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Sunday, November 05, 2006

Addendum to my last post...

Well, I've had quite a few people disagreeing with my last post. But just to clarify a few things:

- I am not against singing Telugu or Sanskrit songs. I can and I do sing a lot of Telugu krithis.
- I am not a languaget fundamentalist who is maniacally in favor of the mother tongue..:)
- The legacy of the Trinity needs to be preserved for posterity.
- Tamizh speaks to me more than any other language. But hey, that's just me!
- I believe music is a mix of intricate handling of swarasthanas in a Ragam + bhavam + bhakthi. I am NOT speaking in favour of words alone as opposed to a raga.
- Understanding the lyrics and meaning of a song helps me focus more on the bhakthi underneath it. There are people who can just hang on to the raga bhavam and not worry about lyrics, meaning etc... When you reach that level of devotion, obviously everything is rather trivial! I am one of those that has not reached that level of consciousness yet..:) So the lyrics AND their meaning matter to me to help me be focused.
- And lastly, there's no excuse for people who mangle the sahithyam because of their lack of language skills. You can cry yourself hoarse about how only the ragam, bhavam etc..matter. But hey, there needs to be some respect to the composer.

It is "bhaasura/mukha/ kari/ rajuni /brochina/ vaasudevudavu /neevu/ kaadha"

NOT - "aasura mukhakari rajuni brochina vaasude neevukadha"

Anyways, the opinions expressed are solely as they pertain to I, Me and Myself...! :)




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2 comments:

Agnibarathi said...

Subha, completely agree with you. But the problem is that almost everything that is being taught is taught in the manner you suggest - without the student grasping the actual meaning. How many of us were taught the physical meaning of calculus before we started doing complex integrals? And that is just one example. And I still don't understand the dichotomy between lyrics and music. Its just like trying to argue in favour of the body or the soul - both are essential for life to function.

raj said...

I am not sure of the bhasura mukha part. But the latter part is ..'kari rajuni brochina vasudevadavu neevu kaada"?
Broche vaarevarura is read as "Broche vaaru evaru ra?, Ninuvina?Raghuvara". It is an address to Rama, saying, if you dont patronize me, who will? And down the line, he quotes the example of Kari raju(not sure who is referred to here) and says "Rama, didnt you take care of Kari Raju?Like that..."
Actually,take care expresses brochina better than patronize.
I think, things being what they are, and since such beauties are already in Telugu, one must strive to learn telugu - purely for one's own bliss and joy instead of trying to create tamil parralels. If someone does compose tamil songs of similar beauty, yes, there should be no hesitation in singing those as well. And there already are many beautiful tamil compositions. But thiagayya is one of the greatest ever carnatic maestros and if anyone heeds to duraimurugan, the loser will be them rather than telugu or thiagayya.