Carnatic music is a continuing tradition that traces back to Sama Veda and the musical tradition started by sage Valmiki, the epic poet who sang Ramayana:
kUjantam rAma-rAmeti madhuram madhurAkSharam
Aruhya kavitASAkhAm vande vAlmIki kokilam
Our prayer before reciting the Ramayana remembers Hanuman also:
sItArAma-guNagrAma-puNyAraNya-vihAriNau
vandE viSuddha-vij~jAnau kavISvara-kapISvarau
Sage Valmiki sang Ramayana, and his greatest audience was the eternal rasika and bhakta Hanuman, ever present under the Parijatha tree, engrossed in Rama nama.
Those in Parvathi, too, enjoyed the festive tradition of Ramanavami for over sixty years.
Maestros in "Parvathi" 1985
Vellore Ramabhadran, T.V. Sankaranarayanan, G.J.R. Krishnan.
[ In our featured concert from 1986, the violinist has been replaced by his father ]
Mysore Prabha, hailing from the home of Parvathi, made her foray into Carnatic music in 1986 and her first album was released by the legend of our times, Lalgudi G. Jayaraman.
[ Sri Lalgudi G. Jayaraman speaks in Tamil ]
You can hear Lalgudi explain what is so special about the ambience of Parvathi that made
[ Vidwan T.V. Sankaranarayanan in a recent photo - courtesy Kartik Pashupati ]
musicians give unforgettable music to eager rasikas year after year.
Coming to the concert featured this time. This concert held on the same day in 1986 is a superb example of Carnatic music's unbroken tradition. Vidwan T.V. Sankaranarayanan hails from the Thyagaraja-Muthiah Bhagavathar-Madurai Mani Iyer lineage. He became famous in the seventies as a gripping concert perfomer. The Hindu paid him a fine tribute describing his career as a joyous musical journey, when he received the Sangeetha Kalanidhi title from the Madras Music Academy in 2003. In this concert, he is accompanied by Lalgudi G. Jayaraman, a fourth generation musician in the Thyagaraja lineage. And they together create magic with the song Brochevarevarura by Mysore Vasudevachar, a disciple of Patnam Subrahmanya Iyer, continuing Thyagaraja's disciplic line. He was a frequent visitor and performer in Parvathi for many years.
In this concert, excellent percussion accompaniment is provided by Vidwan Vellore Ramabhadran and Vidwan Bangalore Venkataram.
Joyful Supplication – the hallmark of a blessed devotee
Brochevarevarura rendered elaborately by Sankaranarayanan, is lyrically and musically a shining example of joyful supplication, an attainment given to few bhaktas. Vasudevachar composed this masterpiece in Khamach (a raga synonymous with positive energy), extolling Rama's grace that readily showers on the devotee. Vasudevachar invokes the example of Hanuman, the unparalleled devotee with these words: vAtAtmajA-rcita-pAda.
Sankaranarayanan's concert begins with Yochana in Darbar, and builds up the mood of joyful supplication in Khamach. This mood continues in Mohana Rama. The concert climaxes in Revathi, wherein Purandaradasa tells the Lord that He is great but His devotees are even greater, able to summon Him at will and imprison Him in their devoted hearts. Purandaradasa gives the example of the boy Prahlada who could summon the Lord's incredible avatara of a man-lion out of a pillar!
Sankaranarayanan's Revathi is a brilliant outpouring, matched by Lalgudi's gifted exposition.
The ambience of this occasion, the music of T. V. Sankaranarayanan and Lalgudi G. Jayaraman, and the magnificence of Mysore Vasudevachar's composition – this is a real treat for all of us. What better way to begin 2011!
The Concert
T. V. Sankaranarayanan - Vocal
Lalgudi G. Jayaraman - Violin
Vellore Ramabhadran - Mridangam
Bangalore K. Venkataram - Ghatam
Held at Parvathi on 23 April 1986.
Song List
01. Yochana Kamalalochana – Darbar – Thyagaraja *** 02. Brochevarevarura – Khamach – Mysore Vasudevachar *** 03. Mohana Rama – Mohana – Thyagaraja *** 04. Neene Doddavano – Revathi – Purandaradasa ***
