Carnatic Music Concert

A group of senior afficionados of Carnatic music who I met on one of my trips to Madras mentioned to me that in the 1950s, at the Kapaleeshwara temple festival, when Lord Muruga was being taken out on a procession, TN Rajarathnam the king of Nagaswara, played a five hour long Shanmukhapriya alapana. It was of such high bhavaa or emotion that they are sure Rajarathnam had a vision of Lord Muruga himself. Reminiscing this itself brought tears to their eyes even after several decades. This is pristine emotion without words.
Many of us have who have grown up in India would have been exposed to some form of music or the other. And for many, classical music be it Carnatic or Hindustani, would have been perceived as something esoteric that could not be appreciated unless you had some formal training or some other form of exposure.
Carnatic music has evolved over the centuries as a combination of art , mathematics, and last but not the least bhakti or bhava; and scope to improvise on either aspect, or all of them, was left to the artist. This form is as much a science, as it is considered an art. Ofcourse most of the practitioners of this form would not know the underlying scientific principles.
Patterns of frequency (Swara) are the basis for the structure of an underlying tune, which is called the "raaga". Structure of the ragaa system has evolved and has been recorded as texts. The system of classifying the ragaas into the melakarta scheme is brilliant. The derivation of the ragaa and its basic pattern based on the katpayadi computation is another example of the brilliant pedagogy of carnatic music.

Rendering a ragaa alone evokes particular emotion. This is also enhanced by the artist's flair and choice of the permutations of the swaras.
Lyrics add to enhance a particular emotion of the ragaa, and also emphasise the particular emotion that the writer of the song had in mind when he scored it.
Lyrics focus is primarily on a particular Lord. Sometimes they also focus on a particular temple or kshetra. They are descriptive or are suppliant/fervent prayers to the Lord to grant boons, or explaining the dharma of life, or are a combination of them. Majesty of construction of the verses is so vivid when we take a look into the lyrics of the Trinity. Thiagaraja, Syama Sastry and Muthuswami Dikshitar were geniuses who composed songs on their respective ishta devatas. Each song is an outpouring of a varied emotion, and therefore was composed in a particular ragaa that suited the emotion, and the talaa or beat that would enhance that emotion.
Some of the songs are authoritative stamps of specific emotions and seem to suggest the siding with a particular devata. For example, a Bhairavi, or an Anandabhairavi is usually associated with a Godess simply because of the Amba Kamakshi or O Jagadamba, while Shanmukhapriya is usually associated with Lord Muruga.

The ragaa bhava and the bhava of the lyrics are the fulcrum of a concert and the vocalist or instrumentalist should always remind himself/herself of this and must strive to bring it out to the best of his/her ability. The rendering of a song can also be enhanced with specific additional bhavaa of the artist. As examples, M Balamuralikrishna is remembered for Nagumomu, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer for Amba Kamakshi, and Lalgudi Jayaraman's technical brilliance on the violin - it is said Lalgudi's violin speaks the verses with bhavaa or emotion; I have heard recordings, and it is definitely true.

Bhavaa is the heart of the concert, and if this is lacking, the concert is a mere pattern of noise, that may be pleasant to the ear, but lacks in the "something" we look for.

While at Tiruvannamalai

August 2007.
Priya and I left Kanchipuram after the bhikshavandanam, for Tiruvannamalai. It had rained very heavily in the past few weeks, and many roads were damaged or were full of potholes. We had just crossed Vandavasi, and suddenly realized that there was no road ahead. A small culvert that existsed had caved in, and thus the road had a pretty big gap.
We waited alongside for a while wondering what to do; were also thinking of turning back and get to Tiruvannamalai via Tindivanam, which meant we had to drive back past Kanchi. At that time, a bus passed us, and the driver nonchalantly turned left, off the road, drove into the field and then got back on to the other side of the crevice of the road. Wow, that was really something. If I had to reach Tiruvannamalai, I too had to do the same. And that's exactly what I did. The car skid on the wet clay on the field, and got to the other side of the crevice; just that our hearts skipped a few beats. Fortunately the car did not get stuck!!
The roads thereafter were better, though they were narrow. We reached Tiruvannamalai after passing Polur. I had booked a room at Ramanasramam. We settled down, and after dinner at the Ashram, I decided to do the Girivalam.
All through the 14 kilometers around the Arunachala Hill, it either rained ahead of me, or was raining behind me. I was walking on wet roads, and at many places wading through the rain water flowing on the roads. But it never rained on me. I was amazed!!
Priya, who was in the room at the Ashram, was extremely worried as I didnt carry an umbrella with me. She just hoped I took shelter at one of the temples along the walkway as it was pouring cats and dogs. When I returned after the girivalam, in the usual 3.5 hours time, she was stunned to see me, more so because I was bone dry. This was a miracle.
Each one of us who visit Tiruvannamalai have atleast one experience. Some are able to take cognizance of it, while some do not.
In my case, this was the best experience.

Marathon weekend

A marathon weekend I should say the last one was.
My parents possess a Sri Rama Pattabhisheka Thanjavur painting that was my great grand father's (Late Sri Natesha Iyer). This picture that is more 85 years old, has passed 2 generations, and needed some immediate renovation and had to be framed once again. What adds to its glory is that Sri Chandrashekarendra Saraswathi Swamigal (the then Peetadhipathi of the Kanchi Kamakoti Shankara Matam) while camping at Kattumannarkoil in the mid 1940s, had this picture along with His pooja.
After many attempts we found an artiste (Jyothi) in Bangalore who said she would be able to take it up.
While we were pretty skeptical initially, Jyothi did a fabulous job, and we even got it framed at her studio.
Having completed this project, my mother wanted a Sundarakanda parayanam to be conducted for this picture.
It was decided as 16 August. We started at 7AM. It ended at almost 2PM. This was a non-stop reading of each and every sloka of Sundarakanda as in Valimki Ramayana.
I feel we did well, and are all extremely satisfied.
A couple days before this was Gokulaashtami, and we recited the entire Narayaneeyam (1000 odd slokas). This was for a new Thanjavur painting of Navaneetha Krishnan that Appa/Amma gifted Priya and me for our 10th wedding anniversary that falls in October. This picture is another gem.
We started the parayanam at 7PM on 13 August. By about 9PM we were reciting the part that describes Lord Krishna's birth. We stopped briefly here, performed the Krishna Pooja (it being Gokulashtami), and resumed the recitation. We completed this at 3AM the next morning.
Another satisfying exercise I should say.
All I can say is Lord Rama, Lord Anjaneya and Lord Krishna were with us all through and helped us complete these marathon recitations.