An innovative and reflective session titled ‘Ganesha in our music and mythology; was presented by Shravanam at the Art Plaza of Fine Arts Society, Chembur. Shravanam is an initiative by three musicians of Mumbai — Kanchana Manyam, Sidhi Krishnamurthy and Subramanian Chidambaran (Subbu).
“We have a treasure trove of teachings in our scriptures. But we need to make people aware of them,” says Kanchana.
“We combined puranic stories, historical aspects and classical kritis,” adds Sidhi.
Trained under illustrious gurus, they did enough research before putting together the presentation. Subbu is also a scholar in Tamil, Sanskrit and Puranas.
The programme began with a medley of popular Carnatic songs on Lord Ganesha. Subbu then took the audience through the Vedic period and the Mahabharata and Puranas’ epoch.
Stories relating to the birth of Ganesha were followed by an energetic rendering of Tyagaraja kriti ‘Giriraja suta Tanaya’ in ragam Bangla by Kanchana. The narration correlated the different forms of worship and the significance of offering Durva grass, 21 leaves and modakam. Kanchana followed it up with a Purandara Dasarnama ‘Sharanu Benakane’ in Nalinakanti.
The importance of Chaturthi viradam was stated, followed by the majestic rendering of Dikshitar kriti ‘Siddhivinayakam Anisham’ by Sidhi.
Subbu then presented a historical perspective of how Gaanapatyam sect grew in prominence in South India, moving to Karnataka and Maharashtra and how Ganesha worship was enhanced with the arrival of Vatapi Ganapati from Karnataka to Tamil Nadu. This section was interspersed with the Tiruppugazh ‘Kaithala Nirai Kani’ by Sidhi.
‘Vatapi Ganapatim’ was rendered in traditional way by Kanchana. The meaning of the kriti was dwelt upon, giving the literary and Puranic context to all the specifics mentioned by Dikshitar.
The final section focused on the origin of Ganesha bhakti in Maharashtra; with the Peshwas worshipping Ganesha as their family deity and prominent saints like Sant Dnyaneshwar and Moraya Gosavi, propitiating through cantos. Soulful rendering by Sidhi of the verse ‘Om Namo Ji Aadya’ of Sant Dnyaneshwar and abhang ‘Omkar pradhan’ of Tukaram were received well. The programme ended with a mangalam on Ashtavinayak.
Navaratri concert
Team Shravanam’s next thematic concert ‘Mupperum Deviyar’ was at the Shankaralayam, Chembur, for Navaratri. Opening with a set of popular kritis on Devi, the concert began by focusing on Kashi with the narration by Subbu on the Siva Shakti tatvam and establishment of the Shakti Peetams.
The legend of Kasi Annapoorni was capped with a melodious rendition of ‘Annapoorne Visalakshi’ by Kanchana. Moving to Kanchipuram, the penance of Parvati was narrated; the iconographical features of resident goddess Kamakshi were compared with the imagery in Lalita Sahasranamam.
Dikshitar’s two gems, ‘Ekambresa Nayike’ in Karnataka Suddha Saveri and ‘Kanchadalayadakshi’ in Kamala Manohari, sung by Sidhi were apt choices.
The musical journey concluded at Madurai with detailed narration of the feats of the warrior princess Meenakshi and her marriage with Sundareswara in Madurai. ‘Meenakshi Me Mudam’ of Dikshitar by Kanchana and a rare song on Meenakshi Kalyanam (composed by Meenakshisundaram Pillai) by Sidhi, preceded the Mangalam on Devi.
Both Sidhi and Kanchana revealed sound understanding of the music idiom. They sang with perfect diction to convey the meaning even while retaining he melody quotient..
