Sri Ramothsava Sangeetham (April 1981) - M Balamuralikrishna - M Nagaraj - TVG - KSM - Bangalore

In the household of Tyāgarāja, Rāma Navami was a month-long affair. There was so much to be done! For a month (the month of Chaitra) all the disciples of Saint Tyāgarāja stayed close by to supervise all the arrangements and preparations for the Rāma navami utsavam. It was Saint Tyāgarāja’s ancestral tradition to conduct Rāma navami on a grand scale. The family hailing from Karnool (from the then integral Andhra region) believed to have followed customs with great reverence, as was followed in Bhadrāchalam temple. It was a tradition in the Kākarla family to hold a Sīta-kalyānam as part of Rāma navami festivities. After the transition of Rāma Brahmam, Tyāgarāja’s father, he took up the responsibility with respect and devotion. During these festivities, the whole town would gather around the Kākarla household to witness the grandeur of Seeta-kalyānam. It is believed that some of the ‘utsava sampradāya kritis’ and ‘divya nāma sankeertanams’ and other kritis were composed impromptu during these festivities. For Saint Tyāgarāja it was not merely a family responsibility, but also a matter of great bhakti to arrange and conduct the festivities himself. Every year the town and Saint Tyāgarāja were actively involved in these celebrations, except for that one year where the idols went missing. This tradition continued under Saint Tyāgarāja’s tutelage for many years. Year after year, the musical offering to Lord Rāma on Rāma navami could be witnessed in many places. Gradually, programmes began to be organised, which is how we now see Rama navami music festivals in many places. On this Rāma navami of 2020, we present you a restored and re-mastered live concert of Dr. M Balamuralikrishna (BMK), held at Rama navami music festival at Fort high school in Bangalore during April 1981. The concert is centered on Rāma bhakti of Bhadrāchala Rāmadas and Tyāgarāja. BMK, with his unparalleled ability to voice the emotion of these two composers, delivers yet another great concert of aesthetic balance to celebrate Sri Rāma navami in its true spirit as championed by Tyagaraja, taking us back to that Rāma navami in Tiruvaiyaru! BMK is accompanied by Mysore Nagaraj (violin), T V Gopalakrishnan (mridangam) and Bangalore K S Manjunath (Ghatam). About 2 h 51 min of audio could be recovered and restored from our labour of love. A few notes and observations will help, we believe, for your enhanced listening experience. On that evening, several of us had already camped in the concert venue much before anyone even thought of being there and we were discussing what surprises BMK might spring in that spring-time concert of Bangalore. It is rather difficult to recollect now how much we grasped then about the surprises BMK sprang, but after now listening to “Tāraka mantramu” (Dhānyasi) of Bhadrāchala Rāmadās, after a gap of 39 years, it is rather clear how much we had missed it. The rendition was a wonder in the making. A seemingly simple bhajan like song was transformed into a sophisticated musical work of scholarship and mastery in the hands of BMK. The wonder that BMK created in presenting this Dhanyāsi kīrtana in all the vivid details perhaps remains as a testimony to the musical genius of a musician par excellence. We could go on narrating many novelties that can be observed in the renditions here. Be it the main item in Móhana or the rarest of rare Huséni from Tyāgarāja’s Prahlāda bhakti vijayam. BMK then sings “Rāma ninuvinā;” again sings the same verse in the rāga Rasikapriya and then renders “Pavanatanaya”, his own composition. Gliding from there, he once again sings the same verse but this time in Āhirbhairavi followed by Purandaradāsa’s Nindakarirabéku. The approach of sandwiching the compositions while singing the verse is perhaps one of its kind in presentation technique. Especially with a verse that is so appropriate and for the manner it was delivered. 00:00 🌹 Welcome to the album " Sri Ramothsava Sangeetham - April 1981" 0:00:06 ❇️ Varñam - Amritavarshini- Ādi - BMK 0:05:30 ❇️ Umāsutam - Sarvashree - Rūpaka - BMK 0:17:41 ❇️ Palukavémi - Pūrnachandrika - Ādi - Tyāgarāja 0:22:35 ❇️ Tārakamantramu - Dhanyāsi - Ādi - Bh. Rāmadās 0:54:23 ❇️ Entamuddó - Bindumālini - Ādi - Tyāgarāja 0:58:29 ❇️ Nanupālimpa - Móhana - Ādi - Tyāgarāja 1:43:55 ❇️ Nagumómu - Abhéri - Ādi - Tyāgarāja 2:01:26 ❇️ Verse in Shankarābharanam 2:05:08 ❇️ Rāmaninuvina - Shankarābharana - Rūpaka - Tyāgarāja 2:09:32 ❇️ Verse in Rasikapriya 2:11:11 ❇️ Pavanatanaya - Rasikapriya - Rūpaka - BMK 2:13:50 ❇️ Verse in Āhirbhairavi 2:14:56 ❇️ Nindakarirabéku-Āhirbhairavi - Chāpu - Purandaradāsa 2:20:34 ❇️ Krishnāenabārade - Kédāra - Chāpu - Purandaradāsa 2:26:50 ❇️ Emanivégintuné - Huséni - Ādi - Tyagaraja 2:32:00 ❇️ Tillana - Rāga thāyamālika - Ādi - BMK 2:42:35 ❇️ Mamavapattābhirāma - Manirangu - M Chāpu - MSD 2:46:35 ❇️ Rāma Rāma -Sindhubhairavi - Ādi - PrayagaRangadās 2:50:11 ❇️ Mangalam - Kurinji - Ādi - Bh.Rāmadās