Kanne en Kanmaniye

This is a thalaatu set in Ragam Kurinji. Kurinji is a rare ragam and is most suited for lullabies and laali paatu (Those sung during the oonjal ceremony in tambram weddings). "Seetha Kalyana Vaibogame" is a popular song in this raaga
Kurinji is a janya of 29th melakartha Shankarabaranam

This piece sung by Bombay Jayashree has two parts - 1 Viruttam from Periyazhwar Thirumozhi (from NAlAyira Divya Prabandham) and 2 - a beautiful song by Papanasam sivan


Lyrics

Viruttam
mANikkam katti vairam idai katti
Studded with rubies, interspersed with diamonds

Ani ponnAl seidha (vanna) siru thottil
a small (beautiful) cradle made with purest gold 

pENi unakku piramman thandhAn
Lord Brahma gave it to you with utmost care

mANikuRaLanE thAlElO
thAlElO is an form of endearment that can probably be translated as "sleep baby" or "hush baby". 
Oh short-form-ed one (may refer to vamana based on following line but could also refer to him being so small as a baby)

vaiyam aLandAn thalElO
Oh the one who measured the universe

devaki bAlane thalElO
Oh the baby of Devaki

ulagam uNdavane thalElO
Oh the one who ate earth (referring to how Krishna ate mud as a kid)

Pallavi
kaNNE en kaNmaNiyE
Oh my eye, the pupil of my eye (Not to be taken in literal sense but as an endearment)

kaNNanE kaN vaLarAi
Oh Kanna, may you grow up well

maNNulagil en vAzhvai vaLam peRa vanduditta
You came to this world to make my life more prosperous



Anupallavi
kuyiliSai kuzhalOSai un konju mozhik kiNaiyAmO
Can the cooing of the cuckoo bird or the music from the flute, even be equal to your sweet words

koNDa mana sancalaNgaL panjAi paRandiDumE
All the worries that clouded my mind just blows away like mere cotton fibre in the wind (referring to the sweet words from above)
tAlElO! tAlElO!

CharaNam
tEDAda en nidhiyE tigaTTAda teLLamudE
The wealth that I couldn't have found anywhere, the pure ambrosia that I can never grow tired of 
vADAda menmalarE manattuL inikkum tanittEnE

the flower that never withers, my own sweet honey that sweetens my heart
tAlElO! tAlElO!

Govindan Kuzhalosai

This is a beautiful padam in ragamalika composed by Kalamamani Dr Saraswathi
It praises Lord Krishna and how his flute music enchants everyone around that they forget their normal routines. 

It is set to raga Desh predominantly. This is popular hindustani raga but there has been a lot of tamil/carnatic songs tuned to this. One popular song that comes to mind is of "Vande Mataram" the national song... set in desh (meaning country... you get it?)
The other is "Thunbam nergayil" from an old Tamil movie.

The Pallavi and anupallavi are set to this raga. 
the Charanam forays into Atana (janya of 29th melakartha Shankarabharanam).  

There is then a burst of chittaswarams in various raga - Atana, ranjani, simmendra madhyamam, mohanam, hindolam, finishing up back in desh

Lyrics

Pallavi

Raga:Desh

gOvindan kuzhalOsai kEtu 

Hearing the music from Govindan's flute
angu mEvidum Avinam mEIdhal marandhana

The cattle and livestock grazing over there, forgot to graze

Anupallavi

KUvidum paravaigal kUdugal thurandhana

The chirping/singing birds forgot their nests
PUvidai thEn arundha vandinam marandhana

The honey bees forgot to drink nectar from the flowers

Charanam

Raga: atana

KatiLa mangaiyar kaNNan kuzhal kEtu

The young damsels heard Kannan's flute (and)
Mattila Ananda kadalil mUzhgi

drowned in the sea of boundless joy
KaNNanai kandu kAdhal kondu

Saw Kannan and fell in love with Him
KaNNa endrE thEdi alaindhanar [kaNNa nin kuzhalosai ketu]

Called out "Kanna" and started searching for him

Anandha Natamaduvar thillai

This is the first of the many padams that we would learn eventually.


This is a song in praise of Lord Shiva - the cosmic dancer. The composer is Neelakanta Sivan. He is little known but has given some wonderful compositions. His disciple, Papanasam Sivan, on the other hand is quite popular as we all know.

This song is set to raga Purvikalyani. Purvikalyani is a janya of (no, not Kalyani but) Gamanashrama.
Will probably post on my music blog regarding this raga.

Lyrics

Pallavi

Ananda naTam ADuvAr tillai ambalam tannil aDi
paNIbavark-kapajayam illai
(Ananda)

Anupallavi

tAnandam illAda rUpan 

tajjam takajham takajhaNu 

taLAngu taka tatingiNatOm 

taLAngu taka tatingiNatOm 

taka dhimi taka tatingiNatOmena

(Ananda)

CaraNam 

pAdi madi jyOti phaLir phaLIr enna 

pAda shilamboli ghalIr ghalIr enna
Adi karai uNDa nIlakNTham minna 

arapura hara shiva sundara 

aruL gurupara shiva shankara
ANdamum piNDamum AdiDa 

eNdishaiyum pugazh pAda
(Ananda)

<I will come back to this post for elaborating on the meaning)

Thillana - Ratipatipriya

This is the first thillana we learnt. Thillanas are a form of song where the rhythm is given a lot of importance. In fact the whole piece is centered around the rhythmic syllables set to a tala pattern. Unlike the solkattu that we encountered earlier in varnam or shabdam, the solkattu in thillana is the "actual" song and is sung as such. Each thillana is also set to a raga (or scale or tune) and sometimes it might even be a ragamalike (remember shabdam?).

The beauty of the thillana is in the fast verses and the intrinsic and complex patterns that still adhere to the tala patterns. A few months (well, maybe a year) ago I wrote a post on Korvais (joins) and Karvais (splits). Thillana is just full of them. I want to highlight some using the current thillana as an example.

This thillana is set to Ratipatipriya (a little known ragam except for the masterpiece Jagajanani). The ragam is the janya of 22nd Melakartha Karaharapriya. It's a audava-audava raga, very simplistic in its structure. Not a whole lot of neraval swaras. As with a lot of KHpriya janya, it is a very melodious raga. KHpriya is quite the prolific mother but I digress.

As I mentioned the emphasis of thillanas is on the rhythm. This is beautifully explored in the current Thillana. It is set to adi talam which is the regular 4+2+2 however, it is set to cycle of 2 avarthanams or 16 beats (That is it takes 16 beats to complete one cycle).
(Nadir theemtha deem deem deem) -4
(nadirtha deem deem) -2
 (deem deem thana) -2
 (dhirana thana dheem) - 4
 (janu dheem) - 2
(dheemtha dheemtha dheem) -2
What this does is that it gives the percussionist and hence the choreographer a little more freedom to work with which makes for some very beautiful combinations.

A typical structure of the thillana is Pallavi and anupallavi of solkattu followed by a lyrical charanam. In this version, the charanam goes as follows

Ponnezhil mEni vaNNanE
The one whose body has the charm of gold
kANa eNNinEn mEga varNanE
I wanted to see you, the one who's colored like the clouds (dark skinned - as Krishna is said to be dark skinned)
viNNavar pAdum mannanE
The king whose praise the celestial gods sing
maNi vaNNanE kamala kaNNanE
O Beautiful one, O lotus eyed one.