AP- Music

Music

The earliest musical work produced in Andhra region is said to be a collection of seven hundred verses Gatha Sapta Sati in Prakrit completed during King Hala Satavahana reign around first century A.D. The work testifies the existence of music and musical instruments in those days of remote past. Amaravati and Nagarjuna Konda sculptures which are said to be nearly 2000 years old have visual descriptions of musical instruments. In the Kakatiya period around 12th Century, Jayapa was a well known musicologist and choreographer. His works Geetaratnavali and Nritya Ratnavali are renowned. 13th century onwards, Vijayanagar period had music traditions of its own. The celebrated Vidhyaranya and Ramamatya were leaders of the Southern School. Sarangdeva in the kingdom of that period of Yadava Singanna wrote Sangita Ratnakara. A commentary on the Sudhanidhi by Sarvajna Singhana appeared later. Kalanidhi was another commentary. Vasanta rajeeyam is yet another treatise on music by Kumaragiri of Konaveedu. Among the patrons of music, Proudhadevaraya, Krishnadevaraya (16th century), Achyuthadevaraya, and Nayaka rulers (Sangita Sudha, Chaturdandi Prakasa, Sangita Saramrita) are the most well known of that period. Music was practiced as a functional unit of related arts – dance, drama and other theatrical arts.

Bharata, the exponent of Indian Choreography, mentions in his treatise Natya Sastra that Jati, as raga is known as ‘Andhri’ in those days, along with other ragas gaudi, karnati, lati, varati (these are named after their respective political linguistic region). Music in those days was of two kinds marga and desi; marga was for classical elite while desi was for common folk). Matanga gives in his Brihaddesi, Lakshanas of ragas. Charchari, Dwipada, Elaprabhanda, Kanda Prabhandha also find a place in Brihaddesi.

Palkuri Somanatha (13th century) wrote Basavapurana, Panditaradhyacharitra in the popular ‘desi’ ballad Dwipada. This work gives a fund of information about the prevailing musical forms in those days. Tallapaka Annamacharya (1424-1503) composed 32,000 verses in total belonging two different categories; 1. Sringara padamulu (erotic lyrics) and 2. Adhyatma kirtanalu (devotional lyrics). Kancharla Gopanna (Ramadas of Bhadrachalam) composed kirtanalu in praise of Srirama. Tyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar and Syama Sastri formed musical trinity of those days. Thought and literary aspect predominate in their compositions. Tyagaraja (1767-1847) lived in Tamil country (Tiruvayur). His kritis numbering several thousand end with tyagarajanuta (one who was praised by Tyagaraja). They were written in Telugu and a few in Sanskrit. Muthuswami Dikshitar’s kritis mostly in Sanskrit and few in Telugu end with the Guru Guha mudra (invoking Subrahmanya, the family deity). Syama Sastri, had his compositions in Telugu, Tamil and Sanskrit ending with syama krishnasahodari mudra (Invoking Kamakshi, his family deity). Kshetrajna or Kshetrayya (1600-1660) a devotee of Muvva Gopalakrishna, created new musical structure padams numbering 350 requiring more details of aesthetic expression to bring out the subtle shades of the mental attitude. Veedhi natakam and Yakshaganamu (opera) were popular musical plays in Rayalaseema and the south. Yakshagana is a style of musical rendering utilized in melo drama. Vipranarayana Charitram by Rangajamma and Ushaparinayam and Prahlad by Meltur Venkatramasastri are fine examples of Yaksha gana. Vadivelu, Ponnayya Pillai, Chinnayya and Sivanandam were popular in the South India (The Tanjore quartet). Mysore Vasudevachari, Mysore Sadasiva Rao, Swati Tirunal of Travancore were Telugu composers of Non-Andhra origin.

Music was extensively patronized by Andhra Gajapati of Vizianagaram College of Music was established in Vizianagaram. Dwaram Venkataswamy Naidu, the violin-wizard, headed the college for a long time. Rallapalli Ananth Krishna Sarma (Tirupati) himself a noted musicologist, brought to light the well known kirtanas numbering 1200 of Tallapaka Annamacharya from Tirumala and Ahobilam.