The Primacy of the Raga-Tana-Pallavi

Vid. T. N. Seshagopalan, 1984 Ramanavami at 'Parvathi',Mysore

Preview from R. Sachi

We are delighted to share this time, with rasikas everywhere, a lovely RTP concert of Vid. T. N. Seshagopalan in the able company of vidwans Mysore Nagaraj, Srimushnam Raja Rao and Bangalore Venkatram.

The time of this concert is the 1980’s, when Vid. Seshagopalan stormed the Carnatic music scene with his exuberant style, vocal range, and ever-innovative manodharma. Young stars of today are often guided by the methods of the early innovators in Carnatic music, and that list includes for sure GNB, BMK, and TNS. Being a thinking musician with a pliant voice, TNS wowed audiences all over with his impactful concerts in that period. He also had good accompanists always, and this concert is no exception.

The format of Raga-Tana-Pallavi or RTP is of great importance in Carnatic music. Its history goes back several centuries, and the concept of Pallavi is said to be traceable to concepts in Sangita Ratnakara. Many great musicians made their name in the past centuries based on their mastery of this idiom and an RTP concert would last several hours. Mr. Srikantiah recalls how Mysore Vasudevacharya was unmatched for his tana singing, in three octaves and three speeds.

In this concert, only a few portions of which survive on the spool tapes available, the RTP in Shankarabharana, with raga-malika swaras, lasts over 70 minutes. Even though the pallavi starts off in Khanda Triputa tala, it is presented with delightful laya and raga variations. We can begin to fathom the manodharma of a great artiste in the way he approaches the Raga-Tana-Pallavi, in the sense of whether it is a mere “check in the box” affair, or is meant to showcase some “cleverness”in sahitya, or he really explores its scope in a grand scheme of interpretation.

So come, and enjoy, the feast of TNS’s manodharma music! Mysore Nagaraj has played a highly competent accompanist role, especially in the raga-malika swaras. The percussion support too is admirable from Vid. Srimushnam Raja Rao and Vid. Venkatram.

Concert Details

Madurai T.N.Sheshagopalan ----------- Vocal
Mysore Nagaraj --------------------------Violin
S.Raja Rao ------------------------------ Mridangam
Bangalore Venkatram ------------------ Ghatam
on 16-4-84 at "Parvathi" during Ramanavami.

Concert Excerpts

01. Endaro Mahanubhavulu – Sri raga – Thyagaraja *** 02. Ksheerasagara Shayana – Devagandhari – Thyagaraja *** 03. Shankarabharana Raga *** 04. Tana-Pallavi-Ragamalika (Vasantha, Dwijavanti, Maru Bihag, Hindustani Kapi) ***

A Deepavali Special : Sangeeta Kalanidhi Vidwan Madurai T.N. Seshagopalan

One of the prodigiously talented Carnatic musicians performing actively for the past four decades at always the top level is Vidwan T. N. Seshagopalan. Apart from being a brilliantly creative vocalist, he is also a talented vainika and plays even the key-board. He also performs musical Harikathas which showcase his musical as well as narrative skills and sense of humour. He comes from the lineage of Harikeshanallur Muthiah Bhagavathar, being a disciple of Vidwan Ramanathapuram C. S. Sankarasivan, himself a direct disciple of the great composer.

(Gratefully acknowledged: "Photography by Kartik Pashupati" )

Being a versatile artiste. Vidwan Seshagopalan attracted the best accompaniment as well as critical acclaim early in his career. He started performing in early '70s and the concert featured here is from 1973. The concert features an absolutely brilliant Shanmukhapriya, with excellent alapana, manodharma-filled rendering of Patnam's “Marivere dikkevaraiya Rama?”.

The violin and mridangam support make the concert even more memorable.

Listening to his wonderful Mohana and “Rara Rajeevalochana Rama”, we may be excused for remembering that the delightful raga Mohana Kalyani was conceived and the Kannada kriti Bhuvaneshwariya was composed by his lineage guru Sri Muthiah Bhagavathar, while under the Mysore royal patronage.

His Kabir bhajan is very evocative, and the words have been intoned with much feeling.

Vidwan Seshagopalan has been conferred the titles of Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 2006 and the Padma Bhushan in 2004. He can be described as a connoisseur's musician, as he approaches each item in the concert with a spontaneity that stems from mastery over the idiom as well as a creative exuberance. His exuberance is shorn of egoism, which is rare. When we listen to musicians like Vidwan Seshagopalan, we are intrigued and wonder what must be going on in their minds, as their musical output seems to be always daring and fresh, and never a canned fare, all rehearsed and perfected with concert effects. This chronicler heard Vidwan Umayalpuram Sivaraman mention once that Vidwan Seshagopalan's repertoire is so vast that he knows 300 kritis in Thodi alone!

We found a very charming description from the vidwan of his early musical training in an interview in Carnatica.net:

"At that period it was music, music and only music. I used to get up at 5.30, bathe, do sandhyavandanam, visit the temple and then my guru's house. I did not even have the idea of going to the movies. No recreations, only music, spiritual discourses, temple, books and literature. That was the prevailing situation. Always bhajans, namasankeerthanams, Kamban vizha, sloka competitions, etc. If you turned to one side, there was Anantharama Dikshitar's house and on the other Variyar's... There used to be political conferences and I have attended the speeches of Anna and EVR to see how they talk. If we used to hear the news it was to know about the cricket scores. We would buy Sportstar and Illustrated Weekly to know how Barrington played and how wickets were kept. Radio was switched on only for commentary."

The Concert

Madurai T.N.Seshagopalan-----Vocal
Chalakudy Narayanaswamy ----Violin
Tanjore Upendran ------ Mridangam
Sosale Sheshagiri Das ---- Khanjira
at Parvathi on April 13, 1973


01. Chalamela varna – Darbar – Tiruvottriyur Thyagayyer*** 02.Sri Raghukula -Hamsadhvani – Thyagaraja*** 03. Ninnunera nammi naanu -Pantuvarali – Thyagaraja*** 04.Vandanamu - Shahana – Thyagaraja*** 05. Marivere -Shanmugapriya – Patnam Subramanya Iyer *** 06. Ra ra raajeevalochana -Mohana – M. Vasudevachar*** 07.Harinaama bhajare – Bhairav – Kabir*** 08.Rama mantrava japiso -Jaunpuri – Purandara Dasa*** 09. Kanden kanden Seetheyai – Bageshri – Arunachala Kavi***