘prasiddha gananayakam,’ and it was beautiful as usual.
The next was the thruppavai of the day, ‘ungaL puRakkadai,’ with a short delineation of the raga anandabhairavi. and the usual thanians as viruttham in anandabhairavi. In the line ‘paadikkodutthaaL naR paamaalai poomaalai,’ TNS actually made a garland of flowers that was a paamaalai.
TNS then started quite an elaborate alapana of vijaysree and the krthi was ‘varanaradha,’ of Thyagaraja. and in both the alaapana and the svara TNS brought out well the svarupa of the raga. MC also accompanied in a fitting manner.
The main raga of the day was karaharapriya which delighted the rasikas who were hearing it the second day in succession because the raga was so rich and presented a fresh picture that it appeared as though we were hearing it for the first time. TNS sprang surprises like this through out this season. When the rasikas thought that he had covered the whole field in the exploration of a raga he sang the same raga again often in quick succession to display the inexhaustible treasure trove of his manodharma. Yesterday it was ‘pakkalanilapadi,’ and to day, yes, you have guessed it, it was ‘chakkani raja,’ the rasikas being taken along the rajamarga by the raga itself even before he started the krthi. In the anupallavi when TNS was singing ‘chikkanipaalu,’ one could see the milk being milked and boiled to taste. The neraval- svara was at ‘kantiki sundara,’ and it was indeed ‘sundara svara.’ The support of MC n the violin was superb.
After the excellent thani by Prasad and Sreedhar, when TNS started the raga ranjani which made the rasikas think that it was going to be a RTP in ranjani, especially when it was followed by an excellent thaanam in ranjani, TNS sprang a surprise in singing a ragamalika pallavi consisting of ranjani, sumanesaranjani and sree raga,. The line of the pallavi was ‘sumanarasikE sumanesaranjani sree rajamathangi.’ The alternate changing of ragas in the sahitya , neraval as well as svaras was so swift that it left the rasikas wonderstruck, which included MC, though he gave an excellent support through out.
Then the rasikas experienced a transformation of a vidvan becoming a Ustad! TNS sang the bajan ‘thum aajaa,’ in vakulabharanam in a perfect Hindustani style. And how! It excelled the usual Hindustani music because it combined the merits of both. After a thiruppugaz TNS concluded the concert with the slokam sriyahkaanthaaya in suruti instead of the usual sreeraga.
Veena concert of TNS at Nungambakkama cultural Academy
on
The concert started with the natkurinji varnam and TNS was supported on mrdhangam by Guruvayur Dorai who did an excellent job of it embellishing the playing with his expertise. It was just as it should be for a veena concert.
TNS then started the raga poorvikalyani, in which one could hear the dasagamaka, implying the krthis that was to follow, namely ‘meenaakshi me mudham’ of Dhikshithar. The krthi was excellently suited for veena and the way TNS played it, the name of the raga in Dhikshithar school .as gamakakriya was justified. This was followed by the Thyagraja krthi ‘.padhvini sadbhakthiyu,’ in saLagabhairavi and ‘entha muddho ,’ in bindumalini.
Then came a fantastic varali with gamaka played beautifully in mantharsthayi. TNS played the pancharathna krthi, ‘kanakanaruchira.’ The svara and sahithya could be distinguished by the difference in playing and it was as majestic as ever.
The main raga of the day was sankarabharanam and after the elaborate raga alapana fully bringing out the ragabhava, the thanam that followed was in raga malika consisting of the ragas nata,goula,arabhi, subhapanthuvarali and sree which was beautiful and then TNS played the krthi. Akshaylingavibho,’ of Dhikshithar. The neraval svara was at ‘badarivanamula,’ and it was an enjoyable interaction between TNS and Guruvayur Dorai.
TNS then played ‘veLlai thaamarai,’ of Bharathiar in bheemplas. The veena playing of TNS is in gayaki style, resembling the vocal music and at times one could hear the words by the playing itself.
The next was a melodious
‘Etheeruganannu,’ in nadhanamakriya of Bhaktharamadasar and the concert ended
with the meerabajan ‘giridhar aagE nachoongee.’ With the playing of the veena by
TNS and the mrdhangam by Guruvayur Dorai the word ‘naachoongee,’ became vivid
depicting the dance of Meera in front of Giridhari.
Concert of TNS at the Ramabhaktha jana sabha, KKNagar on
TNS was accompanied by S.D
Sreedhar on the violin and Thiruchur Narendran on mridhangam.Vocal supprt was
given by TNSKrishna. The concert for a little over three hours starting from
The concert started with the abhogi varnam followed by raga mayamalavagoula and TNS sang the krthi ‘thulaseedhala,’ of Thyagaraja. The neraval -svara was at ‘saraseeruhapunnaga,’ and TNS did archana with svara as flowers. The next was a beautiful jayanthasree raga alapana and the krthi was, of course, ‘marugelaraa,’ of Thyagaraja. The neraval svara was at ‘annineevanucu ,’ and the whole krthi with svara and all, was mellifluous and with bhava. The svara prasthara was a laasya thandava, graceful and rhythmic.
After the thiruppavai of the day, ‘kanaitthiLam katrerumai,’ in kedaragoula, in which the words ‘sinatthinaal,’ ‘initthaan ezundhiraai’ and ‘eedhennapErurakkam,’ were sung with the respective bhava , which reminded the rasikas who were present during the morning exposition of harikatha by TNS, about his explanation of the verse that depicts the anger of Rama on the abduction of Seetha who was a devotee as well, to show that the Lord will not tolerate bhaagavatha apachaara.
The next was the varali krthi of Thyagaraja, ‘.ne pokadakunte,’ and the neraval svara was at ‘neeraja nayana.’ This was followed by ‘Divakarathanujam sanaischaram,’ the navagraha krthi by Dhikshithar, the day being Saturday.
Then TNS started the main raga of the day, karaharapriya which was exquisite with grahabhedham into thodi and the ragabhava and the sahithya bhava in the krthi that followed , ‘pakkalanilapadi,’ of Thyagarja, were vivid and picturesque. The rasika could feel the entreaty of Thyagarja made to Seetha and Lakshmana to tell him the manner in which they served Rama, in the anupallavi. In the charanam, where Thyagraja asks whether they bow down to Rama, ‘thanuvuchevandhana,’ or sing his glory, ‘naamakeerthanacheyu ‘ or enter into ecstasy by contemplating him, ‘manasuna thalachi maeymarachi,’ all this was visualized by the singing and the neraval-svara was at ‘manasuna thalachi mey mariachi,’ which TNS rendered after the completion of the krthi, was wonderful with melody and laya combined. The words of Thyagaraja ‘ mey marchi ,’ was the right description of the karaharapriya sung today. The musical mahematics displayed in the svara prasthara was extraordinary, but ordianary for TNS.
After the thani by Thiruchur Narendran, TNS started the utsava sampradhya krthi of Thyagaraja, ‘vadhana dhuthi jitha soma, ‘ in panthuvarali sung in madhyamasruthi which is always enchanting when he sings it in a beautifully slow pace.
Then it was the ashtpadi ‘nindati chnadana,’ in dharbari kanada, which was a delight to hear with the raga charmingly melodious and especially the line ‘saa virahe thav adheena ktrishna,’ which TNS sings giving various inflections on the word Krishna from low to high pitch.
The next was the pasuram ‘chediyaya valvinaigaL’ of Kulasekhara azvar, in ragamalika with the usual extraordinary bhava with ‘adiyaarum vaanavarum,’ depicted with the former at the feet of the Lord and the latter up in the sky, ‘arambaiyarum’ who danced and ‘padiyaay,’ gradually rising with tonal inflections etc.to denote the flight of steps, ending in hamsanandi followed by the purandaradasa krthi ‘thiruppathi venkataramana.’ This pasuram was heard four times in the season but with different ragas, each one being beautiful and full of bhava.
The last was the thillana in bilahari and the concert ended with thiruppugaz ‘erumayileri,’ in surutti.
SDSreedhar and Thrichur Narendran gave excellent support as accompanying artistes.
Harikatha by TNS at Karthik Fine Arts on
The harikatha exposition of TNS is unique in the sense that it is not a mere narration with music but a vivid presentation made live by his eloquence and characterization. He becomes the character or the devotee as the case may be. The topic of the day was sreebhava –gurubhava in Ramayana and it lasted only for one hour and 15 minutes according to the time allotted and though it was too short for Harikatha, TNS packed his exposition with all the saleient features.. Though the rasikas would have wished to hear him sing more he had to cur short his music due to paucity of time.
I will eptomise his harikatha as well as I can. And if there are any flaws it is mine as it is not possible to bring the whole beauty of it in words.
All the incarnations of the Lord
were for dhushta nigraha and sishta paripalana, ‘parithraaNaaya saaDhoonaam
vinaaSaaya cha dhushkrthaam.’ Of all the avataras ,that
of Rama is the best,’ pathivesamulalO raamavesamu bahu baaghanucu,’ says
Thyagaraja in his krthi ‘madhilona.’ In the raga
kolaahalam. He took certain
licences in the other avataras like that of Vamana by appearing in one form and
changing into another later etc. but in Ramavatara He was divine in human form,
behaving like
one yet rising to dib vanity according to the kural, ‘vaiyatthu
vaazvaangu vaazbavan vaanuRaiyum dheyvatthuL vaikkappadum.,’ the man who lives
in this world following dharma is equal to God. Perhaps he thought that unless
He set an example of what He was going to say in the next avatara as
Ramavathar was also the best because the dibvine mother came along with the Lord aand was instrumental in fulfilling the avatarakarya. The divine mother seats herself at the feet of the Lord in order to entreat Him to show mercy on her children, the earthlings, the same mercy which made Parvati ask Siva about the easy way of chanting the thousand names of the Lord, which pleased Siva so much that he endearingly told her that the ramanama is equal to the thousand names. Siva was thrilled with the question because he was the rasika of ramanamaas Thyagaraja puts it. This immense mercy of the divine mother made Parasarabhatta teel Sri Ranganatha that eventhough He looked the spit image of her in His naachiaar thirukkolam in Srirangam, He lacked the mercy in her eyes.
Ramayana itself was an example of gurutvam and sreethvam. The divine mother took the role of a guru and Rama was an example of gurubhakthi. He executed the orders of his father and the sage Visvamitra etc. and Seethe also functioned as guru mainly because she influenced his mercy by being the indweller of His heart, thadhvakshasThala nithyavaasa rasikaa, and ‘thath kshaanthi samvardhinee.’ The reason for this is that she is ‘vaathsalyaadhi guNojjvalaa,’ endowed with affection for all beings as she is the jaganmaathaa. That is why it is said that one should first have the darsan of Alarmelmanga in Thiruchnur before going up the hills to see he Lord of Thirupathi.
When Rama came to Mithla Kamban describes that he saw this and that etc. with so may verses ending with the word’kandaar, saw,’ but when he came in front of the balcony where Seetha was standing Kamban says , ‘ninRaar,’ he stood.. Wehre is the guruthva of Seetha in this? It is because of her glances that fell on the shoulders of Rama he was able to lift the bow the next day. Like the guru who come in search of the disciple to grace him, the divine mother came and stood in front of Rama. Even the Lord requires the grace of the divine mother, who chose to dwell in his heart, which alone makes Him Srinivasa. He needed her influence in protecting the devotees which was the main purpose of Ramavatara, and this Thyagaraja mentions in his krthi, sreeragukula in hamsadvani, where he makes Rama united with Seetha, ‘seethaanujai konina raamachandra,’ as soon as he has taken birth, ‘sreeraghukula.’ And it is for the protection of the devotees,’ paramabhakthulanu paalanamu cheyu.’
TNS here briefly explained the verses of Kamban describing he meeting of Seethaa and Rama and referred to the ramanataka krithi ‘yaaro ivar yaaro ,’ which was commonly sung in bhairavi but traditionally it used to be rendered in sasveri. He delighted the audience by singing in both ragas, the former denoting the words of Rama on seeing Seetha and the latter depicting the reaction of Seetha on seeing Rama , bringing out he different bhavas through his music.
The next instance where Seetha
showed her guruthva was when she overpowered Rama into taking her with him to
the forest. She tried all means to make him agree and finally said ‘raama
jaamaatharam praapya sthriyam purushavigraham,’ “my father got a woman in man’s
garb as his son in law,”
like a guru whipping up the disciple into action by a dart at his
pride. .Thyagraja refers to this in his krthi , in
suruti, ‘raamachandraneedhaya,’ asking Rama the reason for not showing mercy,
saying, ‘aadadhannarOsamO,.’
“Is it because Seetha teased you?” TNS said that Rama saved his face by saying to her that she was created for the purpose of accompanying him to the forest and making it appear as though it was his own decision.
The truth that acaharya kataksha is necessary to get prosperity in this worl and for moksha in the afterlife is proved in Ramayana by the gurutva of Seetha in gracing Viradha, Marica, Sugriva and Vibheeshana.
Viradha first took her and then attained moksha by being killed by Rama and Lakshn mana. Marica was first seen by her and attained moksha. Sugriva was seen by her when she threw her ornaments to him when he was sitting on the Rsyamuka hill as a result of which the Lord Himself came to him and he got his kingdom. Even Vibheeshana would have been pointed out by his daughter when he went through the sky to wards Rama and blessed by her becaseu he immediately crowned as the king of Lanka.
Thus the divine mother was responsible for the whole play enacted by the Lord in ramavatara. She went into ordeal suffering for the welfare of the world., by involving herself in her own maya as though she desired the golden deer, the maayamaan, that is maayavandha maan, the deer that came with the specific purpose of getting killed. Not only that she also lend herself to suffering in theasokavana like the lamb among the wild beasts, the raksshis.. It shows that the acahrya would be willing to do any sacrifice to guide his disciples.
Next character depicting gurutvam in Ramayana was Hanuman, without the mention of whom any topic on Ramayana would not be complete. Especially the day was that f Hanumat jayanthi. Hanuman fits the definition of a guru in as much as he had wisdom,strength, eloquence, valour, virthue and mercy. He gave life to many in Ramayana including Rama and Seetha. He saved the life of Seetha by giving the signet ring and of Rama by giving the choodmani and saved all the lives by bringing sanjeevi parvatha, saved Bharata from jumping into the fire by conveying the news of the arrival of Rama,. He also advised Ravana himself, and who else except Hanuman the amsa of Siva, can talk to Ravana thus! He was rightly referred to by Kamban as ‘sollin selvan, ‘one of rich eloquence, which can be explained as ‘selvan,’ he goes., wherever the word , ‘sol’ rama is uttered because he is the’ in selvan,’ sweet treasure of the word rama. He was he acharya to Ravana and said ‘moolamum naduvum eeRum illadhu----kaalamum kanakkum neettha kaaraNam oru kaivil Endhi ----ayoddhi vandhaan,’ the supreme being has come down to Ayoddhya , leaving His conch, disc etc. and armed only with a bow. But Ravana had not listened due to his karma.
Even to Anjaneya Seetha was the guiding force , showing her guruthva, because when he searched for her in vain and became desolate it was by praying to her, ‘namosthu thasyai janaakaathmajaayai,’ he found out where she was. Seetha acted as a guru to Ravana himself advising him when he came and threatened her with dire consequences if she would not accept him. She out a blade of grass in front and addressed him. Besides observing the protocol fit for a king by placing the grass as though offering a seat for him, she also meant to say by her gesture that his valor of which he bragged about is like a blade of grass in front of Rama who was a Saardhoola, tiger, that all his wealth was like a blade pf grass to her, because she is the goddess of wealth, to convey that a grass becam abrahmstra for Rama when Kakasura committed a grievous sin by attacking her and to remind him that all the boons that his predecesspors like Hiranyakasipu obtained were blown like a blade of grass by the Lord who came out of a pillar and now He is quite capable of coming out of that blade of grass.
Seetha told Ravana ‘ nivarthaya mano matthah svakjane kriyathaam manah,’ “turn your mind which has become mad ,to your own wives.’.TNS explined here that if the word ‘mana,’ is turned it becomes ‘nama,’ meaning . ‘svajane kriyathaam manaH parajane kriyathaam namaH,’ let the mind be turned to own wives and towards othes let it be obeisance.
Seetha told Hanuman in Kambaramayana that she could burn Ravana with a mere word ’sollinaal suduvEn ,’ but desiing fronm doing so because it will be ablemish to the prowess of Rama, ‘adhu thooyavan villin aatRarku maasu.’ In valmiki Ramayana Seetha tells Ravana that she could burn him but did not do so because she could not act without the command of Rama. But though to give punishment she does not act without the order from the Lord but in showing mercy she does not wait for his wish. Uch is the mercy of the divine mother.
Thyagaraja tells Rama that he won the fame of killing Ravana because it was the will of Seetha who wanted to give him the credit of doing so in his krthi ‘.majaanaki ,’ in kambhodhi, (TNS sang the krthi) in which he says that Rama acquired the fame of destroyer of Ravana because of his marrying Seetha who went with him to the forest and lived in asokavanam and refrained from burnig him with her eyes for his abominable behaviour, all for giving Rama the credit of killing Ravana..
Thus the whole Ramayana was the illustration of sreethva and guruthva and guruthva of sreethva.
The description of the harikatha given above in no way does full justice to the wonderful eloquence and portrayal of the emotions ighlighting the devotional aspect of the immortal epic by TNS. What I have written is an apology of a write up trying to bring out the beauty of the harikatha of which how far I have been successful I do not know. The demerits if any in the above description is due to my limited capacity of experession and all the merits that are found should be ascribed to the harikatha siromani, TNS.
Concert of TNS at The Bharath
kalachar on
TNS was accompanied by Shertalai
Sivakumar on violin and R.Ramesh on mridhangam and S.Sundarkumar on kanjira. It
was just two and an half hours concert from
TNS started the concert with the sahana varnam which was followed by the Thyagaraja krthi ‘raaraamaayintiki,’ in asaveri.
The next was a beautiful lathangi and the krthi was ‘aparadhamula,’ of Patnam subramania ayyar. The svara was sung at ‘krpachesina,’ and the whole piece was as delightful as ever.
Then the rasikas experienced the advent of spring as described by Kalidasa in his immortal epic Kumarasambhava. Yes it was vasantha which claimed the hearts of the rasikas, as ‘vasam thaa.’ I mentioned Kalidasa because there could be no other comparison to the vasantha sang by TNS today. Vasantha means spring., and it was truly the advent of spring , with the zephyr wafting about, flowers blossoming, deer running headlong maddened by the ganDhamakarandha, fragrance of the pollen dust,, the voice of the male cuckoo, pumskokila, the bees humming and the apsara geethi to boot. Siva was said to be in meditation not being affected by this scene but the rasikas were led to meditation by the divine vasantha today. The krthi that followed was ‘hariharaputhram,’ of Dhikshithar. True to the name, the raga and the krthi was made to appear ‘madhusyandhina,’ as the spring, vasantha is known as madhu which also means honey.
Then TNS started the raga madhyama (utthama) vathi and sang Palinchukamakshi. This was the main piece of today with neraval-svara at ‘kaanthamaku.’ The raga should be renamed as Utthamavathi when TNS sings it and it was soundhraya avadhi, the limit of beauty to augur the arrival of the Goddess Kamakshi, who is soundharyalahari. The svara was just wonderful. To those who have heard madhyamavathi from TNS there is no need of words to describe the richness of it.
Next TNS launched on the rasikas’
favourite, the pasuram, ‘siruviralgaL thadavi parimaaRa
,’ of Periazvar which describes the flute playing of
The last item of the repast was ‘nandathanaya ,’ of Purndharadasa in Beemplas. The concert came to a close with thitruppugaz.
Shertalai Sivakumar supplied a
good support on the violin and the percussionists were very good both
accompanying nag in thani avarthanam
Concert of TNS at The
The second standing ovation of the season
TNS was accompanied by MChandrasekharan on the violin, Guruvayur Dorai on mrdhangam and Udipi S. Sreedhar on ghatam.
The concert started a little later than the scheduled time of
What came next was `anandanatanaprakasam,' of Dikshithar in kedaram. The lilting metre of the song was rendered beautifully by TNS who made it into a lasya thandava. The percussion accompaniment was superb. The next was the serene melodious nayaki krthi, paalayan maam sree pankajanabha of swatitirunal. The nayaki was curvaceous and graceful. The playing by MC of the raga was supplementary to that of TNS
After a brief `nenarunchinanu,' which is always a delightful treat of various nadais in the chittasvaram, TNS started thodi, which elicited the comment of AKCNatarajan later, that it was long since he heard a good thodi. To say that TNS sang thodi wonderfully is like saying that the sun shines brightly, because if at all the sun shines he will only shine brightly. Similalry if TNS sings thodi he will sing it only in a wonderful manner. The krthi was `ninne namminaanu,' of Shayamasasthri. The neraval svara at `kanchadhalayathaakshi.'
After he thani which was full of exoertise by Srimushnam Rajarao and TVVasan, TNS sang RTP in kalyani.. The raga was less elaborate due to the paucity of time but TNS presented a full version of the raga in a kalaidoscopical fashion in short duration,. The pallavi was `unadhu dharisanam kidaikkumo mnataraj dhayanidhe,' which, though was a traditional one brought smiles considering the presence of this year's sangithakalanidhi AKCNatarajan, which turned into laughter when TNS continued the line as "sangithakalannidhe.' The thanam and svara in ragamalika were fantastic and were applauded well by the rasikas.
Last but not least TNS sang the viruttham `chediyaaya valvinaigal,' in ragamalika consisting of Shanmukha priya, kedaragoula, aahiri, dhesh , sindhubhairavi and hamsanandi which was followed by a fast but beautiful `thirupathi venkatyaramana' of Purandaradasa in hamsanandi . When TNS sang each raga it kept the audience spell bound with the richness and depth depicted in delineation of every raga and when he sang nin koyil vassal in desh we could seethe temple door opening. The best was sindhubhairavi of the line adiyaarum vaanavarum arambaiyarum kidandhu ilangum, one could visualize the devotees walking up the seven hills and have the darsan of the Lord, the dance of the celestial nymphs and the last line `padiyaay ninru un pavazavaai kaaNbene, created horripilation, as though the Lord Venkatesvara is actually in front which brought the joyful `Thirupathi venkataramana,' from Purandhara dasa. NO wonder when TNS ended the concert with this the audience gave him a standing ovation.
Concert of TNS at Sri Krishna gana sabha on
Paripoorna nishkalanka niravaDhi
sukhadham
TNS was accompanied on the violin by MChandrsekharan, Srimushnam RajaRao on the mridhangam and TVVasan on ghatam.
The concert started at
The natakurinji raga that followed, though it was the navagraha krthi ‘budhamasryami which was expected, the day being Wednesday, was evoking memories of the song ‘paalvaditum mugam ,’ of Oothukkadu because of the soundharya it depicted which was ‘paravasam migavaagum azagu..’ as described by Oothukkadu kavi. It was budhamastrayami, of course that followed. The playing by MC added to the charm of the raga.
The next was a moving varali to which MC replied fittingly, TNS started the pancharathna krthi of Thyagaraja in varali, ‘kanakanaruchira.’
The sankarabharanam that followed was majestic and a real Dheera snkarabharanam. The word dheera denotes majesty , durable and composed . The raga was all that. The krthi was ‘Akshyalingavibho which could be well foreseen as it suited the majesty of the raga delineation. The neraval- was at ‘badharivanamulasvara,’ and the according to the derivation of the word dheera meaning dheeH raathi ithi, TNS dished out his brilliance through it.
Next was videmuseyave of Thyagaraj in karaharpriya with quick svara prastara at ‘rajaraja.’ And then came a scintillating hameerkalyani. The elaborate raga which was sung by TNS and TNSKrishna alternatively, created a doubt whether it was going to be the thiruppavai of the day ‘thoomani maadatthu,’ and it was justified because what followed was a RTP with the words ‘maamaayan maadhabvan vaikundhan Srimannaaraayanan.’ And the thanam was wonderful. The svara was a ragamalika with the ragas bagesri, reethigoulsa, hindolam behag and suruti. The Hameer kalyani with TNS is always a ameer (rich ) and this is no exception. The exhilarating RTP can only be described by the words of the pallavi itself ‘,maamaayam.’
The concert ended with a sloka in
ragesri, krishnaya vasudevaaya and a bajan
‘
MC was accompanying TNS for
several concerts during this season and each one has been delightful to the
rasikas. Srimushnam RajaRao and TVVasan are well known to all and there is no
need to comment upon their excellent performance.
Concert of TNS at MFA on 21-12-2008- 4hours and 15
minutes
Standing ovation to the stalwart of music
TNS was accompanied by MChadrasekharan on violin, B.Harikumar on mrdangam and N.Govindarajan on ghatam.
TNS started the concert with raga alapana in saveri and followed it with the krthi ‘Srirajagopala’ of Dikshotar. The saveri raga was heart-melting .and so was the krthi. The next was the raga shanmukapriya which was exhilarating and TNS sang the krthi of Patnam Subramania ayyar, ‘marivere dhikkeverayya,’ and it was dripping with bhava. The meaning of the krthi was beautifully expressed by his rendition such as ‘maati maatiki,’ where the devotee asks the Lord “do I have to tell you again and again?’ and in singing ‘dhayachesi broche,’ TNS brought out the plea for mercy fully. and it is wonderful to see how many bhavas he depicted in the word ‘nyaaayama,’ in the last line. He asked the Lord Venkatesa, appealingly and gradually with deeper sentiment and in the end demanding to know whether it was just, not to show His grxce.
The neraval- svara was sung at ‘sannuthaanga sreevankatesa,’ and by his svraas TNS decorated the Lord with ornaments and performed a brahmothsava. In both savrei and shanmukhapriya MC supplied eminent support which continued till the end of the concert.
Next was the thiruppavai of the day puLLum silambina kaaN. The birds chirping, flew and the girl being awakened with gentle persuasion . The Lord sleeping leisurely in veLLatthu aravu, the contemplation of His form by the sages , uLLatthu kondu, in their hearts who chanted His name which became a great sound, ‘hari enrapEraravam,’ all this was made visual by singing. This brought to mind the same pasuram sung by him few years back in KGS when the sound Hari was reverberating through the whole area.
TNS sang ‘nenarunchinanau,’ next, in which the chittasvaran had the usual change of nadais and was enchanting.
‘Yaarenru raaghavnai eNnineero ammaa,’ Iin Yadukulakambodhi of Arunachalakavi followed next and this brought memories of his harikatha on Ramayana where he sang and explained this krthi, which was the words of Lakshmana to Seetha who urged him to go to the help of Rama on hearing the cry of Mareecha ‘haa seethe , haa lakshmana.’ Lakshman tries to reason out with her and pleads with her not to put him to test by cruel words etc. TNS brought eh whole bhava of the song with his music . In the line ‘aNNan Sunduviral pOdhaadhO is not the liitle finger of Rama is enough to kill the foes?’ TNS with his singing the word ‘sunduviral’ brought the bhava in full and also in the line which means if Rama sounds his bow , kodhandam, all the three worlds will break, ‘moodhandam piLakkume’ and the rasikas could hear the sound of moodhandam breaking through his music.
Then came the rags thodi and TNS
after doing alapana for a while, which needs no description after saying that it
was thodi, left it to Krishna to finish the raga, who did an excellent job of it
and was commended loudly by MC who is a rasika first and then an accompanist,
and drew a tumultuous applause from the rasikas. The krthi was ‘Dasukovalena,’
of Thyagaraja and the neraval- svara was at ‘soumithri thyaagraaju,’ and
was fantastic with grhabhedha through the svaras and both TNS and
Rasikas had a great surprise in
store after the thani. TNS started the raga alapana of poorvikalyani, which
suggested
a possible RTP,. Yes, it was RTP but a three tier one. TNS started
sreeraga
after poorvi kalyanai and then sang ragesree . The thanam was sung
wonderfully with the ragas changing quickly in very brief phrases which was
lauded
loudly by MC. The pallavi was ‘veenaagaana dhasa gamakakriya
rage sree raajamaathangi.’ The svara was again an exposition of
mastery of ragas with swift changes from one raga to another and the hall was
three fourths full even at that time which was nearing
TNS then sand the bajan of Tulasidas , ‘thoodhayaaLu dheen ham,’ in raga revati in quite Hindustani style. The concert ended with the huseni thillana of TNS about which MC did not leave anyone in doubt and announced that it was the composition of TNS.
Through out the concert MC was
all in appreciation and
also supplied full
support on violin to make the concert a big success which brought a
standing ovation from the rasikas.
TNS at Deiveegaperavai, Ashoknagar-Divyaprabandham-
20-12-2008
Thailokyam ethath akhilam narasimah
garbham
It was a concert, lec/dem, harikatha all rolled into one. TNS started with ‘pallandu pallandu,’ in nattai for which he sang svaram also. Then he took the pasurams of mudhalaazvars, ‘vaiyam thagaLiyaa vaarkadalE neyyaaga,’ by Poigai axvar, ‘anbE thagaLiyaa aarvamE neyyaaga,’ by Bhoothathazvar and ‘thirukkandEn ponmeni kandEn,’ by Peyazvar all in mayamalavagoula and also explained the meaning. He said that the first one was lighting the lamp to show the Lord having the world as the vessel, the ocean as the ghee and the sun as the light of the lamp, the gross manifestation and the second went a little further and shows the Lord as internal, the love is the vessel, the eagerness is the ghee and the mind engrossed in Him is the wick and the light is the jnana. In the third one, the Lord HImself is seen and TND said that Peyazvar says ,”I have seen what you are trying to show.”
Next TNS took up the day’s
Thiruppavai, ‘maayanai mannu ,’ and explained thwe
significance of ‘thooya peruneer yamunai.’ Why does
Andal calls river Yamuna so? In Ramavathara the river
The next was the pasuram of Nammazvar , ‘kaRpaar raamapiraanai allaal mattRum kaRparO,’ and the ‘kEtpaargaL kesavankeerthiyallaal mattRum kEtparO,’in keeravani. TNS next sang the parallel pasuram from Thirumangai azvar and said that the panchama of keeravani gives the scale of ahiri and it is perhaps the reason the name panchamam was given to the raga ahiri in the ancient tamil system. Then TNS sang the pasuram ‘paarkadalum vEnkatamum,’ by Peyazvar, in ahiri starting from the last line ‘;irundhaar manamum idamaagakkondaan,’ and the next pasuram to the above ‘baalakanaai aalilai mel.’
Then TNS took the pasuram by nammazvar, ‘aadi aadi agam karaindhu isaipaadi ,’ and the manner in which he sang the line, ‘naadi naadi narasingaa,’ actually brought the Lord Narasimha in front . We saw the Lord Narahari coming out of the pillar with ‘saattahaasam,’ and running around trying to catch Hiranya kasipu and his garjana after destroying the demon and finally calming down and becoming shantha narasimha, all by the singing of the one word ‘narasinga,’ with different innovations which brought applause. The raga he chose was aptly simhendhramadhyamam for the Singappiraan. The music portrayed the Lord as described in the manthra ,’ugram veeram mahavishnum jvalantham sarvathomukham nrsimham bheeshaNam badhram mrthyumrthyum,’ The Nrsimha visualized by the singing of TNS was all that. He was ugra, fierce, veera, mighty, jvalantha, luminanat, sarvathomukha ,seen everywhere and badhra, delightful to devotees. Then it was followed by the pasuram ‘paLLiyilodhi,’ of Thirumanangai azvar on the Lord Nrsimha at ThiruvallikEni and this was sung by TNS both as viruttham and also set to thala. And the phrase ‘vegundu thooN pudaippa was displayed with bhava.
The Lord Parthasarthy of
Thiruvallikkeni was manifest in the concert of yesterday at the
Parthasarathyswamisabha and today the Narasimha of the same Thiruvallikkenni
manifested Himself. As TNS himself explained earlier the Lord was
occupying all places not knowing where Hiranyakasipu was going to point out and
he came out from that ob ne pillar. But all the world is still Nrsimhagarbha
and it could be seen today when He has pervaded the whole hall and
also the hearts of the rasikas. Ange irum ndhaar manamum
idamaagakkondaan.
The next was the pasuram from Thirucchandhaviruttham by Thirumazisai azvar in which he asks the Lord Aravamudhan of Kudandhai to get up and speak. As a prelude to this TNS referred briefly to the mathsya, kurma, varaha, nrsimha and vamana and Rama avathara, the speciality of which consists in the divine mother coming along with Him. The Devotees asked the Lord whether He was fatigued by all His exploits and was lying in the bed of Adhisesha in Srirangam, Kudandhai etc. TNS mentioned the krthi ‘En pallikondeeraiyaa,’ of Arunachala kavi and the thysgarajakrthi ‘nannu paalimpa nadachavachaithivo, ’ and said that for all this the basis was the pasuram of nammazavr ‘,kidandha naaL kidandhaai etghanai kaalam,’ in which he calls out to the Lord to get up and come to bless the devotees. Then TNS sang the pasuram by Thirumangaiazvar from Thirucchandha viruttham.’ nadandha kaalgaL nondhanavo ’ in mohanam set to thala.
Next was the two pasurams by Thirumangai azvar ‘thaayE thandhaiyE dhaaram ,’ and ‘theriyEn baalaganaai pala theemaigaL seyduvittEn,’ and ‘thottren palapiravi,’ from peria thirumozi, the latter set to thala and the raga was varali. Where the azvar entreats the Lord to come and save him, ‘adiyEnai aatkondaruLE ‘ TNS sang this with full bhava bringing out the meaning clearly.
Then came the main piece of the day. TNS sang hamsanandi after referring to the plea of Kulasekhar to become anything on the hills of Thirumala. One could guess what was coming and it was ‘chediyaaya valvinaigal’. Which TNS sang as pallavi with thanam preceding it. The svaram waa a ragamalika and it had all the usual brilliant features of the raga and the bhava.
Then TNS narrated the
significance of the divyadesa, Thirukkurungudi, where the Lord Is manifested in
five forms, TNS also told the
story of nampaduvan who agreed to give his punya earned as a devotee of the Lord
to a brahmarakshasa
fully well knowing that
he will become a brahmrakshasa in turn when the Lord appeared and blessed
them both. It was also
a sacred place with respect to Ramanuja whom the Lord Himself
served as sishya, and TNS said that he is proud to have it as his native
place. Then he sang the Nammazvar
pasuram on the Lord of Thirukkurungudi which is in nayakibhava, ‘ejnanEyo annaimeergaaL ‘ in
kamas, set to thala. The programme ended with the thiruppavai
‘vangakkadal kadaindha,’
in suruti.
Concert of TNS at Sri Parthasarahy swami sabha on
Parthasarathy became naam paartha
saarathy
It was a magnificent concert with the combination of the three sangithakalanidhis. TNS was accompanied by MChandrasekharan on the violin and TKMurthy on Mridangam and TVVasan accompanied on the ghatam.
TNS started the concert with a beautiful alapana of Ydukulakambhodhi, which was answered well by MC, and the krthi was ‘ninnusevichina,’ on Parthasarathy by Subbaraya sasthri. The svara was sung in the charanam at the line beginning with ‘bajana.’ The soothing raga and svara created an atmosphere for a divine saanniDhya that followed later.
Next was ‘Theslisirama,’ of Thyagaraja in poornachandrika for which TNS sang a delightful svara. The Thiruppavai of the day, ‘aazimazaikkaNNaa,’ followed this in varali and TNS simply extracted the essence of varali (pizindhedutthaar) by his music. Whenever he sings Thiruppavai it is always preceded by the thaniyans ‘annavayal puduvai,’ soodikkoduttha sudarl kkodiye,’ ‘kodhaipirandhavoor,’ and ‘paadhakangal theerkkum,’ in the same raga as that of the thiruppavai sung that day. Especially the rendering of the last one in which in the last line ‘kodhai thamiz aindhaindhum aindhum aRiyaadha maanidarai vaiyam sumappadhum vambhu,’ besides the bhava in sumappadhum vambhu, TNS sings the whole verse in ‘kondukootti’ style, joining each word with kodhaithamiz,’ which is very enjoyable. TNS sang the svaras at ‘vaaza ulaginil peydhidaai,’ and someone beside me remarked that they were already predicting rains ! It was enchanting varali which was followed well by MC.
Then TNS sang
‘ganamurthe,’ in which the bhava depicted in
‘rukminimaansaapahara’ and ‘navaneetha chora,’
was picturesque. One could visualize
What followed was the madhyamavathi raga alapana and the krthi ‘paarthasaarathi nannu paalimparaadhaa,’ of Poochi aiyangar. The neraval and svara was at ‘sarvadharma paripaalaka sarvaloka saranya,’ and on the whole it was the usual ‘utthamavathi,’ of TNS. The svara finishing with nishadha was beautiful.
By this time the rasikas were taken to Thiruvallikeni to have a darsan of Parthasarathy who, became ‘naam paarttha saarathy.’ Then we are reminded of the sannidhi for Ranganatha there by the krthi ’ranganayakam,’ which was serene and charming as it always is when he sings.
The main piece of the day was ‘pankajalochana,’ in kalyani by swatitirunal. Those who have heard kalyani from TNS at the previous concert and thought that he has exhausted all nuances of the raga was in for surprise! What a versatility and innovation that makes the same raga sung twice in succession never creates satiety but on the other hand whips up the desire to hear more and more! There was a grhabhedha to suddhadhanyasi and the neraval svara was at ‘brindhavanadhakrtha vividha sukhavihara,’ and it was just that. It was sukhs vihara, joyful play by TNS, MC ,TK Murthy and TVVasan. TNS Krishna pitched in at the end of svaraprasthara and as usual received applause.
Then it was time for the thani avarthanam. TKMurthi who was providing exhilarating percussion support so far with TVVasan, now indulged in a delighful thani avarthanam. The team work by the three sangithlakalanidhis was superb that made this the best performance of the season so far.
What came after the thani was yet
another treat for the rasikas, the viruttham ‘sayankale vananthe,’ and
those who have heard it from TNS know how rich it is, like the ice cream
served after a delicious repast. It was a fruit salad with ice cream with so
many flavours! Apart from the ragas in each line, all with rich raga bhava , the
phrase ‘navarasabharithaiH,’ alone TNS sang in 16 ragas. TNS sang the
phrase ‘srngaarabhaavaiH,’ depicting the rasa raja, srngaara through the
fantastic kamas. It was
‘srngaarabhaavena
adhbhuharasoddheepanaH,’ meaning, the rasa srngara kindled another
rasa, namely adhbhutha. This sloka sung by TNS is navarasabharitha
in the sense ‘bhooyo bhooyo bhuktham navam navam rasamjanayathi,’ hearing it again and again
it creates new joy.
The concert ended with ‘thuppudaiyarai,’ a pasuram followed by thillana in chandra kouns, a composition of TNS. Even the end was a display of fireworks like the rest of the concert by the team work of the accompanists together with TNS.
Concert of TNS at Naradaganasabha on
TNS started the concert with raga alapana of AtaNa and sang the krthi ‘naradaganalola,’ of Thyagaraja. It was ‘adadaa enru viyakka vaittha ataaNaa’ and the svara was exhilarating, accompanied by the Mrdhangam and ghatam alternatively creating a fantastic effect. Trichur Narendran and E.M.Subramanima were accompanying TNS on mridhangam and ghatam respectively and VVRavi on violin.
Next was the day’s thiruppvai, ‘vaiyaathu vaazveergaaL,’ in goula which was followed by ‘ennalunee,’ in vachaspathi by Patnam Subramanya ayyar, for which TNS sang an elaborate and beautiful raga alapana of vachaspati. The neraval svara was at ‘kannathanri naapai,’ the first line of the charnam, and it was buoyant.
After a very brief outline of Sarmathi TNS sang ‘saarasadala natyane,’ a krthi of Muthiah bhagavathar and then started ‘brovavamma ‘of Shymasastri in manji which is rich with karunarasa when he sings it and brings tears to the ardent rasika. Besides the pharases ‘devi thaaLalEnE,’ which was portrayed as a plaintive cry of the devotee and ‘nirvahimpa ,’ which was sung to bring out the meaning of nirvaaha, TNS sang the line ‘nee samaana deivamehnthu kaanalene,’ elevating Kamakshi to such a height which no one could reach, with his singing.
Nezt was the krthi ‘manasaa sreeraama,’ in eesamanohari, in which his singing of the last line of charanam brought to mind the meaning that Rama was purely concerned in bestowing the heart desires of the devotees, ’abhheshtamulicche,’ leaving off the functions of creation etc to the thrimurthis as not being worth bothering about. Then TNS launched on thodi.
To say TNS sang thodi is enough. No more need be said. It was exuberant and proved that even a raga delineation could be moving without sahithya. It was RTP with words ‘gaanalola karunaalavaala,’ and it was a fantastic exposition and wonderful exploration of laya and ragabhava with usual grhabhedha. The svara prasthara was in ragamalika , the ragas being chandrakouns, sivaranjani and kapi. The chandrakouns was sung with emphasis on the kaakali nishadha bringing out well the svarupa of the raga. Sivaranjani was beautiful and the kapi was as usual with TNS a degree coffee! The svaras in each raga fell in torrents submerging the rasikas with delight.
Last but not least was the abhang
‘He dhayaaluvaa,’ which is familiar with the rasikas of TNS but as the
rest of his songs it is neuvo every time. Some one was heard to
remark that Lord Raghava was actually present When TNS sang ‘he dhayaaluvaa,
hekrpaaluvaa hedhayaaluvaa
swamiraaghavaa.’
The concert ended with a thiruppugaz.
Concert of TNS at Brahmaganasabha on
TNS was accompanied on the violin by VVRavi, on mrdhangam by RRamesh and on the kanjira by SSundarkumar. He was given vocal support by TNSKrishna.
The concert started with O jagadhamaba after alapana of Anandabhairavi. svaram was sung at the end of the krthi at the pallavi. It was in-keeping with the mood of the song like the alapana.
Next was ‘nenarunchinanu,’ in Malavi, of Thyagaraja, besides the racy chittasvaram in which TNS delighted the rasikas with different kalapramanams, he also sang kalpanasvara at ‘needhupai ,’ in the pallavi which was an added treat.
TNS sang next a beautiful hamsanadam, a version of praacheena paataanthara , with the vivadhi dhaivatham. The raga alapana was like a swan, hamsa, flapping its wings and circling round, which made one wonder whether it was the swan carrying the message of Damayanthi to Nala, hamasasandhesa , or it was the Hamsa coming to give upadesa to the sages. .The krthi was ‘krpanidhe krpaajaladhe,’ of Muthiah Bhagavathar, the chittasvaram of which, obviously the composition of TNS, was rich portraying the ragabhava,.
Next was the Thyagrajakrthi, ‘Seethavara ‘ in devagandhari in which Thyagaraja says that the creator should write on the forehead of one, the sangeethajnana in order to attain mukthi. I would like to add that not only the musician such as TNS, who is blessed with such sangeethajnana which enables him to visualize the Brahman synonymous with Rama, through nadhopasana, but also the rasika who could get attuned to such a musician will attain mukthi easily through sangeetha. This is the experience on hearing the beautiful devagandhari with proper emphasis on the sahithya by TNS bringing out the meaning fully. The reason for Thyagaraja to say thus was that, the aakaasa , space, is the sareera of the Lord and aakasa has the sabda as its main attribute, (sabdha gunakam aaakaaSam.) Symbolically also it takes the rasika to the aakaasa. And the raga devagandhari was aptly chosen by Thyagaraja for this krthi.
TNS then sang ‘poolapaanpumeedha bhaaga,’ a utsava samprdhaya krthi of Thyagraja in ahijri, probably to give a little satisfaction, alpasanthosham to those like me who missed his ahiri RTP at MUDRA concert on 13th! In this krthi Thyagaraja serves honey, sugar and milk with thaambula, flowers and inguents to Rama before he goes to sleep. We could visualize the love of Thyagraja in offering ‘madhusrkkarayaan paalu,’ by the manner of rendering the krthi by TNS
Next was the main piece of the day,, ‘Kamalaambaam bajare in Kalyani,’ of Dikshithar. The grandeur of the raga alapana heralded the advent of nothing of less majesty than the navanvaranakrthi. It was anantha kalyana guna visishta paramakalyani. TNS sang a chittasvara to the krthi which was known as vikatakavi chittasvara, comprising of phrases such as GRNDhMGR , RGMDhNR.. The neraval-svara was at ‘nithyakalyani.’ Neraval was beautiful and the svara was ending in nishadha for the eduppu ‘nithyakalyani . The rest of the svara was laya pradhana and the korvai at the end was mathematical (kaNakku) along with melody.
The thani by Ramesha nd Sundarkumar was measured and good. VVRavi was a seasoned accompanist of TNS and there is no need to mention about his performance.
The last but not least
elaborate piece was the
pasurams ‘aanirai meykka nee
podhi,’ and ‘puLLinai vaai’ of Periazvar
in which he imagines himself as Yasodha and calls Krishna to come and be
decked with flowers. All
virutthams of TNS are feasts for the rasikas .and unfortunate are
those who leave before hearing them. This was no exception and in fact these
verses are masterpieces of TNS. There were 12 ragas in 8lines and he first raga
was begada
in which TNS displayed all nuances of the raga. It was fantastic
how
The concert ended with ‘nandha thanaya govindana’ in Bhimplas a devaranama and the thillana in hameerkalyanai composed by TNS.
Concert of TNS at Shanthi Arts Foundation
on12-12-2008
The day was that of Karthigai
dheepam. Lighta sparkling everywhere including the minds of the rasikas on
hearing TNS sing exclusively on Lord Muruga, the ‘dheepamangaqlajyothi.’ The
beginning itself was
brilliant with thodi,
which when comes from TNS needs no description. The elaborate alapana excluded
the possibility of thodi varnam as might have been expected by some, and what
followed was the delight of the rasikas of TNS, the krthi of papanasam Sivan,
‘kaarhtikaya gaangeya.’ It was a
ragapravaha like that of
After a racy rendering of the composition of Muthiah bhagavathar in the raga sumanapriya, “saravnabhavu ni vina,’ TNS started the raga kaambhodhi. He sang Kambhodhi in the previous concert at Bharathiya vidhya bhavan writing on which I have remarked that he has not left any nook and corner unexplored but today was mind boggling to see yet new crevices of the raga unearthed by the inexhaustible and unfathomable manodharma of TNS.. This time the raiskas could guess what was to follow. Yes, It was ‘sree subhramanyaaya namasthe.’ One rasika remarked to me later, “can anyone sing the krthi like him today? “
There are no words to describe the grandeur and the depth of the music that poured through the rendering of the krthi and any effort to describe would be that of a blind man describing an elephant. Such was the ragabhava and sahithya bhava. The neraval svara was at ‘vaasavaadhi sakaladheva,’ and the neraval itself was rich but to say that the svara was fantastic was a gross understatement. Permutations and combinations of svara and laya were astounding and the korvai was dazzling. Together with Guruvyur Dorai on Mridhangam and B. Purushottham on Kanjira TNS reeling out the svaras in the korvai, it was a real sokkappanai, bonfire, for those who do not know what sokkappanai is! MASundaresan on violin pitched in accordingly.
After a delightful thani by Sri Dorai and Sri Purushottham, when TNS completed the krthi ending it in a manner of singing a pallavi, TNS sang a viruttham on Lord Muruga, ‘kEttadhi kandaDhai,’ and it was a ragamalika, comprising of saveri, sumanasaranjaani, desh and sindhubhairavi. Each raga was just beautiful and elaborate while the second raga as explained by TNS is the prathimadhyama of suddha dhanyasi and he performed sruthibhahdam by making panchamam as varjam resulting in chandrkouns. In sindhubhairaavi the words kaarmayile mel when sung by TNS brought the full magnificence of the peacock spreading its tail and dancing with joy carrying Muruga. The vituttham was as rich as the other two main krthis in thodi and kambhodhi. I say the two main krthis because the two, ‘karthikeya’ in thodi and ‘subramanyaya ,’ in kambhodhi vied each other in excellence.
The concert ended with thiruppugaz ‘alliviziyalum,’ and , befitting to the general trend of the day, TNS ended with the verse from kandhar anubhoothi, ‘uruvaai aruvaai .’
Concert of TNS at Bharthiya vidhya bhavan on
The hall was full and the heart of the rasikas also became full with joy on hearing TNS today. What a concert it was! Who all came for the concert are bhagayvanthaH. It made the rasikas exclaim ’bhaagaayanayya nee maaya lentho,’ as mentioned in the krthi of Thyagaraja, which TNS sang and how! More about it later.
TNS was accompanied by VLKumar, well known in the music circles as the son of VLVedagiri, the violin exponent and he proved his descent by his playing that day. TNS was assisited on the mrdhngam by R.Ramesh and on Kanjira by Sundar Kumar both of whom proved their mettle.
TNS started the concert with the varnam in begada embellishing it with his own kalpanasvaras which were dripping in ragabhava. Then it was a sobillu saptasvara that followed and the svara prasthara was fantastic to which VLKumar ably replied and in the end of his playing TNS joined with him and sang the svaras to the delight of the audience.
Then came the real treat and one of the two ratnas, gems of the crown. It was chandrajoyothi, raga alapana in which this vivadhi raga became samvadhi , meaning samyak vadhathi ithi speaks well, conversant, with TNS. He drew applause three times during the raga alapana.To sing such a raga elaborately and beautifully is the feat of TNS alone. He left no nook and corner of the raga unexposed. The Thyagraja krithi bhagayanayya that followed as mentioned earlier served as the definition of his music as well.
Next was the Muthiah bhagavatar krthi , in Budhamanohari, ‘samayamithe,’which was followed by another of Muthiah bhagavathar, in kalyani, ‘muruganukkoru sedan.’
Then came the second gem of the diadem. The raga kaambhodhi which brought tears of joy to the ardent rasika. It was heart -melting and fantastic and the audience clapped three times during the raga alapana. One can say that the raga was inlaid with precious gems intricately and artistically to bring the full brilliance, because the krthi that followed was ‘rathankanchuka dhaarini,’ of Muthiah Bhagavathar which aptly describes the delineation of the raga by TNS. The svara was sung at the line ‘indhulekha harikesa----‘ which was resonant and elaborate and the svaras on different words of the line sung alternatively was fabulous.
After the thani by Ramesh and Sundarkumar, TNS sang the viruttham ‘.paal ninaindhoottum thaayinum saalapparindhu nee,’ and TNS and each line in different ragas each, and altogether for the four lines there were more than ten ragas, which were rich in ragabhava, which is not a wonder for those who have heard him sing slokams in as many as 35 ragas. He ended the ragmalika in Durbari kanada and sang the Purandhara daaa krthi ‘Chandrachooda sivasankara parvathi,’in Durbari kanada. The concert ended with a thiruppugaz in hamsanandi.
Concert of TNS at Karthik Fine Arts on 8-12-
2008
TNS was accompanied by M. Candrasekharan on Violin and Guruvaur Dorai on Mridangam and TVVasan on ghatam.
TNS started the concert with the raga alapana of poorvikalyaani! Of course there is no need to mention the exquisiteness of a raga when it is sung by TNS. The krthi was ‘meenaakshimemudham,’ and the neraval svaram was------not madurapuri nilaye as one would expect but it was at veenagaana dasa gamakakriye and it was just that. There was veena and there was dasagamaka in both neraval and svaram which was gamaka- oriented. In neraval TNS has brought all the dasagamakas and also the veena gana and at places it made us wonder whether it was veena or vocal. The beauty of it should have been heard and cannot be described fully. The right effect it had with the rasikas was as described by Dikshithar himself as ‘madhumadha modhitha.’ The whole piece lasted for 45 miuutes
Next was ‘sarasasaamadhaana,’ of
Thyagaraja in kapinarayanai and the rendering of this krthi by TNS in his own
special way was reminiscent of his Ramayana harikatha where he explained this
krhti in full. If the line paramshambhavagresarundanutsu brought to light
the grandeur of the devotion of Ravana towards Siva, the next
paluguraavanundu theliyalejka poye portrayed the regret of
Thyagraja that Ravana despite his being the first and foremost of sivsbhaktha
could not understand who Rama was. In the charanam, the line
hithvumaatalentho, depicted the krpa of Rama who
tried to give gentle advice to Ravana, by TNS singing it with gentleness and
patience. Then
sathavugaanaayodhya niche nantivi was sung with emphasis on
niche showing Rama promising the
TNS sang madhyamavathi and the krithi was nadhupai, of Thyagaraja, again a favourite of his rasikas. and it was followed by another favourite , namely , ‘maayamma,’ of Shyamasasthri in ahiri, in which when rendered by TNS, the sahithyabhava and the ragabhava compete with each other..
Then came a beautiful shankarabharanam and the krthi was svraraga of Thyagaraja.. The svara prasthara was laya-oriented and it was kolahala sapthasvaragrha as Thyagaraja himself says in his krthi.
The concert came to an end with
the thiruppugaz ‘erumayileri.’ In ragamalika..
There is no need to mention the high calibre of the
accompanists as the mere mention of their names is sufficient to guarantee
excellent harmony and competence.
