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ENCORE

INAUGURATION: Musiri Subramania Iyer reads the welcome address while S. Sathyamurthy and Sriman Srinivasa Iyengar listen from the dais. In the audience are Mrs. Sathyamurthy and C. Saraswathi Bai.

In January, 1940, largely at the instance of the special officer-in-charge of the Cauvery Delta, S.Y.Krishnaswami, ICS, Musiri Subramania Iyer and Bangalore Nagarathnamma, musicians had come together and formed the Tyaga Brahma Mahotsava Sabha which would be responsible for celebrating the aradhana in the years to come. The aradhana of 1940, inaugurated by C. Rajagopalachari, was a grand affair. But musicians wanted to make it a bigger and better event in 1941, and so, decided to organise a series of fund-raising concerts in Madras city. It was a unique series, for it was put together entirely by the musicians.

The series was inaugurated on September 22, 1940, at the Rasika Ranjani Sabha, Sundareswarar Hall, Mylapore, by the Mayor of Madras, S. Sathyamurthy. The Hindu reported on the event in its columns on September 23. A large gathering of music-lovers, musicians and residents of Madras attended the inauguration. S. Srinivasa Iyengar presided. The Hindu also recorded that the proceedings commenced with a prayer by Musiri Subramania Aiyar and Semmangudi Srinivasa Aiyar. Musiri had a big role to play in the proceedings as he was one of the key functionaries of the Mahotsava Sabha, holding the office of Secretary-Treasurer. Being a fine speaker in English, he was asked to welcome the guests.

In his speech, Musiri said that Tyagaraja was the chief benefactor and guru of musicians in this part of the country. He occupied a unique place in the history of South Indian music. It was but befitting that the memory of this great saint and composer should be celebrated by all lovers of music. The annual festival at Trivadi (the old name for Tiruvayyaru) lasted five days and attracted thousands of pilgrims and almost all the vidwans of South India. In his speech, Musiri thanked the R.R.Sabha for associating itself with the event by giving its hall free of cost. He went on to appeal to the Mayor that plans for the city’s beautification (something that is obviously not a subject of recent origin!) should include construction of a music hall on up-to-date lines in the city and which would be an excellent way of celebrating the centenary of Sri Tyagayya which would fall in 1947.

The eminent lawyer of Mylapore, K.S.Jayarama Iyer then proposed the name of S.Srinivasa Iyengar to the chair. In his speech, Iyengar said that he was glad that musicians had closed their ranks and decided to celebrate the festival in cooperation. Referring to the continuing differences between Andhras and Tamils in the Madras Presidency, he opined that Tyagaraja represented true harmony.

In his speech, S.Sathyamurthy felt that Tyagaraja’s house in Tiruvayyaru should become a national possession and be preserved as such for posterity to see, just as Shakespeare’s house in Stratford-On-Avon was a national possession and place of pilgrimage. Heaven knows what that patriot would have had to say today when the very sabha that is supposed to commemorate Tyagaraja has pulled down the house and is constructing a modern monstrosity in its place claiming that the new structure would be a true memorial to Tyagaraja!

S.Sathyamurthy while agreeing that a music hall in memory of Tyagaraja in Madras would be an excellent idea felt that the place should become a Temple of Music where one could breathe the art in the very atmosphere, where children and pupils could get training of a high standard in the art, and where even the poorest could enjoy good music at little or no cost. Alas, such a building, with such noble intentions, was to remain but a pipe dream.

It was the year of the Tamil Isai Movement and Sathyamurthy went on to say that it was one of his regrets that Tyagayya did not compose in Tamil. He hoped that the Music Temple of his vision would popularise not merely Tyagayya’s pieces but also the many Tamil kritis.

A vote of thanks was proposed by Bangalore Nagarathnamma and the music series formally began with a nagaswaram recital by Tiruvidaimarudur Veerusami Pillai.

The series was to extend up to December and the highlight was M.S.Subbulakshmi’s concert in October which resulted in enormous gate collections. The series concluded on December 23, 1940, with a grand procession around Mylapore’s Mada streets, with Tyagaraja’s portrait mounted on an elephant.

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