Music And Movies

  We have heard MS sing the Tyagaraja and Dikshitar classics in this series's earlier part. In this part, we will look at MS singing Syama Sastry. Many Tyagaraja krithis are redolent with high poetry, while Dikshitar krithis are embedded with deep Sanskrit scholarship and sthala puranas. Syama Sastry's krithis, on the other hand, are simple and direct pleas to the Goddess. Syama Sastry rejects exalted language in favour of simple words. His krithis oftentimes have the feeling of prose rather than poetry. Despite the simple and sometimes simplistic lyrics, the combination of music and lyrics makes his krithis emotionally heavy, and only the best artists can do justice to his compositions. While he was known for his superb use of the chapu thala, what stands out is the merging of the thala with the bhakti bhava, which provides an unforgettable experience to the listener.  Even when he takes up a 'minor' raga like Ahiri or Paras, he fills them up with so much raga bhava an...

In the last essay, I spoke about the structure of Dikshitar's krithis and why it is important to maintain the structure. The last essay focussed on the rare krithi in the rare raga, Mahalakshmi in the raga Madhava Manohari. In this post, we will hear another not oft heard Dikshitar krithi in a famous raga: 'sri muladhara chakra vinayaka' in the ragam Shree. Once again, I want you to observe the excellent pace chosen that highlights the majesty of the composition and MS's restrained singing, as well as her superb grip on the kalapramanam, never trying to up the tempo.  What we get finally is a relaxed rending of a great krithi, giving us a clear understanding of the depth of the composition, the brilliant way in which Dikshitar unfolds the raga, the charming Sanskrit words enunciated melodiously and the overall structure built by the great composer. The krithi also gives a masterclass on how great voice modulation and volume control can enhance the rendering of the krith...

  When it comes to singing krithis, there are predominantly two schools of thought: one that believes that kriti is one more way of expressing your manodharma and another that believes that kriti structure is sacrosanct. The artist must not tamper with the structure.  The first school of thought encourages on-the-spur sangatis, and the artist can elongate a word, condense it or glide over it based on the 'mood of the day.' We generally hear, "You will never hear this artist sing the krithi the same way twice." T N Seshagopalan may be seen as a good example of this approach. The second school of thought believes that the structure of the kriti must be kept intact, and whenever the artist sings the krithi, the same set of sangatis are repeated the same number of times, and they don't encourage the artist to go their own path. They rather ask the artist to stick to a particular 'padantharam.' The Brinda-Mukta school, Semmangudi school and the Pattamal school ...