Late post -- on dEvI brova samayamidE
Srinivasan Pichumani
that I might have done a "reply" rather than a "repost" in my news
reader, when I tried to join the discussion a while back.
First off, the lyrics:
dEvI brova samayamidE ati
vEgamE vacci nA vedalu tIrcci
karuNincavE shankarI kAmAkShI
loka jananI nApai daya ledA nI dAsudu gadA
shrI kAncI vihAriNI kalyANI
EkAmrEshvaruni priya bhAmayai yunna
nIkEmamma entO bhAramA vinumA (nA)talli
shyAma krShNuni sOdari kaumArI bimbAdari gaurI
hemapAngI lalitE paradEvatE
kAmAkShI ninnu vinA bhUmilO prEmatO
kApadEvAr(u)-evarunnArammA (nA)talli
Yes, there is a third charaNam to this kriti which begins as
"rEpu mApani...." -- it is actually the middle one. It is given
in Smt.Vidya Shankar's book -- "Syama Sastri compositions".
[Incidentally, this lady is one of the most respected/dependable
sources for information on Syama Sastri's compositions/lyrics.
She learnt these compositions from the composer's great great
grandson, and has painstakingly set all the available compositions
of this Trinitarian to notation; this book gives the lyrics in Tamil,
Telugu, Devanagari scripts and an English translation. It also
has an accurate life-history of the composer, and the author's articles
on Syama Sastry & gamakas presented at forums like the Music Academy,
Madras]
As is not uncommon, the myth/legend
surrounding this kriti has survived better intact than the musical
setting itself (this comment is from B.Subba Rao's "rAganidhi" --
while writing about the divergent traditions on cintAmaNI rAga).
I have heard at least 6 musicians render this kriti -- MSS, KVN, DKJ,
Ravikiran, (late) Prof.Ramanathan, & BAlamurali. The first four
are reasonably close to each other; MSS's/KVN's renditions are probably the
best (the recording of KVN's rendition on LP is by far the most
striking because of the inherent production values; L.Subramaniam's
sober accompaniment, almost entirely in the mandra stAyI, is
a feature worthy of mention - in this piece, and throughout the LP).
Prof.S.Ramanathan sings this kriti -- hear carefully -- with the line
"nA vedalu tIrcci karuNincavE shankarI kAmAkShI" serving as the ANUPALLAVI.
I used to wonder where he got his "pATAntaram" from -- stopped doing so
after I saw Smt.Vidya Shankar's book, where this line is specified as
rendered by the late Prof.
BAlamuraLI's rendition is 'unique' as ever. I don't know what his source is,
for his version. After having been weaned on KVN's rendition, I used to
find his version highly irritating -- but now have begun to like it
somewhat.
--Srini.
Trivia: Smt.Vidya Shankar is the younger sister of the Nobel laureate,
Prof.S.Chandrasekar. Their father, C.S.Iyer, was a active member of the
Music Academy and its Experts Committee -- he was nicknamed
Controversy Subrahmania Iyer (source:Sruti) for his contentious
participation in the morning sessions at the Music Academy, during the
December season.
She has also written a book called "Syama Sastry" for the National Book
Trust, India. This book is available in many libraries around the U.S.
Todd Michel McComb
>in Smt.Vidya Shankar's book -- "Syama Sastri compositions".
>[Incidentally, this lady is one of the most respected/dependable
>sources for information on Syama Sastri's compositions/lyrics.
>She learnt these compositions from the composer's great great
>grandson, and has painstakingly set all the available compositions
>of this Trinitarian to notation; this book gives the lyrics in Tamil,
>Telugu, Devanagari scripts and an English translation. It also
>has an accurate life-history of the composer, and the author's articles
>on Syama Sastry & gamakas presented at forums like the Music Academy,
>Madras]
Could you give a more explicit reference for this? Knowing the publisher
or perhaps the ISBN number would be quite helpful. I would like to find
scores of the compositions of each member of the Trinity -- I have seen
some bibliographical information posted here before, but unfortunately I
did not save it and I am also unclear as to how easy it would be for an
english speaker to understand the text and/or notation. It would be
extremely helpful if someone could (re-)post references for Trinity kritis
in books available in the US and with English translations, or at least
with a few notes about the intended audience for the book. I would really
like to see scores (though I don't know what sort of notation is alluded
to above, but chances are I can figure it out with a few guidelines), with
perhaps some biographical information. Hopefully such texts are available
or will be soon. Thanks.
T. M. McComb