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 [...]
Tiruppamburam Swaminatha Pillai – Ravi & Sridhar The Isai Vellala community has been responsible for nurturing music and dance in the Tamil country for many centuries. Every male member of that community was required to learn the Nagaswaram and every female member, chinna mELam or sadir — Bharatanatyam as it is called now. They were [...]
