Prince Rama Varma - Dhanasri Thillana - Maharaja Swathi Thirunal

[@bahitra]

Happiness, thy name is this rendition of the Dhanashree Thillana ! And Genius, thy name is Varma-ji and his five accompanying artists ! Oh, the subtlety of expressions ! Oh, the joy discernible during the recital ! At first watch, you don’t exactly realise what hit you, yet you feel buoyant and animated. You just vaguely remember the rhythm and the joie de vivre. During the second watch, you start following the literature and the expressions. It’s after the third and fourth watch, that the real brilliance of the recital starts getting unravelled. A performance can get elevated for various reasons - sometimes, for the technical dexterity of the artist, sometimes for the purity of the swaras, sometimes for the exquisiteness of expression, and at times, for the evocation of the emotions beneath the words. As you keep watching this video, you start realising that Varma-ji has achieved the impossible by combining all four of the above and even more in this recital, thereby transcending this to the realms of divinity ! I’ve listed down below a few moments in the video that enhanced my enjoyment manifold, made me go “wow” and also underscores the uniqueness of this performance : (1) No grand entry but a low key start with just “Geetdhwani ku taka dhim” and the slight pauses before the 3rd & 4th “dhim” (30-37s) (2) The effortless rise to the higher pitched “na dr kr ta tum” from the 5th aavartan of “Geetdhwani ku taka dhim” (40-49s) (3) The holding of the note “baaje paayal” and the morsing in the background thereafter (1.40-2.05s) (4) The almost unnoticeable “tum” during the second aavartan of “jhanana jhanana jhanana jhanana tum” (2.22s) (5) The wide eyed expression (2.34s) during the third aavartan of “jhanana jhanana jhanana jhanana tum” hinting at the upcoming rhythm change (2.36s) (6) The beautiful improvisations on “taan gaave taka ta thai tathai” (3.08-3.40s) (7) The emphatically throaty intonation of the last “hata” (3.50s) in the “hata tom hata tom hata” sequence and the smooth glide back to “Geetadhwani” (8) The “taal” keeping with the big and second toe 🤓 visible during the second aavartan of “taan gaave” (3.55-3.59s) and in later stanzas too (9) The variation of “taam titam thai tathai tirataka” after the final descent to “Geetadhwani” from the “taan gaave” stanza (4.17-4.20 s) (10) The expression of complete submission to the Divine during the invocation of “Padmanaabh tumhari leela” (4.24-4.28s) (11) The extra 3 “dhirana”s after the first utterance of “ta dhim ta dhim dhirana” (5.10-5.17s) (12) The wide eyed expression again after “alari alari” (5.32-5.36s) indicating extra emphasis on that particular swara (13) The fast hand gestures during “taka tiku tani alari” (5.42-5.46s) and again at (6.08-6.12s) leading to a dramatic transition back to “Geetadhwani” Above all, the genuine smile and expression of happiness and bliss that plays on Varma-ji’s countenance throughout the rendition imparts an ethereal quality to it and uplifts it to a level which truly embodies the words “taap sankat harne aayo; so hamaro tum haro”.

[@indupradeep5288]

5:53

[@swarnalakshminatarajan8437]

Excellent analysis of prince Rama varmas rendition of the thillana!! I in fact attended his teaching session at Hyderabad last month. His singing which I heard just now is superb. His happy rendering with perfect lirics pronunciation is unparalleled!! His voice is ultimate and mesmerizing ❤.i appreciate your exhaustive analysis 👍

[@chikkalasujatha]

Never heard anyone sing with so much joy melodious voice and beautiful singing with all lyrics heard clearly. Always a pleasure listening

[@adarshs3992]

His smile at dhim 😍😍. Cutie than barbie doll. His smile is relief for everything than listening to him. And pure singing from a pure heart. Just loved it.

[@brahmaguptapatil4552]

Mesmerizing Morsing

[@srinathnanjangud]

Super music sir

[@kmk1508]

ultimate

[@rajeshwarimuralidhar948]

Sir superb rendition devine❤❤🎉🎉🎉

[@rectotexto4586]

Le maharaja de Travancore était le plus progressiste des maharajas. C'est grâce à lui que, à sa suite, le Kerala est devenu l'État le plus éduqué de l'Inde. Namaskaram.

[@musiquebox]

You might enjoy this video of Varma ji. kzbin.info/www/bejne/lYbQeYd_hJ53f9U

[@rectotexto4586]

@@musiquebox merci.

[@srigaayatri]

Such a mellifluous voice, taking everyone into a different world of delight & joy.....

[@divyamenon284]

This is so special ...an absolute favourite ❤❤🙏

[@nairreghunath]

How many times , by various singers , I have heard this Thillana. But when Varmaji sings sounds like listening to something new. Amazing. God bless

[@vijiganesh3996]

As always a pleasure to listen .. especially with lyrical fidelity without butchering words and phrases 👍

[@yashodapb8064]

🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

[@saayamsingh3620]

Ati sundar my pranams to you sir 🙏

[@Jenybasil1234]

Did you see the photo of the king on the wall behind Varmaji.. He composed Dhanashree Thillana .. Swathi thirunal maharajavu the king of Thiruvithamkur.. Varmaji's great grand father..

[@malathirao4560]

Fantastic salutations to the Swati thirunal Verma family

[@APSARAshow]

you made my morning!.. in cold Russia full oh hate and demons now I enjoy your love, bhava, rasa 🥰

[@JanakiRPolani]

Super rendering

[@nayantaranair7603]

Finally indeed! Wow! I have been waiting to listen to you sing this thillana for so many years now! It was totally worth the wait! Your expertise with the Thillanas of Balamuralikrishna and TVG, seems to have rubbed off on this rendition too, making it somehow more polished and brilliant than how we normally hear it. Pure delight! I really hope I will get to sit in a live audience and listen to you sing this, soon! God bless you!

[@richav814]

Prince of Thillanas 😃 with great accompanists

[@shehnazkhan609]

Mesmerizing and absolutely enchanting.

[@leenaleaves]

🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏❤

[@RajKumar-ds5hw]

As usual you're great prince verma ji

[@vidhyaiyer6305]

Mrudangam ultimate

[@kumudabaivk2722]

FANTASTICALLY rendered 👏👏👏👏👏👏👍👌❤️!Everytime UNIQUE! Like NITHYA Navaneetham!🙏.

[@chitravenkat5794]

Beautiful thillana,sounds more beautiful in varmaji's voice👏🏽👏🏽

[@prasannaramaswamy2603]

My most fav tillana. A jewel of a composition. And lovely rendering.

[@sugunajoseph3982]

Absolutely fantastic

[@swaminathanrajagopalan7351]

Marvelous

[@karthikavarma654]

One of my favourites!!! This is real treat!!

[@manojnair4000]

❤🙏

[@hymavathirallabandhi9889]

Very nice sir🙏

[@shehnazkhan609]

Listening to it again.It's absolutely divine💞

[@vidhyaiyer6305]

Superb ji

[@indupradeep5288]

🙏👌💐

[@bhaskarji9200]

சுலாதித்திருநாள் தில்லானா வர்மாஜி பாடிய விதம் அருமை. O.S.அருணின் தில்லானாவும் அருமையாக இருக்கும்.

[@srinivasanastro5679]

Super sir

[@teddyr4475]

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤🙏🙏🙏❤❤🙏🙏

[@nirmalap2800]

Iheard M.s.amma next your voice sir really super happy sir

[@aswathianilaadi2123]

🙏.... 🌹.... 👌.... 😊

[@onelife-celebrateit]

Sir can you explain basics of Thala with respect to alankaram. Why exactly we need to study alankaram. The types of thalam .I still dnt understand why we need names like chatbusrajathi madyathalam...and how does those names differ from adi thalam roopaka thalam or triputta thalam...i know this is a very basic thing but I have seen u explain music so beautifully.wished to know more about this topic from you

[@sindudileep2819]

Nice.....🙏

[@yummyandhealthyrecipes3305]

🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

[@harshithkumar8286]

Hello Sir. Pls can you sing the purvi tillana by Maharaja Swathi thirunal. 🙏🙏

[@jollyb6724]

Where can I attend your consert pls?. Its very rare in this era. So auspicious music.

[@musiquebox]

These were all recorded at Varma Ji's residence, with just a video camera and no audience, mainly for the benefit of people like you who enjoy Varma Ji's music on KZbin. He had just one public concert after March 2020 and that was at Chennai on the 15th of December. I don't think he has any more concerts lined up right now.

[@jollyb6724]

@@musiquebox thank you for your reply. I am really concerned about our great Maharaja's Swathy Thirunaal sangeeth, that is a valuable heritage, which did not get much importance to preserve and hand over to next generation. We need more music schools.

[@songsinnadaswaram6699]

💓💓💓

[@nehaldesai1481]

Sir please give original lyrics of thillana. I listened some others singing same thillana with different lyrics. It means lyrics is changing from one person another person. Please upload lyrics of original thillana in your youtube Channel.

[@PrasannaGNair-kd7yn]

അറിയാതെ കാലുകൾ താളം ചവിട്ടിപ്പോകുന്നു

[@ananthasri196]

gItta dhumiku takadhIm na krtatattOm nAcarahi gOri tAdhittai tai tattai tirataka bAja pAyalu kahum jhanana jhanana bAja pAyalakahun jhaNana jhanana jhanana nanana tOm jhaNana jhanana jhanana nanana tOm jhaNana jhanana jhanana nanana tAna gAvE takata tai ta tai taitta taitta tana tadhAm dhImna kiTa taka dhI dhImna kiTa taka dhIm dhImna kiTa takadhIm hata tOm hata tOm hata 2: padumanAbha tumhAri lIlA-kyA kahUm mai sAvarO tApa sankaTa caraNaya yAyO sOha mArO tumaharO (ciTTasvara) tadhim tadhIm dhirana udanita tAni tAni tadhIm tadhim dhiranA nA dhittOm tata kata tari tattAra tara tAni dhIm alari kalari takata dhatAra tataka mAm tAni tanika tAm tAmta dhIm dhIm dhIm tanana alari tAm tAmta takatari alari tOm tOm tOm takanaka tani udari

[@kavithas7765]

🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🌹🌹🌹