Song 1- A Tevaram Hymn

Irrespective of the language employed for a song, it is always a delight to the singer (and the listener) when the singer is aware of the overall meaning and context of the song being sung. This greatly enables the singer to express himself/herself better and to reach out to the listener in a better fashion.

On several occasions, Rasikas have asked me for lyrics and meanings of songs.
I thought I could use this segment of the blog for the same.

I will periodically be posting songs,lyrics and meanings here. Please do let me know about your specific song requests too !

The first song would be a Tevaram hymn, about which a person had recently asked me.So here it is...


பண் : பழம்பஞ்சுரம் (சங்கராபரணம்)
தாளம் : ஆதி
(திருஞான சம்பந்தர் அருளியது)

உற்றுமை சேர்வது மெய்யினையே
உணர்வது நின்னருள் மெய்யினையே
கற்றவர் காய்வது காமனையே
கனல் விழி காய்வது காமனையே
அற்றம் மறைப்பது முன் பணியே
அமரர்கள் செய்வதும் உன் பணியே
பெற்று முகந்தது கந்தனையே
பிரமபுரத்தை உகந்தனையே

பருமதில் மதுரை மன்னவை எதிரே
பதிகமது எழுதிலை அவை எதிரே
வருநதி இடைமிசை வருகரனே
வசையொடும் அலர்கெட வரு கரனே

கருதலில் இசை முரல்தரும் அருளே
கழுமலம் அமர் இறை தரும் அருளே
மருவிய தமிழ் விர கனமொழியே
வல்லவர் தம்மிடர் திடம் ஒழியே


This beautiful Tevaram hymn makes use of "திரு யமகம்", wherein, the same word could have different meanings in different contexts.

To illustrate this usage, I have given the meanings of words which are used in consecutive lines of the above song, but which mean different things each time.

மெய் - திருமேனி, மெய்யருள் (lines 1 and 2)
கா+மனை - நல்ல குடும்பம், காமனை - மன்மதனை (lines 3 and 4)
பணி - பாம்பு, பணிவிடை செய்தல் (lines 5 and 6)
கந்தன் - ஸ்கந்தன், (உ)கந்தன் - மகிழ்ந்து விளங்குதல் (lines 7 and 8)

மன்+அவை - அரச சபை, அவை - ஆகியவைகள் (lines 9 and 10)
கரன் - செயலைச் செய்தவன், ஹரன் - அழித்தவன் (lines 11 and 12)

முரல்தரும் - உலகம் முழுதும் ஒலிக்கும்படிச்செய்த, தரும் - தந்திடும் (lines 13 and 14)
மொழியே - பாடல்கள், ஒழியே - ஒழிந்துபோகும் (lines 15 and 16)

Concerts in May 2008

Hi Rasikas and Friends,

Towards the end of May, I gave three concerts in Chennai at major venues. I thought I would share the reviews that appeared in this regard with all of you.

For friends who have missed out on these newspaper and online reviews, I thought putting them on my blog would help.

Concert at Vani Mahal on 25th of May under the auspices of Tyagaraja Seva Samithi :

You can go the following link to see a review of the above concert in the Hindu paper:http://www.hindu.com/fr/2008/06/06/stories/2008060651080200.htm


Concert at Srinivasa Sastri Hall on 29th of May: Thematic concert titled "A Garland of Priyas":

You can go the following link to see a review of the above concert:http://www.rasikas.org/viewtopic.php?id=5762


Concert at P.S.High School, Chennai under the auspices of Nadopasana on 31st of May :

You can go the following link to see a review of the above concert:http://www.rasikas.org/viewtopic.php?id=5779

A Novel Gift !

Hi Friends,

I am back after a gap of a few weeks..

Here is something different, that I thought I should share with all of you.

A few months back, I had been to a place in Karnataka for a concert. There was a person in the second row, listening intently to the concert and judiciously taking down something too ! I presumed he was a critic who was making a note of his observations.

After the concert he came up to me and gave me this beautiful gift !

A caricature in black-and-white of all of us on stage !!

A unique gift indeed !!

I immediately thought of sharing it with all of you and here it is !

Fruitful Evening...May 24th,2008

I had to render the invocation song at two different functions today. The first was for Tamilnadu Brahmins Association(TAMBRAS), where I first rendered devotional songs on Lord Venkateswara for about 45 minutes. Following this was a very interesting Multimedia Presentation by Dr.Pappu Venugopala Rao, on the daily Puja activities at Tirumala Temple, Tirupati. He began with a brief history about the temple and the detailed presentation simply transported us to the divine temple.

With a heavy heart I left this place before the presentation was over and I got to the next venue, which offered something equally interesting.There was a talk scheduled by Swami Dayananda Saraswathi. This seemed to be a project called "Single Teacher School". This movement has already been started, wherein, corporates "adopt" one village each, and identifies one student who already has considerable level of education. This student is trained and he, in turn, becomes the teacher and about 30 people in each village are educated about hygiene, health care, Indian culture and basic education. This project, I believe, is co-ordinated by Swami Vivekananda Rural Development Society. The theme looked very appealing and interesting to me. I wish more and more corporate bodies come forward and lend their support towards this good cause.






Having rendered the prayer song at both these venues, I got home with the satisfaction of having spent the evening in a very fruitful way and for having observed a lot of achievers lending their support towards such good causes, towards the betterment of our society.

Four-Hour Concert-March 2008

Sanjeev- Poongulam Subramanian S.Karthick









I gave a four hour concert under the auspices of Sarvani Sangeetha Sabha, Chennai, on March 23rd, 2008.

The concert actually started at 4 p.m and ended at 8.30 p.m. It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience for me that day !

Concerts in cities like Mumbai usually are for a duration of 3.5 to 4 hours, while such concerts are a little rare in Chennai.

You can go the following link to see a review of the above concert:http://www.rasikas.org/viewtopic.php?id=5156

Special Concert In Dec 2007

I sang at Meenakshi College, Kodambakkam under the auspices of Meenakshi Sunderarajan Trust during the December Music Festival,2007. I was very fortunate to have Vidwan.Haridwaramangalam.Sri.A.K.Palanivel accompany me on the Tavil.

I thought I would share a photograph of this concert with my blogger friends !

CONCERT TRIP TO SINGAPORE:

We were given a warm welcome at SIFAS. The committee has a large number of members who work in a very co-ordinated manner. Since mine was the inaugural concert, I could see that they were working very meticulously on all the details. There are a large number of musically interested families in Singapore and they really enjoyed the concert.

My feeling at the end of the concert was that it would have been nice to have had a longer time slot for the concert. The organizers requested me to include a Ragam-Tanam-Pallavi and hence I felt two hours was a bit too less.

You can also go the following link to see a review of the above concert:http://www.rasikas.org/viewtopic.php?id=5031

This trip to Singapore was with my family. We did a bit of sightseeing and my kids really enjoyed every bit of it.

Here a few photos:


(This was taken at the Jurong Bird Park.)









(This was taken at Sentosa. Girish, myself, my daughter Vishruthi and son Vishvesh are seen here.)

View my concert schedule here