War against terrorism – Indian grit

First let me place my deep condolences to Karkare, Sandeep & Gajendra’s family. Their sacrifice literally moved me to tears.

For a change NDTV aired a sensible unbiased, no-holds barred discussion moderated by Omkar Goswani. Arun Shourie and Suhel Seth participated.

The discussion was about the Intelligence System of India and the action being taken based on the reports published.

Suhel was very emotional and didn't minced words in expressing himself. Arun also didn't butter his words, was very forthright. The facts tabled by Arun where startling. The money spent on generating these reports is all washed down the gutter by the government machinery without realizing the fact that it also affects the people who wash it down the drain.

I was very impressed with Arun’s unbiased speech. He came out of his BJP coat and spoke as a true citizen of India. He was very much up to the point, didn’t digress; take political advantage of the situation for BJP. These traits are a rare among politicians. Shows his culture and education. Hats off Arun. Arun suggested that the white paper on any issue presented to the Govt. should be treated with utmost respect and implemented gradually. He wanted the pay commission to increase the salary structure for the armed forces rather the security personnel at large.

Suhel’s suggestion of making military service mandatory to the youth is a big welcome. He also wanted to have a Federal Intelligentsia to be above the politicians to combat these kind of situations. I would like to add situations like drought, floods and other socially relevant crisis also to be handled and decided by this – may I call it the Indian Federal Intelligentsia (IFI).

We shouldn’t let go this calamity unanswered by the men in power. As responsible citizens of the country we have to exercise our right to secured and healthy living. Pl. join force to move the boulder.

Once again from the bottom of my heart I pay my respects to Karkare, Sandeep, Gajendra and those who lost their life in this war against terrorism. My heartfelt condolences to the families of those who got killed.

Jai Hind

Cheap imitation – Uma Gold!!

I have some suggestions for the performers of this generation.

Get inspired by listening to great masters of earlier generation. Never attempt to clone them. This is a big problem with you all. Analyse the music of yesteryear vidwans’ music. They did what is best for their voice. They never tried to copy or clone others. They took the best from other vidwans and embraced it. More importantly, presented it in their own voice and style.

But unfortunately today’s performers try to even present in the voice of their mentor or motivator or whatever they call them. This is not good for the artform and the performers.

Trying to sing in your mentor’s or guru’s voice is suicidal. Know your strengths and weakness honestly and respect them. If your mentor or guru can sing a particular phrase or scale, it’s their capability. They would’ve achieved it out of practice over a period of time or nature would have been kind on them. If you want to achieve those virtues prepare yourselves for that. More importantly don’t try it on the stage and trouble the audience. It’s no mean task.

I have heard a lot of performers in their mid 30s trying to clone their mentors. I write about this practice here because I felt most of them, if they try to develop an individual style or avoid the glaring resemblance, can go farther. I can name a few here: 1. Sriram Gangadharan – bestowed with a phenomenal voice, very captivating and able to produce some breathtaking phrases. Good, comfortable reach of almost 2 octaves in the shruthi he is singing now. But has no originality. He imitates GNB. No doubt, the charisma of GNB is prevalent even after about 40 years of his death. But the charisma has not done any good to Sriram. Sanjay Subrahmanyam, also a great admirer of GNB, only takes GNB’s finer points and sings in his own voice, style respecting the limitations he has.

There are a set of singers in the TN Seshagopalan disciples clan. Kasturi Rangan is the only disciple performing now in Chennai. The others are more into teaching so we are spared. They all think of themselves as TNS. Forgetting the hardwork TNS would have put in his early days to achieve what he is today. Please do your homework well. Analyse his music, take the nuances and try to produce in a way it suits your voice. More importantly listen to other performers too. Your manodharma (creativity) will enrich only if you listen to other’s music without any prejudice. The more you listen the more ideas you get. If you are able to identify the mistakes of others and correct them in your performances, you are a clear winner.

Hold, this problem is not with the vocalists alone. Even instrumentalist do this mistake of trying to imitate their mentors.

I can hear you all ask - who the hell are you writing this nonsense. Am not a performer. Just a voracious listener. And have listened Balamuralikrishna, Mali, MLV, MDR, SSI, SKR, S. Ramanathan, TMT, TRS and the likes live (an indicative list not complete) for well over 30 years. I should thank Sanjay Subrahmanyam for introducing me to some good music. He used to take me to SKR’s concerts in his ‘vErabadran’ (a Bajaj M80 bike) to IIT Music Club, Kalakshethra as I was having only a bicycle then. Many thanks to you Sanjay, once again. Listening to these concerts definitely has honed by appreciation skills. I have consciously avoided getting into the grammar of ragas, thalams etc.

But I’m a strong advocate of basic imperatives of Carnatic Music like adherence to shruthi, maintaining the tempo, voice control etc. Most of the present day performers literally yell at times in the pretext of sanchAras in the higher octave. And our audience will immediately give a standing ovation for this circus. Audience - Please don’t do this, you are doing no good to the performers or the performance.

So present generation performers try to develop a style, pattern which suits your voice best, practice it to atleast near perfection. Then get on to the performing stage or aspire for performances. Please don’t be a cheap imitation of your mentor / guru. Be original.

vAzhga vaLamudan.

Ariyakudi Sri.T. Ramanuja Iyengar's 1st concert

This anecdote was shared by Sri. V. Aiyah in www.sangeethapriya.org forum.

DD program (audio) on Ariyakudi was quite interesting. (I couldn’t enjoy the video though I have Divx with codec)

In the program, there is a passing reference to Ariyakudi’s ever first concert.

Sri “Elarvi”, a prominent Tamil writer has penned a book in Tamil titled “Ariyakudi” (1956) in which he has elaborately dealt on his first concert. I desire to give here a synopsis of what he has written for the benefit of my fellow Rasikas:

“A.R.A.R.S.M. Somasundaram Chettiar was a prominent wealthy man of Devakottai. He had deep friendship with all the vidwans of the time. He had great respect for Thiruvenkatathienga r (Ariyakudi’s father) and Chettiar used to consult him for each and everything!

In 1912, he conducted a family marriage in Kandanur; he had invited all the vidwans for the same and every one of them turned to attend the function. There were concerts and cultural programs galore. One day, there was a concert by the great Konerirajapuram Vaidyanathier accompanied by Thirukodikaval Krishna Iyer on the violin, Kumbakonam Azhaganambi Pillai on Mridungam, Puthukottai Dakhinamoorthy on Kanjira and Umaiyalpuram Sundaramier on Ghatam. The concert lasted nearly for four hours and the big crowd that had gathered there listened throughout with rapt attention.

In the meantime, Chettiar entertained a desire to arrange a maiden concert of the young “Ramanujam” then and there. He expressed his desire to Thiruvenkatathiengar. Sri Iyenger agreed for the proposal, but, told him to obtain permission from his son’s Guru, Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar. Chettiar then approached Sri Poochi Iyenger who readily agreed and calling Ramanujam, asked him to proceed to the platform Ramanujam was, however, hesitant seeing the big “Jambhavans” assembled there and also the rasikas. Sri Poochi, however, told him not get nervous and proceed.

The next poser for Chettiar was to arrange the accompanists. The group which accompanied Koonerirajapuram were all top ranking artists and further, they should have become tired after performing for nearly four hours. However, the news that Ramanujam would be performing for the first time on the dais reached the ears of these artists. They informed Chettiar that they would gladly play for Ramanujam.
Ramanujam prostrated before his Guru and father and proceeded to the dais quite nervously. He became more nervous as he neared the platform and saw the artists sitting there ready to accompany him. He touched the platform and stoked his eyes, climbed on it with nervousness still lingering and sat on the farthermost side of it.
Seeing his plight, Thirukodikaval Krishna Iyer clasped his hands and pulled him to the front saying “come forward” (Munnukku Vaa!)

Was it an order or blessing, for. thereafter Ramanujam was only on the forward march with success after success!

Young Ramanujam started the concert with the ‘Kriti’ “Vedalunu Kothandapani” in :”Thodi” and no doubt that his maiden performance was a grand success!

V.Aiyah

TNS at Carnatica on Oct 31, 08

As mentioned in the previous post, having 2 good vidwans' cutcheri on the same day is a bad idea. Both of them being heavy singers (I mean the content delivery) on their day, will be a bit of over dose to the listener like me.

Sanjay finished his concert by 7.13pm. It’s good to see he has a good fan following. It was evident when almost 50% of the audience left the hall soon after the concert got over. Thanks to Ramanathan Iyer for calling the audience in the balcony to occupy the seats in the ground floor just before the Sanjay’s concert started. This atleast made the ground floor look occupied. Now the audience strength in the ground floor is just around 200.

TNS started the concert by 7.30pm with sarasi ruhAsana priyE. (TNS sang all 'Devi' kritis, that day being Friday could have been the reason) Followed by an alapana which started off like sri, went to nAyaki, madhyamAvathi and atlast settled in sri. I suggest the artistes announce the raga names like they do in AIR. This is to stop the audience flutter. Like Sanjay, TNS also took too long to finish the alapana. I found a lot of people in the audience becoming restless. The brilliant MuthuswAmi dIkshithar kriti Sri Varalakshmi followed the raga alapana. Sorry I missed out Chandru.

Chandru was his self as usual. He drives across a strong message that TNS is one of his preferred musicians today. Chandru thoroughly enjoys playing for TNS which I have noticed in almost all the concerts they were on stage. My opinion Chandru leads the small list of violinists of today capable of accompanying TNS. What I mean by this is that - capable of understanding what TNS is singing and reproducing it immediately. There are violinists who certainly play as good as Chandru and the likes but when it comes to be an accompanist one should have an extra skill which is lacking in most of them today. This is applicable to all the accompanists today. Chandru's essayed Sri ragam well. TNS completed the kriti without singing kalpanaswarams.

People started moving towards the exit doors. Yes its 8pm now. The artistes will but our audience will never let us down. When the clock strikes 8pm they all will start for their home. Please don’t blame them. They would have been advised by their physicians to take the medicines and food in time. So it’s the responsibility of the organizers to respect this happening. And plan the concerts accordingly. Have this is mind to the end of this post!!!

TNS started hamsAnandhi raga after Sri. He phrased, sang, elaborated, essayed – hey am running short of words and he is not stopping it. OMG he is still not finished the raga AlapanA. Abba atlast he turned to his left and saw Chandru, lighting struck and woke him up to remind that he has to give Chandru a chance to play. Chandru as usual played a neat hamsAnandhi raga giving kriti suggestive phrases. Alas again the often beaten pAhi jagaj janani of Swathi Thirunal. The lesson for me is – don’t listen to too many TNS concerts. No doubt a good kriti, TNS renders it well. But law of marginal diminishing utility prevails here. After a combat with his accompanists, TNS sang ShyamA sAstri’s brova vammA in mAnji immediately. A short, sweet mAnji made us yearn for more. This is what one should do to pull the audience back.

A surprise sprung up in santhAna manjari of MD. This was also a welcome piece in between long, chowka kala kritis (slow paced songs).

Hey there are only around 100 people in the audience and its 9.10pm. I was actually expecting Mannargudi Easwaran to start the thani Avardhanam. Yes till now I didn’t mention about MAE. You know why? He was in perfect sync with TNS and elevated the mood of the listener. MAE never made me grimace by making unwanted noise in between the kritis or raga Alapana.

I wanted to mention a habit which I condemn – most of the mrudangists will start aligning the shruthi when the violinists start playing the raga alapana or at times even when the vocalist is singing the alapana. It’s 1. Disrespect to the artistes 2. Bad on stage manners / etiquette. if they don’t have a respect for that artiste better not accept the concert rather than bully others.

Sorry for digressing. As this is not a review and my experiences, I take this liberty of straying.

Ok, the time is still 9.10pm as I had put the stop clock on hold. TNS zapped me by starting khAmbhoji raga Alapana. I always had a grouse with TNS. Of the 150 odd concerts of TNS I have listened to, I have heard khAmbhoji only in 3 concerts. Hence I said zapped. The way TNS started the raga delineation was just brilliant. TNS showed a different face of khAmbhoji to me. I was looking for the popularly known features but they were conspicuously avoided. I was expecting TNS to complete the rAga Alapana in about 10 minutes. To mine and audience’s dismay TNS didn’t. When TNS finished his Alapana its was near 9.30 with about 50 people fragmentally present in the hall. OMG what is Chandru doing there? Suddenly folk music was flowing in the hall. Yes Chandru started playing some lok sangeeth!!!!! Atlast TNS started a not so popular syAma sAstri kriti devi sri in a chowka kAlam. I looked at the clock, it’s 9.40pm and my stomach started pinching me. But my stupid principle didn’t allow me to leave the hall. Sorry I can’t say anything more, and already dying of hunger. Suddenly a sabash from TNS woke me up, when MAE started the thani avarthanam.

After MAE I heard kanjira sound. Yes Sundarakumar was sitting behind, how come I didn’t notice him rather hear him. By the time the thani avardhanam was over it was 10.10 and TNS started something like ‘sharade’, I’m deafened due to hunger. Broke my principle and left the hall towards the Woodlands eatout in the car park of Narada Gana Sabha. Yes this concert was held at NGS. I was with my friend Mr. Raghavan. Both of us were given a dosai with sAmbhar. No chutney or any other side dish. We ordered for one more dosa and a cup of coffee. Sorry am very sleepy. Catch you later after rejuvenating with some fresh air and music.

Preamble

Carnatica's Bharat Sangeeth Utsav is a perfect preamble to the yearly tamasha that will happen in Chennai during December and spill over till the 1st week of January. As a shrewd businessman Sashikiran started the concert series even before The Hindu's Music Festival. Though Hindu's Festival, born out of the identity crisis the media moghul (if I can call them one) is running under now, doesn't serve a wee-bit to the art form, manages to fill the wallets of the performers. More a fad for the Page3 community flaunting around the arena.

Coming back to Sashikiran & Co., the intention of the music festival and the way the programs are woven seem to drive across a strong message of commitment. But over ambitious thoughts digresses the value of the performers. Take a look at the inaugural day (October 31, 08) schedule - 2 concerts of eminent artistes: Sanjay and TNS. Both of them are as ambitious or even more than Sashikiran in performing on the stage. Innovation is the way they drive their performances. Having this in mind Sashi's team should have planned the schedule of concerts.

On October 31st Sanjay's was the first program and he kick started the BSU in style with the time tested Viriboni varnam. But Sanjay made everyone sit up in the 30th second. He sang Viriboni in a totally different style. Rasikas could have appreciated it more if he had explained what he did differently. I for one feel that in programs like these, the artistes can give a brief of what they are performing for the rasikas to understand and appreciate better. Sanjay ofcourse told the audience the name of the raga he elaborated, its gAngEya bhUshaNi. Don't get paranoid, am not reviewing the concert as in the newspapers. Am only going to share my thoughts on the concert, the ambiance, what i liked and disliked.

I expected Sanjay to briefly say about Viriboni only because he announced gangEya bhUshaNi after singing the alapana.

I personally liked the choice of kritis Sanjay sang in this concert. My only concern is the time he took for the raga alapana. And the sanchAras he made in gAngEyabhUshaNi. Some sancharas would have been technically correct meaning confirmed to the raga's arOhaNam & avarOhaNam but they weren't aesthetically appealing. Atleast those sanchAras lacked finesse in Sanjay's voice. Sanjay is a very brilliant, smart individual. Knows his strengths and weakness. For me he comes across as a head-above-shoulders guy. Based on these qualities of Sanjay I wish to suggest that he also listens to his own concerts and as a rasika evaluate it and avoid the burs in the future performances. It'll not only enhance the rasikas turnaround, will also enable him to be in the arena for long. The artistes in the pre-1975 era didn't sing certain ragas elaborately only because those ragas lacked the scope and finesse. Just in the name of innovation and the capability to mathematically arrange the arOhaNa & avarOhaNa swaras one can't produce pleasant music. The produced sound may be technically correct but definitely not tolerable to my ears at least. I enjoy raga alapana more than the kriti but not all ragas are enjoyable in long alapanais. The Thamizh adage 'even nectar is poisonous if taken more than the prescribed portion' is also applicable for raga singing too. And my opinion why yesteryear artistes didn't sing elaborate raga alapana for certain ragas is that

1. There is no scope for singing without any repititions
2. After a some time the alapana will start boring you.
3. The performer may not know where to stop ending up confusing himself

Sanjay, I felt, did that in Sahana alapana.

But the indisputable fact is that Sanjay works very hard with utmost commitment towards his chosen profession. This one attitude I find missing in most of the front runners today. And am puzzled at it too!!

I also want to mention about the accompanists of the day.
Varadarajan on the violin has emerged as the best violinist in that age & experience group. His virtuosity is amazing as much as his skills in reproducing the swara patterns, neravals, raga sanchAras. Keep the good work going.
Harikumar on the mrudangam. Though he showed signs of knowing about the different patterns Sanjay had planned to sing in Viriboni, didn't pick them up in the 1st instance. He managed slowly and played well. But to me he dint fit the bill perfectly. At places he was more a hindrance to the listener, I don't know what Sanjay felt, than a support system. I would have preferred to listen to Sanjay without the mrudangam at some sancharas. I have heard many say that silence is music. I wish the accompanists of this and future generation learn music and practice silence where required. It actually embellishes the concert. In one of his speeches on Layam, late Palghat Mani Iyer has said that its not important to know too many sollus and ragas. Its very important to sing / play atleast 2-3 of them excellently.
Guruprasad on the Ghatam. I have heard his father and father's elder brother play. His father used to accompany MLV a lot. I can hear you all say why am talking about his father. Am coming to that point now! Guruprasad is showing promise in developing himself as the new age upa-pakkavadhya artiste. He has a good fingering technique, as a listener am able to hear the sollus distinctly which I consider as good fingering in mrudangam and other instruments. He also showed his dexterity and played some mathematical combinations which drew the attention of Sanjay and made Sanjay nod his head more than couple of times. As a lay listener am not worried about the mathematics or grammar. My only expectation is that the playing should be pleasant to hear. And Guruprasad just did that.

My thoughts on TNS concert will be up soon.