Saakaara (Varnam in Swarashtram)

Sweet and beautiful Varnam in the raga Swarashtram (Not Sowrashtram) composed by Dr.M.Balamuralikrishna sung by Prince Rama Varma and the students of Veenavadini School of music at Perla. Varmaji told me that when Dr.Balamuralikrishna sang this song for the first time more



than four decades ago, somebody accused him of singing wrong phrases in raga Sowrashtram.


Dr.Balamuralikrishna quipped that since it was the 25th anniversary of Independance of India at the time, he had named the raga "Swarashtram" which was slightly different from Sourashtram :-) This uses phrases


from Sourashtram, Chakravakam and Suryakanthi and the entire varnam is composed around the three notes, Sa, Pa and Sa. This recording was made by the cameramen of Bhakthi TV who are based in Hyderabad, who travelled for 24 hours all the way to Perla, which is a little village near Mangalore, to cover Varmaji's three day workshop there.


I admire their spirit, the spirit of the Perla kids and their guru Mr.Yogeesh Sharma and of Varmaji for the wonderful


job they are doing and I am happy to share at least these few videos with all of you. Though I had never heard this varnam before, I have already fallen in love with it with this one single recording :-)