Structural Analysis of Tillānās Composed by Sri M. D. Ramanathan: A Brief Study
The 20th Century Composer, Sri M D Ramanathan, was a Stalwart Musician and Composer who has a very unique musical presentation in terms of voice as well as style. He is fondly called as MDR and was the disciple of Sri Tiger Varadachari. He composed over 300 compositions, according to available sources, in multiple languages. He composed in varied number of Rāgās and Tāḷās. Especially the Tāḷās used were Ādi, Rūpaka, Tripuṭa, Jhaṁpe, Cāpu and Triśra gati patterns. The musical form Tillāna is highly rhythm-based and often highlighted for the intricate laya patterns and regarded as a fast-paced energetic compositions. Sri M D Ramanathan’s style of music mostly follows the Viḷaṁbita laya presenting a calm and relaxed feel throughout. The point to reflect is that he chose to compose Tillānās very beautifully in his style. This manuscript includes investigating the compositional form Tillāna focusing on the unique characteristics and contributions by Sri MDR. This manuscript focuses on the analysis of the few selected Tillānās composed by him. The objective is to analyse the structure of the composer’s Tillānās, reflecting its scope on the analysis of the rhythm, rāga and emotional aspects produced. This study is based on the methodology which is done by the analytical approach through the available audio and text sources. The analysis includes the structure, framework, rhythmic highlights and patterns, raga significance, the rasa aspect of the Tillānas etc, aiming at the findings on Sri MDR’s composing style, addition on the knowledge of music mathematical aspects like the muktāyi patterns which leads to gain command over laya.
Author: Dr Lakshmi Surya Teja Bhavaraju Submitted on : 16-Sep-2025 Arts : /Music/Carnatic Music
Journal ID : 5291-933-4896
Views: 67/ Downloads :0
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