It has been a while since I contributed to my Humming Now series, I owed that much to writing non-music related posts, especially some books I read and reviewed recently. Of equally worthy mention is the fact that I have been learning and delving into more new ragas — ragas previously unknown to me and even ones I know, but at a deeper level. Even then, I find myself coming back to Purvikalyani once in a while, thanks to its soothing aesthetics and some great renditions. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find film music compositions in this raga — I can’t explain why.

The compositions and the specific renditions that I listen to most in this raga are:

  1. Ekkalathilum Unai Maravamale
  2. Gnanamosaragada
  3. Marukkulaviya

Marukkulaviya is a Thirupugazh (#798) originally composed and written by Arunagirinathar. I happen to like the particular rendition by TM Krishna on the album Thirupugazh (you can buy it on iTunes)

Gnanamosaragada is a Sanskrit poem composed and written by St Thyagaraja. I happen to like the western classical style composition by Madras String Quartet, led by VS Narasimhan, in the album Raga Saga. (iTunes)

Most of all, I like Ekkalathilum Unai Maravamale — original composition by Thiruvarur Ramaswamy Pillai. Sikkil Gurucharan and Anil Srinivasan in their experimental quest created many albums, one of which is called Tarunam (iTunes). The lyrics are so flowy and the singing even better. Anil’s piano preps the canvas throughout, as Sikkil continues painting on it. And by the way, if you don’t know Tamil, forget this song has words and listen to it anyways ;)

The lyrics goes as follows:

எக்காலத்திலும் உனை மறவாமலே இருக்க க்ருபை செய்வாய் அக்காலத்திலும் அவஸ்தை வந்தணுகாமல் முக்காலத்திலும் ரக்ஷி மீனாக்ஷி நோக்க சாட்சி இருபதம் பக்தருக்கு ஈன்றிடும் நின்பொற்பாதம் ஈஸ்வரி உன்னை அல்லால் இகத்தில் உண்டோ வேதம் தருணமீதென் கவலை தீர்த்திடும் நின் பிரசாதம் தாயே வேதபுரீஸ்வரி தருவாய் நிதமோ தமோ பாரில் பிறந்து நான் பாமரனாய் பதம் பார்த்து எனது துயரமாற்ற பாரமா நி த நி பராத்பரி பக்ஷம் வைத்தருள்