One Song at a time: 49. Vazhi Maraithirukkudhu
(Dandapani Desikar)
'salilam varshaya varshaya' sang Muthuswamy Dikshithar and heaven opened up providing succor to the drought hit Ettayapuram. The lamp wicks in Akbar's court caught fire when Tansen sang Raag Deepak and the heat generated was offset by cool rain that fell when Tansen's daughters sang Miya-Ki-Malhar. Flowers blossomed when Jeyadeva sang, a dead person got up on hearing Tyagaraja sing 'Naa Jeevadhara'. Such stories abound in India. Whether we believe in the stories or not, we do believe in what these stories want to convey: the power of music.
One of the most interesting stories which relates to music and devotion is that of 'Nandhanar'. Those who do not know about Nandanar can read this Wikipedia article. In this story, Nandanar, belonging to the low caste, is not allowed inside a Siva temple. He stands outside and wants to have a glimpse of the Lord, but the Nandi blocks his view. So he sings to Nandi to move a bit so that he can have the darshan of the Lord. Hearing his impassioned plea, the inanimate Nandi moves!! 'Nandanar Charitram' is as much about devotion as it is a critique of the caste system. In the film, it is as much about music as it is about the other aspects.
'Nandanar Charitram' was made more than once as a movie in Tamil. Randor Guy wrote an article on the making of this movie with K B Sundarambal playing the lead (yes, a woman playing a man's role!!) and Maharajapuram Vishwanatha Iyer playing the Brahmin. I have not seen that movie. The movie I saw had Dandapani Desikar playing the role of 'Nandanar'.
I first heard a tape containing some of Dandapani Desikar's 'Hits'. Songs like 'thamarai pootha thadagamadi'. I was fascinated with his voice and bought the 'Nandanar' tape. Each and every song in this movie was a gem. The songs were those of Gopalakrishna Bharathi. (I don't know if the tunes were original tunes as set by GKB or whether Papanasam Sivan set tunes to the lyrics of GKB. Papanasam Sivan was also associated with this project.). Dandapani Desikar has a ringing voice and a clear grasp on the raga. He sings with excellent bhavam. Though M K Thyagaraja Bhagavathar and P U Chinnappa are considered the pioneers of film singing in Tamil films and are more popular, I prefer the voice of Dandapani Desikar.
Here is the song I was referring to earlier. The song which made the Nandi move from its stationary position. 'vazhi maraithirukkudhu', the path is blocked, sing Dhandapani Desikar in this song (by the way, he is the actor as well here.) He conjures up a touching Todi. His passion of rendering is such that you are not at all surprised that the Nandi moved!! Observe the voice culture and the complete control he has over his voice. Not to mention that clear diction. An excellent combination of raga and bhava, which makes for an unforgettable song. (Video embedding has been disabled for this video.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aItUo_YmZio
'vazhi marithirukkudhu' is sung in Natakurunji ragam by the Dhanammal school. Brindamma, Muktamma, Higgins, all render this in Natakurunji. For the film, I feel Todi works better.
Dandapani Desikar was a versatile singer. In the earlier song we saw how well he handled the classical Todi. In the coming song we will hear him adeptly handle a folk melody.
Though I have said, "One Song at a time', in case of Dandapani Desikar I am unable to close the article without referring to this very moving song. 'varugalmo' in Manji (which resembles Bhairavi in a lot of places.) is another piece which clearly reflects Nandanar's state of mind. In one K V Narayanaswamy concert I heard this for the first time. KVN sang this and 'Sagara Sayana Vibho' one after the other. I can't describe the feeling. Both the songs touch you deeply. M D Ramanathan has also sung this song many times in concerts. Dandapani Desikar sings maintaining a perfect balance between ragam and bhavam.
Update:
My twitter friend @elavasam commented that we should also include Dandapani Desikar's rendition of 'Kanavendamo'. Based on Sriranjani ragam, this is another beauty. To be honest this film was full of top class songs. The 'Kandavendamo' krithi has been sung on concert platforms as well. (I have heard KVN render in his concerts.) As @elavasam says, Dandapani Desikar brings in a different dimension to this song compared to the standard concert singers. Listen to this song. (There is another song in this movie which goes, 'kaaman agatriya thooyan avan'. Based on a Kavadichindu type tune. I am unable to find a youtube link for this song. At this time let me also thank the good soul called 'vintageaudio54' who has uploaded all these songs on youtube)
You can go to this link and hear all the songs of Nandanar:
http://www.inbaminge.com/t/n/Nandanar/
http://www.inbaminge.com/t/n/Nandanar/
My senior, Dr.Venugopal commented saying that I should also include the Ghantasala song, 'Nanduni charitramu vinuma', from the movie 'Jeyabheri'. The song is written by the famous poet, 'SriSri'. Music by Pendyala. In this song you can see the impact that Nandanar's story had across languages, since it spoke about the cruelty of caste system and also about devotion, spreading the message against untouchability
Comments
Thanks for the comment. To a great extent I write for people like you who don't mind any kind of music and are ready to explore.
'Nandanar' was a very popular musical hit in a bygone era. So a generation or two above me knows these songs well. In a way I wouldn't say this is rare. This movie must have been made in 1940s when film making was still in its infancy down south. Dandapani Desikar was a very popular artist during those time.
Todi is easily one of the most versatile raga in Carnatic music. Manji is very close to Bhairavi. Oh yes, the second song is very moving indeed.
The youtube link for that video is
http://youtu.be/0r5FMasD0zo
Thanks for the recommendation. I will update the blog with this song as well.
Thanks for the comments. What you say is very true. I love 'kaana vendamo' as well but thought maybe I am including too many songs. I will now include it and update the blog.
'Nandanar Charitram' is a very moving story.The name of the place where Nandi is said to have moved is 'Tirupangur'.After this, Nandan became very restless and wanted to go to Tillai(Chidambaram) at any cost.
2 years back 'Natyarangam'-the dance wing of Narada Gana Sabha asked me to deliver a lecture on Chidambaram and the compositions of Marimuththa Pillai, Muththu ThaNdavar and Gopalakrishna Bharati and this gave me an opportunity to study a lot about these composers( the first 2 along with AruNachala Kaviraayar form the 'Tamizh trinity' who lived before the Carnatic music trinity). Each and every composition is a gem and their use of very rare ragas also needs special mention.
Gopalakrishna Bharati was a class apart and his meeting with Saint Tyagaraja in Thiruvaiyaru has been described beautifully by U.Ve.Saaminatha Iyer(one can find the extract in ILaiyaraaja's 'Sangeeta kanavugaL').Gopalakrishna Bharati composed 'Sabhapathikku..' in Abhogi that night.
'Vazhi Maraithirukkuthu' was set in Nattai Kurinji by Gopalakrishna Bharati and if I am not wrong, Papanasam Sivan changed it to Todi.Now, the Todi version is more popular.
Thanks a lot for sharing such wonderful gems.
Thank you very much for your learned comments. It must have been great talking about the Tamil trimurthis.
I have read about Gopalakrishna Bharathi meeting Thyagaraja. Infact there was one docu-drama on Doordarshan which had enacted this scene.
Not sure why people don't take up these Nandanar songs for elaboration in concerts. As you said, KVN used to sing Kaana vendamo and also Enneramum un sannidhiyile, but the more popular GKB songs in concerts seem to be Sabhapathikku, Thiruvadi saranam, Aadum chidambaramo, Eppo varuvaro etc.
What you say is true. Except for 'varugalamo' and 'vazhi maraithirukkudhu' (sung in Natakurunji) the other songs of Nandanar are not often heard on stage. As you said KVN sings 'kaanavendamo'. I have heard Neyveli Santhanagoplan once sing 'pirava varam tharum'. Other than that the GKB krithis you hear are what you have listed.
it's a nice song
thanks in advance,