An evening @ Coimbatore

makham · Post by **makham** » 07 Jul 2009, 11:11

While on a one-day trip to Coimbatore, happened to attend the following concert

Kunnakudi M Balamuralikrishna : Vocal
Anayampatti Venkatasubramaniam: Violin
Tanjore Ramdas: Mridangam

Organizer: Rajalakshmi Fine Arts, Coimbatore
Venue: Dr GKD Auditorium@ GK Naidu Memorial Hospital
Date & Time: 05/07/09 6.20 - 9 PM

Song list:

1. Viriboni varnam - Bhairavi
2. Vallabha nayakasya - Begada
3. Inka dhayaraaledhaa - Chakravakam (NS) - Patnam
4. Nannu brovani kintha thaamasamaa - Abhogi
5. Muruga Muruga - Saveri (Detailed ragam)
6. O Jagadhamba - Ananda bhairavi
7. Sreekanthani - Bhavapriya
8. Etavunaraa - Kalyani (R N S T)
9. Ramanai tharuvai - Sindhubhairavi
10. Thillana - Khamas - Patnam
11. Eru mayileri vilayadum + pavamana + mangalam Kosalendhraya

The concert fitted well into the traditional pattern. The violinist trained in the Parur school (by MS Anantharaman and Sons) sounded a bit rusted and off practice. Ramdas trained in the Palghat Mani Iyer tradition did all his best in trying to raise the effectiveness of the concert.

One sore point that stood out was the vocalist repeatedly singing "Pankajaasanaadhi amara vandhitha"

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 07 Jul 2009, 11:26

Is it Kundrakudi M. Balamuralikrishna or Kunnakudi M Balamuralikrishna. Alternatively are the two places the same?

makham · Post by **makham** » 07 Jul 2009, 12:30

mohan

your question made me do some searches. From what I found the singer under reference is indeed Kunnakudi as mentioned in the post (same prefix as for Vaidyanathan). Kunnakudi and Kundrakudi are indeed different places - the former is near Tiruvannamalai and the latter near Karaikudi.

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 07 Jul 2009, 16:30

[quote="makham"]
Will the concert keep ringing in the ears at least for the next one week: No

This is an enigma for me. Every component comprising the concert was right - shruti shuddam, clear diction, manodharmam, laya sense etc. But the overall effect was at best fleeting. The "whole"

Rasika911 · Post by **Rasika911** » 07 Jul 2009, 17:44

[quote="rshankar"][quote="makham"]
Will the concert keep ringing in the ears at least for the next one week: No

This is an enigma for me. Every component comprising the concert was right - shruti shuddam, clear diction, manodharmam, laya sense etc. But the overall effect was at best fleeting. The "whole"

Jigyaasa · Post by **Jigyaasa** » 07 Jul 2009, 20:39

[quote="makham"]

One sore point that stood out was the vocalist repeatedly singing "Pankajaasanaadhi amara vandhitha"

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 07 Jul 2009, 21:57

Makham,
That was a very nice review. You brought the Coimbatore concert scene to us and it makes us want to listen to music in such a good hall.

jigyaasa,
Wonder if he sang it a 'dyAmara' or 'dhAymara' as makham says. Funny, when singers don't pronounce 'dha' sounds as 'da', you do not mind that much, but repeating over and over again the 'dha' sound when 'da' is what is called for can be a bit annoying. Yes, inappropriate splitting of words can be annoying too, but musically in some cases, it cannot be helped.
Too many mispronunciations can distract you too from the music, however good it is. I am not saying it is easy for the vocalists to master all the languages, let alone one. However, when the meaning of the line gets altered by it, it has to be watched. If the singer asks, 'how many listeners know or are particular about this?', I would say, not many. By the same token, are the musicians lax about svarAs and about singing rAgams saying 'how many in the audience know that much music?' My point is that while it is not easy to be perfect in singing the lyrics, they should try and give a bit more attention to them. I do agree that the problem is there because it has been this way with many of the teachers too.
Not many know any language other than their own. They should at least sing the words correctly in their own languages, and make an effort in getting the words right when they learn a new song in any language. Listening to veterans who were and are particular about it helps. KVN in tamizh, for example. I do see the difficulty in achieving this. Words might have altered during the course of time (the way they have been handed down). I have no problem there if the substituted word does not alter the meaning. There are no means of checking it with the sAhitya kartAs, of course!
All I am saying is that learning the sAhityA with care would be beneficial to the singer if he/she takes the trouble to know the meaning of the words that he/she sings. The emotive aspect of the presentation would be richer.
Perhaps all my ramblings on this could result in lesser number of singers wanting to sing my comopositions during my life time

Jigyaasa · Post by **Jigyaasa** » 11 Jul 2009, 00:05

arasi wrote:jigyaasa,
Wonder if he sang it a 'dyAmara' or 'dhAymara' as makham says.

It is evident that the reviewer has written what we have referred to as da as dha probably because he connotes da to be the written equivalent of Da (as in, say, Darn) This is verified by his having spelt vandita as vandhita. Obviously, no one, and I definitely don't think Sri Balamuralikrishna would pronounce it as vandhita. Anyway, such a triviality might not merit such verbose deliberation.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 11 Jul 2009, 08:31

Yes, such a verbose deliberation is not necassary, but even if one or two vocalists happen to read about the need for paying attention to words that they sing, it may sharpen their awareness about singing the words right...

Jigyaasa · Post by **Jigyaasa** » 11 Jul 2009, 16:25

Indeed... Let's hope it does...

VK RAMAN · Post by **VK RAMAN** » 11 Jul 2009, 19:02

In listening and enjoying the music, how many pay attention to each word how it is pronounced?

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 11 Jul 2009, 21:26

Not many, VKR, but don't you think it is nice if rasikAs pay attention too? Otherwise, the impact of sAhityam which lives one with svarams will be lost to us at some point. Then, a few in the coming generatios might want to rediscover sAhityam to fully appreciate CM. WHo knows?
Having said that, I would add that knowing the meaning a song and particularly the pallavi and neraval line will add bhAvam to their presentation. Needless to say, it helps rasikAs appreciate the music even more. I keep thinking: if they would go to the trouble of learning a song thoroughly to make it concert-worthy, why won't they, with all the translations we have for them, do their home work? Even if the pATAntaram is faulty, they can surely check the books or web sites...

Sundara Rajan · Post by **Sundara Rajan** » 12 Jul 2009, 07:55

Exactly, Arasi. Vocalists who spend enormous amount of time to memorise and practise compositions SHOULD spend a little more time to UNDERSTAND the meaning and correct pronunciation in order to convey the spirit of the composition as well, besides its musical beauty. I have heard vocalists sing : narasimha gaccha (go, narasimha) instead of narasimha AAgaccha ( come, narasimha). I can give several such examples.

srinivasrgvn · Post by **srinivasrgvn** » 12 Jul 2009, 07:58

Well sundara rajan,
The evergreen example is one that was cited by Sri Mahaperiyava himself:

"I do not know if you sing the kriti 'SankarAchAryam' (Sri Subbarama Sastri's Sankarabharanam kriti), but Veena Dhanamma's family, Semmangudi Seenu, MS sing this. There is a line 'paramAdvaita sthApana leelam' - means 'one who so easily, like a game, founded the great Advaita philosophy' - it is to be sung with stress on the 'A' of 'Advaita' (Paramacharya sings this line) to give the intended meaning. If we really cared, we can, even without proper training, sing with proper meaning. Those I mentioned above also sing properly.

But those who do not care, stretch the 'paramAAAA' and then sing 'dwaita sthApana leelam', converting the Advaita Acharya to Dwaita Acharya! (laughs heartily for a long time) "No doubt, in music, there is no Dvaita - Advaita difference. Only music is important. And music makes the mind of the singer into unison with the song - the protagonist of the song. That is why, 'ShrI SubrahmanyAya namasthE' is attached to you - a Vaishnavite - or you are attached to it! I have heard you sing that song. I do not have to say anything about your musical ability; and the sahitya part too you do correctly. Which is why I have called you here.

His Holiness said this when he addressed Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar.

musicfan_4201 · Post by **musicfan_4201** » 12 Jul 2009, 11:58

Some of the musicians who have emphasised stress in sahitya and had excellent command over the language (telugu/sanskrit in particular) are MDR, GNB, Voleti, TKR, Vairam, MLV, Kalyanaraman, BMK, MSS, DKP, DKJ. This perhaps stems out of the command and understanding of the language.
Srinivasrgvn - Listen to the sankarAchAryam version of voleti accompanied by Lalgudi and VR. It is a splendid and soulful rendition.

fuddyduddy · Post by **fuddyduddy** » 14 Jul 2009, 03:20

actually, kunnakudi bmk is also a musician who gives a lot of stress to pronunciation and meaning. was lucky enuff to have a few conversations about some thyagaraja songs and he seemed to know word to word meanings as well as the correct pronunciations.. i wonder if this was an accidental slip or maybe he did sing it right but sometimes with the speed of how its sung, it could sound either way..

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 14 Jul 2009, 03:58

BTW, before this gets out of hand, it looks like there is no slip of any kind, as Jigyaasa wrote above.

cacm · Post by **cacm** » 14 Jul 2009, 09:15

fuddyduddy wrote:actually, kunnakudi bmk is also a musician who gives a lot of stress to pronunciation and meaning. was lucky enuff to have a few conversations about some thyagaraja songs and he seemed to know word to word meanings as well as the correct pronunciations.. i wonder if this was an accidental slip or maybe he did sing it right but sometimes with the speed of how its sung, it could sound either way..

He is one of the few CURRENT DAY musicians who is quite knowledgeable in the telugu compositions that I have come across.That clearly makes his singing more complete. VKV

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 14 Jul 2009, 09:39

makham wrote:mohan

your question made me do some searches. From what I found the singer under reference is indeed Kunnakudi as mentioned in the post (same prefix as for Vaidyanathan). Kunnakudi and Kundrakudi are indeed different places - the former is near Tiruvannamalai and the latter near Karaikudi.

Then who is the artist mentioned in this thread: http://rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php? ... ly-09.html

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 14 Jul 2009, 09:50

makham · Post by **makham** » 15 Jul 2009, 11:53

"Anyway, such a triviality might not merit such verbose deliberation"

True.

But the intention here is one of collective learning - the "forum"'s main purpose. The artist's efforts at correct pronunciation are borne out by

(a) In the concert of 160 minutes the mentioned phrase was a sole instance that sounded as an outlier

(b) Even in this case the culprit was NOT pronunciation but wrong splitting at "sandhi". The point we are trying to learn is about conjunction / disjunction rules in languages. What I had meant to convey has been summarized by jigyaasa as

It's pankajAsanAdi+amaravandita = pankajAsanAdyamaravandita. Standard Sanskrit sandhi rule applied in telugu as well. Ideally, he shud have sung the whole word as one unit.

Subham