Irayimman thampi biography of donald
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Reframing Swati Padams: A conversation with Dr. Neena Prasad
- Shereen Saif
e-mail: @
May 8,
As the haunting melody in Aahiri weaves a mood of pathos, a lovelorn woman confesses to her beautiful moon-faced friend: "Oh, Madirakshi (one with intoxicating eyes)! Alas! My heart can no longer bear this turmoil caused by Cupid. What am I to do?"
In another scenario, set to the tune of Asaveri, a pining heroine seeks out her lover, only to find him aloof. Emboldened by the sway she has over him, she questions, "Oh, Beloved! Why do you not speak to me? What wrong have I done to deserve this?"
"Panimathi mukhi bale" and "Enthaho vallabha", two widely performed padams in Mohiniyattam, trace their origin to the early 19th century in Kerala, a time of great creative resurgence in poetry, music and dance. The former composed by Swati Thirunal, the erstwhile ruler of Travancore, and the latter, penned by his celebrated court poet Irayimman Thampi are two classic love ballads of that era, steeped in the ethos of the Vaishnava bhakti movement that had by then gained prominence all over India. Much like Sufi poetry, the lyrical content of these padams is intimate, sensual and carries the passionate longing for an absent beloved. Treated allegorically, the yearning of the
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From soothing melodies to thumping tracks, lullabies stay in tune with the times
Back in , when the ruler of Travancore Maharani Gowri Lakshmi Bayi wanted to put her infant son Swathi Thirunal to bed, she asked Irayimman Thampi, the best Carnatic musician in her State, to write and compose a lullaby for her. It was one of the toughest tasks the musician had ever faced. He wrote and rewrote until he finally came up with Omanathinkal kidavowhich remains the most popular lullaby in Malayalam till impromptu songs to proper lullabies, Malayalis’ association with lullabies has evolved over the years. We take a look:
A form of communication While experts say that infants need to be musically nurtured from birth, mothers have been unknowingly rocking their babies to sleep with soothing songs, from time immemorial. Sharmila Jayaram, a forest range officer from Palakkad says that she read about the importance of lullabies in an article when she was pregnant. “From then on, I started collecting lullabies of different languages. And when Reyaansh was born three months ago, I made sure I played some of the songs to him. My sister sent me an English lullaby, Lullaby and Good Night, via WhatsApp and he really loves to listen to it,” she says. According to her, lullabies are a form of c
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