Dr. Sripada Pinakapani lives in Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh. On August 12th 2007, along with colleagues Mangala & Deepak, I met Dr. Pinakapani at his residence in Kurnool. The three of us work for WorldSpace Satellite Radio - Mangala and I are with Shruti and Deepak is with Farishta. The three of us made a personal trip to Kurnool. It came about after the first week of August 2007, when I recorded Dr. Pinakapani's voice via a telephonic conversation. Excerpts from this telephonic conversation & from the recording made during our personal visit, were compiled & broadcast on Sep. 29, 2007 at 10:00am India time, on Face To Face - the weekly interview programme on Shruti.
During our visit to his residence, Dr. Pinakapani focused his talk on Carnatic music, musicians, and the technique: "... all the four steps to transfer the Tanjore style to Andhra, namely, first, learn the style. Second, practise it thoroughly. Third, propagate it through concerts yourself, and through those of your students. Fourth, publish books. All the four steps are useful to posterity. And the musician who has published his books will not have lived in vain."
This blog introduces you to some of Dr. Pinakapani's texts.
Pallavi Gana Sudha is a compendium of Pallavis. RTP is the 'piece de resistance' of many Carnatic music concerts. It is quite a difficult process to add qualitatively distinct RTP-s to one's repertoire. That's precisely where Pallavi Gana Sudha can step in as a valuable resource.
Dr. Pinakapani's sons informed us that a pallavi from this book was sung once in the USA by the Malladi Brothers. That concert sparked off some curiosity.. Pallavi Gana Sudha contains 162 pallavis, with an outline of each pallavi and 22 of them expanded in detail. This book is available in both Telugu & English. The Telugu version is a paperback edition, and the English is hard-bound.
Melaragamalika is Dr. Pinakapani's text on Pranataarthihara Prabho Puraare - the ragamalika composition featuring the 72 melakarta ragas set to Adi tala. This song is considered the magnum opus contribution of Maha Vaidyanatha Iyer to Carnatic music. Dr. Pinakapani's text gives the reader a step by step guide to singing each melakarta. Raga sancharas for each of the 72 melakarta ragas aid the singing of vivadi and non vivadi melas helping traverse from one raga to another. This book is a hand-held guide for whats usually perceived as an uncomfortable tight-rope walk by many musicians.
Dr. Pinakapani is known for his analytical approach to Carnatic music. His descriptive notation clearly outlines every anuswara behind gamaka-s. This ability helped him build a repertoire at a speed that no guru could have imbibed in him. Dr. Pinakapani published the 1100 plus compositions that he learnt, in Sangeetha Sourabhamu - a book of four volumes. Songs in the four volumes are those of the Carnatic music trinity, and earlier / later composers. They include kritis, varnams, Annamacharya kirtanas, Kshetrajna's padams & javalis; some tillanas, and a few songs of Thiruppugazh. All songs are arranged alphabetically according to the Telugu alphabet. The books give sahitya, and descriptive notation. At Kurnool, we saw volume 3 of the book, and found that the text type is large and readable, with readily understandable 'gamaka' notation.Copies of 'Sangeetha Sourabham' are available only with the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam.
For more information:
Dr. S Muvva Gopal, M.D. & General Physician,
S/o 'Padma Bhushan' Dr. Sripada Pinakapani, M.D.,
40 / 806F1, Srinivasa Nagar, Kurnool, AP 518004.
Email: dr_muvvagopal@yahoo.com
Phone: +91-8518–226262
Cell: +91-9440420939
Forward this information to family & friends passionate about Carnatic music.
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