amerikAlO praprathama SatAvadhAna yagjnam - 6 (mI praSnaku nA pATa)

Ramabhadra Dokka (sdokka@st6000.sct.edu)
Fri, 13 Sep 1996 15:39:39 -0400 (EDT) 

   ( This review of NY/NJ SatAvadhAnam is being posted in several parts. ) 

	"praprathama sampUrNa SatAvadhAna yagjnam in U.S. - part 6"
	 _________________________________________________________

		     	--- mI praSnaku nA pATa ---

padya parampara SOBitamai, SatAbdAlugA CandO rItulakE parimitamaina 'avadhAna
prakriya'nu, vAggEya kArula bATa lOniki paripakvata cendincina Ganata yI
avadhAni gArikE dakkindi. vAggEyakArulu are those who write poetry and 
set it to tune and sing it. The great trinity of classical carnatic music
Saint tyAgarAja, muttuswAmi dIkshitAr and SyAma SAstry all fall into
this category. And telugu vAggEya kAra pitAmaha is our 'tALLapAka annamAcArya'
who gave our language a treasure of thousands of samkIrtanas. 

Getting avadhAna prakirya from the roots of traditional CandO literature
to the surface of modern vAggEya sAram is a task that demands a great
commitment to take this prakriya closer to the society, esp. during an
era when the interest in people for padya racana is diminishing for various
reasons. Sarma gAru is the originator of this idea which as a part of 
avadhAnam requires the avadhAni's understanding of vAggEya vAngmayam, 
understanding of several musical structures and styles including carnatic 
classical, jAnapada, aByudaya, BAva and Adhunika sAmpradAya origins. 

In this category, the pRchchakulu could specify the amSam and the tune and
the avadhAni almost instantaneously starts creating a song with proper 
tune set in the rAga or style per pRchchaka's demand and also selecting 
proper sAhityam(lyrics) for the song. Any one who watched Sarma gAri 'ANi
mutyAlu', the highlights of his previous dwiSatAvadhAna and mahA sahasrA-
vadhana performances can not simply forget those melodiou and powerful 
tunes and lyrics -- 

	"amRtAnikI arpaNaku asalu pEru amma,
	 anuBUtiki, ArdratakU AnavAlu amma,
	
	 prati manishI puTTukaku paTTu gomma amma,
	 yI lOkamanE guDi cEraga toli vAkili amma.."

	"amma tanamuna enta kamma danamundirA,
	 amRtAnikE yIme tIpi nErpindirA.."

and the one inviting naxalites back into the society, the all time favorite
from Sarma gAru --

	"rAyivi kAdu tammuDU nuvu rAjuvU,
	 mAritE yI dESAnikE rArAjuvU..

	 illu vadala lEkA, illAlini vadalalEkA,
	 kAllakaDDapaDi EDcE pasi pillala vadalalEka,
	 aDaviki nuvveLLAvu, illu aDavi cESAvu..

	 kashTamoste prati manishi, kasAyi avutADA ?
	 karuNa unna gunDe kanTe gunDu goppadanTADA ??
	 aTlaitE I nElanu budhdhuDu puDatADA ?
	 ahimsa yanu vennela guDi prati manasulo kaDatADA ??

	 munduku pOlEka, ika veka tirigi rAlEka,
	 rAchchasa sidhdhAntamtO rAjI paDa lEka,
	 pAta rucula gjnApakAla pAyasAlu maruvalEka,
	 naDi rODDula kUDali naligi pOtunnAvA..!!

	 rArA bAbU nAyana rArA !
	 rArA bAbU nAyana rArA !!
	 ahimsa yanu vennela guDi nIku nIDa nistundi..
	 anDa nilici jagamantA ninnu AdukunTundi "

When he was in Atlanta, he was explaining that people who just miss the last
step in the route of 'mukti sAdhana' in the previous birth are born as 'gifted
poets' in later births. He coined a word called 'BrashTa yOgi' and it was 
very delightful watching him sing --

	"BrshTa yOginI, nEnoka BrashTa yOgini.."

He also recollected some of his songs that he wrote on a new year's eve of
BAva, after pramOdUta brooght some calamities etc.., a song of hope --

	"BAvA ! mahAnuBAvA !!
	.........
 	ninnaTi kubusam viDicina ahamBAva BAvA..
	.........
 	pramOdUta vaccADu pramAdAlu teccADu,
	mA ASala tOraNAla ...

- those were excellent tunes and lyrics on the same lines as 
	
	"Oyi BAratIya vIruDA, nyAya mArga sadAcAruDA,
	 nI dESame pAvanam, nI jAti purAtanamu -- Oyi --..
	
	 okka ceTTu pai kommalu pekku vistarincagA,
	 kommalanni nI ammule mammula rakshincagA -- Oyi --..

	 enni kulAlaina nEmi, enni matAlunna nEmi,
	 andaridI okE talli, andamaina kalpa valli -- Oyi --..

That was one of our childhood favorites and I did not know why was that tune 
so powerful until our avadhAni gAru explained that it was set in 'aBEri', one 
of the powerful rAgas to express such patriotic fervour. 

Another one of those powerful songs of Sarma gAru is the one that I heard him
sing in one of his AIR interviews in Andhra and I also mentioned it in one of 
my previous reviews -- this is about a person who draws carricatures of 
deities on roads, for a living, quite a common scene on our HYD roads near the 
bus stops and on the walkways..

	"masi boggutO dEvuni manTi paiki lAkkostav,
	 masaka masaka sIkaTlO bratukantA lAkkostav,

	 naDi rODDuna vIDikI, guDi kaTTina vADikI,
	 tEDA lEdOy, tammuDu tEDA lEdOy.." 

That powerful voice echoes many sentiments improptu in the form of a song 
and one should be fortunate enough to watch this avadhAni who is gifted with 
a sweet voice and a great musical sense, sing with immense and intense feeling.

avadhAnam yagjnam lO aksharAlaki prANam pOsi padya rUpam ivvaDam mAtram manaku 
telusu, I yavadhAni gAru vATiki swaram KUrci puna: punItam kAvistunnAru, A 
akshara saraswatiki marO janmanu prasAdistunnAru... 

avadhAni gAru was commenting on 'padyam vs pATa' and said that 'padyam 
purushuni vanTidi' with all the gAmBIryam and vIra rasam flowing in it and
'pATa strI lAnTidi' with 'kOmalatvam, sunnitatvam and soumyam' in it. 
We see that this avadhAni gAri pATa has all the characteristics sighted above
along with the 'nAga PaNi' specials like slEsha, pada lAlana and BAva
soukumAryam..

Another of avadhAni gAri comments was about 'how an ideal donation should 
be ?' He was recollecting a Skt poem which I thought has a great upamA-
lankAram -- 'a kavi praising a king for being different from 'mEGuDu', the 
carrier of rains'. -- the kavi thinks that mEGuDu is meek - as he rains in 
drops, he is a fame monger as he often makes loud noise before he rains, he 
is not a whole hearted donor as he keeps his black face while donating and 
goes off with a discolored/white heart after donating rain and often his 
donations are useless for they fall in places where the rain is not needed 
or in places where they are the least invited. He said that an ideal donation 
should be whole hearted, silent and satisfying from both sides.
 
It was a pleasure to watch avadhAni gAru take off in 'aBEri' to a query on
Lord venkaTESwara of tirupati --

	"konDa krinda oka nelatuka gOvindA,
	 konDa mIda oka paDatuka gOvindA,
	 iddarikI gunDelOna cOTundA ??
	 (mAmUlu) manushulam, mAkI AdarSam bAgundA ??

	 EmundO EmundO dEva rahasyam,
	 mAmUlu manushulakidi apahAsyam,
	 andarAnidI nI lIlA lAsyam,
	 antarArthamEdO telupavE avaSyam.."

In the fourth line of the song, we expected the pUraNa would be something
like 'inkekkaDi samsAram konDakekke gOvindA??'..:-) or something like that..
But avadhAni gAri mudra alA sunAyAsamgA, atyadButamgA, atyanta ramaNIyamgA
avadhAnam jariginanta sEpU alA kanipistUnE undi. Yes, he has a style, a
voice, a lyric and a tune that are truly inimitable and so powerful to which 
other souls have to dance. 

'SiSurvEtti, paSurvEtti, vEtti gAna rasam PaNi:' anTE, yI nAga 'PANi' gAna 
rasAniki, AbAla gOpAlam Ananda DOlikalUgi tIrutAranE krotta artham ceppukO
valasina taruNamidi, kAdanTArA ??

While recollecting our Sarma gAri mArdava svaram replete with ample karuNa
rasam, SRngAra rasam and kOmalatvam to force us hum those melodious tunes
for quite a while, maLLI kaluddAm..

regards..

- Ram (Ramabhadra Dokka from sdokka@st6000.sct.edu)