Sixth consecutive Mridanga Thaniāvarthanam

Thursday, August 21st, 2008, 6:30 p.m., Bharathiya Vidya Bhavan, Chennai
We warmly welcome you to our sixth consecutive Mridanga Thaniāvarthanam programme. The Thani-
āvarthanam will be in Pancha Nadais in the five Triputa Thālams. The performers are:

Conception M N Hariharan
Mridangam M S Suriya Narayanan
Mridangam T Sampath
Mridangam Support N L V Raghavendra
Mridangam Support K Arjunan
Thavil Mambalam Shri. S P Arulanandham
Ghatam Shri. H Prasanna
Kanjira Shri. Anirudh Athreya
Tabla Shri. Chandrajit
Vocal Kunnakudi Shri. Balamuralikrishna

Mridanga Thaniāvarthanam, the heart of Carnatic music percussion, is a delight to all rasikas and laya
rasikas in particular. We have been presenting this intriguing aspect of Carnatic music, with distinc-
tion, for the past five years in succession. Each year we presented a unique theme through a series of
pre-selected Thālams. Each year we have been fortunate to receive the encouragement and support of
stalwarts and young musicians in the field of Carnatic music, and Rasikas as well. We thank everyone for
their support. We seek your support and encouragement this year as well. A brief description about each
year’s programme is given below.

First Mridanga Thaniāvarthanam Programme, 2003

We presented our first Thaniāvarthanam programme at Vani Mahal Mini Hall on the 5th of August 2003.
This programme featured Pancha Nadais in the five Ēka Thālams. Pallavis were composed on various
deities by Shri T A P Ravishankar. The Thaniāvarthanam programme was well attended by several
musicians including Madurai Shri T Srinivasan, Prof. Shri T R Subramanyam, Shri T H Vinayakaram,
Mannargudi Shri A Easwaran, Smt. S Rajeswari, Smt. Vasanthalakshmi Narasimhachari, and Shri. M V
Narasimhachari. They appreciated our sincere effort and were extremely pleased with our noteworthy
performance. The concept of playing five Nadais in the five Ēka Thālams was the first of its kind. Several
young Carnatic musicians and percussion artists in particular were also present on the occasion.

Second Mridanga Thaniāvarthanam Programme and Book release function,

2004
Our second Thaniāvarthanam programme was held on the 27th of July, 2004 at Bharathiya Vidya Bhavan
(Main Hall), Mylapore. This programme also marked the release of the book “Korvais Made Easy” by M
N Hariharan. The book provides an easy way to compose Korvais for any Thālam, Nadai and Eduppu
of a composition. The book has been reviewed by several leading musicians, and forewords are by Guru
Kaaraikkudi Mani, Madurai Shri T Srinivasan, Shri T R Subramanyam, Mannargudi Shri A Easwaran,
Padma Shri Haridwaramangalam Shri A K Palanivel, Mambalam Shri M K S Siva and Mambalam Shri M
K S Natarajan. The forewords in English are available at our website 1 . Guru Kaaraikkudi Mani released
the book, and Madurai Shri T Srinivasan received the first copy. The speech by Guru Kaaraikkudi Mani
2 included a Korvai in Ādhi Thālam, composed using the book, in the Nadais Chaturshram (4), Thrishra

1 http://files.korvai.org/book/foreword.pdf
2 http://files.korvai.org/book/mani-sir-speech.mp3
Mēl Kālam (6), and Chaturshra Mēl Kālam (8), for an Eduppu of 4 Māthirai 3 . The book release function
was preceded by our second Thaniāvarthanam, this time in Ādhi Thālam. We performed all the five
Nadais this year as well. A review of the programme appeared in The Hindu 4 .

Third Mridanga Thaniāvarthanam Programme, 2005

Our third Thaniāvarthanam programme was held at Bharathiya Vidya Bhavan (Main Hall), Mylapore on
the 5th of August, 2005. The Thālam chosen for this occasion was Bhinna Ghāta Bhinna Gamana Ādhi Thā-
lam. We are extremely pleased to have come up with this beautiful Thālam structure. This innovative Thā-
lam was explained to the audience at the beginning of the programme by Mannargudi Shri A Easwaran.
Five philosophical Pallavis were composed by Kumbakonam Shri A Gajendran. Dr. T K Murthy and
Haridwaramangalam Shri A K Palanivel, the chief guests of the evening showered their blessings and
praise for presenting such a difficult Thālam in an elegant manner. Guru Kaaraikkudi Mani, Palghat Shri
Raghu, Guruvayur Shri Dorai, Prof T R Subramanyam, Chinglepet Shri Ranganathan, Sangita Kalanidhi
Dr N Ramani, Mambalam Shri M K S Natarajan, Prof S R Janakiraman, Alleppey Shri Venkatesan were
among the various musicians who graced the occasion.

Fourth Mridanga Thaniāvarthanam Programme, 2006

Our fourth Thaniāvarthanam was held on the 2nd of September, 2006, at Bharathiya Vidya Bhavan as well.
We presented Thaniāvarthanams in the four Chāpu Thālams, Thrishram, Khandam, Mishram and San-
kīrnam, and finally in Sarva Sangama Chāpu Thālam, a combination of all four Chāpu Thālams. Madurai
Shri. T Srinivasan, Dr. N Ramani, and Dr. Nalli Kuppuswami Chetti were chief guests for the evening.
We are proud to have been reviewed by The Hindu. 5

Fifth Mridanga Thaniāvarthanam Programme, 2007

Our fifth Thaniāvarthanam programme was held on the 26th of July, 2007, at Smt. Sivagami Pethachi
Auditorum. We performed Pancha Nadais in Ādhi Thālam. The performers were M S Suriya Narayanan
and T Sampath, students of M N Hariharan. Shri. Guruprasad (Ghatam) and Shri. K V Gopalakrishnan
(Kanjira) provided percussion support. Several leading musicians graced the occasion. Guru Kaaraikkudi
Mani and Shri. T R Subramanyam were the chief guests of the evening.

About us
We have been working on various aspects of Layam over the years. Our book “Korvais made easy”
came out as a result of research done as a part of a Junior Fellowship by the Department of Culture,
Government of India. We have composed more than 1000 varieties for Mishra Kuraippu and a few
hundred varieties for the other Kuraippus as well. Some of our lessons are available on our website.

M N Hariharan
108 Ponnambalam Salai
K K Nagar
Chennai - 600 078
Mobile: 98410 34579
E-mail: haran34579@korvai.org
Website: http://www.haran34579.korvai.org

3 http://files.korvai.org/book/mani-sir-468.mp3
4 http://www.hindu.com/fr/2004/08/06/stories/2004080602430400.htm
5 http://www.hindu.com/fr/2006/09/29/stories/2006092902980500.htm