Dr.Rama Kousalya wearing specs in the centre 

her mother Smt.Rukmani ammal on her right with Marabu children & guests

Beautiful scene of Cauvery river from Tiruvaiyaru bridge

The buildings seen are Pushya Mantapam & Music College

காவிரிக் கரையில் இசையின் ஊற்று

கீழே காணும் கட்டுரை ஆங்கில பத்திரிகையொன்றில் வெளிவந்தது. சென்னை பிரகிருதி ஃபவுண்டேஷன் திருவையாற்றிலுள்ள மரபு ஃபவுண்டேஷனுடன் இணைந்து ஒவ்வோராண்டும் மூன்று நாட்கள் கலாச்சார பின்னணியுள்ள திருவையாற்றில் இயற்கை சூழ்நிலையில் இசை நிகழ்ச்சிகளை நடத்தி வருகின்றனர். இதற்கு மூலகாரணம் முனைவர் இராம.கெளசல்யா. அவர்கள் தில்லைஸ்தானத்தில் நடத்தும் பல பயிலரங்கங்கள் இசை தொடர்பானவை. அவர் வருகிற 22ஆம்தேதி முதல் நடத்தும் பயிலரங்கம் குறித்த அறிவிப்பும் இந்த வலைப்பூவில் வெளியாகியிருக்கிறது. பிரகிருதி ஃபவுண்டேஷன் தலைவர் ஷா அவர்கள் இந்த மரபு குறித்து சொன்ன செய்திகளும் இந்தக் கட்டுரையில் காணப்படுகின்றன. இயற்கை அழகு கொஞ்சி விளையாடும் தில்லைஸ்தானம், திருவையாறு போன்ற இடங்களில் பழமையும், பண்பாடும், கலாச்சாரமும் நிலைத்து நிற்பதற்காக முனைவர் இராம.கெளசல்யா போன்றோர் பாடுபட்டு வருகின்றனர். எங்கோ ஒரு மூலையில் நடப்பதாக இவற்றை நினையாமல் குடத்திலிட்ட விளக்காக இருக்கும் இந்த நிகழ்ச்சிகள் உலகுக்கு வெளிச்சம் போட்டுக் காட்டக்கூடிய கலங்கரைவிளக்கம் என்பதை உலகுக்கு அறிவிக்க வேண்டும். நன்றி.

                                                  Dr.Rama Kousalya with Marabu children

One evening at dusk, in the lovely sparkle of twilight, two years ago, on the banks of the famous Cauvery river, in an old temple in Thiruvaiyaru — a town in Tamil Nadu, steeped in history and heritage, the birth place of Saint Thyagaraja and counted among the sacred spots of India — Chennai-based musician Aruna Sairam began her performance. Swathed in an attire of lights, the space illuminated with a historical, cultural and spiritual sheen. In praise of the presiding deity of the temple, Sri Panchanadheeshwarar, Sairam sang a Thyagaraja composition called Ilalo Prahatharthihara, in ragam Atana. “I cannot articulate the sense of fulfillment of that experience,” she says, referring to the Festival of Sacred Music that is slated for March 2, 3 and 4.

Curated by Chennai-based Prakriti Foundation, this festival occupies top shelf among Ranvir Shah’s many cultural fetishes that have become events and platforms worth reckoning. Influenced by the Festival of Sacred Music, Fez, Morocco, the inspiration for the festival was personal, really. “After I bought a ruined house in Thiruvaiyaru, I had huge, idealistic dreams of living by the Cauvery in winter,” Shah says, “But I found the ghats were actually being used as toilets. It made me think of what little civic pride a town of such great significance — it hosts the Thyagaraja Aradhana every year — had.” Six months later, the first edition of the Festival of Sacred Music was unleashed with performances by talented musicians, Bombay Jayashri, Dr Jayanthi Kumaresh and the Sikkil Sisters.

A handful of foreigners and a whole bunch of locals sat quiet and mesmerised by the music, sounds and the mood. Shah and his loyal coterie from Chennai were there too; this year, friends, well-wishers and culture vultures from Mumbai, Delhi and Europe have added it on to their travel calendar.

The festival’s guiding principles are heritage and its preservation, and of course music. For company and collaboration, Shah has Dr Rama Kausalya, retired principal of the Thiruvaiyaru Music College and her Marabu Foundation. “Thiruvaiyaru often tends to get missed; people end up going to Thanjavur mostly,” Shah says, “Our idea is to motivate people in this town and villages nearby to feel a sense of pride about where they belong. T M Krishna, who has also been one of the show-stoppers at the festival, reiterates the importance of “recreating these places of heritage as magnificent aesthetic creations of art. And what better way to do it than with the performing arts?”

You bet. The line-up this year is a delicious platter. Monks from the Drepung Loseling Monastery will perform sacred Buddhist chants at the courtyard of an old Maratha palace after which Dr Phillipe Bruguiere, an ethnomusicologist from France (and the “sole” Western disciple of Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar to play the Bin, now Rudra Veena) will take on the stage. There’s a Nadaswaram concert, and a show by Asima, a male vocal and percussion band from Thiruvananthapuram on March 3 at the Pushya Mahal Ghat. On the last day, Ambalapuzha Vijayakumar will sing Sopana Sangeetham and Sudha Raghunathan will conclude the festival with a two-hour long concert.  

Delhi-based Thumri-Dadra singer, Vidya Rao, who performed there a couple of years ago, remembers her experience with fondness: “At this festival, meal-times, journeys to concert venues, temple visits, all became a happy picnic deepened by interesting conversations with each other.” And that’s what matters. Conversations about culture.

Dr.Rama Kousalya teaching music to children