Tillanas are a very integral part of our classical arts.
Primarily from a dance origin, these mostly short and crispy compositions made
their foray into music also, and have been enjoying a glorious position in the
post main section of innumerable concerts.
But how is it to take
up these miniature pieces of stupendous brilliance as a theme for a
full-fledged concert?! The research behind is the first installment of this
two-part write up.
Recently, I faced this interesting challenge when I was
asked to perform a thematic concert on ‘Tillanas across 300 years’. It was an
exhilarating task for me, from collecting these thrilling pieces of various
composers to presenting them in a conventional kutcheri format. This inspired my Guru to even call them ‘Thrillanas’
on a light note, to who I owe the title courtesy here!!
I first made a list of composers who have made their mark in
these compositions, from Oottukkadu Venkata Kavi and Poochi Shrinivasa Iyengar
to Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna and my own guru
Chitravina Shri N. Ravikiran. Once I shortlisted around 15 tillanas, it came to
choosing the appropriate ones, showcasing the varied styles of composing and my
own comfort levels that I could gain only through constant practice.
A little research into the beginnings of this unassuming
musical form showed that the ‘Kaivara
Prabandhams’, prevalent in the medieval era are the fore-runners of present
day Tillanas. The first composer as recorded is Melattur Veerebhadrayya
(1739-1763) followed very closely by Oottukkadu Venkata Kavi (1700-1765). A
small note of interest here is, both Melattur and Oottukkadu are towns of close
proximity. They, along with couple of other small towns, were rich in the
Bhagavata Mela tradition, an art which is a mix of dance, music and
story-telling. So the Tillanas could have been an important aspect of this art
form and hence the pioneers of Tillanas. Of the two, the Venkata Kavi seems to
have explored a lot, foraying into dance based jatis, North-Indian Taraana styled Tillanas, his immensely
scholarly and popular ‘Kalinga Narttana
Natangam, in Gambheera Nattai whose capture of Lord Kishna’s Kalinga
Narttanam is absolutely unparalleled in its sheer imagery, beauty, skills, etc.
It took all of few minutes to note the evolution of Tillanas from being highly
dance oriented in the first, full of interesting and deceivingly simple kanakku or mathemeatics, filled with shollus and jatis. Then came the time
where composers started making it more “paattu
kutchery friendly”! Thought the former were not impossible to perform, this
set of composers set their sights on simple and alluring tunes and ragas, less complicated jatis, etc. Recent trends lean towards
interesting pattern based mathematics or korvais,
from the obvious tishrams and khandams to the brain-racking chaturashra tishrams and dove-tailing
patterns. All this weaved in both light classical and heavy weight ragas.
When the entire homework was done, it felt like I had just
dived into a huge ocean and barely saw a fish there. That is how small I felt!
The last part will have what I finally got to present in the
kutcheri and a few more tidbits on the topic.
Stay thrilled till then!
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