Charumathi Ramachandran tunes Ambujam Krishna’s compositions
Around 1983, vocalist Ananthalakshmi Sadagopan took her friend, composer Ambujam Krishna, to visit vocalist Charumathi Ramachandran. There, they heard Charumathi’s husband, vocalist Trichur V. Ramachandran, sing the Narayaneeyam that he had set to tune. Ambujam found it coincidental as she was leaving for Guruvayur soon after. On her return, Ambujam handed Charumathi a composition to tune. That piece, Om Namo Narayana, which she set to rAgam Karnaranjani, soon became well-known and remains extremely popular. M.L. Vasanthakumari liked the piece and her pupil’s tuning so much that she sang this song regularly and featured it in recorded cassettes. Recently, Charumathi finished tuning another 51 of Ambujam Krishna’s previously untuned Tamizh compositions.
A version of this piece appeared in The Hindu newspaper. Smt. Charumathi Ramachandran shared document excerpts and more. Smt. Sujatha Vijayaraghavan explained the selection process of the songs and her association with Late Smt. Ambujam Krishna. She also sent the photograph below of the composer. Smt. Radha Parthasarathy freely shared her thoughts on her mother. My sincere thanks to the three ladies.
Radha Parthasarathy, Ambujam Krishna’s daughter, explains that several of her mother’s compositions had been tuned by Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, Musiri Subramania Iyer, Dr. S. Ramanathan, K.R. Kedaranathan, Ananthalakshmi Sadagopan and others when she was around. “There are 350 that are yet to be tuned. I am trying to get them done in my lifetime.” She recently handed over 51 pieces each to R. Vedavalli, T.N. Seshagopalan and Charumathi. They were carefully selected by Sujatha Vijayaraghavan, scholar, choreographer and daughter of Ananthalakshmi Sadagopan.
Besides spending a lot of time one-on-one as an adult with Ambujam Krishna, Sujatha was also part of many of her mother’s interactions with the composer. She elucidates, “Ambujam mami had written notes in the margin of some songs indicating who she wished them to be tuned by. I handed over those marked for Charumathi to Charu. Charu had also expressed a desire for thematic compositions – so I selected several on Krishna that touched different rasas (emotions) – sringaram (love), karunam (sadness and compassion), bhakti (devotion), vatsalyam (parental affection) etc. Others featured different deities.”
Radha recollects her mother commenting on Charumathi’s musical expertise. Charumathi’s husband Trichur V. Ramachandran tuned five pieces. “Some of the lyrics just spoke to him,” says Charumathi. Their daughter, Shubasree Ramachandran, tuned one piece – as a tillana in Ahir Bhairav and Brindavani.
Of those Charumathi set to tune, some notable ones in kriti format are: Konjikkonji in Kannadagaula, Solai malai in Kambhoji, Venduvathellam in Kalyani, Mohana kuzhal in Mohanakalyani, Karam kodutthu in Mohanam, Asaindhu in Nasika Bhushani, Thaleney in Abhogi, Azhaitthal nee in Bhimpalas and Vandadaindhen in Karnaranjani. She has set some as – ragamalikas including a Daru Varnam -Aadum azhagai featuring Khamas, Hindolam etc.; a Pada Varnam -Inbam pozhindaye featuring Sankarabharanam, Purvikalyani etc., Sudhandira bharata as a Ranjanimala – featuring Ranjani, Chayaranjani etc., Nalliravineley in madhyama sruti featuring Piloo, Abhogi etc. and Kanna kanna in Maand, Ahiri etc.
Some other ragam-s she has used are Sringaramurthy, Kanakangi, Patdeep, Manjkhamaj, Behag, Andholika, Poornashadjam, Sunadavinodini, Hamsanandi, Nitimathi, Bhujangini, Misra Sivaranjani, Natabhairavi, Saramathy, Rageshree, Bageshree, and more. She also created a new ragam, a janya (derivative) of Harikambhoji, that she has christened Radhambujam. Charumathi also set cittaswaram-s for many songs, some extensive and some in ragamalika-s. Shubasree too contributed in this exercise.
Charumathi is proficient in music for dance, having sung for her sister Lakshmi Viswanathan’s Bharatanatyam performances. She sees many of these compositions as having applicability in the dance circuit too. Charumathi shares further observations. “The flow of language is astounding, reminiscent of Oothukkadu Venkata Kavi in the fast passages (madhyama kala sahitya) in some songs. Her pieces are, in my opinion, Tamizh Isai Revival songs as they are in chaste but easily understood Tamizh that can reach the masses easily.” Sujatha says, “Mami’s songs are full of deep Vaishnavite philosophy, and multiple layers of meaning – a lot of allusions that might not be immediately obvious.”
Regarding disseminating the newly tuned pieces, Radha Parthasarathy says, “My mother never wanted to promote her own songs. She always said if they are good they will get known for their worth. We will post the songs on YouTube along with notations so that people can learn. The rest is in God’s hands.”
Excellent work done to bring to light all the compositions of the great lady Ambujam Krishna. I being an admirer of her compositions wish all success to the project. – Saa Paa Saa.
Thank you for writing!
We get the same happiness when we hear the compositions of Smt.Ambujam Krishna , as and we hear the compositions of the trinity. But their works are mainly in Sanskrit, Telugu and not in Tamil mostly. There are millions of rasigas for Carnatic music who are mostly Tamils, and for decades they appreciated only the kritis penned in Telugu, Kannada and so on. Luckily this generation of musicians and even senior artists are taking more Tamil kritis to be sung in Kutcheries today. Now the demand of the fans is such, every singer chooses many Tamil kritis and slowly the fans are familiarizing with the ragams and thalams of such compositions. I thank Mrs.Lakshmi Anand for making us know the contribution of another veteran singer Mrs.Charumathi Ramachandran in tuning the untouched kritis of Ambujam along with others, selected by Ambujam’s daughter Mrs.Radha Parthasarathy. We also hear great names in the music industry like Shri.Musiri Subramaniam, Sri.T.N.Seshagopalan , Sri.Madurai Krishnan who had tuned some of thd kritis of Mrs.Ambujam. We can even say What the Trinity has done to the land of Tanjore, was done by Smt.Ambujam Krishna to Madurai in setting up a Tamil cultural Sabha and also a learning center of classical music. Through Mrs.Lakshmi Anand we hear the signalling work of Mrs.Ananthalakshmi Sadagopan, her daughter Sujatha Vijayaraghavan in promoting the unheard kritis of Ambujam. We also hear with interest the Centenary celebrations of late Ambujam and the tireless work of her daughter Mrs. Radha and grand daughter Subhadra. Guruvayoor deity has blessed the music world as Ambujam Krishna has wtitten over 1000 kritis in different languages and the one on Sriman Narayana is close to heart to MLVji as she had sung and brought thd music disc for others to enjoy and also blessed by the Lord. Unfortunately we don’t have any information on the awards received by Smt.Ambujam, either in this episode or in the media search platforms.
Thank you for writing, Sir.