Audio | Live concert by Bhushany Kalyanaraman

Bhushany Kalyanaraman

Complete live recording of a classical South Indian (Carnatic) vocal recital with announcements for each item

Items

1. Mangalavara Ganapate (Varnam) 05:14
Raga: Hamsadhvani; Tala: Adi; Composer: Tanjavoor S. Kalyanaraman

2. Sogasuga Mridanga Talamu (Kriti) 11:29
Raga: Sriranjani; Tala: Rupakam; Composer: Tyagaraja

3.Taye Tripura Sundari (Kriti) 07:05
Raga: Suddhasaveri; Tala: Khanda Chapu; Composer: Periyaswami Tooran

4. Minakshi Memudam (Kriti) 25:31
Raga: Purvikalyani (= Gamagakriya); Tala: Adi; Composer: Muttusvami Dikshitar

5. Shobhillu Saptasvara (Kriti) 05:17
Raga: Jaganmohini; Tala: Rupakam; Composer: Tyagaraja

6. Ninne Nammiti (Kriti) 35:26
Raga: Simhendramadhyamam; Tala: Misra Chapu; Composer: Mysore Vasudevachar

7. Raga Tanam Pallavi 24:40
Raga: Sankarabharanam and Ragamalika; Tala: KhandaTriputa

8. Bhavayami Gopalabala Sevitam (Padam) 04:55
Raga: Yamunakalyani; Tala: Khanda Chapu Composer: Annamacharya; 

9.Tillana 05:33
Raga: Brindavani; Tala: Adi; Composer: Tanjavoor S. Kalyanaraman

10. Ni Nama Rupamulaku (Mangalam) 00:59
Raga: Saurashtram; Tala: Adi; Composer: Tyagaraja
(followed by Madhyamavati raga)

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Credits

Organized and recorded by the Media Department of University Lüneburg for students of the distance education course The Music of South India – www.carnaticstudent.org

Performers

Bhushany Kalyanaraman – Vocal
Pakala Ramadas – Violin
T. R. Sundaresan – Mridangam, Kanjira, Morsing and Konnakkol
Katharina Bunzel – Tambura

Place and date

Hitzacker (Germany), 27 May 2002 

About the main performer

SINGLE-MINDED devotion to Carnatic music — that sums up Bhushany Kalyanaraman. Hers is an extraordinary tale, spanning oceans. Born and brought up in Colombo, Sri Lanka, it was a typical Tamil household where her father used to ensure that everyone was awake at 5 a.m., reciting the Tiruvempavai. A renowned musician, her father had won the title “Sangita Bhushanam” from Annamalai University. All her sisters too sang well.

Love of Carnatic music brought Bhushany to Chennai, at 16,to stay and study music at the Government Music College. She went back to Sri Lanka, to teach music at a Jaffna college. The riots in 1982 brought her back to India, drawn by her deep admiration for her subsequent guru and husband, Tanjore S.Kalyanaraman, senior disciple of the legendary G.N.B. […]  

A senior vocalist today, Bhushany has number of students both here and abroad, and many foreign students of Indian origin, who come to live with and learn from her. Many of her foreign-based students have had their formal arangetrams, proving her success as a teacher. […]  

Grateful for everything that music has bestowed on her, she also wishes to do something for destitute women and children “to be able to reach out to people who do not have the luxury of music, people weighed down by pressing basic needs, to survive.” […]  

Bhushany is a fortunate person — she has the best of both Sri Lanka and India, the best gained by besting life’s many odds

Source: Rupa Gopal in The Hindu (print edition), 7 March 2004 profiling “women who have made a career out of their passion”

Information about the persons, items or topics

Learn & practice more

Video | Keeping tala with hand gestures: Adi (8 beats) & Misra chapu (7 beats)

Adi tala (8 beats) demonstrated by T.R. Sundaresan
Misra chapu tala (7 beats) performed as konnakkol by T.R. Sundaresan

Listen * Learn * Practice

More about the above person(s) and topics

Periodicals and sites included | More resources | Disclaimer >>

Upholding “Freedom of religion or belief, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to peaceful assembly and the right to freedom of association” (22 August) – United Nations

We must understand India today in the light of its rich, long argumentative tradition [while] appreciating not only the richness of India’s diversity but its need for toleration. – Nobel Awardee Amartya Sen >>

Freedom of religion or belief, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to peaceful assembly and the right to freedom of association are interdependent, interrelated and mutually reinforcing. They are enshrined in articles 18, 19 and 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Upholding these rights plays an important role in the fight against all forms of intolerance and of discrimination based on religion or belief.

The open, constructive and respectful debate of ideas, as well as interreligious, interfaith and intercultural dialogue, at the local, national, regional and international levels, can play a positive role in combating religious hatred, incitement and violence.

Furthermore, the exercise of the right to freedom of opinion and expression and full respect for the freedom to seek, receive and impart information can play a positive role in strengthening democracy and combating religious intolerance.

Source: “International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief”
URL: https://www.un.org/en/observances/religious-based-violence-victims-day
Date Visited: 15 August 2023

Even the brilliant Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, who was himself deeply religious, clarified that bhakti is essential for a Carnatic music, but this bhakti is for music, not for any personal deity.

Lakshmi Sreeram in “Carnatic Music Ruminating the Landscape”, Indian Horizons published by The Indian Council for Cultural Relations

Reviews – Raga Dhana: An Alpha-Numerical Directory of Ragas

ragadhana_2ndedby Ludwig Pesch

“An easy to use reference book for concert, music class and and home” [about the first edition] – Indian Express, Chennai, 29 August 1986

“A neat compilation … ragas mainly used on concert platforms … highly useful as a reference book for listeners in concerts and to students for use in the classroom. …” [about the first edition] – The Hindu, Chennai, 23 December 1986

Students of music, as well as music lovers in general, will find this a very useful reference book. Neatly printed and attractively produced.” – Sruti Magazine, The Indian Classical Music and Dance Magazine, Chennai, January 1994

Unique Directory of Ragas … For 15 years he [Ludwig Pesch] studied with the late Ramachandra Sastri (1906-1992) … Pesch not only became a performing artiste on the Karnatic flute but had access to his mentor’s research material. He received many scholarships and put them to good use for enlarging the horizon of Karnatic music by research, documentation and publications …
His [is an] ingenious and logically consistent scheme for identifying ragas by an alpha-numerical method … almost encyclopedic in its scope … contains 500 north and south Indian ragas … the Hindustani svaras and their Western equivalents have been given and the scales shown in staff notation … The glossary, with all terms and names cross-referred, is an illuminating compilation … which every lover of music should welcome with gratitude.” – T.S. Parthasarathy, Journal of the Music Academy Madras, Vol. LXV, 1994

No library of books on Indian music would be complete without Ludwig Pesch’s Raga Dhana (published by Natana Kairali) and Illustrated Companion to South Indian Music (Oxford University Press). They are among the most widely consulted books on Indian music in English. Pesch’s writing is highly regarded for its accurate scholarship. At the same time he takes pains to write in a style that does not intimidate the lay reader.” – S.R. Ramakrishna, themusicmagazine.com, Bangalore, July 2003

Flow | Combine exercises & vocal ranges

  • 7 notes: Any sampurna (melakarta) raga
  • 6 notes: ragas Sriranjani & Hamsanandi
  • 5 notes: raga Hamsadhvani
  • 5 notes: raga Mohana
  • 5 notes: raga Valaji
  • 5/\7 notes: ragas Bilahari & Mohana Kalyani
  • 5/\6 notes: Vasanta
  • 6 notes: raga Kuntalavarali

<< swipe >> to try another exercise
Flow | Exercises, related resources & tips >>

Tambura and sruti petti: “Sa” = G# without Pa
Tambura and sruti petti: “Sa” = G#
Tambura and sruti petti: “Sa” = G
Tambura: “Sa” = F without Pa
Tambura and sruti petti: “Sa” = F
Tambura and sruti petti: “Sa” = D
Tambura and sruti petti: “Sa” = D without Pa
Sruti petti: “Sa” = C-sharp
Sruti petti: “Sa” = C without Pa
Tambura and sruti petti: “Sa” = C
Tambura and sruti petti: “Sa” = A# (lower octave)

Credit: eSWAR / FS-3C Sruthi petti + Tanjore Tambura