Madurai Mani Iyer (Part Concert_ - Athana - Saranga - Saraswati manohari and Vasanta

Madurai Mani Iyer 

(Part Concert - Athana - Saranga - Saraswati manohari and Vasanta)

The Flute - A short story of Adivi Bapiraju (rendered into English)

The Flute

A short story of Adivi Bapiraju 

(rendered into English by K B Gopalam)

The Flute

Adivi Bapiraju

 

The sounds of the boy's flute filled the bunds of the fields, crops, canals and the hills at a distance.

He had no knowledge of the ragas (musical scales) nor had he learnt about the swaras (musical notes). His mentors were – the koel, the carpenter bee, the mountain brook, the mooing of the cows, the gentle breeze floating over the fields, the thunder, the beetle and the Lavangi birds.

A naturally gifted flautist, he had a great sense of music though ignorant of musicology, its theories, principles and terminology. Comparing notes and notes, he would tune the shruti (pitch). His breath kept the laya (rhythm & tempo). Only three talas (beats) emerged from his rhythm & tempo – they were Adi, Eka and Roopaka.

The melodic patterns (moorchanas) he conjured up were simply out-of-the-world combinations.

2

He was a cattle grazer and nine years old. After eating yesterday's remnant rice and gruel with salted fish as side dish, he put some of the rice gruel in a small pot and a pickled piece of raw mango, covering it with a plate. Wrapping the lunch-pot in a piece of cloth, he reached the river bund riding a buffalo.

The shade of the neem tree was his throne; his cattle were his subjects, and his weapon was his flute!

A tattered loin cloth and an equally torn head scarf were his silken attires. Whenever it rained, he made a couple of buffalos stand close together and sat down under them. When the river swelled, he crossed it on the buffalos. Cows and buffalos were his armed guards. Equipped so, he could stand up even to a tiger.

3

Once he reached the grazing field, he bade them go on their own and settled himself under the tree, playing and singing.

He pulled out the flute and played on it to mesmerize the world. The lyrics for the songs were his heart itself.

Sometimes his song jumped and pranced. It flowered and spread gentle fragrance all around and bubbled up like the waters of a little spring.

Sometimes his song looked at the world and wondered, paled or shivered.

Another time his song searched for something. It gazed at the sky keenly; pierced the depths of the earth, and counted the water drops in the river.

At times it went into tears. It curled with some unknown fear, sulked with hunger and took on the form of the entire gamut of human suffering and wept.

Yet another time the song assumed the all-knowing lotus yogic posture and offered grass flowers in supplication. Also, it probed the depths like a fish in the water.

Kissing the flute with his lips, the boy turned into one who lost cognizance of his own handiwork.

4

One day from an adjacent farmland, a girl worker came looking for him following the song.

She was eight. She sat still before him listening to the song.

She did not divide his kingdom or usurp it.

She became one with his kingdom, with his song and with him.

She would come every day by his song time and sit there before him.

The tattered cloth on her midriff did not cover her nakedness completely. She had a pair of bangles on her arm, and two aluminum anklets on her legs.

If the boy's face was the image of the sun, her face was the lotus in the side-by-pond.

5

One day when he played on the flute, the whole world listened to it under a spell. And the girl turned into that very song.

In the meantime, some monstrous bird hovered in the sky with an earth-shattering sound. Stunned with the sound, the boy stopped playing and fell at once to the ground. The girl flew to his side. Shivering and wailing, she embraced him.

The demon bird flew away. After a while the two naïve kids got up and surveyed around with bleary eyes.

His cows and buffalos grazed as usual. Flowers were in bloom. The neem tree stood outspread just as before. The brook flowed on gurgling.

He mustered up courage to pick up the flute and once again harmonized the three sacred notes into a cadence that questioned this universe. The girl continued to cling to him.

Far away in Europe, there was a war raging. Japan let itself loose on Pearl Harbor.

The boy came out of the impact. Matching the pitch of the daily visitor demon birds, he played a new combination to which the girl listened, smiling and captivated.

Avasarala Kanya Kumari - Krishna Nee Begane Baro - Yamankalyan

Avasarala Kanya Kumari

Krishna Nee Begane Baro - Yamankalyan 

Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer - AIR - Hyderabad

Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer 

AIR - Hyderabad

Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer - Vocal

P S Narayanaswamy - Support Vocal

Annavarapu Ramaswamy - Violin

Yella Venkateswara Rao - Mridangam

00:00 Brochevarevare - Sriranjani - Tyagaraja

07:30 Tyagraja palayasumam - Gaula - Dikshitar

17:30 Sri Venkatagirisham - Surati - Dikshitar

Lyrics:

I

brOcEvaarevarE

raghupate

ninu vinA

shrI rAmA nenaruna

sakala lOka nAyaka

naravara nI sari

devEndrAdulu meccuTaku lanka dayatO dAna mosangi sadA

vAli nokka kOla nEsi ravi bAluni rAjuga gAvinci jUci

muni savanamu jUDa veNTajani khala mAricAdula hatambu cEsi

bhavAbdhi taraNOp yamu nErani tyAgarAjuni karambidi

II

tyAgarAja pAlayAshu mAm nityAnandakanda sOmAskanda vIthi viTanka

caraNam

nAgarAja maNi bhUSAlankrta nagarAja sutArd-dhAnga gauLAnga bhOgAdi prada

shrI nagara sthita bhUsurAdinuta valmIka linga shrI guruguha pUjita vrSa turanga shritajana

rakSaNa nipuNAntaranga bhOgiyuta caraNa karadhrta kuranga yOgi vidita ajapA naTana ranga

III

shrI vEnkaTagirIsham AlOkayE vinAyaka turagArUDham

dEvEsha pUjita bhagavantam dinakara kOTi prakAshavantam gOvindam nata bhUsura brndam guruguhAnandam mukundam

alamElu mangA samEtam ananta padmanAbham atItam

kaliyuga pratyakSa vibhAtam kanjajAdi dEvOpEtam

jaladhara sannibha sundara gAtram jalaruha mitrAbja shatru nEtram

kaluSApaha gOkarNa kSEtram karuNArasa pAtram cinmAtram

T N Seshagopalan : Kodandaramam - Kokilaravam or Kokilapriya

T N Seshagopalan

Kodandaramam - Kokilaravam or Kokilapriya

Maharajapuram Santanam - Two songs

 Maharajapuram sings

Vallabhanayakasya - Begada

Suttumvizicchudar

M D Ramanathan : Janani Ninuvina - Reetigaula - A Master piece from a Gr...

M D Ramanathan

Janani Ninuvina - Reetigaula

M D Ramanathan is a God of music to me and alot of others.
A friend who shares such adoration for the master gave me this concert recording.
I am sharing only the one piece from the concert here.
No one sang this kriti like great MDR did!
Please listen to it to understand the right technique of singing.

The kriti itself is a master piece!
Subbaraya Satry's composition is an example for right use of a Ragam.
Chitteswaram is another unique part of the kriti.. MDR sang the Chitteswaram in his own way.
Then sang sahityam for it!

Subbaraya Sastry Composition

jananI ninnu vinA (trilOka) dikkevarammA jagamulOna gAna manasija mAnasa sammOdini vinavE nA manavini vini nannu brOvumu cittai Swaram (svara sAhitya) idi ghanamA taruNamidi krpa salupa durusuga sarasIruha lOcani suvAsini tAmasamu sEyakane brOvumu (jananI) caraNam 1 varadAyaki gadA okkani brOva karudA daya rAdA nera nammina nAtO vAdA sarasija bhava hari haranuta pAda caraNam 2 karuNAnidhi nIvu vEganE vacci karuNatO nannu brOvu girirAja kumArivainavu paritApamula nella pariharicEvu caraNam 3 vanajAyata nEtri kumAra janani kAmitadAtri ghana pApa latAlavitri sanakAdi munulella sannuta pAtri niravadhika sukhadAyaki yanucu vini ninnu cAla goliciti niratamuga tanayuni moralu vini nI valanE brOcuTaku evarika dharalO vinumA ----------- Notice that all the charanams are not sung.