What makes Thanjavur S. Kalyanaraman’s thillanas unique?

What do the ragas Darbari Kanada, Sindhubhairavi, Brindavani, Dwijavanti, Kapi, Pahadi and Gavati have in common? They are Hindustani ragas, and Thanjavur S. Kalyanaraman chose them for composing Carnatic thillanas. These compositions reveal SKR’s musical acumen.

On the occasion of his 96th birth anniversary, celebrated recently at Arkay Convention Centre, Bhushany Kalyanaraman, disciple and wife of the late maestro, released SKR Gems: Volume 1 – Thillana — a compilation of his seven thillanas with notation. A video album of the thillanas, rendered by Bhushany and her disciples Madhuvanthi Badri and Archanashree, was also premiered on YouTube on the occasion. Cleveland Sundaram, T.V. Gopalakrishnan, Nagai R. Muralidharan, V.V. Subrahmanyam and SKR’s nephew, Murali Iyer, reminisced about their association with the virtuoso vocalist.

Thanjavur S. Kalyanaraman’s book is a compilation of his seven thillanas with notation.
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Ever an explorer, SKR was not one to always accept and be content with the ‘standard’. Stretching boundaries was his second nature, and giving shape to ‘Dwi-madhyama panchama-varja mela ragas’ was a testament to this. It is pertinent to mention here that SKR abruptly dropped out of Presidency College, Madras, to pursue his musical dreams, as narrated by Murali Iyer. As it turned out, the music field gained, and the GNB legacy flourished. All through his life, he remained a seeker and an innovator who defied the convention.

SKR’s music touched the heart despite its structural complexity, said Sundaram. TVG recalled that the master was a hard worker, for whom nothing seemed impossible. His Kapi thillana calls for top laya control, noted Muralidharan.

SKR’s varnams, kritis and thillanas reflect a rare blend of rhythmic sophistication, melodic beauty and aesthetic refinement, noted Sundaram in his foreword for the book. Six of the thillanas are in Tamil, with five of them on his favourite deity, Muruga. The lyrics are first given both in English and Tamil, and then with notation in both languages. With its neat layout and logical presentation, the book is surely a useful tool for music students aspiring to learn these thillanas. The first thillana in Darbari Kanada, given as a janya of the 21st mela Natabhairavi, should be read as a derivative of the 20th mela.

The rhythmic structure is as intricate as the thillanas warrant and is aesthetically pleasing as well. The natural presence of ‘edhugai’ (second-letter alliteration) or ‘monai’ (first-letter alliteration) in the lyrics of all the compositions is a distinct value addition.

The reference ‘thaniyan’ (loner) to himself and the recollection of how Muruga redeemed him provide a poignant touch in the opening Darbari Kanada thillana set to Misra Chapu. The wordplay on ‘vel’ in the phrase ‘Endha velaiyum kandha velaiye’ is enjoyable in the Sindhubhairavi song. Multiple edhugais mark the Brindavani thillana extolling Muruga. A pronounced ‘monai’ is the highlight of the Dwijavanti composition. The fifth one, in Kapi, is on Nataraja, set to Chatusra Jhampa, offering a complex rhythmic landscape. The Pahadi thillana brims with melodic appeal, while the final one, in Gavati, is composed in Sanskrit.

Bhushany later shared that a thillana in Bindumalini was a work in progress at the time of his demise, with only the charanam segment needing final touches.

The function was followed by a rendition of a few thillanas by Bhushany’s disciples and SKR’s grandnieces Aditi Iyer and Akshaya Iyer. Anuradha Sriram’s short concert of her guru SKR’s compositions — in which the last of the 36 dwi-madhyama ragas, ‘Chalasri’, was the main feature — drew the event to a close.