A first for SNA
Exhibition of books on music, dance and drama
- MANNA SRINIVASAN
The Sangeet Natak Akademi (SNA) and the Federation of Indian Publishers
(FIP) jointly organised, for the first time, an Exhibition of Books on Music,
Dance and Drama at the newly developed Hall in the Meghdoot theatre premises,
part of the SNA complex in New Delhi. Inaugurated on 28th April, it
was originally planned for five days; later it was extended by three more
days.
The raison d' etre of the exhibition as stated by the SNA, was the 'near
absence of books on music, dance and drama in the output of the Indian publishing
industry as seen in the National and International Book Fairs' and the 'near
absence of books in the teaching and practice of the performing arts or
discourse in that sphere'. As these were inter-related, the purpose was
to bring the two worlds closer to each other and benefit both.
Karthiayani
Purappad
Reviving a performance tradition
- K.K. GOPALAKRISHNAN
History was recreated on 26th March this year when Karthiayani Purappad
(invocation of Goddess Karthiayani), the fifth act of Kulasekhara Varma's
Subhadra Dhananjayam, was staged in Puthur Tirupuraikkal Devi temple
in Palakkad. For several decades this act was not performed in Koodiyattam
until Usha Nangiar (prima ballerina of Koodiyattam and Nangiar Koothu)
who hails from the traditional community, endeavoured to re-choreograph
it in 2003. No reliable performance history or acting manual is available
for this act. The performance under review was based on Usha Nangiar's
re-choreography in 2003 and her "experience of three stagings including
one in Mumbai."
The appearance of the goddess to solve the problems Arjuna faces while
returning to Indraprastha after his wedding with Subhadra is the core
of the act. This was the first time the play was staged in a temple
with the Devi as the main deity, after its re-choreography.
Manirang
in memory of Neyyattinkara Vasudevan
- SIVARAMAKRISHNAN
Manirang intends to preserve and propagate the music of the late
Neyyattinkara Vasudevan – one of the foremost musicians of Kerala noted
for his classy singing. Instrumental in popularising the compositions
of Swati Tirunal in a big way, he enjoyed a keen following in India
and abroad (see Sruti 287).
Some of the important objectives of Manirang are to bring out the recordings
of Vasudevan and other musicians of Kerala, develop an archives, conduct
workshops, produce publications, documentaries and biographies on related
themes, and organise commemoration events. Sreevalsan J. Menon (a senior
disciple of Vasudevan) is the secretary of the foundation and
N.V. Babu Narayanan, the president. M.A. Baby, Mavelikkara Velukutty
Nair, K. Omanakutty, Trivandrum V. Surendran and a host of luminaries
in the field of arts are patrons of Manirang.
Blessed
by the Bard
Notes from the Cleveland Aradhana 2009
- RAMANATHANN. IYER
It must have something to do with the water of Lake Erie. Maybe it has
an extra-terrestrial bond with the soul of Tyagaraja! How else can we
explain the outsized importance that Cleveland, Ohio – an otherwise
dreary rust-belt town in the American Midwest – has in the Carnatic
music pecking order? We could reason, as my esteemed colleague S. Sowmya
often does jocularly, that Tyagaraja himself has sanctioned these annual
American odysseys by declaiming "amarikaga na pooja konene" in his Arabhi
kriti Sadhinchene O manasa! However, the one indubitable reason for
Cleveland's importance is the dynamism and perseverance of Tyagaraja's
soldiers in the Cleveland Aradhana Committee led by their redoubtable
impresario, V.V. Sundaram. Year after year, Sundaram, Balu and Venkataraman
with the help of their families and friends surmount innumerable obstacles
to manage with élan, the silken hordes of the Carnatic music fraternity
that descend on Cleveland unfailingly during the Easter weekend.
The festival and its history have been well chronicled to the extent
of making another attempt quite superfluous. But there is a mysterious
pull about the event that makes each annual visit worthwhile. What makes
the aradhana stand out is perhaps the intensity – both musical and personal
– that arises out of a multitude of factors. For one, most artists and
rasika-s stay at the Comfort Inn, a modest hostelry whose biggest advantage
is its proximity to Cleveland State University, the venue of the aradhana.
Cleveland's notoriously gloomy weather is the other factor. Though this
year was a glorious exception with plenty of warm sunshine, Easter weekends
every year tend to be loaded with snow, rain, sleet and cloudy skies
confining the attendees to the cozy warmth of the hotel, venturing out
only to scamper across the street to the auditorium! There is no need
even to wander around in search of food, with the Committee importing
a cook all the way from Pittsburgh to satisfy the curd-rice cravings
that accompany the South Indian's appetite for classical music.
It was a first of its kind tour by an all-women's instrumental ensemble
led by Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi along with Sikkil Mala Chandrasekhar, Jaishri
Jairaj, Rajna Swaminathan and Bhagyalakshmi Muralikrishna. To many it
brought memories of the many violin-veena-venu concerts – a concept
developed and delivered many years ago by Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi's guru
and father violin maestro Lalgudi Jayaraman. The concert tour was sponsored
by Sanatana Dharma Foundation and some of the concerts were a fundraiser
to their charity initiative Vidya Daanam (www.vidyadaanam.org)
The group powered by Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi (violin), Sikkil Mala Chandrasekhar
(flute) and Jayshri Jairaj (veena) were ably supported by young Rajna
Swaminathan (mridanga) and Bhagyalakshmi (morsing). The experience and
expertise of Vijayalakshmi and Mala was visible in the way every concert
was rendered.
STATE
OF THE ART
DEBATE
Carnatic music: Trends and Responsibilities-
V. RAMNARAYAN
A rare concert featuring two frontline vocalists in unison set
aficionados thinking about the state of Carnatic music today.
Vijay Siva and T.M. Krishna came together in a probably one-off
demonstration of what two stalwarts belonging to different schools
and sporting different styles complementing each other can do
together on stage by way of enhancing the effect of solo concert
music. Both are die-hard traditionalists when it comes to the
brand of music each projects, the depths each is ready to plumb
to go back to authentic sources, and their adherence to fundamental
musical values. Yet, neither of them is blind to the advantages
of technology, aware that mature musicians not looking for shortcuts
can embrace it without injury to their classicism.
The programme was titled a jugalbandi, a term which instantly
raised visions of sawal jawab, razzmatazz and discordant notes,
not the kind of serenity that pervaded this very special concert.
The varnam, much maligned by critics of the Carnatic system,
hinted at grandeur rather than pyrotechnics. The Viriboni varnam
set the tone for the rest of the evening, suffused with the
warm glow of chaste music, deep feeling and the joy of uninhibited
collaboration. (In this K. Arun Prakash and B.S. Purushothaman
supported the singers on the mridanga and khanjira). The choice
of raga-s and compositions was ripe and orthodox, and the rendering
majestic. Rarely has an experiment met with such unqualified
success. Full marks to Y. Prabhu, the secretary of Sri Krishna
Gana Sabha, who threw the gauntlet, and the musicians, friends
from their YACM days, who accepted the challenge.
Taking Carnatic music to the US
Interview with Lalgudi G.J.R. Krishnan - GAYATHRI SUNDARESAN
It was a rainy day in Madison in May 2008. With grey clouds
hanging low in the sky, Lalgudi G.J.R. Krishnan took time
off from his concert schedule for a cup of Wisconsin's specialty
– their very own ice cream. Speaking to GAYATHRI SUNDARESAN
he allowed his mind to travel back in time to the days when
as a young lad he set foot on alien America in the shadow
of his father, the changes he has observed through the years,
up to the present, when he has attained a standing of his
own as a senior musician.
Music tours then and now
I could say that the first Carnatic music concert tour of
the U.S.A. worth its name was done by my father in 1971.
He took N. Ramani Sir along with him – this was a novel
idea of combining flute and violin in concert! Ramnad Raghavan
accompanied them on the mridanga; Trichy Sankaran too played
for some of the concerts, while some had double mridanga!
They did some 33 concerts on that tour. Travel was not quite
as convenient as now, and communication was only through
snail-mail! Calling home was unthinkable as it was phenomenally
expensive. The artists had to endure all the travails of
being far away from home and hearth. Pioneers always have
to sacrifice so that the successors can benefit!
S. Rajaram was a Carnatic musician, composer and arts administrator.
Born in 1925 in Mysore, he learnt to play the mridanga from
D. Seshappa and Yella Somanna, the jalatarangam from Devendrappa
and vocal music from his famous grandfather Mysore Vasudevacharya.
Rajaram served All India Radio for over three decades and
later Kalakshetra in Chennai as Principal of its College
of Fine Arts. He was appointed Director of the Kalakshetra
Foundation, Chennai in 1995 and served the institution till
2005. He moved to Bengaluru after his retirement.
A prolific composer, Rajaram composed the music for several
dance-dramas produced by Kalakshetra – including some in
the famous Ramayana series, and others like Bhakti Vijayam,
Bhakta Jayadeva, Akka Mahadevi, and Karna Sapatham. When
approached by private organisations and individuals, he
also composed the music for individual items and thematic
presentations like Sakuntalam, Natya Veda, Sree Krishna
Jananam. Rajaram composed a number of varna-s and tillana-s
for solo Bharatanatyam. He travelled widely, leading the
Kalakshetra troupe to festivals in Europe, the Far East,
and the former Soviet Union. He received many prestigious
awards from various sabha-s and institutions including the
central Sangeet Natak Akademi award in 2001.
A theatre person called Habib
Tanvir-BHARATI MANI (Translated
from Tamil by V. RAMNARAYAN)
The news of 85-year-old Habib Tanvir's death on the eighth of
June brought back memories of my association with him in New
Delhi. He was a good human being.
Habib Saab to all his friends, Tanvir was a multifaceted personality,
an outstanding playwright, director, critic, poet and actor
in Hindi and Urdu. He brought the folk riches of his native
Chattisgarh to the attention of the world long before it became
an independent state. He took the people's theatre exclusive
to the villages to the city. Some of his famed plays were
Agra Bazaar (1954), Charandas Chor (1975), Gaon ka Naam Sasural,
Mor Naam Damaad, Kamdeo ka Apna Pasand, Basant Ritu ka Sapna,
Moteram ka Satyagrah, Mitti ki Gadi, Zehrili Hawa, Ponga Pandit,
Jisne Lahore Nahin Dekha and Visarjan. Basant Ritu ka Sapna,
was Habib's brilliant translation of A Midsummer Night's
Dream.
It is a long and narrow thorough-fare that cuts across George Town,
one of the older parts of Madras city. Who Govindappa Naicken was,
nobody knows. But among the oldest educational establishments of
the city is the Govinda Naicker School and it functions close by
at the Pachaiyappa's Hall. As for the street, in keeping with the
Government diktat to remove all caste names, it is simply Govindappa
Street. Today it is dominated by shops and small businesses and
on an average day it is almost impossible to navigate through, with
trucks and lorries, auto-rickshaws, two-wheelers and cars jostling
for space. It has been declared one-way but that makes no difference
and if you are not the variety that walks, a cycle-rickshaw may
be your best bet.
In terms of music, there is nothing but memories left on this street
and even those are fast fading. But before they vanish altogether
let us see why Govindappa Naicken Street merits a sangeeta sthalam
status.
It is a heartwarming tale of two women who took to each other like a
melody to the seven notes. Written by GOWRI RAMNARAYAN, the book is
Radha Viswanathan's tribute to the memory of her mother M.S. Subbulakshmi.
Having played in the Sadasivam household since her childhood, strummed
the tambura for MS in concerts, and having spent 16 unforgettable years
travelling with her and providing vocal support, the author brings a
fine sensitivity to her narration and gives rare insights into "Kunjamma's"
life. In the foreword, Pandit Ravi Shankar says: "MS was not only one
of the greatest musicians of her time, but also a great human being
with such humility and grace." And Gowri Ramnarayan has captured it
all. Sruti hopes to reproduce excerpts from the book from time to time
with the permission of The Suswaralakshmi Foundation for Carnatic Music
and Performing Arts.
A cloud of jasmine
The child was playing in the front room all by herself, though she had
two motherless cousins living in the same house. They were older, and
did not always enter into her games. And this was a game with choppu,
multi-coloured wooden toys of kitchen vessels, which cousin Ambi would
laugh at; and maybe cousin Thangam too, though she could on occasion
enter wholeheartedly into the make-believe. Then, she would want to
have her own way, saying, "Look Radha, this is how you do it." For now,
two-year old Radha was happy to be alone.
Ghatam artist RAVI BALASUBRAMANIAN, narrates an interesting story of
how presence of mind averted a catastrophe. I thank my lucky stars for
my escape from a nightmare in the United States, where I frequently
perform as a ghatam artist. Transporting a ghatam in a plane is always
a challenge – it is too big to carry as hand-baggage and too fragile
to check in without extreme care. My worst fear is to commit to a concert
and end up at the destination with a broken ghatam!
It was April 2006. I was thrilled to receive a call from Beth Bullard,
a professor in George Mason University, to play at the 35th annual meeting
of the American Musical Instrument Society in Vermillion, SD, on 21st
May. Beth was in charge of arranging a Carnatic music concert for the
event. The other artists were Mala Chandrasekhar (flute), Jay Balan
(violin), and Vinod Seetharaman (mridanga). I was very keen to perform
with this excellent team, and Beth eager to showcase the ghatam as a
percussion instrument at the conference. On 21st May, I left eagerly
for the airport with my ghatam packed in my travel case
Imagine a vidwan with a voice as strong as Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar's,
rivalling M.D. Ramanathan in the mandra sthayi prayoga-s, and possessing
sensitivity of a Ramnad Krishnan, the aesthetics of a K.V. Narayanaswamy,
and the scholarship of Dr. S. Ramanathan. We would consider such a person
an un-natural and weird amalgam, a kind of 'kichdi' wouldn't we? The
truth is that 78-year old vocalist Seerkazhi Jayaraman is first and
foremost himself but reminds a serious listener of all these stalwarts
at some point or other in his music. Yet there is no intention on his
part to ape any of them. He turns out to be a down-to-earth and uncluttered
person, not averse to joking about himself, recounting many an adventure,
even misadventures in his life.
A very serious musician in concerts, he has tried his hand, with varying
degrees of success, at devotional music (he was the lead singer in Swami
Haridos Giri's bhajan sessions for ten years), semi classical and light
music, as a tunesmith, acting in radio and stage dramas and a few films
(the only one, Thalaivanukku Oar Thalaivi, in which he had a 'meaty'
role was a monumental flop!), a multitude of jobs and businesses.
'Amma', the Tamil word for mother, can mean many things depending upon
the context in which it is used. Spiritually, it means 'Taayaar', the
mother goddess. To twenty-seven year old vocalist Sumithra Vasudevan
however, it invariably means her guru, vidushi Sangita Kalanidhi R.
Vedavalli. Almost in every other sentence Sumithra speaks, there is
a reference to 'Amma'.
sruti.com
The Sangeet Natak Akademi (SNA) and the Federation of Indian Publishers
(FIP) jointly organised, for the first time, an Exhibition of Books on Music,
Dance and Drama at the newly developed Hall in the Meghdoot theatre premises,
part of the SNA complex in New Delhi. Inaugurated on 28th April, it
was originally planned for five days; later it was extended by three more
days. 
History was recreated on 26th March this year when Karthiayani Purappad
(invocation of Goddess Karthiayani), the fifth act of Kulasekhara Varma's
Subhadra Dhananjayam, was staged in Puthur Tirupuraikkal Devi temple
in Palakkad. For several decades this act was not performed in Koodiyattam
until Usha Nangiar (prima ballerina of Koodiyattam and Nangiar Koothu)
who hails from the traditional community, endeavoured to re-choreograph
it in 2003. No reliable performance history or acting manual is available
for this act. The performance under review was based on Usha Nangiar's
re-choreography in 2003 and her "experience of three stagings including
one in Mumbai." 
Manirang intends to preserve and propagate the music of the late
Neyyattinkara Vasudevan – one of the foremost musicians of Kerala noted
for his classy singing. Instrumental in popularising the compositions
of Swati Tirunal in a big way, he enjoyed a keen following in India
and abroad (see Sruti 287). 
It must have something to do with the water of Lake Erie. Maybe it has
an extra-terrestrial bond with the soul of Tyagaraja! How else can we
explain the outsized importance that Cleveland, Ohio – an otherwise
dreary rust-belt town in the American Midwest – has in the Carnatic
music pecking order? We could reason, as my esteemed colleague S. Sowmya
often does jocularly, that Tyagaraja himself has sanctioned these annual
American odysseys by declaiming "amarikaga na pooja konene" in his Arabhi
kriti Sadhinchene O manasa! However, the one indubitable reason for
Cleveland's importance is the dynamism and perseverance of Tyagaraja's
soldiers in the Cleveland Aradhana Committee led by their redoubtable
impresario, V.V. Sundaram. Year after year, Sundaram, Balu and Venkataraman
with the help of their families and friends surmount innumerable obstacles
to manage with élan, the silken hordes of the Carnatic music fraternity
that descend on Cleveland unfailingly during the Easter weekend. 
It was a first of its kind tour by an all-women's instrumental ensemble
led by Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi along with Sikkil Mala Chandrasekhar, Jaishri
Jairaj, Rajna Swaminathan and Bhagyalakshmi Muralikrishna. To many it
brought memories of the many violin-veena-venu concerts – a concept
developed and delivered many years ago by Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi's guru
and father violin maestro Lalgudi Jayaraman. The concert tour was sponsored
by Sanatana Dharma Foundation and some of the concerts were a fundraiser
to their charity initiative Vidya Daanam (www.vidyadaanam.org) 
A rare concert featuring two frontline vocalists in unison set
aficionados thinking about the state of Carnatic music today.
Vijay Siva and T.M. Krishna came together in a probably one-off
demonstration of what two stalwarts belonging to different schools
and sporting different styles complementing each other can do
together on stage by way of enhancing the effect of solo concert
music. Both are die-hard traditionalists when it comes to the
brand of music each projects, the depths each is ready to plumb
to go back to authentic sources, and their adherence to fundamental
musical values. Yet, neither of them is blind to the advantages
of technology, aware that mature musicians not looking for shortcuts
can embrace it without injury to their classicism. 
It was a rainy day in Madison in May 2008. With grey clouds
hanging low in the sky, Lalgudi G.J.R. Krishnan took time
off from his concert schedule for a cup of Wisconsin's specialty
– their very own ice cream. Speaking to GAYATHRI SUNDARESAN
he allowed his mind to travel back in time to the days when
as a young lad he set foot on alien America in the shadow
of his father, the changes he has observed through the years,
up to the present, when he has attained a standing of his
own as a senior musician.
S. Rajaram was a Carnatic musician, composer and arts administrator.
Born in 1925 in Mysore, he learnt to play the mridanga from
D. Seshappa and Yella Somanna, the jalatarangam from Devendrappa
and vocal music from his famous grandfather Mysore Vasudevacharya.
Rajaram served All India Radio for over three decades and
later Kalakshetra in Chennai as Principal of its College
of Fine Arts. He was appointed Director of the Kalakshetra
Foundation, Chennai in 1995 and served the institution till
2005. He moved to Bengaluru after his retirement.
The news of 85-year-old Habib Tanvir's death on the eighth of
June brought back memories of my association with him in New
Delhi. He was a good human being.
It is a long and narrow thorough-fare that cuts across George Town,
one of the older parts of Madras city. Who Govindappa Naicken was,
nobody knows. But among the oldest educational establishments of
the city is the Govinda Naicker School and it functions close by
at the Pachaiyappa's Hall. As for the street, in keeping with the
Government diktat to remove all caste names, it is simply Govindappa
Street. Today it is dominated by shops and small businesses and
on an average day it is almost impossible to navigate through, with
trucks and lorries, auto-rickshaws, two-wheelers and cars jostling
for space. It has been declared one-way but that makes no difference
and if you are not the variety that walks, a cycle-rickshaw may
be your best bet. 
It is a heartwarming tale of two women who took to each other like a
melody to the seven notes. Written by GOWRI RAMNARAYAN, the book is
Radha Viswanathan's tribute to the memory of her mother M.S. Subbulakshmi.
Having played in the Sadasivam household since her childhood, strummed
the tambura for MS in concerts, and having spent 16 unforgettable years
travelling with her and providing vocal support, the author brings a
fine sensitivity to her narration and gives rare insights into "Kunjamma's"
life. In the foreword, Pandit Ravi Shankar says: "MS was not only one
of the greatest musicians of her time, but also a great human being
with such humility and grace." And Gowri Ramnarayan has captured it
all. Sruti hopes to reproduce excerpts from the book from time to time
with the permission of The Suswaralakshmi Foundation for Carnatic Music
and Performing Arts.
Ghatam artist RAVI BALASUBRAMANIAN, narrates an interesting story of
how presence of mind averted a catastrophe. I thank my lucky stars for
my escape from a nightmare in the United States, where I frequently
perform as a ghatam artist. Transporting a ghatam in a plane is always
a challenge – it is too big to carry as hand-baggage and too fragile
to check in without extreme care. My worst fear is to commit to a concert
and end up at the destination with a broken ghatam! 