He needs no introduction as he is one of the three jewels of carnatic music and the oldest of the trinity. Anyway, some details about him, courtesy karnatik.com.
He was born in 1762 and became well-versed in Sanskrit and Telegu early on. At 18 he moved from Tiruvaroor to Tanjavoor with his family and became a great devotee of Bangaru Kamakshi. From an young age, he began composing kritis in Sanskrit and Telegu, especially on Fridays, when he meditated in the presence of his favorite deity. When he went to Pudukottai and offered prayers to the temple, a stranger asked him to go to Madurai and compose a few kritis in honor of the presiding deity Meenakshi. He began the next day on his journey to Madurai to compose nine kritis, his navaratnamaalika, which are:
- meenalOcanA brOva – dhanyAsi
- sarOjadaLanEtri – sankarAbaraNam
- dEvi meenanEtri – sankarAbaraNam
- marivErE – Anandabhairavi
- dEvi needu pAdasarasamulE – kAmbhOji
- mAyammA –Ahiri
- nannu brOva lalitA – lalita
- mAyammA nannu brOva – nATakurunji
- karuna jooDu – sri
He is considered the creator of the song form swarajati – originally a dance form, but he made it a beautiful musical piece by removing the jatis. Ragam Anandabhairavi is considered his property because 5 of his compositions expound the ragam so fully. Most of his compositions are in Telegu, with a few in Sanskrit and Tamil. He had a preference for the chapu talam.
His disciples include Alasur Krishnayaar, his second son Subbaraya Shastry and Tarangambadi Pancanatayyar. He passed away on February 6, 1827.
For a very detailed life history and related info, please check https://sreenivasaraos.com/2020/06/27/sri-shyama-shastry-1763-1827-part-four/
| Composition | Recording |
| Adinamuninci – Anandhabhairavi | M S Sheela |
| akilAndEswari – karnATaka kApi | M Balamuralikrishna Sulochana Pattabiraman |
| birAna varAlicci – kalyANi | D K Jayaraman K V Narayanaswamy M L Vasantakumari Maharajapuram Santhanam |
| brOva samayamidE – punnAgavarALi | Pantula Rama |
| brOvavammA bangAru – neelAmbari | Suganda Kalamegam |
| brOvavammA tAmasamEla – mAnji | Brinda & Mukta K V Narayanaswamy |
| brOvumu maninE – keeravANi | Pantula Rama Maharajapuram Santhanam |
| bruhannAyaki – madyamAvati | Suguna Varadachari AV Disciples |
| dayajooDa – jaganmOhini | Suganda Kalamegam AV Disciples |
| dayAnidhE mAmava – bEgaDA | D K Pattammal Mani Krishnaswamy Maharajapuram Santhanam |
| dEvi brOva – chintamaNi | D K Jayaraman K V Narayanaswamy S Sowmya |
| dEvi meenanEtri – sankarAbaraNam | T N Seshagopalan |
| dEvi nannu brOvavamma – kalyANi | M S Sheela |
| dEvi needu pada – kAmbhOji | AV Disciples T N Seshagopalan |
| durusuga – sAvEri | Aruna Sairam M Balamuralikrishna T M Krishna |
| Emani migula – tODi | M Balamuralikrishna |
| ennEramum un nAmam – poorvikalyANi | Sulochana Pattabiraman |
| ennEramum un pAda – punnAgavarALi | AV Disciples Sulochana Pattabiraman |
| himAchala tanaya – Anandabhairavi | S Sowmya S Ramanathan |
| himAdri sutE pAhimAm – kalyANi | Maharajapuram Santhanam T V Sankaranarayanan |
| janani natajana – sAvEri | R K Srikantan |
| kAmAkshi – bhairavi | M Balamuralikrishna M D Ramanathan Maharajapuram Santhanam Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer T M Krishna R Vedavalli |
| kAmAkshi – sAvEri | R Vedavalli |
| kAmAkshi – yadukulakAmbOji | M S Subbulakshmi S Sowmya T M Krishna |
| kAmAkshi bangAru – varALi | K V Narayanaswamy Ranjani & Gayatri |
| kAmAkshi lOkasAkshi – madyamAvati | Sulochana Pattabiraman |
| kAmAkshi nAto – bEgaDA | Vijay Siva |
| kanaka saila vihAriNi – punnAgavarALi | Aruna Sairam M Balamuralikrishna M D Ramanathan Maharajapuram Santhanam |
| karuNa joodavamma – pantuvarALi | D K Pattammal |
| karuNa jooDu – Sri | Brinda & Mukta Maharajapuram Santhanam Voleti Venkateswarulu |
| karuNanidhi ilalO – tODi | Hyderabad Brothers O S Tyagarajan D K Jayaraman M S Sheela |
| mahilO ambA – Anandhabhairavi | Suguna Varadachari |
| marivErE gati – Anandabhairavi | Brinda & Mukta T N Seshagopalan Vijay Siva |
| mAyammA – Ahiri | D K Jayaraman Hyderabad Brothers K V Narayanaswamy M S Subbulakshmi Maharajapuram Santhanam T N Seshagopalan Voleti Venkateswarulu |
| mAyamma nannu brOva – nATakurunji | Maharajapuram Santhanam S R Janakiraman |
| meena lOchana – dhanyAsi | D K Jayaraman Nityasri T Balasaraswati T N Seshagopalan |
| nA manavini (varnam) – saurAshtram | AV Disciples Rama Ravi |
| nannu brOva rAdA – gowlipantu | Pantula Rama |
| nannu brOva rAdA – janaranjani | Maharajapuram Santhanam |
| nannu brOva lalita – lalitA | D K Jayaraman Mysore Nagamani Srinath S Ramanathan T N Seshagopalan |
| neelayatAkshi – paras | Brinda & Mukta M S Subbulakshmi |
| neevE gatiyani (varNam) – kalyANi | R Vedavalli |
| ninnE namminAnu – tODi | Bombay Jayasri K V Narayanaswamy Maharajapuram Santhanam T M Krishna |
| ninnE nammiti nijamuga – kEdAragowLa | M S Sheela |
| ninnuvinA mari galadA – Abheri | Mudikondan Venkatarama Iyer R Vedavalli |
| ninnuvinAga mari – poorvikalyANi | S Sowmya T M Krishna |
| O jagadamba – Anandabhairavi | M S Subbulakshmi T M Krishna |
| pAhi sree girirAjasutE – Anandabhairavi | Brinda & Mukta D K Jayaraman Gayatri V |
| pAhimam sri – nATa | AV Disciples |
| pAlayAsumAm – Arabhi | AV Disciples |
| pAlimpavammA – mukhAri | AV Disciples |
| pAlincu kAmAkshi – madyamavati | Bhushani Kalyanaraman K V Narayanaswamy M S Subbulakshmi |
| parA kElanannu – kEdAragowla | Hyderabad Brothers Pantula Rama V Ramachandran |
| parAmukham EnammA – kalyANi | AV Disciples |
| pArvati janani (geetam) – bhairavi | R Vedavalli |
| pArvati ninnunE – kalgaDA | Hyderabad Brothers Nityasri Rudrapatnam Brothers S Sowmya |
| puraharajAyE – gowlipantu | M S Sheela |
| rAvE himagiri kumAri – tODi | M S Subbulakshmi Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer & M S Subbulakshmi T M Krishna T V Ramprasad |
| rAvE parvata rajakumAri – kalyANi | AV Disciples T N Seshagopalan |
| sAmi ninnE nammiti – bEgaDA | M S Sheela |
| sankari samkuru – sAvEri | D K Pattammal M L Vasantakumari Neyveli Santhanagopalan Pantula Rama R Vedavalli |
| sari evvarammA – bhairavi | G S Mani M S Sheela |
| sarOja daLanEtri – sankarAbaraNam | Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar M S Subbulakshmi T N Seshagopalan S Sowmya |
| sri kAmAkshi – kalyANi | Pantula Rama |
| sri pathi mukha – sAvEri | Pantula Rama |
| talli ninnu – kalyANi | D K Pattammal M S Subbulakshmi |
| taruNam eedammA – gowlipanTu | D K Jayaraman G N Balasubramanian Maharajapuram Santhanam S Sowmya |
| trilOka matA ninnu – paras | M D Ramanathan Maharajapuram Santhanam |
Great collection. Thank you. Amritha Murali has sung some rare compositions of Syama Sastri.
Great Content!!