NAVAVIDHA BHAKTHI- LECTURE CUM CONCERT-RAGASUDHA HALL-5/3/19

[CRama]

Dr. Washington Sivakumar presented a lecture on Navavidha bhakthi as also dealt with philosophical concepts like by bhakthi, swargam, mukthi, atmajnanam etc before the concert and the lecture that started at 6 PM and continued till 6.45 PM had many take aways. After a coffee break, the concert of Aiswarya Sankar on the theme- Navavidha bhakthi in Tyagaraja Kritis commenced at 7 P.M. Aiswarya had a great team to support her. R.K. Sree Ramkumar on the Violin, Manoj Siva on the Mridangam and B.S.Purushothaman on the Ganjira. Aiswarya’s Guru Suguna Mami was seated on the front row who was beaming with joy at her sishya’s performance. List of songs representing the nava vidha bhakthi.

• Ramakathasudha- Madhyamavathy- Sravanam
• Nadasudharasa- Arabhi- Keerthanam (S)
• Smarane sukhamu- Janaranjani- Smaranam (R)
• Kaluguna paada neeraja seva- Poornalalitha- Paadasevanam
• Tulasibilva- Kedaragowla- Archanam- (R,N,S)
• Thani
• Nannu vidachi- Reetigowla- Atmanivedanam
• Due to paucity of time, the following songs were only mentioned- not sung.
• Vandanamu- Sahana- Vandanam
• Dayarani- Mohanam- Sakhyam
• Tava dasoham- Punnagavarali- Dasyam.

Nalli Kuppuswami Chettiar made his appearance in between and Washington Sivakumar Sir handed over two donation cheques through the golden hand of Nalli Chettiar. Chettiar did not make any speech. He listened to one song and left.

R.K. Sreeramkumar made a short introduction saying that Adi Sankara had defined bhakthi in Sivanandalahari. Prahlada explained the nava vidha bhakthi to Hiranyakasipu. Before each song, RKSRK mentioned the relevance of that song to the attribute. You can find all the forms of bhakthi in many kritis of Thyagaraja. Swati Tirunal also has composed a set of Nava Vidha bhakthi kritis. Aiswarya commenced with a slokam on the nava vidha bhakthi in the ragams- Mayamalavagowla, Kambodi, Anandabhairavi, Devagandhari and Madhyamavathy. Aiswarya did full justice to the songs selected by way of her unhurried singing, sahihtya sudham, sruti sudham, Sangeetha bhavam and manodharmam. Her alapanas of Janaranjani and Kedaragowla were elaborate confining to the characteristic pidis of the ragam bringing out the raga swaroopam quite eloquently. In the kriti Nadasudharasam, Tyagaraja see Rama as the embodiment of nadam. The song Nadasudharasam and also the main song Tulasibilva was decorated with sufficient bouts of swarams. The kriti Kaluguna in Poornalalitha is a very rare song and I have never heard this before.

R.K.Sree Ramkumar literally embellished the concert with his soulful alapanas and swara returns. The raga alapanas of Janaranajani and Kedaragowla were top notch. The Mridangam of Manoj Siva flowed with the mood of the songs never interfering, but embellishing the concert by appropriate filling up during the gaps. The thani was brief only for about 7 minutes. A well conceived and presented programme.

[CRama]

Link to the above programme
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYeImbo2--g

[advaitin]

Trivandrum G Seethalakshmi mami has recorded the Swati nava vidha bhakti compositions and are available here
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs7WHg ... JLYRIoDVeA

[shankarank]

@parivadini Link to the above programme
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYeImbo2--g

The video is out of sync with audio by more than one Avartanam. Can this be readjusted and uploaded?