 Tyagaraja Aradhana at Sydney
 Sydney Music Circle's (SMC's) annual flagship programme, the Tyagaraja Aradhana, was celebrated on March 25 and 26, 2006, with intense devotion and an impressive display of community spirit by Sydney's Carnatic music enthusiasts and experts alike. With 59 adults and 101 children rendering the saint's compositions individually or in small groups, the reverential and sacrosanct atmosphere was a testimony to the debt of gratitude that mankind owes to the bard of Tiruvaiyaru, considered by many to be an incarnation of Sage
Valmiki.
SMC's position as the premier organisation in Sydney (and indeed, Australia) for promoting and propagating Carnatic music was amply reinforced by the quality of music on display, with children stealing the limelight. The juniors' chaste rendering of even difficult kritis on the first day, with no blemishes in pronunciation, taalam, or sruti, elicited admiration from the audience, leaving no doubt that the legacy of Carnatic music was in capable hands for the next few generations.
The customary rendering of the Pancharatna kritis (preceded by a brief pooja) on the second day was followed by a dance presentation choreographed by Padma Balakumar, and her disciples Malavika Srinath, Bhavya Bharadwaj, Sruthi Ravi, Vasudha Shiva, Nandhita Rao, and Aparna
Balakumar.
The dance presentation depicted the theme of 'Panchabhakti', or five different manifestations of devotion towards the Lord. The nine different types of bhaktis ('Navabhakti') mentioned in the Vishnu Puranam were abridged to five for the occasion: Kirtana bhakti or the singing of Lord Raama's glories, Atma Nivedana bhakti, Vandana bhakti, Saakhya bhakti, Archana
bhakti.
These were represented by Tyagaraja's compositions 'Sri Raghuvara Prameya' in Kambhoji, 'Nannu Vidachi' in Reethigowlai, 'Ksheera Saagaraa' in Devagandhari, 'Ninnu Vina Sukhamu Gaana' in Thodi, and finally 'Gandhamu Puyyaru Gaa' in
Punnaagavaraali.
Padma and her team offered a spell-binding sequence of dances with finely chiselled abhinayas, captivating expressions, and intricate but brilliant footwork that did full justice to the theme, bringing the saint's lyrics to
life.
Music was scored by Chennai artiste Nadhamuni Gayatri Bharat (disciple of Dr S Ramanathan and Vairamangalam Lakshmi Narayanan) who was ably supported by Australia's leading artistes namely Balaji Jagannathan on the violin, Bala Shankar on the
mrindagam and Giridhar Thirumalai on the flute.
Following the dance, an audio-visual presentation by Mohan Krishnamoorthy of Melbourne traced the origins and history of the Tyagaraja aradhana at Tiruvaiyaru, revealing many interesting facts and anecdotes about the evolution of the aradhana, as well as the stellar role of Bangalore Nagarathnammal in acquiring and developing the site where the ceremonies are now conducted annually. Mohan's witty and elegantly charming presentation was extremely well received by the audience.
Two interesting aspects of this year's programme were the excellent compering which was completely done by juniors on both days and the “kshetra"-based classification of songs, involving categorisation of kritis according to the “sthalam" where the saint composed them. This initiative was an attempt to illustrate Tyagaraja's prodigious output in a codified and organised manner and succeeded to a large extent with the seniors' co-operation. Please visit our website for more info:
www.smc.does.it
Gayatri Bharat
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