A Seasoned Menu on Offer Lalita Ramakrishna
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COVER STORY MUSIC SEASON 2014-15 A seasoned menu on offer Lalita Ramakrishna he audience was given a well summarily dispensed with, when elusive quality that gives the rasika seasoned music menu for this two thirds of the concert was over. an experience that is beyond words. season. The young musicians While performing RTP, the kalpana T Bhava occurs when sufficient were truly impressive. We will swara portion had a mix of different have to redraw the picture of a ragas and this further “diluted” the importance is given to karvai. We still ‘vidwan’ in our imagination. main raga taken up for elaboration. talk of the “MS gandharam” because The musician of 2014 is not a What the audience experienced when she hit the tara sthayi gandhara greying bhagavatar but an eager was mixed fare, not an in-depth she allowed her rich voice to savour modern vidwan. Today’s performers presentation. it; and thereby she carried the wish “to communicate” and reach listeners to inexpressible non-verbal out to the audience instead of being Kalpana swara heights. Bhava is a special quality immersed inside an ivory tower of During long kalpana swara sequence that appears in the music when the their own making. in the past, there was less of gamaka is highlighted and when “kanakku” and mathematical korvais. a musician puts his “whole Speed seems to attract the young consciousness” into the raga alapa. performer, and this is at the cost of In the past, there was criticism of The great quality in the music of the azhuttam which pertains to both raga the vocalist “trying to be like the late Mandolin Shrinivas was his total and tone, and affects the presentation mridangist” focussing on intricate immersion into the raga. He dipped of the raga swaroopa. Todi and mathematical combinations, and into the ocean of raga, drowned in it Anandabhairavi rendered in fast at times making the swara phrases and came out leaving the listeners rolling sequences leave the audience too sharp as if they were cut with a feeling cheated. In Carnatic music, knife. “Why is the vocalist sounding breathless by the bhava of each the beauty of gamakam is cherished. like a mridangist by focussing only on gamaka and each phrase. When there is unnecessary speed, the calculation and patterning of swara the clarity of raga phrases and phrases?” the critics asked last year. sahitya suffer. It was a great relief for rasikas that kalpana swara endings did not blindly There is a difference between the copy mridanga jatis – it was enjoyable slow movement of Hindustani raga to be able to find the raga swaroopa music and that of Carnatic music even in the intricate korvais and because what we need is not slow travel from one swara to another but ending muktayipu of kalpana a whole phrase – not just one swara swaras. There was less of “uruttal” – that is approached from different (rolling over notes) and more of angles. sustained karvai of single notes. And the swara that was highlighted showed various ways of approaching “ The musician of 2014 it – like gliding upwards to the swara is not a greying bhagavatar from the lower register or sliding but an eager modern vidwan ” down from the higher note. Raga swaroopa and Ragam tanam and pallavi raga bhava U. Shrinivas AKIRA IO The ragam-tanam-pallavi did not get The focus was on “raga swaroopa”. The key phrases of well known the importance traditionally reserved However, in a recital of a higher level ragas deserve to be highlighted for it. This prized musical form was one also expects “raga bhava” – that in every concert. Vidwan Lalgudi 16 l SRUTI February 2015 tempo is natural to a particular voice the words of the sahitya because sounds best as there is no straining or they present rich associations of stretching. ancient myths and vital icons of our culture. It was fashionable in the Instead of reaching for the heights of past to criticise Carnatic music for the tara sthayi, many vocalists plunged highlighting the sahitya whereas its into the mandara sthayi to explore its northern counterpart focussed almost beauties. One of the top musicians exclusively only on raga alapa. As explored the tara sthayi gandhara usual, the golden mean lies between and presented tonal shades. In fact the the two extremes. deep “huuumm” sounded like the raga phrase going through a tunnel! More The divine in Hindu culture is rich volume and overstated energy are with physical, intellectual, and counter to the tonal shades required emotional images. These invoke the by a raga. exquisite nature of the divine with its myriad kaleidoscopic images. Focus on less known ragas Divinity is enjoyed in the form of Lalgudi Jayaraman a naughty child, a lovely maiden, or There was a trend this season of in fierce forms such as Narasimha or Jayaraman would compare raga singing extensive alapana in less Durga riding on a lion. Thus kritis alapana to a flowing river that known ragas like Kannada and and especially niraval, that present remains firmly connected to its distant Malayamarutam. This maybe a a phrase from different angles, earn source in the mountain while it novel trend but nothing can take intense audience rapport. fulfils the needs of people on the the place of our ancient ragas. The plains. real diamonds are our traditional It was refreshing to find good young ragas Bhairavi, Kambhoji, Todi and musicians appearing in the top slot. Pitch and tempo others of their vintage. These have It means Carnatic music is truly The tara sthayi takes on a shrill been tempered by great vidwans young although it is 2010 years of tone which is undesirable and each of the past whose echoes are built age – counting from the year of musician should savour the range into them. We will always hear the Brihaddesi. and sthayi which is comfortable and echoes of the past masters in the natural for his or her voice. A rich main ragas and this gives them the “It was refreshing to find bhava laden voice is pleasing, so the additional sheen. good young musicians artist need not attempt to cover all What is the divine component? appearing in the top slot the three sthayis. The same applies ” to speed of raga phrases. Whatever In Carnatic music, we cherish (The author is a Music scholar and writer) An addictive annual dose of music A.R.S. Mani t is an addiction to be in Chennai Abhishek Raghuram’s concert at for the music season. The MFAC. The first point to be made is Iconcerts are only one aspect of regarding the audio system. Unlike it. The festive atmosphere is not to in the previous years, it was quite be missed. It is time to catch up with stable, there was no waving of hands old acquaintances and refresh the taste from the usually annoyed audience. buds with varieties of traditional food I sincerely hope it was not a one-off items. Musicians might disappoint, experience. As for the concert, starting sometimes; but the caterers never! with Vanajakshi (Kalyani Ata tala COURTESY: THE MUSIC ACADEMY THE MUSIC COURTESY: Here are my impressions on the varnam), Abhishek did not render some of the concerts and lec-dems I any major alapana. He sang a brief attended. and melodious Charukesi raga for the Concerts kriti Adamodigalade (Tyagaraja). His eduppu for the kriti, was at ‘maata’ I made my entry into Music Season which was a change from the usual 2014 – only as a rasika – through Abhishek Raghuram ‘adamodi’. On a lighter note, it 18 l SRUTI February 2015.