Thillanas

Topic suggested by Geetha on Fri Aug 14 15:00:58 .


I'd like to hear comments on these elaborate and often complex pieces. My intention is to discuss Raga(Carnatic and Hindustani) & Tala usage and also Composers and respective beautiful pieces.....One of my favourites is LALGUDI JEYARAMAN'S RAAGESHRI Raga Thillana. this is a Rare Hindustani ragam, exposed in a Fantastic fashion in this piece, I particularly like Sudha Raghunathan's rendition of this. There is also a Madurai Somu piece in this Ragam, 'Ninaikaatha Neramillai Muruga'......Both these pieces are rendered in Carnatic style.

I'm also a great fan of Lalgudi's thillanas. His "Dance Of Sound" is a big hit album. Sudha R., Mandolin Srinivas and others regularly render Lalgudi's thillanas.
Apart from D.O.S, I have heard only a few
thillanas of Lalgudi (madhuvanthi,sindhu bairavi,brindavana saranga and a few others.)
I would be very much interested in a vol II of D.O.S.

From other composers, I love Maharajapuram's Misra Sivaranjani and Basanth Bahaar.

BMK's thillanas are apparently famous. Any reviews?

I haven't heard of 'D.O.S'.....Is it the orchestral rendering of some of Lalgudi's Thillana's like Pahadi, Mohana Kalyani, Desh e.t.c? If so, I love it(I have a tape with a set of Lalgudi Thillanas, with no explanation of the Album Title).....The Mohana Kalyani one was(maybe is) used in the Radio Ceylon startup music, popularising it no end.

I love the Ragas he's chosen to compose in, Madhuvanthi and Desh have been brought out in thier most pleasing forms in Lalgudi's compositions.

As for Santhanam's Thillanas, they are a pleasure to listen to. His CHARUKESI Thillana is absolutely excellent. The Basanth bahar and Mishra Sivaranjani are also very nice(Laluudi's Mishra Sivaranjani is also very pleasing).

BMK, Mutthiah Bahavathar and TN Seshagopalan have also written very nice Thillanas. You must listen to it, it's excellent. Seshu sings a lot of MB's Thillana's as well as his own....Please try and take a listen of you can, you'll be very impressed. BMK has an album of his very 'tough to sing', complex Thillanas. BMK's Ragamalika Thillanas are particularly fantastic....

yes, that is the D.O.S album.

Rajaraman: The dances of sound album as far as I know is a pretty old one cos I remember listening to a LP of the same or I guess is juat a collection of thillaana's by Lalgudi. But the new cassette released by HMV is good. Infact I like a lot of those esp, Dwijavanthi, Hammeer Kalyani and ofcourse the anytime hit kadhanakudhugalam. These are my favourites of that album.

CM: Thanks for that, I'll try and hunt it down....Is it called D.O.S 2? By the way, in the set of LG's Thillana's that I have, the Dwijavanthi is there too. I wonder if the one you are speaking of is a re-mastered collection. Please tell me what else is on this HMV collection. Thanks in advance.

Rajaraman/CM: Have you seen the Lalgudi Compositions book? It has the notation and words of many of his Varnams, Padha Varnams, Kirtanas and Thillanas? It's a really good buy.....

Geetha,

Seshu is a marvellous singer alright. But I dont understand why he insists on composing too. I associate Thillanas a pieces for dance performances. And I have heard Seshu's Thillanas in Huseini and Hameer Kalyani. Neither enjoyable or danceable (if that is the expression you use :-) )

And Lalgudi is really terrific with his thillanas.

Regards

G.Ramaswamy

Geetha
The D.O.S I was talking about has:

Mohana Kalyani
Desh
Kaanada
?
Kathana guthoohalam
Dwijavanthi
Kaapi
Pahaadi

Rajaraman: The one u missed out was Hameer Kaylani.
Yes tahts the album I was talking about and released by HMV. Recently when I called home I found that the LP I heard are the collections of Lalgudi but recorded long time back but the contents are pretty much the same.

HI,
Could any of you classical Gurus expound on the Raga called KaiKAVASI?? I heard it over the weekend.. aand BOY! was ut haunting.

Regards
AK