The Five Gems of Tyagaraja

The annual Tyagaraja Aaradhana Utsavam takes place at various venues (during January/February) throughout South India and Hyderabad is no exception. The five Pancharatna Keerthanas of the great saint composer are sung in unison by musician groups during these music festivals.

While that is so, for the last three years, Sweta Prasad (singer), Renuka Prasad (nattuvangam) and Pramod Kumar Reddy (Bharata Natyam dancer) have been religiously conducting a dance and music festival on the occasion in the city, to pay their respects to Saint Tyagaraja – not just through music but also through classical dance that is much inspired by his compositions.

On February 13, it was an aural and visual treat at Shankar Matt temple, Nallakunta, when all the five “Pancha Ratna Krithis” were danced to, in the temple premises. By now, it has become a much awaited yearly event that many people look forward to, where a large number of artistes and art lovers gather, to pay homage to our dear Tyagaraja.

A group of singers joined by instrumentalists on violins, veenas, mridangams and flutes sang and played in harmony. The festival opened with a nadaswaram and flute rendition of “Ramabhakthi Samrajyam” (Ragam: Suddha Bangala; Talam: Adi). With Sweta Prasad leading on vocals, many singers joined her: Seshulata, Swarna, Bala Tripura Sundari, Jaya Lakshmi, Sri Lakshmi, Vasa Gopinath and Mantha Srinivas.

On violin were Sai Kumar, Anil Kumar, Chandar Rao and Vihari. Veena was played by R Sudhakar, Sai Prasad, Padmavathi. On mridangam were PRC Sharma, Sridharacharya, Renuka Prasad, Srikanth, TP Balasubramanyam: on flute was Venkatesh.

As the singing was going on, artistes from different dance forms provided the dance, making it more interesting. Geetha Poojitha danced to “Sree ganapathini sevimpa raare”(Ragam:Saurashtra). The five dancers for the Pancha Ratna Krithis were: Sindhuja in Kuchipudi– Jagadananda karaka (Ragam: Naata); Hari Mangalampalli in Bharata Natyam- Dudukugala (Ragam: Gowla); Sai Deepika in Kuchipudi- Saadhinchene (Ragam: Aarabhi); Girija Kishore in Vilasini Natyam – Kana kana ruchira (Ragam: Varali); Sri Valli in Bharata Natyam- Endaro mahanubhavulu (Ragam: Sree). All the compositions are in Aadi talam.

Murali Krishna gave commentary with his lively introductions to each song. A delicious feast was organised by the hosts, which was enjoyed by everyone, including the artistes and spectators. A Sunday well spent in worship, remembering the great Vaggeyakara and his invaluable contribution to Carnatic music.