Date:12/05/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/05/12/stories/2008051258130200.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Remembering Annamayya

Staff Reporter

Saint had composed 32,000 songs during his lifetime
“Language in which he wrote is difficult to understand”

CHENNAI: On Sunday, over 400 singers from across the city sang in praise of Telugu saint composer Annamayya, on the occasion of his 600th anniversary.

Among the singers at Sir Pitti Thyagaraya hall in T. Nagar were housewives and winners of a competition held on Saturday at the IIT Madras campus.

Good turnout

Sunday’s festival began with a vocal concert by Carnatic musician Gayathri Venkataraghavan. Later over 15 groups, each with at least eight members, rendered Annamayya’s compositions.

“Annamayya composed 32,000 songs on Lord Venkateswara during his lifetime. Of this, only 17,000 are known to people,” said Upendra Gupta, who has been teaching Annamayya’s devotional songs.

Forgotten ragas

“Some of the ragas in which he composed the songs have been forgotten. The language in which he wrote the songs is difficult to understand as he wrote in a language spoken during that time,” he said. “Some of the songs sung by our grandmother that we misunderstood as folk music were actually composed by Annamayya.”

“It is only in the last 30-40 years Annamayya’s kirthanas have become popular,” said N. Chandrasekaran, vice-president of the Indian Telugu Association, which organised the programme.

Special event

Songs composed by Sudhananda Bharati, another Telugu composer, were included in the programme. Mr. Chandrasekaran said the association planned to hold a special event in memory of Sudhananda Bharati from next year.