TAMIL MUSIC THROUGH AGES

 N.Nandhivarman

“In Western Music even today Piano holds a key position, they have not abandoned it. Equal temperamental scale is the basis for western music. It is a digital scale that enables them to deliver orchestral music. Unlike Tamils who gave up Yazh, westerners did not desert Piano. This is a lesson for Tamils. Similarly all the great Musicians like Beethoven, Mozart, Handel, Bach, Wagner and Brahms wrote hundreds of symphonies, and only in Beethoven’s tenth symphony vocal music finds place. Since in other symphonies there is no language, every country is eager to hear the music, language problem does not arise,” says P.T.R.Kamalai Thiagarajan in his book Isai Thamizhin Unmai Varalaru.

In Pondicherry Kalaimamani Arimalam Padmanaban opines that Tamil Music must spread to other parts of the globe. For this music sans language must be propagated or for Tamil musical notes we must select suitable poems in languages like English, French etc, so that we can spread the message that Tamil music belongs to the common heritage of mankind with greater antiquity than their cultures. Dr. Arimalam Padmanaban says that all western music could be adopted in sankaraparanam, nadabhairavi and keeravani, 3 musical notes of the South Indian Music. The earlier Tamil names of these three notes are Arumpaalai, Padumalaipaalai and Pazham Panjuram (source: Silapathigaram) respectively. He surprises us by saying that at the Olympic closing ceremony old classic music of Chinese was sung which is similar to our mohanam. It was known as Mullai pann in Sangam age and later came to be known as mohanam. Pann in Tamil means raga and scale in English. Silapathigaram, the Tamil epic mentions about 11991 panngal, which is lost in the ravages of time. Scholars like Dr.Arimalam Padmanaban are working hard to redeem the lost musical heritage of Tamils, lost due to invasions and colonial rule.

Arimalam Padmanabhan who obtained his Doctorate from Pondicherry University is preparing a Dictionary of Tamil Music Literary Terms and he is also planning to do research in Sopaana sangeetham, which is famous in Kerala. He had written about  “Therukoothil Isai” which speaks about the musical content of street theatre and  is included in the Madras University syllabus as a lesson. His treatise on the Musical contents in Sankaradas swamigal’s Dramas deserves special mention. Sankaradas swamigal could be termed as Shakespeare of Tamil theatre. It is he who stands as an outstanding pioneer of Tamil theatre. Sankaradas swamigal (1867-1922) brought all musical streams into Tamil theatre. For instance a Christian missionary Edward Paul contacted Sankaradas swamigal and wanted him to write songs for western devotional songs. Swamigal not only obliged him, but through that exercise mastered the nuances of Western music and in his dramas he wrote Tamil songs for western tunes says Arimalam Padmanaban in his research paper brought out in book form. “ In carnatic music various forms of Hindustani crept into during the period of Gopalakruishna Bharathy in 19 th century” says Arimalam Padmanaban, thereby analyzing the influences, its origins, admixture of musical forms with precision.

Sankaradas swamigal wrote 68 dramas, and if Padmanaban had not laboured hard to trace all this for his research quest the complete list would not be available to others. Sankaradas swamigal in his last days spent his life in Pondicherry and breathed his last here on 13 th November 1922. There is a memorial here in the graveyard at Karuvadikuppam Pondicherry where Government of Pondicherry every year celebrates the anniversary of swamigal. Swamigal simplified the classical music and brought it nearer to the common masses. In the history of Tamil music this marks a turning point.

Delving deep into the emergence and uniqueness of Swamigal, Arimalam Padmanaban says that “Gopalakrishna Bharathiar wrote Nandan sarithra keerthanaigal, which marked the revival of the Tamil musical tradition. Following his footsteps Mahakavi Subramania Bharathiar used the same musical notes of Gopalakrishna Bharathiar and wrote songs. Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar brought Tirupavai and Tiruvembai into the Tamil musical usage. Bharathidasan in order to spread Tamil music with help of Telugu scholars translated Thiyagarajas keerthanaihal into Tamil. For instance Thigaraja’s sani thodi deve o manasa in arikambothi raga was rendered into Tamil by Bharathidasan as thathi kooti vaaray o maname.” By such narrations Arimalam points out the cultural exchanges that has taken place and the blending of various musical traditions that run like streams of the same river called   humanist culture.

  Courtesy : New Indian Express 2004