Bringing unheard ragas and forgotten compositions back to the stage

Imagine a depository of dependable wherever immoderate Carnatic melodies successful ragas erstwhile fashionable prevarication tucked away, seldom heard. Music researcher Ravi Rajagopalan and vocalist Gayathri Girish turned the spotlight connected specified songs astatine a lecture-concert connected ‘Rare ragas and forgotten fashionable compositions’. Ravi outlined their humanities discourse done his insightful narration portion Gayathri revealed their philharmonic quality done her thoughtful rendition. They were accompanied by B. Ananthakrishnan connected the violin and Melakaveri Balaji connected the mridangam.  

Organised precocious by Madhuradhwani astatine Arkay Convention Center, the well-curated programme opened with Gayathri singing an invocatory shloka, written by Vidya Jayaraman arsenic a tribute to Muthuswami Dikshitar successful ragamalika (Bowli, Kalyani and Reetigowla). This was followed by Veena Kuppayyar’s Ata tala varnam ‘Maguva ninne’ successful Narayanagowla (Mela 22: S R M P N D N S / S N D P M G R G R S). “The raga erstwhile held pridefulness of spot and was classified nether ‘Dwiteeya Ghana Raga Panchakam’,” shared Ravi. None of Tyagaraja’s kritis successful it are successful vogue today. However, Dikshitar’s ‘Sriramam ravikulabdhi somam’ tin beryllium heard occasionally, hinting astatine the raga’s existence. ‘Ma-ga-ri-ga-ri-sa’ is simply a distinctive usage of the raga which has shades of Kedaragowla and Surati, and Gayathri’s rendition underlined these aspects. 

The adjacent raga was Hindolavasantham (20th Mela: S G M P D N D S / S N D M G S). Following a abbreviated raga sketch, Gayathri neatly rendered Tyagaraja’s ‘Ra ra sitaramani manohara’ acceptable to Rupakam. Ravi pointed retired the lack of the alpa rishabha successful this creation arsenic opposed to older lakshanas and Dikshitar kritis specified arsenic ‘Santhana ramaswaminam’, noting that immoderate traditions besides employment D2. 

A gripping Natakurinji alapana suffused with the raga’s essence preceded Pallavi Gopala Iyer’s ‘Needu murtini’ connected Vishnu, successful Adi tala. Gayathri’s niraval and swarakalpana astatine ‘Mandhara giridhara’ successful the charanam sparkled. “This is 1 of the earliest recorded compositions with a chittaswaram appended to it,” said Ravi. 

‘E mayaladira’, a swarajathi successful Husseni by Melattur Virabhadrayya (Syama Sastri’s guru), was erstwhile precise popular. Ravi noted that the beingness of 3 chiseled versions of the portion points to its popularity earlier. Gayathri presented the mentation attributed to the Tanjore Quartet. The astir captivating was the opening conception of the charanam ‘Ou re ra baagaaya’, a lilting operation that led to respective lyrical variants crafted for antithetic kings and patrons. Over time, somehow, the swarajathi disappeared from the performance stage. 

The duo past took up Saamantham (Mela 30), which dates backmost to the 12th century. It faded into obscurity by the 18th period until Muthuswami Dikshitar revived it, arsenic documented successful Sangita Sampradaya Pradarsini (SSP). Though the treatise provides nary kritis, a mates of them came into being aboriginal done Ambi Dikshitar. Saamantham is akin to Sankarabharanam, but that it uses D3 alternatively of D2. Kritis of Annamacharya successful this raga are recovered successful the copper plates of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam, informed Ravi. Gayathri’s awesome rendition of Dikshitar’s ‘Viswanathena rakshitoham’ followed a little alapana. Ananthakrishnan’s solo excessively stood out. 

‘Mahaganapathim vande’ successful Thodi-Rupakam by Muthuswami Dikshitar was the adjacent kriti. Though not recovered successful SSP, it archetypal surfaced successful 1936 done Natarajasundaram Pillai of the Dikshitar lineage, and is considered highly authentic. Bearing each the hallmarks of a Dikshitar kriti, it features the alpa prayoga of the panchamam. The raga essay, kriti, niraval and swara exchanges astatine ‘Kapilam krishna pujitam’ successful the charanam were handled with poise, and Balaji’s tani was lively. 

The engaging presumption concluded with Maha Vaidyanatha Iyer’s Kanada thillana ‘Gowrinayaka’, acceptable to the analyzable Simhanandana tala (128 aksharas per avartanam), with the afloat creation covered in just two cycles.