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KAVIYARASU KANNADASAN

Topic started by On behalf of Sankar (@ 210.186.51.129) on Mon Dec 30 07:11:34 EST 2002.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

Kaaviyathayin Illaya magan
Kadhal Pengalin Perun thalaivan
Paamara jaadiyil thani manidan – naan
Padaippadhanal yen per Iraivan

Naan Manida jaadiyai aati vaipen – avar
Maandu vital adhai paadi vaipen
NAAN NIRANDARAM AANAVAN AZHIVADILAI
ENDA NILAYILUM ENAKKU MARANAM ILLAI

These are the great lines of Kaviyarasu Kannadasan in the movie Ratha Thilakam where he acts in the movie singing these lines. ( Song.. Oru Koopayilae yen kudiyiruppu)

What a visionary he was ? Indeed, he is NIRANDARAMAANAVAN.

I share some of my observations about Kavingyar. I want all the fans of HIM to join this discussion and add more quality material in praise of his great works.

This is the only way we pay tributes to this GENIUS.

a) Raga Gyanam of Kavingyar

In the file ‘ Thiruvarutchelvar’, no one can forget the great song ‘ Mannan Vandhanadi’. This song was penned by Kannadasan and music by legendary KVM and sung by P.Suseela. I do not think we can ever get a better song in the Raga Kalyani in our tamil movies when compared to this song . This song has all the nuances of Kalyani in a capsule form.

In the Charanam, look at these lines,

Viraivinil Nee… Ni
Mana malar Tha .. tha
Thiru Marbaa… Pa
Thamadhama… Ma
Mayil ennai Ka… Ga

Ni.. tha.. Pa.. Ma.. Ga….
The words end in the avorahanam of Kalyani ( descending order of the musical notes)

Similarly, there is one stanza which will have the first letters in the arohanam ( ascending order).. I do not recollect the exact lines..

Sa…
Ri.. ri ga ma pa da ni sa..
Ka.. karunaiyin Thalaiva
Ma.. Madhi migu Mudhalva..

Do we have any such poet today ?

b) Kannadasan’s command over Language

Also, can any one forget the ‘Then’ song in Veera Abhimanu.. This duet is again a KVM song in Raga Sahana by PBS and PS.

Paarthen Rasithen pakkam vara thudithen
Unai then ena naan ninethen – andha
Malai then idhu ena malaithen

What about the ‘voor’ song in the file Oorkkaval.. PBS is the singer

Endha voor endravanae
Irundha voorai chollava
Andha voor neeyum kooda
Arindha voor allava

The great ‘ Kai’ Song ‘ Athhikkai Kaai kaai’ in Balae Paandiya.—About this song, I will dwell in detail subsequently.

c) Kannadasan’s knowledge of Litreature:

(i) There is one tamil poem in ‘Pura Nanooru’, the old tamil literature.

To know the meaning of this poem, you also need to know about the philanthrophist tamil King Paari. He was so noble and kind hearted that on one occasion, when he found a jasmine creeper without a support, he let his chariot as the support for the creeper so that it could grow. His fame and wealth was an eyesore to cheera , choola and Paandya kings and they waged a war against him and killed him. They also want to marry his daughters who were too young and the marriage proposal was stopped by Tamil Sage Avvaiyar.

The poem is written to a situation where, the daughters of Paari, on a full moon day, recalls that their father was with them on the last full moon day and he is now more now and they were grieving for his death.

The poem in chaste tamil starts as

Attrai thingal Auv Vennilavil…

Kannadasan has taken this incidence to write his song

‘Androru Naal Idhe Nilavil
Avar irundar en arugil’ in the film ‘Nadodi ‘ ( wagabond)

(ii) In Kamba Ramayanam, the poem which describes Kaiykeye seeking two boons from Dasaratha starts as

‘Aazhi sooz ulagelam Bharathanae Aaala’ and ends as ‘ Theeyavai yaavinum Sirandha Teeyal’
whereby kambar describes Kaiykeye as the worst of the worst for her act .

I think Kannadesan must have been inspired by these lines and in the movie ‘ Karnan’, there is a song by SG, Tirchy Lokanathan, PBS, TMS which is penned to the situation of Karnan performing pooja to his father Suryan ( the Sun God). There the stanza

Mannavar porulgalai Kai kondu…. Ends with ‘ VARUMAIKKU VARUMAIYAI VAITHTHOR MAAMANNAN VAZHGAVE…VAZGHA VAZGHA.

Here, he used two negatives ‘ Varumaikku Varumai’ to elate Karnan’s noble charity that there was no poverty because of his abundant charity.

Also, I feel vairamuthu must have been inspired by Kannadasan’s lines that he had sai ‘ maanatthin Maanathai vaangi vittan’ in the song ‘Poo Malai Vaangi Vanthan’ in Sindhu Bhairavi.

(iii) In one of the Sirappu Then Kinnam ( remember the yester years in Radio… Chennai Vaanoli Nilayam !!), Kannadasan himself had said that he wrote the song

Thookkamum Kankalai Thazuvattume
Amaithiyum Nenjinil Nilavattume

Since he was inspired by the lines of shakesphere in ‘Macbeth’

(iii) The famous song in ‘Vaazhkai Padagu’

‘ Neetru varai nee yaroo naan yaroo
Indru mudhal nee vaero naan vaero’

Is based on the ‘Pura Naanooru’ padal

‘ Yanum neeyum yaaraa giyaro
yendaiym numadiyum evan kollo
Sembulap peyar neer pola
Anbudai Nenjangal Tham Kalandaduvae’

(iv).. One Sanga kaala illakkiya padal was the inspiration for Kavingyar to write the famous song in “Balae Paandiya’ – ‘ Atthikkai Kai Kai’

One newly wed bride is separated from her husband since he need to be in the battle field shortly after the wedding. On the full moon day, the lady, is thinking about her husband and feeling lonely without him on a romantic night. She requests moon ‘ I am always remembering him but not sure about how he feels.. Already I am sore without him… you also do not add to my suffering with your full radiance.. instead of glowing here, you shower your moon light on the direction where my husband is so that he also gets romantic mood and gets back to me’

This is what the song

‘Athikkaai kaai kaai
Aalangai Vennilavae’

Athikkai is fig. Also it means glow in that direction ( thikku in tamil means direction / side).

What a great song.. full of name of various vegetables. At the same time, has got a different meaning in chaste tamil.



d) Ability to convey his message through his songs.

(i) Kavingyar came out of Congress but had great admiration for Kamaraj. He wanted to convey his respect and desire for an ever lasting association with Kamaraj. Hence

‘Andha sivagami maganidam sedhi solladi – yennai
serum naal parka solladi’

came in the movie ‘Pattanathil Bhoodam’. In the movie , the song was set as it to praise Lord Muruga..

Kamaraj’s Mother’s name is Sivagami !!

(ii) Similarly

Nalandana … Nalandana…
Udalum Ullamum Nalandana..

Nalam Pera vendum nee Yendru
Naalum Yen Nenjil Ninaivundu
Ilai marai kaai pol porul kondu
Yevarum ariyaamal sol indru….

Was written in ‘Thillana Moganaambal’ for as the meeting song between Sivaji and Padmini after sivaji’s injury.

But, this song is actually written with C.N. Annadurai in mind when he was ailing in the hospital and kavingyar was away from him .

One more great song by KVM in the raag Sivaranjani.


WILL WE EVER GET BACK A KAVINGYAR LIKE KANNADASAN ??

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Responses:

• Old responses
  
• From: Saravanan (@ 213.42.1.164) on: Sat Feb 22 13:43:14 EST 2003
  
  Mahendra Raj- Great write-ups! Please continue.
  
  Btw, the first song that Kamal mouthed as a child was 'Ammavum Neeye' from Kalathoor Kannamma.
  
  
• From: R. Mahendra Raj (@ 203.106.49.208) on: Sun Feb 23 10:39:37 EST 2003
  
  Saravanan, yes I agree with you but that song was not by Kannadhasan. What I meant to say was that was the first song Kamal mouthed written by Kannadhasan.
  
  Who have read Swami Vivekananda's thoughts and reflections? I am afraid not all of us have read on him fully. This fact was known to Kaviarasar and he was saddened by the fact that this great Hindu monk who took the west by storm was not fully understood by his own countrymen. He decided to do something about this. As you know, when Kaviarasar writes he will ensure that it must reach the masses with simplicity of language. Thus the song "Aaru Maname Aaaru Anthan Aandavan Kattalai Aaru" was born (film "Aandavan Kattalai"). After this song was released even the layman was opportuned to learn about Swami Vivekananda;s thought.The entire philosphy made compact in just 6 stanzas! Thats the genius in Kannadhasan.
  
  Talking about spirituality Kaviarasar encompassed all religions as evidenced by his award winning song "Ganga Enbathu Raman Nadhi"
  
  But in person Kaviarasar was a devout Krishna bakthar. Although belonging to the Chettiar community who reckons Lord Murugan as their deity Kaviarasar begged to be different. No wonder the community shunned him during the early stages! That is a different story which I will narrate later.
  
  In early 1972 Kaviarasar made preparations for his third (or fourth?) daughter's wedding. The date was set and barely three days into the wedding he was in a dilemna. Someone who promised to advance the money for the wedding disappointed Kaviarasar at the eleventh hour. Poor chap, it was during these type of situations he will cry like an innocent child. The good Lord had heard him cry. Continue to read fans.
  
  He had an appointment to write songs for the film "Deivam", a Devar banner.Kaviarasar will put aside all his personal problems when it comes to work. He dictated the song "Marutha Malai Maamaniye Murugaya Devarin Kulam Kaatkum Velayya". When the assistant read back the dictation Chinnappa Devar who was in the adjoining room quickly came out and asked that the song be read out again. He was immensely impressed with the line "Devarin Kulam Kaatkum Velayya" as though it was meant to him. Immediately he gave Kaviarasar 1 lakh for the song and also gave him permission to make use of his personal wedding hall for his daughter's wedding.
  
  Kaviarasar was dumbfounded as the song was written spontaneously and that too in praise of Lord Muruga. Nevertheless the money came as a saviour and the wedding was well conducted. As Kaviarasar was entering the hall he heard his own song "Poo Mudipaal" (Nenjirikkum Varai) being played in the gramaphone. Later he reflected that although he is a Krishna bakthar nevertheless it was Lord Murugan's grace that saved him from an embarassing situation.He understood the divinely drama. The good Lord came to his aid through one of His forms.
  
  In the late eighties I happen to hear an interview over the radio whilst driving but I could'nt make out clearly whom Kunnakudi was referring to due to transmission signal interferences. But later I concluded taht Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan talked about Kaviarasar. The story goes like this. Kunnakudi likes to blow his own 'trumpet'about his ability to handle the violin to his terms(pardon the pun).It was at Devar's studio that both he and Kaviarasar got into a friendly argument over each other's talents. It was agreed that for each stanza Kunnakudi plays Kannadhasan must immediately pen suitable lyrics before he could go on to the next stanza. Thats how the birth of the song "Marutha Malai Maamaniye" was born.Music for this film is by Kunnakudi. Remember, the variations of the concluding stanza in that song? Kunnakudi purposefully made it difficult so that Kannadhasan will lose out.But the reverse took place. Kunnakudi said in the interview that after this banter he put down his violin and embraced Kannadhasan admitting that his violin lost to the latter's pen. It was at this time when Devar heard the commotion and came out. The rest of the story is as above. I am still perplexed that for a self-praise man like Kunnakudi would he have surrendered just like that? But thats what he said, in the interview.
  
  The first story was told by Kannadhasam himself in one of his books. But if the second story by Kunnakudi is to be taken seriously than I must say Kaviarasar was all humble as he could have easily boasted about this triumph over Kunnakudi.But he did'nt. Thats Kannadhasan.
  
  That also reminds me of one rare occasion where Kaviarasar blew his own trumpet.
  
  In 1962 when the then Ceylon (Sri Lanka) Government was treating the Tamils badly Kaviarasar led a protest rally against the former to the premises of the Ceylon Attache in Madras. When this news reached the authorities in Ceylon they imposed a blanket ban on all Kannadhasan songs over Radio Ceylon with immediate effect. But after a week it so happened that the ban was unofficially lifted and Radio Ceylon began to broadcast Kannadhasan songs. When Kaviarasar heard this he immediately straightened his shirt collar and with a smirk remarked that without his songs Radio Ceylon will go bust! It was true because that was a period where every other third song released was by Kannadhasan! Thats bragging with a touch of wit and truth!
  
  See you again and by the bye can I know how many are reading this? Just log in your name and place of domicile as I am curious to know the global response.
  
  
• From: Sankar (@ 203.124.138.34) on: Sun Feb 23 23:10:24 EST 2003
  
  Mr. Mahendraraj... you are right about 'Maruda malai maamaniyae murugaiyya'.. I have heard/seen the television interview by Kunnakudi on this.. Kunnakudi was stunned when he gave the tune - the most difficult lines towards the end of the song and kavingyar rattled out
  ' pani yedhu, malai yedu, nadhi yedhu , kadal yedhu
  Sagalamum unadarul karunayae peruvadhu'
  
  Kunnadi explained this in all trueness in his interview.
  Similarly, KB , often wonder about the way kavingyar and MSV sit for recording.. the later gives the tune like... thathana thana thathana thaa... with his harmonium faithfully following and kavingyar immediately giving the shape to the tune with his words and the song is made. This he used as the inspiration for his song SIPPI IRUKKUDU MUTTHUM IRUKKUDU in Varumayin Niram Sivappu'..
  
  I have one request to all the fans of KD.. When I started this thread, I did not expect this to draw so much of useful information. Pl pass on this link to all the friends you know to draw greater response. bye for now.
  
  

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