That I cannot tell you with certainty; they come unsummoned, directly, indirectly — I could seize them with my hands, — out in the open air; in the woods; while walking; in the silence of the nights; early in the morning; incited by moods, which are translated by the poet into worlds, by me into tones that sound, and roar and storm about me until I have set them down into notes. Carnatic music thrives on its compositions. What goes on in the composer’s mind How would he have created this musical unit Watching the 169th Tyagaraja Aradhana this year as every year, once again the idea resurfaced in my mind. Each time you hear a composition you are rivetted to its beauty and its appeal.Dr Vasumathi Badrinathan is an eminent Carnatic vocalist based in Mumbai. Each time you hear a composition you are rivetted to its beauty and its appeal. “You will ask me where I get my ideas. He was overwhelmed, enchanted, besotted, angry, benumbed, uplifted as his compositions tell us.Carnatic music thrives on its compositions. It roared and churned in him. The maestro beautifully demystifies much of what lies hidden within the composer’s creative unit. Carnatic stories tell us of Tyagaraja’s transport when the divine vision stood before him, taking him aloft into his kritis. But when a creative urge is strong, it is irrepressible.

His inspirations came from divine grace, as he visited shrines. Whether it was the sanctum of Tiruvarur or that of Srirangam or Madurai, deities and their abode have had a deep impact on Carnatic composers and their music. Nidhi chala sukhama and Teratiyagarada are testimonies of this philosophy and faith that inspired his music. Perhaps others did or did not. Carnatic vaggeyakaras enjoy the unique privilege of writing the poetry and setting it to music themselves. Even ugly looking plastic water pipes created beautiful musical sound as I witnessed last evening at a street performance.I am currently reading the life of Beethoven. This inspiration was divine grace. It is not easy for an artiste to identify where the creativity comes from and how it takes form. Yes, his inspiration led him to unfathomable creations. If Beethoven felt inspired by the woods, then the chant of the birds or the seasons held our composers in awe. She can be contacted at vasu@vasumathi. Abundance of wealth, meant nothing to him, the closed shrine did however. It ‘roars’ and ‘storms’ like Beethoven held and will not rest till it has found its haven. The tumult however settled in the creation of some of the softest, and the most China wholesale low-pressure injection molds melodious, elevating music ever made by man.

For one, the architectural splendour of our temple shrines and the sacred space would have played no mean role in the making of these compositions. Listening to the Pancha Ratna kritis, once again for the millionth time, Tyagaraja’s indescribable creativity spread its aura around me. What goes on in the composer’s mind Ludwig van Beethoven and Tyagaraja. Knowing Tyagaraja’s story, it does not sound credible that he sat with a pen and a paper and scribbled down his creations.” Ludwig van Beethoven throws light succinctly on the many dimensions that nurture creativity. The time of night with its celestial wonders have given us Carnatic gems like the Navagraha kritis. Whatever be the methods of making a composition, I am always intrigued by the sources that inspire composers to create musical gems. From tangible ideas and abstract elements, from sacred spaces and divine urges, from spiritual yearning and from philosophical reckoning. Moods There are the very forces that catapult emotions and give us the huge landscape of bhava and rasa in our music. Yet like Beethoven, it is certain that these ideas come from everywhere and from nowhere. Tyagaraja, going by his life story that has been handed down generations, created spontaneously and broke out in song when inspired