Kurukshethra Musics, Rs. 150.00
T. S. Radhakrishnan is known for his devotional songs. He has over 150 albums and has the credit of having almost all the leading singers of the South sing his compositions. A trained Carnatic vocalist, Radhakrishnan sings for his group Tyagabrahmmam.
This is the first time he has ventured into reciting the Ramayana . “I had never read the Ramayana before. I did it for the first time for this album,” says the singer-composer. Radhakrishnan has taken care to retain the importance of the verses, the words not allowing it to drown in the loudness of music. The album presents the complete Ramayana and has a playing time of nearly 18 hours. All the six sections have been meticulously rendered in Radhakrishnan’s voice that oozes ‘bhakti.’ “Of all the sections I found Sundarakhandam the most toughest and most beautiful of all.
It was, for me, the biggest challenge to recite the verses, retaining the mood right through.” Musically, Radhakrishnan has used only the tempura for sruthi . He has, perhaps to break the monotony, used different ragas for the various verses. And very deliberately he has used ragas to delineate particular moods and sketch the images. The album has been released to coincide with the Ramayana month.
