Incipient Confidence#6

Just back from Vidya Raghavan's (VR she shares the abbreviation with a brilliant musician Vellore Ramabhadran) concert. I did not notice this series of concerts organised by Cleveland Aradhana Committee. This morning I got a call from an old time friend saying her daughter is singing at Arkay Hall and wanted me to listen to her.

As usual I entered at the end of the 1st song, my layam should be perfect if I had to comment on others isn't it!!

The 2nd item of the day was sAvEri. VR started the alapana. In about a minute the small electronic box placed on the dias reminded her its existence. yes she derailed from the shruthi track. VR has good taste for music no doubt. She has good ideas also. But what she lacks is the commitment to deliver the best. Intention doesn't matter only action matters. VR showed signs of frustration when she failed to sing the phrases her mind wanted. If the idea transformation doesnt happen the way we want, no point in getting frustrated, what is required is introspection. VR should listen to the recording of her today's concert and analyse dispassionately. She sang the shyama sastri grand classic sankari sanguru. about this kriti - this has been rendered with utmost care, finesse, embellishments by some of the great masters of yesteryears. So I can't stop recalling them from my memory bank. And when I recall them most of the other renditions not just fall flat but drop to abysmal depths. (I'll start a thread on GC soon calling some experts in our group also to participate. The call will be over email only, be prepared!!) The tempo, structure are of very high order in this kriti. Actually VR if practices for more hours will deliver much better music than what she did today. She fumbled while singing the neraval & swaras for this kriti.

I would like mention a few words about neraval singing. Infact in my previous post I had mentioned about PSP's accompaniment in Musiri's neraval at v vaishnavi in the thOdi kriti amba nAdhu. This neraval is one of the finest I've heard. In Madurai Somu's concert with Lalgudi, Murugabhoopathy, Viswanatha Sharma & M.Swaminathan at Tiruvayyaru on 19/1/1968 he has sung neraval at vEda sAstra purAna in the panthurvaraLi krit ninnE nEra nammi. I can list atleast 500 such phrases. Coming to neraval singing, its just about elaborating a phrases, am quoting Smr. Suguna Varadhachari's lecdem at Music Academy on dec25, 2010 "in neraval singing for kritis the talam has to be followed as much as the ragam whereas in neraval for RTP we need not follow the talam - meaning the position of the talam and the syllable should be in the same position in kriti neraval for RTP it's not required to be followed". So the bottomline is - the performer has to listen a lot, imbibe the various aspects of the raga, tala, meaning for the phrase elaborated etc. And should practice hard enough to achieve this status. And this will take time and it could be a minimum of 10 odd years, ofcourse prodigies are exemption.

My suggestion to the young performers is to do honest homework of neraval before trying it on stage. They can try some raga phrases, swara singing but if they derail while singing neraval it shows their total lack of understanding.

VR after sAvEri sang kalyani ragam and pankaja lOchana immortalised by SSI. Though his version may not convince the purists he created a magic to satisfy the listener. VR lost control of the shruthi very often which is not commonly seen in performers from US or Europe. Why I say so? Because shruthi alignment is prerequisite in Western classical music and those who are exposed to that form of music will definitely adhere to it. I was told by some members for the Cleveland committee that VR used to be a top performer when she was in the US. Should the lapses be due to her stay in Chennai, has it rubbed off on her like the other habits - traffic violation, unhygienic habits throwing filth all around.

VR you have a good voice which is not too high on the pitch so try to concentrate on it, practice well and then get on to the stage. You will definitely go a long way.