ISSN 0970— 3101 THE JOURNAL OF THE MUSIC ACADEMY DEVOTED TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE SCIENCE AND ART OF MUSIC Vol. LIX. 1988 m 5WT fwgtftr RTTT II “ I dwell notin Vaikuntha, nor in the hearts of Yogins nor in the Sun : (but) where my bhaktas sing, there be I, Narada!" Edited by : T. S. PARTHASARATHY The Music Academy Madras 306, T. T. K. Road, Madras-600014. Annual Subscription - Inland-Rs. 20 : Foreign $ 3*00 OURSELVES Tbit JqpRtai is as All correspondence relating to the Journal should be addressed and all books etc., intended for it should be sent to The Editor, Journal of the Music Academy, 306, Mowbray’s Road, Madras*#*) OK, t Articles on music and dance are accepted for publication on the understanding that they are contributed solely to the Journal of the Music Academy. Manuscripts should be legibly written or, preferably, type­ written (double-spaced and on one side of the paper only) and should be signed by the writer (giving his or her address in full). The Editor of tbe Journal is not responsible for the views ex­ pressed by contributors in their articles. The publicatioh of this issue was partly financed by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi. CONTENTS PAGE The 61st Madras Music Conference—Official Report 1 Proceedings of the Experts Committee 34 The Sadas 51 Music in the Natya Sastra 60 Bharat Gupt Vina - Symbol of Indian Music S3 T. S. Parthasarathy Kathakali 90* Brinda Varadarajan Tyagaraja’s View of the Divine (Rama) 99 William Jackson The Parrot - Its Greatness and as a Messenger 120* Sudharani Raghupathy Mela-Raga-Malika of Maha Vaidyanatha Sivan 127 Vidya Shankar Rare Forms in Bharata Natyam 140 Vyjayantimala Bali Sangita Raghavam cf Rama Kavi 144 Gowri Kuppuswamy A M. Hariharan Tbe Origin and Development of the Gottu Vadyam 152 Gayatri R. Kassebaum A Perspective of Tandava & Lasya 158 Rekha R. Sharma Folk Songs in Karnataka 174 Josef Kuckertz Book Reviews 180 T. S. Parthasarathy THE 61st MADRAS MUSIC CONFERENCE OFFICIAL REPORT THE OPENING DAY 18—12—1987 The 61st Annual Conference of the Music Academy, Madras, was held at the T. T. Krishnamachari Auditorium in the premises of the Academy, 306, Tr T*. K. Road, Madras-600 014 from the 18th December 1987 to 4th January 1988 with a break of three days in the middle from 24—12—1987 to 26—12—1987 due to the sad demise of Dr. M. G. Ramachandran, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. The Conference was inaugurated by Sangita Kalanidhi Dr. M. S. Subbulakshmi on 18—12—1987. The inaugural function began with the singing of prayer by Smt. Malathi Janardhanan and Kum. Girija. MESSAGES Sri S. Natarajan, Secretary of the Academy, read messages received for the success of the Conference. The President of the Academy, Sri T. T. Vasu, welcomed the distinguished guests, members of the Academy and the public. In his address, Sri Vasu said : "Sangita Kalanidhi Dr. M.S. Subbulakshmi, Vidwan B. Rajam Iyer, Members of the Academy and the Experts Committee, dist­ inguished invitees, Vidwans and Vidushis, ladies and gentlemen : With great pleasure I extend to all of you a warm welcome to the inauguration of the 61st Conference of the Academy and the concerts that have been arranged from this evening onwards. At the outset, I extend a hearty welcome to Dr. Subbulakshmi who was gracious enough to accede to our request to inaugurate this Conference. As you are all aware, we made a major and significant departure from our usual procedure for the inauguration of our Conferences from last year. We decided to invite veteran 2 THE JOURNAL OF THE MADRAS MUSIC ACADEMY [Vol. L1X musicians to inaugurate our Conferences and last year, which marked our 60th Conference, the obvious choice was Sangita Kalanidhi Dr. Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, the doyen among our musicians who is connected with this Academy since its inception in 1927. Following the new practice, we could not, for this year, think of a better choice than Dr. Subbulakshmi, one of the out­ standing figures in the sphere of music in the post-independence India, who is closely associated with our Academy for many decades. It is needless for me to elaborate on her unquestioned supremacy in the music field and her eminence which cuts across geographical boundaries. Her attainments, her passionate pursuit of artistic excellence, her efforts to retrieve and revitalize classical Carnatic music, her magnanimous use of her talents for national, public and humanitarian causes and her services to strengthen the bhakti marga through music are too well-known to need recapitu­ lation here. We thank her for the enormous interest taken by her in the progress of this Academy and her memorable recital on the 14th of last month which gave us a sizeable income. Dr. M.S. Subbulakshmi gave her first recital at this Academy in 1935 when she was 19 years of age, a rare honour in those days for a young artiste. Since then she has performed on 33 occasions, the last performance being her rapturous recital on November 14, already mentioned by me. She presided over our 42nd Annual Conference in 1968 and received the title of Sangita Kalanidhi. It was the first time in the annals of this Academy that a lady artiste was chosen to preside over our Conference. MS presided over the Sadas of the 58th Conference on 1 st January 1985 and this year we have the privilege of her inaugurating our 61 st Conference. As a token of our regard and gratitude to her for this long and fruitful connection with this Academy, we have brought out a short memoir which furnishes full details of her unique career as a musician, rare photographs taken with many celebrities of the world and a list of over 200 concerts given by her for charitable purposes. The souvenir will be on sale at our book stall for a nominal price of fifteen rupees. THE 61ST MADRAS MUSIC CONFERENCE 3 I extend to Vidwan B. Rajam Iyer, the President-elect of this Conference, a warm and hearty welcome. Sri Rajam Iyer is one of the most respected among the vocalists in Carnatic music with an impeccable record of adherence to tradition and maintenance of the highest standards in the practice of the art. He is one of the torch-bearers of the glorious style of his Guru, Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar, who was known as the 'complete musician' during his life time. Iyengar evolved a concert pattern of shorter duration but packed all the elements of traditional musical offerings into his new format. Sri Rajafn.lyer has an enviable record as a perfor­ mer, teacher and musicologist and has been rendering Yeoman service to this Academy as a member of our Experts Committee and as our collaborator in the preparation of a Tamil edition of the Sangita Samoradaya Pradarsini. He is presently the Principal of our Teachers College of Music and continues his close association with us in our activities. We look forward to his able guidance in the discussions and demonstrations during our morning sessions of this Conference. I am very happy to announce that Pandit Ravi Shankar, the most widely known Indian artiste, has not only agreed to give a Sitar recital on January 2nd, after a gap of many years, but has also agreed to preside over our Sadas on January 3. This is a matter of great prestige to this Academy because Panditji is one of our most versatile instrumentalists who has taken our music to the farthest corners of the globe and has popularised it in many coun­ tries of the world. He is perhaps the first among Indian musicians to treat Carnatic ragas in the North Indian style and his participa­ tion in our festival this year is an epoch-making event. So far as our mid-year activities are concerned, 1987 was a most memorable year. In Association with the International Dance Alliance Limited, we celebrated the International Dance Week on on the 19th and 20th January 1987, as a tribute to Smt. Rukmini Devi, in which 15 prominent dance artistes of Madras performe^ on the stage. During the same month, the Department of Cultu­ ral Affairs of the Government of Uttar Pradesh arranged a series 4 THE JOURNAL OF THE MADRAS MUSIC ACADEMY [Vol. LIX of culural programmes at this auditorium in which renowned artistes Jike Ustad Bismiiiah Khan, Smt N. Rajam, Smt. Girija. Devi and Sri Birju Maharaj took part. Admission to the perfor­ mances was by invitation and a large number of connoisseurs attended these perfomances. Another matter of joy for all of us is that our Academy earned the prestigious honour being selected for the 'best cultural org­ anisation award ' by the Tamil Nadu Eyal, Isai, Nataka Manram. At a function presided over by Tamil Nadu Governor, Shri S. L Khurana, I, on behalf of the Academy, received the shield on 26th January from Dr. M. G. Ramachandran, Chief Minister. Thanks to a munificent endowment made by Shri Obul Reddy for the celebration of the Tyagaraja Day, the Saint's Aradhana was celebrated in the Academy on February 1, 1987. In the morning there was Veda Parayanam followed by the singing of the Pancha Ratna Kritis of Tyagaraja by more than fifty vidwans. In the evening there were music recitals by Dr. Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer and Vidwan K. V. Narayanaswamy. The Syama Sastri Day was celebrated by the Academy on April 24 when Vidwan Maharajapuram Santhanam gave a recital of kritis of Sastri. The Kasturi Srinivasan Hall was packed to capa­ city and Shri Santhanam gave a moving performance.