Music I admire 04: Why aren’t you responding? (“mAru palkagunnAvEmirA”)

Thematically, a significant number of Tyagaraja’s compositions are those where he questions Rama on why HE is not responding with alacrity to Tyagaraja’s pleas. In this aspect, Tyagaraja was following a hoary tradition of nindA stuti (prayer couched as censure bordering on abuse). Bhadrachala Ramadasa whose trail Tyagaraja followed was of course renowned for this, as was Purandaradasa.

Many compositions tend to get associated with a particular performer who popularised them, but the linking of mArubalka with Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer is possibly the epitome of such associations. For lay listeners, serious rasikas and professional musicians alike, mArubalka WAS Semmangudi, and vice versa. I remember a talk by Vidwan Sri D K Jayaraman where he talks about how well he himself had sing this kriti on one occasion and how it nearly was of the same standard as Semmangudi’s rendition. In his own mind also, if you sang mArubalka, the comparison with Semmangudi was a given.

Music I admire 03: To sing lovingly, with voice as ONE with the tambUrA (“tambUrA cEkoni guNamula celuvonDa pADucu”)

Praising the Lord through song is a practice common across cultures. Tyagaraja in his Kriti koluvamare kadA in tODi talks about the various ways in which he has been fortunate enough to worship Rama. Singing HIS praises is one such way; one that is not available to most devotees. 

Much as Tyagaraja has stressed elsewhere that knowledge of music or singing well but without devotion is meaningless (e.g., sangita jnAnamu bhakti vinA in dhanyAsi), he is quite vocal in several of his other compositions about the need for music to be, well, musical. 

In the first line of the first charanam of koluvamare kadA, Tyagaraja says

vEkuva jAmuna velayucu tambura cEkoni guNamula celuvonDa pADucu

Which is commonly translated as 

Early in the morning (well before sunrise), holding a tambura, singing lovingly in praise (of Rama)

Music I admire 02: I have realised the path to you (“dAri Ni telusukoNTi”)

One of Tyagaraja’s many masterpieces, where the great composer exclaims about having found the way to HER, the universal mother goddess Tripura Sundari. That he weaves a neat pun in the words (Tripura Sundari merging with the first dAri) is just cream on top.

This Kriti has been a concert mainstay for generations, with several beautiful sangatis adorning the Pallavi. Therein lies a “controversy”. Purists (I prefer to think of them as cynics, but that’s just me!) carp that these many sangatis were not sung by Tyagaraja, and hence latter day musicians have somehow “contaminated” the saint’s vision by interpolating their own musical tastes into it. This song (among a few others of the saint like nA jIvadhArA in Bilahari and mari mari ninnE in kAmbhoji) are held up as examples of pathantara bhedam (variations in versions) creeping in because of additional sangatis.

Music I admire 01: Do I have the capability to measure your greatness? ("mahima teliya taramA, nI")

The simplest of Pallavi words in one of the simplest of talas, in a raga that has a humongous corpus of already composed music. And yet, the sophistication of rendition lies in its deceptive simplicity. Something that could be extrapolated quite safely to the music in general of the great man, Ariyakkudi Ramanuja Iyengar.

Ariyakkudi was a man who knew his own strengths well, and how his skills could be packaged to appeal to a wide swathe of listeners. In his own words, his music was the golden mean of Carnatic music. He said “If you want fast paced brikas, go to GNB; if you want emotive music, go to Musiri; if you want complex laya vyavahara, go to Alathur brothers; but if you want a bit of everything in one concert, come to me!” It was not arrogance, but true self awareness. To his list, I can safely add “if you want thrilling raga alapana, go to Maharajapuram; if you want lilting swara kalpana, go to Madurai Mani Iyer; if you want those little musical nuances that make all the difference, go to Semmangudi; but if want you a glimpse of all of these, come to me!”

With this background, let us listen to this superlative rendition of an RTP in Sankarabhanam, which to me is living proof of the above sentiment. 

https://youtu.be/LWGMQar2zt0