We are delighted to present you the 72 Mélārnavam of Kavi Yogi Shuddhananda Bharati (1897 – 1990) rendered by Dr. M Balamuralikrishna (BMK).
This presentation includes an English transliteration of Tamil lyrics, a summary translation, and an audio guide for pronunciation of Tamil lyrics.
💐 With the support of the following, this project for posterity has been realised.
Sri. Christiananda Bharati (CB) of Editions ASSA and Association Paix pour Tous, Switzerland has not only been the curator and publisher of the works of Shuddhananda Bharati (SB), but has also championed to bring out the musical works of SB through Muraliganam.
In December 1989 CB met Sri. S Ram Bharati (SRB), the only successor of SB, and took the baton of curating all the works of SB who later transitioned in March 1990.
In 1991 SRB met BMK and invited him to Switzerland for a month and BMK went to Geneva in 1992 for concerts. CB and BMK meeting for the first time, admiring each other remained as good friends. In 1997 a project was initiated to record the Shuddhānanda Mélārnavam and BMK has tuned the music to all the 72+1 compositions of SB and rendered them with an orchestra in a recording studio at Chennai.
CB, the architect who has brought out the recordings presented here, living in Switzerland had supported the recording project and steered it to its successful completion. After the demise of SRB, CB got the tapes from India and it was then digitised in Switzerland which is now made available through this platform for posterity.
We are grateful to Sri. Christiananda Bharati for his generosity and spirit of sharing and also giving us his kind consent to share the recordings exclusively here for posterity.
To enable listener’s understanding and appreciation of Tamil lyrics, a transliteration and an audio guide for pronunciation is provided here to each composition. We sincerely thank Smt. Rajivi Swaminathan for her diligent work and contribution.
In this recording BMK is accompanied by Sri. B V Balasai (flute), Sri. B V Raghavendra Rao (violin), Smt. Shyamala Swamy (veena), Sri. D A Srinivas (mridangam) and Sri. Subramanyam (tabla).
Providing the above information of accompanying artistes, Sri. Balasai has also mentioned how BMK assigned the “musical bits” for each artiste for a given composition. Once the song was tuned by him, BMK, sitting with all the above artistes, was assigning the musical notes (singing them out spontaneously without any written notes) to each artist. The same was then written down and practiced by these artistes and it was later recorded in a studio. We are much obliged to Sri. B V Balasai for sharing this information and his reminiscences.
🕉️ Track 45: chindaik kanavil vanda - rAga: shubhapantuvarALi – tALa: Adi
chindaik kanavil vanda nAyakA
chiranjeeviyAna sukha dAyakA ||p||
andaranga manattandiyilE shubha-
pantuvarALi pAindu varumpOdu ||a. p||
muttu muttAga natchattiram pUttu
mullai muruvalai aLLi veesum vELai
eddisaiyilum iyarkkai azhagin
inbamAnA kalaippaNbu pongum vELai ||ch||
🔹Summary Translation
O, Lord, appearing in the dream of my thought! O, bestower of everlasting felicity! When “shubha-pantuvarALi” arrives streaming in the inner consciousness of the mental wireless, you, O, Lord, appeared in the dream of my mind. At the time when pearl-like stars blossom and spread their jasmine smile and when the pleasing artistic refinement of nature’s charm bubbles over in all directions, O, Lord, you appeared in the dream of my thought.
🔸A Pronunciation guide to Shuddhananda Melarnavam : Reading by Smt. Rajivi Swaminathan
[ Ссылка ]
💐 It is sincerely hoped that this presentation would reach all the music enthusiasts, students and teachers of now and here-after to explore the oeuvre of SB in the music of BMK.
🔹Reference:
1. Shuddhananda Melarnavam - English (II Edition, 2015)
2. சுத்தானந்த மேளார்ணவம் – Lyrics in Tamil (1981)
3. BMK’s handwritten notebook.
4. [ Ссылка ]
