Prabha Varma’s kritis to be part of Carnatic concert

Thiruvananthapuram:

Kritis

written by poet Prabha Varma will be featured in a

Carnatic

music concert at Vyloppilly Samskrithi Bhavan on December 30. It will be performed by K R Shyama who has also composed the `Kritis`.

Vylopilly Samskrithi Bhavan is hosting the Carnatic music concert as part of efforts of a group of classical music lovers to regain the glory of Carnatic music.

R Ramachandran Nair was the last Malayalam poet to write Carnatic music ‘kritis’ under the pen name Thulaseevanam. Writing and composing ‘kritis’ for Carnatic Music, often considered an arduous task, requires a combination of excellent vocabulary, musical awareness and classical music listening skills.

In Carnatic music, the ‘kriti’ is arranged in tune with the melody. All the Carnatic musical kritis so far have been composed with requests to the deities, their praises and synonyms for the deities. Prabha Varma’s works are distinguished by beautiful imagery and symbolism. Prabha Varma adopts a different approach when writing ‘kritis’ in the tradition of Swathi Thirunal, Irayimman Thampi, Thulaseevanam and many other writers.

Carnatic music concerts should always have a variety of melodies and rhythms. Even the rhythms themselves have to be prepared at different speeds to make the concerts extremely heart-warming. Carnatic music must blend melody and musicality. All these qualities are plentiful in Prabha Varma’s works and they are full of literary beauty, according to the organisers.

Prabha Varma’s ‘kriti’, such as “Neelabha Prabha nee... neerazhiyil veenayo.... nin neelimayal kadalalaneelichaayo” shows that his Carnatic hymns are rich in poetic beauty.

The work on Hanuman, which begins with “Pavanam Paripavanam” in the Nattakurinji Raga, is arranged in a ‘Misra chapa’ rhythm. There will be eight such ‘kritis’ in the concert.