URUPPADI | Ashwath Narayanan | Sobillu Saptaswara

Credits Sobillu Saptaswara | Jaganmohini | Thyagaraja | Rupaka Talam Ashwath Narayanan x Sumesh Narayanan About I've always been fascinated by the word "uruppadi" In our Carnatic circles, we casually use it to mean a composition — "enna uruppadi?", "innikku enna uruppadi paadina?" But over the years, I've come to feel that the word carries much more weight than that. As performers, we spend a lot of time talking about manodharmam. Improvisation. Creativity. Spontaneity. Those fleeting moments that seem to appear from nowhere and can never be recreated in quite the same way again. But where do those moments come from? The more I think about it, the more I feel that every bit of manodharmam is rooted in the uruppadis we have lived with. The kritis we have heard countless times. The phrases that have settled into our ears. The sangatis that have shaped our instincts. The poetry, the architecture, the rhythm, the emotion. Long before we improvise, these compositions are already at work within us. This series is my attempt to spend time with that idea. No alapana. No neraval. No swarams. Just kritis. A singer and a mridangam. Nothing else. I've often felt that a great composition doesn't need anything added to it to reveal its beauty. The architecture is already there. The rhythm is already there. The emotion is already there. Sometimes all we need to do is sit with it and listen. As a mridangist, some of my most meaningful musical experiences have come not during tani avartanams or intricate rhythmic exchanges, but while accompanying a kriti. Following the shape of a line. Responding to the weight of a word. Feeling the pulse of a composition unfold exactly as it was conceived. Urupadi is a small celebration of that experience. A space to revisit the repertoire that has nourished generations of musicians. A space to listen to compositions for what they are, rather than what they can become. A space to acknowledge the immense musical wisdom embedded within these works. Because before there is improvisation, there is memory. Before there is freedom, there is form. These compositions are not the starting point for manodharmam. They are manodharmam's ancestry. Here is an informal practise session between Ashwath & me in my living room. #uruppadi #ashwathnarayanan #sumeshnarayanan