M S Subbulakshmi and her music - Part 8 - Syama Sastry : Mayamma & Kanakasaila viharini

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In this post, I will take up two Syama Sastry krithis sung by MS Subbulakshmi. 

The greatness of Syama Sastry (as well as his two contemporaries) is that he could take up what many consider a 'minor' raga and compose a krithi of great seriousness and grandeur in that raga. For example, Ahiri is considered to be a 'minor' raga, in the sense that it does not give much scope of kalpana of an artist and has limited prayogas. Yet, Syama Sastry created a gem of a krithi in this raga, 'mayamma,' which has gravitas and oozes karuna rasa. (Dikshitar too took up this raga and created a mammoth Kamalamba krithi, while Tyagaraja created the brilliant 'adaya sri.') Similarly, Syama Sastry took up another raga with limited scope, Punnagavarali, and created a 'heavy' krithi, 'kanaka saila viharini'.

We will now hear both these krithis in the voice of MS. First, the Ahiri krithi, 'mayamma.' In this recording you get MS singing a slokam from Meenakshi Pancaratnam as a bonus. The slokam is seeped in bhakti bhava and provides a perfect prelude to the song that is to follow. As a friend remarked, "Her voice has a divine resonance." That is why it is impossible for anyone to match her when singing these slokhams. The speed is perfect, neither too fast nor too slow, showcasing both the urgency of the plea as well as the raga bhava. Once again, the volume control and vocal dynamics are judiciously used to enhance our listening pleasure. The ability of MS to sing long phrases in one breath adds to the beauty and seriousness of the krithi.


The next song we will hear is the Punnagavarali song, 'kanakasaila viharini.' Punnagavarali and Nadanamakriya are two favourite ragas of MS, and she revels in singing them. There is rarely an MS concert that doesn't feature either both or at least one of these ragas. The love for Punnagavarali is evident in this rendition, which is tightly structured. Once again, the vocal dynamics bring out the rasa of Punnagavarali to the fore and as usual, the rendition is seeped in bhati bhava. And the perfect articulation would have made Syama Sastry happy had he heard this rendition. 


Interestingly, I haven't heard Semmangudi render either of these krithis in a concert. 

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