Since the post I made on Pallavi Gopala Iyer, I came across a couple of more points which I thought should form part of the original post. I am adding this short post as a sequel to my original one here. WHO WAS PALLAVI GOPALA IYER? Per Prof Sambamoorthy and Dr B M Sundaram as [...]
INTRODUCTION: Pallavi Gopala Iyer is one of the composers from the pre-trinity period who adorned the Tanjore Court and was a vaggeyakara par excellence, in his own right. We do have accounts of him from Subbarama Dikshitar and also from manuscripts and references in the Sarasvathi Mahal Library of Tanjore and from Prof Sambamoorthy. Subbarama [...]
Kallidaikurichi Vedanta Bhagavatar: Vedanta Bhagavatar was born in 1878 in Kallidaikurichi. He came of a family of Sanskrit scholars who were attached as teachers of Sanskrit and shastras to the Tiruvadudurai math.His father was Muthu Shastrigal who was holding this respected position in the math.Observing the talent of the young Vedantam the head of the [...]
Read Part I of this post here.. The following is a list of articles and lecture demonstrations that KVR did during his life time: List of his articles/publications: Ramachandran K.V. (1938) – “The Melakarta – A Critique” – The Journal of the Music Academy IX, pp. 31-33, Madras, India. Ramachandran K.V. (1946) – “Gopala Nayaka” [...]
INTRODUCTION: K V Ramachandran (1898-1956) or KVR for short, was truly a colossus. His knowledge and contribution spanned the entire range of Indian fine arts including dance, music and literature. He was a feared critic of his days, a connoisseur of chaste music and a well-read man. My introduction to his name first, was via [...]
PREFACE: One of the first impressions that an observer or student of our music gets is that Muthusvami Dikshitar was a strict conformist to sampradaya and to the raga lakshanas that were laid out by Venkatamakhi. But if one undertakes a scrupulous analysis of the Sangita Sampradaya Pradarshini, one can see how hollow that statement [...]
INTRODUCTION: Andhali is an old raga with a textual tradition which is now virtually extinct. Its close cousins, Purnachandrika and the much latter born Janaranjani have usurped much of its musical material. We have compositions of both Tyagaraja and Dikshitar in this raga. There is an element of a controversy, nay a puzzle about the [...]
Preface: Since the original post and the feedbacks that were received, an update to the post had become imperative. This sequel is intended to cover 3 areas: Update the discography by providing audio links to the renditions, to illustrate raga lakshana as found in the Dikshitar kriti “Bakthavatsalam” Consider one other rendition, that of “Bakthavatsalam” [...]
Raga Lakshana – Vamsavati The raga Vamsavati (the Asampurna 54th raganga of the latter Kanakambari* nomenclature), the equivalent to the sampurna mela raga Vishwambari has been given an expansive treatment by Muthusvami Dikshitar who has invested 2 krithis in this raga. His co-trinitarians Tyagaraja and Syama Shastri have not composed in either of the ragas. [...]
Tiruvarur Ramaswami Pillai – An Article By. Dr.B.M.Sundaram We thank Dr.B.M.Sundaram for compiling and providing information on this great vaggeyakara, information which otherwise would have been forgotten in the annals of carnatic music. South India has the unique greatness of fostering and elevating to heights the system of Carnatic Music. Innumerable vaggeyakaras have born here [...]
