|
 What we saw in our last instalment was the way Thillana is performed for a
sahitya. When Thillana is performed for lines other than that of
sahitya, the artiste would construct a chain of
korvais according to the swara in the
charanam. When this cycle is completed, the
korvais performed for anu pallavi would be repeated again. And then the whole cycle is completed with the singing of pallavi, to the performance of
uchi adavu. When the artiste completes
uchi adavu, he or she would either stand frozen in the last posture as an idol or move slowly away from the stage, with
uchi adavu.
The pallavi is sung again and again during this time, to the quickly changing
adavu and korvai, expressing the content of the lines. This change in
adavu and korvai would break the monotony of
pallavi being sung again and again, providing rich variety, bringing out the depth of meaning underlying the lines and also the skills of the artiste.
The raga taken for Thillana would either be heavy or light but is always that which expresses joy, happiness and ecstasy. Happily hundreds of Thillana are available, written by so many different veterans and they are easy to find, varied to choose from and they could never be exhausted.
Thillana is usually set to the Adi or Rupaka tala. Of course there are Thillana-s that are set to longer and complex beats. The execution of such Thillana depends entirely on the sound grounding of the artiste in the fine balancing of timing and to get into all kinds of complexities and also to come out of them successfully. A real challenge indeed.
 Whatever may be the kind - may be simple or may be complex - the artiste should see to it that there is variety in performance, intelligently including
adavu and korvai that are apt and challenging. Only then can it present a fresh, scintillating and joy infusing feeling in the audience, giving it a complete dimension. It becomes so dull and flat otherwise - if the same
korvais are repeated again and again.
What we have seen so far for individual performances would take about two hours to complete and Thillana comes at the end of the performance. If the artiste could perform this item at a faster pace at which it is usually set - after dancing for around two hours - it would be a testimony to his or her talent, stamina and rigorous practice.
Krishangini - Neeraja Nagarajan
Postures by Neeraja Nagarajan
Translated by Hari Krishnan
previous articles
|
