Ref:Why only Tyagaraja Aradhana?

[Ramasubramanian Ramakrishnan]

In article <4e0mck$j...@eccdb1.pms.ford.com>, cha...@pms193.pms.ford.com (Nurani Chandra) writes:
|> It is because of the simple reason that the half-baked ones
|> all over the continental US can handle Tyagaraja compositions
|> with ease (forget about how the listner might feel!) and
|> dare not venture into singing 'Akshayalinga vibho'!
|>

That does not explain {copy subject:} in India also..

Subu

[Nurani Chandra]

It is because of the simple reason that the half-baked ones
all over the continental US can handle Tyagaraja compositions
with ease (forget about how the listner might feel!) and
dare not venture into singing 'Akshayalinga vibho'!

Baring a few good singers, the rest will not even qualify
to be bathroom singers (Not a subjective statement at all,
having been listening to the tamasha for the last 10 yrs
or so in the Metro Detroit area.)

Flame me or shut up. This issue has been dealt with umpteen
number of times wasting the bandwidth and precious time of
fellow audience of this group.

[V. Chandramouli]

In article <4e0mck$j...@eccdb1.pms.ford.com>, cha...@pms193.pms.ford.com (Nurani Chandra) writes:

--------------------------

One possible conclusion that I can draw from this debate is that Tyagaraja
kritis are easier. Is this true ?
I know Sama Sastry is rhythmically intricate. I didn't know
M. Dikshitar's kritis were also hard.

--Chandramouli

[dr.s. kris2]

In article <4e364h$m...@news.eecs.umich.edu>,

In Toronto at least the reason is simply a question of time and volunteers. The Bharathi Kala Manram does celebrate the festival for Thyagaraja and others composers as well. We started the Thyagaraja Festival 27 years ago on the pattern of the Thiruvayaru Festival. In fact Cleveland and we joined together at Toronto for many years until Cleveland established its own festival. With our activity in a year consisting of 5 to 10 concerts, 1 or 2 large Dance dramas, 6 movies, one Thyagaraja Festival on a gr
and scale, Pongal Festival, Annual Picnic, a large seminar on social issues etc. the volunteers and executives are burnt out. To do another festival on the scale of Thygaraja is very difficult due to lack of manpower and funding. Neverthless other festivals e.g. Deekshithar, Purandaradasa, Sivan etc are also done on smaller scale usually by other community groups as well. I hope this answers some questions at least from the experience of Toronto group. Sincerely, Dr. S> Krishnan, VP(Programs)

[Balaji]

In article <4e0mck$j...@eccdb1.pms.ford.com>, cha...@pms193.pms.ford.com (Nurani Chandra) writes:
> It is because of the simple reason that the half-baked ones
> all over the continental US can handle Tyagaraja compositions
> with ease (forget about how the listner might feel!) and
> dare not venture into singing 'Akshayalinga vibho'!

However, this doesn't explain why the 'The Aradhana' is
conducted at thiruvaiyAru, given the fact that the musicians who
'can' sing akshayalinga vibho seem to take the aradhana quite
seriously too.

Seriously folks, I think it was an aradhana celebrating
Thyagaraja the Saint that became an aradhana celebrating
Thyagaraja the composer. If there are enough likeminded people
then it should be possible to celebrate Dikshitar Day or Syama sastri
day or Trinity day etc... In the S V Temple in Pittburgh, it has become
normal to celebrate the Thyagaraja Aradhana, Annamacharya Day and
Purandara Day.

> Baring a few good singers, the rest will not even qualify
> to be bathroom singers (Not a subjective statement at all,
> having been listening to the tamasha for the last 10 yrs
> or so in the Metro Detroit area.)
>

Is it a bait or is it an opinion ? Thats the question !
Whatever...

balaji/...

[C S Ramarao]

In article <4e364h$m...@news.eecs.umich.edu>
vcha...@dip.eecs.umich.edu (V. Chandramouli) writes:

> I know Sama Sastry is rhythmically intricate. I didn't know M. Dikshitar's kritis were also hard. --Chandramouli

dIkshitAr kritis are perhaps the toughest among the compositions of the
trinity. This is not my opinion, but that written in a few text books I
occasionally glance through. Language-wise while tyAgayya wrote in
simple telugu ans syAmasAstry in simple sanskrit/telugu mixture, a vast
majority of dIkshitAr kritis are in sanskrit.

It is written that tyAgarAja kritis are "drAkshA pAkam" (grape juice,
meaning very easy to extract); syAmasAstry's are "kadaLI pAkam"
(banana, meaning you need little effort to understand) and dIkshitAr's
are "nArikELa pAkam" (coconut water, which is toughest of the three to
obtain)

rAmArao

[V. Chandramouli]

----------------------------------

I was referring to the musical difficulty (i.e. melodic and rhythmic) and not
to the lyrical complexity. Among the three which would be the hardest to
play on an instrument ?

--Chandramouli

[M.S. VENKATESAN]

Syama Sastri's compositions are difficult to play on an instrument due
to complexity in Tala.

msvenky

[Dakshin]

My point is very simple to those asking for precision: tyagaraya's kritis
are not about exacting mathematical preicision.

I am a big fan and singer of Tyagaraja kritis. My favorite singer is
Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna, of course. It is wonderful that these
local
events are taking place irrespective of who is singing. The age doesn't
matter. They may vary their pitches. They may even go fast or slow.
However,
as long as they recite all of the words, as they originally were, that's
what
makes everyone a qualified singer, just because this is USA and not India.
Just reciting the verses can uplift one's mood. Obviously, the listeners
may
not respond all the time. But that shouldn't really matter. Even the
master
singers can't make me feel good all the time, although their recorded
songs gave me great pleasure most of the time. When
the music doesn't fit my mood I switch my player off. As simple as that.
For
instance, Balamurali stretches "bhava-raga-layadi" in the ending of
"Endaro
Mahanubhavulu" that goes as:

Rii; pa-ni-sa-ri; ni-sa-ri-ga-ri rii; saa;
rii ;pa-ni-sa-ri; ni-sa-ri-ga-ri-ri; sa; saa-ni-pa-ma; pa; pa-nni-sa-ri ;
pa-ni; pa-nni-sa-ri; ga-rii-sa ri-sa-ri-ma pa-ni-paa; pa-ma-rii;
paa-pa-ma-rii; ni-pa-ma; sa-ni-pa; ri-rii-sa ni-pa-paa-pa; ga-ri
ri-ga-ri rii-ri-rii; ga-ri ri-ga-ri rii-ri-sa; sa-sa; pa-pa; ri-ri;
ga-ri-sa; ni-pa; ni-sa-ri; saa-sa-sa; paa-pa-pa; rii-ri-ri; ga-ri-sa-ni

endaro mahanubhavulu

bhaaa-gavata-raaaa-mayana gii-taa
bhaaa-gavata-raaa-maaa-yana gitadi sudi sastra puranapu marmamulan;
sivadi sanmatamula ghudamulan; muppadi mukkoti surantarangamula;
bhavambula nerigi bhava raga layadi soukhyamuche; chirayuvul
kaligi; niravadhi sukhatmulai; tyagarajaptulaina varendaro mahanubhavulu

In fact the more Balamurali plays with the words (not spoken like a
Telugu speaker) the more exciting his music sounds to me. At one place
he smirks when singing "Samayaniki tagu mata ladene" at the verse:

da-pa ma-pa-da-sa; da-da-pa-ma; ma-ga-ri-rii-ri saa-sa; da-da-pa;
ma-ga-ri-ri-saa-sa; sa-daa-pa ma-pa-da-saa-sa da-rii-ri sa-saa
daa-sa paa-sa maa-pa ma-ga-ri-ri-ma

samayaniki tagu mata ladene

vanitala sadaa; sokka jeyuchuni mrokka chese; paramaatmudaniyu gaka;
yasoda tanayu danchu; mudambunan muddu petti navvu chundu hari

samayaniki tagu mata ladene

Guess where he smirks? Not at the obvious "navvu" (laugh)
but at "muddu" (kiss). If you haven't gotten it, the translation goes
like:
the lord krishna teases the ladies saying he is the son of yasoda while
kissing on their foreheads and laughing.

It is simply great when Balamurali interprets the meaning in this way.
I love it. I think there is more to classical music than singing it
with mathematical precision. It is the words. If we don't use the same
words, we might as
well sing modern western, country, bollywood, hyderwood songs. As long
as we make an effort to sing the exact same words as Tyagaraja wrote
then we are likely to have lot of fun doing so. As for your listeners,
well
they will get used to it or will never care. I got used to Balamurali :-)

Best regards,

Dakshin

ps: By the way I am looking for a tabla player who can recite tyagaraja
kritis
as hobby/fun living in the Chicagoland. If you are one or know one please
send me e-mail.

[balu....@gmail.com]

Reason : The Tyagaraja Aradhana has a long history. The Aradhana was originally conducted by many of the great Gurus adept in the Saint's kritis who annually gathered at the Saint's samadhi in Tiruvaiyaaru on the banks of the Kaveri. The Saint had a larger number of disciples, as compared to the other two Greats, and they imbibed the devotional, spiritual and musical quality of his compositions, with the utmost fidelity. A number of Tyagaraja compositions is also amply suited to dramas or katha-kalakshepams (musical discourses) and bhajanais (bhajans). The principal disciples and successive generations of their disciples and students who hailed from different parts of South India not only propagated the Saint's simple Keertanas but also promoted the practice of Aradhana celebrations with deep religious fervour within the Kaveri delta areas, as well as many other parts of the South. The music and the Aradhana spread gradually to wherever South Indians settled for their livelihood with jobs and professions including teaching of Carnatic music -- that is, the rest of India, and since the past four or five decades, in many parts of the globe, such as Sri Lanka, Singapore, UK and several European countries, and Canada, and US, the two named last and a few others being especially spectacular in terms of organization with noted musicians as well as the teachers and students among the diaspora participating with great enthusiasm. The spread and growth has been phenomenal especially due to the better communication technology and marketing methods that have been introduced in recent decade or two.

Whereas the music of all the Carnatic Trinity has spread far and wide under the sun, the idea of Aradhana celebration for Syama Sastrigal and Mudduswami Dikshitar, albeit recent, is catching up gradually. Often a day is fixed for this purpose and may be called just Dikshitar's or Syama Sastrigal's day. A debt of gratitude is certainly due to the teachers and organisers, and learners, for encouraging these memorial days besides the Tyagaraja Aradhana day. The number of compositions that is available as a precious heritage, and treasured through learning, in respect of the great Trinity composers is far more in the case of Tyagaraja, and less in the case of Mudduswami (also spelt Muthuswamy) Dikshitar and Syama Sastrigal (or, Shyama Shastrigal) in that order. Compositions of Tyagaraja are predominantly in his mother tongue Telugu, in a simple style, Telugu being often noted as the Italian of the East. Compositions of Dikshitar are in Sanskrit (except for a very few in its mixture with Tamil/Telugu), many of them using simple Sanskrit words and even simple compounds, that are familiar in the literary and common day-to-day usage. Only a few use harder words and compounds, which may get damaged in pronunciation (but it should be no big deal to learn the correct pronunciations from authentic sources among books or websites using correct pronunciations, including in English with diacritical marks). The deeper philosophical ideas of sanaatana dharma and or descriptions of local deities and puranic anecdotes, are a hallmark of Dikshitar kritis which bear the signatures of the Raaga and the composer (as Guruguha). Syama Sastrigal fuses laya (rhythmic patterns) and emotional quality with especial skill.

Since the creations of all the 'sangeeta Trimurti-s' are pregnant with devotion to the Supreme, every one of the composers shining with his respective mark of innate beauty - to put it simply in one word, simplicity of Tyagaraja, philosophical-ritualistic-musical exuberance of Dikshitar, and the deeply sentimental quality of Sastrigal - the propagators of Carnatic music can and should convey this fact by organising celebrations, spread over a duration as convenient in their environments for Dikshitar and Syama sastrigal, on an even more popular basis than at present.

Needless to add, this appeal for celebration in no way excludes the other Greats of Carnatic music, such as Sangeeta Pitaamaha Purandara Dasa, and devotee- vaggeya karas such as Kshetrajna (Kshetrayya), Annamacharya, to name just two of them.