Sri Thyagaraja Utsavam of Greater Houston Area [2010]

April 16th 2010 - Day1

The Utsavam was inaugrated on Friday and featured a concert by Bharat Sundaram, an upcoming Carnātic musician. He is the winner of the Carnātic Music Idol Contest conducted by Jaya TV this year. I did not attend his concert.

April 17th 2010 - Day2

The Unchavrithi

This year marked the 33rd year celebration of Saint Thyāgarāja Utsavam in Pearland, TX. The Utsavam started with a Unchavrithi of Sree Ramachandra Utsava Murthy from the Ramar Sannidhi in an elaborate procession with a local devotee dressed as Saint Thyāgarāja , and other music enthusiasts singing Thyāgarāja Krithis. The Utsava Murthy was then brought into the Kalyana mandapam where the remaining festivities took place.

Welcome Address by Mrs. Praba Bala

The welcome address was provided by Mrs. Prabha Bala, one of the founders of the Classical Arts Society of Houston. She elegantly introduced the origins of the Society by visionary late Indumathi Krishnamurthy, fondly remembered by Houston Indian community as Indu Mami. Indu Mami, Prabha Bala and Nalini Mukopadhyaya organized the first Thyāgarāja Utsavam 33 years back.

Since its inception, the Utsavam has grown from a modest one day festival to a grand three day celebration. As years go by, more and more Carnātic musicians and enthusiasts from all over Texas are participating in this celebration. This year, the Utsavam theme was the centenary celebration of the great music exponent G.N. Balasubramaniam (GNB), a genius par excellence. The society members had very aptly chosen Kalaimamani Charumathi Ramachandran (CR) as the artistic director. She is a prominent student of the great singer M.L. Vasanthakumari who in turn was a student of GNB. She was accompanied in this visit by her husband Padmabushan Trichur Ramachandran an eminent Carnātic musician himself and their daughter Subashree Ramachandran.


One of the most important aspects for any musical or dance presentation is the arrangement of the stage or Arangam as mentioned in Bharata's Nāṭya Śāstra. In keeping with traditions, the stage had three poignant aspects including Sri Ramachandra Murthy, Saint Thyāgarāja 's painting, and a photo of GNB. My eyes caught the rare painting of Saint Thyāgarāja by Indu mami where Thyāgarāja is depicted to be singing, Lord Hanuman sitting in front of him and Saint Thyāgarāja thinking about Rama while singing his praise.

Utsavam Overview

The festival overview was given by Mrs. Charumathi Ramachandran. Interestingly enough she first introduced the Tanjavūr district where the great Brahadīshwara temple was constructed by King Rāja Rāja Chola some 1000 years back. She mentioned how Rāja Rāja Chola has inscribed the importance given to musicians and dancers in his Kingdom. He encouraged Óduvārs to sing Tēvāram hymns and Dēvadāsis to dance on daily basis in the temple premises. He protected them by giving them abodes near the temple and monthly allowances for their livelihood. He was a great patron of art and during his reign, music and dance flourished and were of the highest aesthetic order.

In this Tanjavūr district, rich in music and art, Saint Thyāgarāja was born to a Telugu Brahmin couple residing in Thiruvaiyāru. Legend has it that Thyāgarāja 's father dreamt of Lord Shiva being born as his son and hence he was named Thyāgarāja after the presiding deity of a nearby Shiva temple. His grandfather GiriRāja Kavi was a poet in the courts of Maratha rulers. The Maratha rulers provided immense wealth to GiriRāja Kavi in appreciation of his art. Much to the anger of his brother, Thyāgarāja parted away with all the family wealth.

Thyāgarāja 's compositions are considered to be the most beautiful literary work in the Telugu language (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TyagaRāja). His devotion to Lord Rama was unshakeable and he worshipped and composed songs on Rama till his last breath. He has also composed a few songs on Lord Śiva and Lord Ganēśa.

Rendering of Pancharatna Krithis

The rendering of Pancharatna Krithis started promptly at 9.30 a.m. on the stage by a group of eminent singers of Houston being lead by Anuradha Subramaniam, Charumathi Ramachandran and Tiruchur Ramachandran. The singers were ably supported by accompanying local artists playing musical instruments such as Violin and Mrudangam. The audience was encouraged to join in the rendering of the Krithis.

The rendering began with an invocatory composition on Lord Ganēśa Sree Ganapathi Nee in Rāgam Souraśtram followed by:

1. Jagada Nanda Karaka in Rāgam Nāṭai

2. Dudukku Gala in Rāgam Goulai

3. Sadinchane in Rāgam Ārabhi

4. Kana Kana in Rāgam Varali

5. Endaro Mahānubavulu in Rāgam Sri

As Mrs. Charumathi aptly put it, these Krithis are beyond mundane. It provokes sublime thoughts in us and enlifts one to a divine dimension.

My Illustrious Guru GNB and his Compositions

Lecture Demonstration by Padmabushan Trichur Ramachandran

The Utsavam continued with a lecture demonstration by Padmabushan Trichūr Ramachandran, the only living direct disciple of the great GNB. He was ably accompanied by his daughter Subrashree Ramachandran. Mr. Ramachandran praised GNB as a genius and a Vāgyekara-one who composes and sings. It was GNB who introduced a novel way of singing with brugas that was later came to called as GNB's Bāṅi. GNB revolutionized the Carnātic music field by singing novel sangadhi's and brugas unheard of in those days. His forte was raga alapana which he could sing for hours on end. He is well known for popularizing rare krithis of the Trinity's compositions (Thyāgarāja , Dīkśidar & Śyāmā Sastrigal). Besides singing, he has composed about 250 songs Mr. Ramachandran mentioned that GNB would compose and just scatter them around without taking efforts to publish it or even sing it himself. Thanks to his disciple’s efforts of gathering them and notating them, we have these exceptional compositions available in the world and many Carnātic musicians sing them in the present time. Mr. Ramachandran recalled how another great musician of the present time, Sri Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer had praised GNB as having an aparimidamāna kural. One can only say that such genius is born once in ages and GNB was one such yuga puruśa. GNB is credited with inventions if new Rāgās such as Āndoḷikā, Valaji, Vijayanāgari, Gāvathi, Gauda Malāri just to list a few. He was a creative genius and a mahāmedai. GNB encouraged his disciples to know and research on the how and why of things. GNB was adept at singing Rāgam, tanam, pallavi. His rendering of songs were laden with madyama kāla swaras, jāru's and dasavida gamakka's.

Being a handsome personality, GNB was encouraged by his friends to act in movies. He acted in many super hits of yester-decades one of which is Śakuntalam in which he paired with Bharat Ratna late M.S. Subbulakshmi another legendary musician of our times. He was a Lakśana and Lakśiya purushā. He was a great devotee of Goddess Srīvidya (upasaka) and has composed krithis in praise of the Goddess in many rare ragas such as Sārangatārani and Ċāyaranjani. Despite all his talents, he was a very humble person and was immensely affectionate toward his disciples. Mr. Ramachandran mentioned that he considers a great bāgyam to have been under GNB's tutelage where he learned the nuances of GNB Bāṅi for about 5 years till GNB's untimely death in 1965.

Mr. Ramachandran and his daughter Subashree rendered 10 of GNB's compositions.

1. Vara Vallaba in Rāgam Hamsadwani
2. Samāna Rahite Amba in Rāgam Sārangatārani
3. Unnadiye Gathi in Rāgam Bahudari
4. Nī Samāna in Subhapantuvarali
5. Pada Bhajana in Rāgam Kamas
6. Inda Parāku in Rāgam Bhairavi
7. Parā mukha in Rāgam Kānada
8. Sada Palaya in Rāgam Mohanam
9. Ranjani Niranjani in Rāgam Ranjani
10. Marive Nā Kevaru in Rāgam Mallari

GNB set to Tune many songs
11. Thikku Theriyada Kātril in Rāgam Behag

GNB and MS duet in Shakuntalai
12. Premayil yavum in Rāgam ?

This was followed by the rendering of

13. Radha Sametha Krishna in Rāgam Misra Yaman

Subashree sang a Bhajan

14. Bhavani Dayani in Rāgam Sindhubhairavi

The lecture concluded with

15. Jayathi Jayathi Bharata Mata in Rāgam Kamās

During his lecture, Ramamchandran reiterated how very few composers have the divinity to include swarāksharam in their compositions. GNB was a master at it. For e.g. Sadā Pālaya song in Mōhanam starts with the swaras Sa, Dā and Pā. Mr. Ramachandran quoted many such examples from GNB's compositions. As is called in Tamil he knew the "nutpangal" of singing and composing.

The morning session continued with participation from local musicians, a considerable number of who were young children. Unfortunately I could not stay for this segment of the Utsavam. But I heard from others that many of the musicians did very good justice to the Āradana. The names of local children who won several prizes in this years Cleveland Thyāgarāja Utsavam was announced. Houston kids won prizes in most of the categories including Rāgam-Tānam-Pallavi, Raga Alapana, all rounder just to name a few. It is highly commendable that Houston has trained such talented kids in Carnātic Music.

The evening segment started with a Vādam-Vivādam between Bharat Sundar and CR. Bharat Sundar is an upcoming artist and there were interesting aspects in the discussion, but my knowledge is limited to comment on this segment.

Vocal Concert by Gayathri Venkataraghavan

The evening concluded with a vocal concert by Gayathri Venkataraghavan a popular Carnātic musician of the present time. She started her concert with a scintillating varnam in Rāgam Bahudari. I was greatly impressed by her rendition of the varnam. The next piece was a raga ālapana in Mohanam followed by a Muthuswami Dīkshidar's composition Srimath Sundara Nāyaki. She continued the concert with a rare piece parrakuche in jujavali Rāgam. Next came Śyama Saśtri's composition Parākela Nannu Pālimba in Rāgam Kēdara Gaulai. She then took up Bhairavi as the main piece with elaborate Rāga ālapanai. I could not stay for the whole concert and I am hoping those who stayed till the very end will fill me in on this. I found it highly commendable that despite having severe cold and cough, Gayathri did great justice to her presentation.


Author's Note:

I have very basic knowledge of Carnātic Music. I would greatly appreciate the readers input in fixing any music related errors.

I have attempted using diacritical marks where required, but this requires a lot of refinement.

Readers,
Please stay tuned for Day 3.