While some pasurams are extremely popular, vocalist Saketharaman’s goal was to bring the pasurams on 108 Divya Desams into mainstream Carnatic music concerts and people’s households. He will be presenting a digital concert on April 14, 7.45 pm on International Music Premier League’s YouTube channel. “I believe that today’s innovation becomes tomorrow’s tradition. Tradition is not something that remains a static element. For an art form to grow, we need to give a contemporary feel, without losing the core values. Alwar pasurams are soaked in devotion when combined with the sheer nectar of the Tamil language and melody of ragas — the joy is tripled. I took up North Indian Hindustani ragas for Vada Naadu Divya Desams, ragas of Kerala origin for Malai Nadu Divya Desams, Pann Isai for Divya Desams in Tamil Nadu. For every pasuram, I have looked at aspects such as Chandas or metre to come up with the thalam appropriately. For eg, I devised my thalam for a pasuram on Dwaraka. Similarly, for the deity Kalyana Narayanan, I chose the raga Kalyanavasantham. For Ahobila Narasimha, I chose the raga Simhendramadhyamam to give the feeling of a roaring lion,” says Saketharaman.

He points out that any literary work, when presented in a musical form has a bigger reach and is easier to sing than recite. “Any piece of work where the language is given importance and there is scope for music attracts me. Alwar Pasurams are sophisticated in depicting the beauty of the Tamil language. For eg, Periyalwar weaves magic with the number 3 and describes the highest philosophy in life using this number. For this, I chose the count 3 or Tisram to compose. Similarly to illustrate the river Ganga’s flow, I have composed in alternating counts,” he adds.

This is a full-fledged concert of about 100 minutes covering all the 11 North Indian Divya Desams. “The usual way is to render them in Virutham format which is akin to Slokas in Sanskrit. I am presenting them in Kirthana/Krithi format, which gives much more scope for musical embellishments. These will be rendered in a mainstream Carnatic music concert with violin, mridangam and khanjira. My aim is that these can be sung in any part of the concert, and not just at the tail end of the concert,” he sums up.