To enjoy unlimited reading of Sruti online LETTERS Subscribe to Magzter GOLD For queries, contact [email protected] or log in and chat with a representative on www.magzter.com SRUTI BOX Chat lines are open 24x7. Hariharasubramania Iyer well as other times of the year. It would himself acknowledged, they are be useful to rasikas and students living standing on the shoulders of giants The article on guru Vechoor outside Chennai. and are able to see far. They are well Hariharasubramania Iyer of Trivandrum educated, technologically savvy, keen is a well documented and interesting S.K. Anil Murthy by email learners and have a far better voice portrayal of the esteemed musician. culture than the giants of the past. They Thanks to the author C. Ramakrishnan P.V. Krishnamoorthy are dedicated and have chosen classical for sparing no effort to collate minute music as a career which is none-too- details of the personality and present it Most of us had only heard of this promising, what with dwindling and in a delectable manner. Although I have great man, more as a brother of the ageing audiences. Their only sources not heard of any concert of Vechoor in late irrepressible Subbudu. Coming to of a neat income seem to be foreign Bengaluru, I had a couple of students know of his pioneering contributions tours and ‘fusion’ programmes. Local from Kerala who had been his students. to various forms of music and dance, remunerations are paltry, with almost nil Their pathantaram was solid and the working for All India Radio and gate collections. Affluent sponsors keep kritis had been nicely taught by Vechoor. Doordarshan, I am overcome by awe the show going. We look forward to reading more such and admiration. His joie de vivre, at the gems. age of 97, is infectious. May he continue The average attendance is about 25 to enjoy good health and complete a to 40 per cent of the seating capacity. I also take this opportunity to thank Sruti century and more. Eighty per cent are senior citizens and for organising the lecdems on Tyagaraja their attendance span is between 45 and in December 2017 and the exhaustive # I respectfully differ from the opinions 75 minutes. They want as many pieces coverage by your team which appeared of your reader that depth is lacking in as possible within this and have little in the March issue. I request you to cover today’s music and that most musicians patience for an elaborate alapana. With the lecdems, especially by artists like do not present less known ragas and all these constraints, gifted artists have Sriram Parasuram, R.K. Shriramkumar, kritis (Sruti Box, Sruti, May 2018). I to strike a balance and present a good, Malladi Brothers, Suguna Varadachari, am a regular concertgoer, though of memorable performance. and R.S. Jayalakshmi who speak on late less regular. There is an abundant diverse and rare topics in the lecdem crop of good quality musicians who Here are a few examples of rare ragas sessions at the Parthasarathi Swami are competing for opportunities. The and compositions featured in the last few Sabha during the December season, as youngsters are aware that as Newton months, post December season. By super seniors: Bombay Sisters - Samugana nilva in Kokilavarali. O.S. Thyagarajan - Sattaneli dinamulu in Naganandini. SUBSCRIBERS, PLEASE NOTE By seniors: G.J.R. Krishnan - Eti v yochanalu in Kiranavali (elaborately If you do not receive Sruti by the 25th of every month, treated by GNB over 70 years ago), inform us immediately by email at T.M. Krishna - Vachamagocharame in Kaikavasi. Sanjay Subrahmanyan [email protected] is phenomenal in experimenting with so that we can send you a replacement copy. new ragas and many new compositions v especially in Tamil. He sings many For complaints received within the next month, the of Koteeswara Iyer’s compositions replacement copy will be sent after deducting postage. in ragas like Jyotiswaroopini and v Neetimati. In one concert, he sang Please note that postage and the cost of issue Janaranjani and Vidajaladura, a will be deducted piece in Patdeep, and as a climax, if complaint is received after two months. he resurrected the classic and grand Koniyadi in Kambhoji. By sub-seniors: 6 l SRUTI June 2018 Sumitra Vasudev - a rather unfamiliar Simhendramadhyamam, Vallabha The seven tithis rendered by the Carnatic Begada varnam Maracheentlunte by nayakasya in Begada, Palimchu group, led by Srividya Kuruganty, Patnam Subramania Iyer. Saketaraman Kamakshi in Madhyamavati, Inta Jayshree Sarma and myself were triteeya - Ninaikkada neramillai in Ragesree saukhyamanine in Kapi, and so on. This (Akshaya triteeya), chaturthi (Ganesa popularised by Madurai Somu. is probably what the reader had in mind. Chaturthi), shashti (Lord Subramanya) Kunnakudi Balamuralikrishna - a tillana Dr. R. Narasimhan , saptami (Soorya), ekadasi (Vishnu), in Suddha Sarang. Youngsters: Brinda Chennai dwadasi (Tulasi), and trayodasi Manickavasakan sang Chandrajyoti (Sivaratri). These tithis were based on and Sasivadana. Jayakrishnan - Rejuvenating cultural ties the compositions of Papanasam Sivan, Vinanasakoni in Pratapavarali. I would like to share with your readers Muthuswami Dikshitar, the Alwars, Purandaradasa and Tyagaraja. The Kunrathur Venkatesan and many an interesting musical event in Paris. Carnatic group had the privilege of others play raga Nagavalli and the The “Groupe de Réflexion Franco- sharing the stage with professional artist composition Pesum deivam on the Indien” in France celebrated its 28th Bhavana Pradyumna who enthralled nagaswaram. These are just a few from annual day on the 13 May 2018, with the audience with two songs— the concerts I attended or heard over a musical event on the theme Tithis: Sooryamoortey, a composition of AIR. There must be more from concerts Divine days. The event was held at the Muthuswami Dikshitar, and Kalyanam which I did not attend. Musicians like Indira Gandhi hall in the Maison de Tulasi Kalyanam, a composition of Abhishek Raghuram and Shashank are l’Inde, Cité Universitaire, Paris. Purandaradasa. The song Pallandu very innovative. The music group was launched in pallandu rendered in Nata raga by the I conclude with a sample from overseas. the 1990s. The musicians, mostly group with chittaswarams was fast yet College going sisters Maya and amateurs and a few professionals, soulful. Malavi Ravindran from the US (my hail from Afghanistan, Argentina, It was interesting to watch twenty granddaughters) have been singing Bangladesh, France, India, Sri Lanka musicians, from the Hindustani and during the season for the past five and Germany. For every annual event, Carnatic styles, perform the concluding years or so and they always introduce the members choose a theme and build song Guruashtakam (a composition of some novelty. In over five concerts up a programme with a choice of songs. Adi Sankaracharya) in perfect harmony they sang raga Roopavati and the This year, the songs were based on the and unison. Their performance bridged composition Ne morabettidhe, Dhenuka festivals that fall on a particular tithi the south, north, east and the west. and Bindumalini; and a ragam-tanam- (day)—hence the name “divine days”. pallavi in six ragas—Mohanam, Vasanti, Of the fifteen tithis, the Hindustani For those of us who have migrated and Revagupti, Rasikaranjani, Sivaranjani group, under the guidance of Jayashree settled down in different parts of the and Bhoopalam. Majumder and Aparna Sreedhar, chose world, such events are very significant to sing songs highlighting seven tithis. There is another criticism of fast singing in rejuvenating our cultural ties with Aparna Sreedhar and Deepak Mathur India. by young vocalists. They do so for a few sang mellifluous bhajans for the songs in youthful exuberance, but will prathama (Govardhan Pooja), ashtami It was a joy to be a part of this show, settle down to a more leisurely rendition (Krishna jayanti), and navami (Rama where you get an opportunity to watch in due course. They may resort to fast navami) tithis. Jayashree Majumder and listen to amateurs and mature artists brigas occasionally in order to catch presented pleasing Rabindra Sangeet for perform. The credit goes to Lalitha attention. the panchami tithi, and the rendering of Badrinath who works tirelessly to make My lament is that most sing the Aigiri Nandini by the Hindustani group these shows a grand success. same compositions in any particular made the audience’s pulse throb with Cynthia Srikanth raga, like Ninne nammitinayya in the vibrations. by email 8 l SRUTI June 2018.