In memory of the gurus

THE 59TH annual festival of music and dance has been organised by the Sri Tyagaraja Trust at Tirupati for 10 days from July 25. Mrs. V. S. Rama Devi, Governor of Karnataka, presides over the Sadas on July 29 and confers the title `Sapthagiri Sangeetha Vidvanmani' on vidwan M. S. Balasubrahmanya Sarma.

Tirupati became a centre of classical Carnatic music after the advent of Tallapaka Annamacharya (1424-1503) who was the earliest composer of Keertanas in Telugu with pallavi and charanams. More the 14,000 out of 32,000 Sankeertanas, believed to have been composed by him, have been traced by the Annamacharya Project.

Several later composers visited Tirumala and sang praises of Lord Venkateswara. It is well-known that Tyagaraja offered worship at the temple and sang two kritis - ``Terateeyaga Rada'' (Gaulipantu) and ``Venkatesa Ninnu'' (Madhyamavati). Subbaraya Sastri, son of Syama Sastri, gave to the music world his beautiful kriti, ``Venkatesaila Vihara'' in Hamirkalyani.

It is no wonder that with this rich musical background some prominent citizens of Tirupati felt, in 1943, the need for founding an institution for fostering the cause of classical music and organising annual festivals.

The youngest among them was a humble school teacher, K. V. Subramanyam, belonging to the family of composer Tirupati Narayanaswami Naidu, who was instrumental in forming the Tyagaraja festival committee with the then Commissioner of T. T. Devasthanam as the first president.Within a short span of three years the Trust was able to fulfil many of its ambitions. Deeply impressed by its record, Sri Archakam Venkatapati Dikshitulu, Archakam Mirasdar of Lord Venkateswara Temple, donated two sites to the extent of two acres of land for the construction of an auditorium and a shrine for Tyagaraja. These buildings came into existence in 1946 and the Tyagaraja Shrine has been attracting large numbers of the saint's devotees.

Initially, the Tyagaraja Aradhana celebrations at Tirupati were conducted under the stewardship of vidwan Chittoor Subrahmanya Pillai for over two decades. The year 1972 was an important milestone in the history of the Tyagaraja Trust when the T. T. Devasthanams came forward to provide funds for the annual festival. It was also decided to confer the title of `Sapthagiri Sangita Vidwanmani' on outstanding artistes every year.

The annual award carries with it a title, a citation, a gold medal, a shawl and a cash award of Rs. 5,000 donated by Sri Obul Reddy, a well-known industrialist of Chennai. So far, 32 artistes have been honoured by the committee. The awardees belong to Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. A departure was made a few years back by conferring this prestigious title on a veteran Hindustani vocalist, Smt. Gangubai Hangal of Maharashtra.

The programmes are open to the public and not less than 1,000 people sit through the programmes from 5 p.m. to 10.30 p.m. The festival committee, under the inspiring leadership of Dr. P. Krishniah, is planning to draw up a mega festival of music and dance to mark the 60th year of the Trust in 2002.

K. V. RANGANATHAN

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