R. Suryaprakash, Creative Aspects Of Carnatic Music,Chicago,

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 04 Dec 2009, 12:43

Creative Aspects Of Carnatic Concert

Sri. R. Suryaprakash (Vocal)
Sri. B V. Raghavendra Rao (Violin)
Sri. Tanjore Murugabhoopathi (Mridangam)
Friday, 20th November 2009
7:45 PM ~ 10:15 PM

Varnam - Panthuvarali
Anudhinamunu - Begada
VaLLI nAyakanee - Shanmukhapriya
Akshaya Linga Vibho - Shankarabharanam
Orajupuchu thelinyayama - Kannada gowla
RTP - Saranga and Brindavana Saranga
Jay jaya devi, Bhajan - Misra Yaman
Devarhal arul seida ragangale - 30 raga malika ( audience request )
Viruthham starting with Then pazhani velavane ( ragamalika ) continued with
Srinivasa Thiruvengada - Hamsanandhi
Mangalam - Pavamana followed with Vazhiya chenthamizh

It was an excellent lecture concert by Suryaprakash and team. It was mostly a concert with some
pertinent explanations on the creative aspects of CM.

The creative aspects of carnatic music involve the alapana, niraval, kalpanaswaram. RTP, the pinnacle of
improvisation, brings in thanam and laya improvisations in addition to the above
three.

Suryaprakash started with a brief introduction about the topic and the overall plan for the evening. He
mentioned that he will focus on individual creativity elements ( alapana, thanam, niraval and
kalpanaswaram ) in different songs. Roughly,that plan turned out to be Begada for niraval,
Shanmukhapriya for alapana and Shankarabharanam for kalpanaswarams and a grand RTP in Saranga and Brindavana Saranga.

He launched into the Pantuvarali Varnam. His voice settled into a fine form within the first half a minute
and contined that way for the next two and a half hours.

Next was a very delectable Begada. As he got to the line "Kanakana ruchi", he talked a bit about
improvisation in the nirval context, while still keeping the thalam. He said it is an apt place for
improvisation to show the different ruchis of Begada. In quick succession he showed various shades of
begada using that line. It was very well done.

At the end of the Begada song , he sang the reference Arohana/Avarohana and then demonstrated the
various different shades of Begada Ma. He said that improvisation is the variations on the fundamentals
we had learnt and contextually used. The significant aspect is the variations are spontaneously
produced. That is when the real Ruchi is exhibited and not when such improvisations are contrived.

He moved on to Shankukhapriya. After the song, he talked about alapana and the techniques behind it.

While learning one has to necessarily learn the songs and the raga elements by memorizing.
One memorizes the carnatic idioms from teachers and by listening to the music of great masters, and by
listening to the key phrases of the various ragas. That sets the solid foundation for manodharma/creativity.

If one starts the alapana at Sa and try to combine a few swaras up/down the sclae, it will sound
elementary and unaesthetic. We have to snatch the raga phrase and put it to good use in the right
context. Figure out the distinguishing note in the raga. For example, for Shanmukhapriya, it is
the Nishadham. He then demonstrated some phrases with Ni as the pradhAna swara.

He then talked about two fundamental techniques to begin a raga alapana. Immediately bring out the raga
character or hide it for some time intentionally and then reveal the raga identity. The former one is the
preferred technique though the second one can be used to provide for variations.
So there is a place for both methods.

There is an implicit underlying tempo for raga alapana as well even though there is no rhythmic support.

Another technique is picking a few characteristic phrases and then making a meaningful connection between them.

Next was "Akshaya linga vibho - shankarabharanam, misra chapu"
He commented during niraval that the eduppu of this song lends itself to some interesting niraval and
kalpanaswaram calculations and demonstrated the same to considerable enjoyment by the audience.

He was going to launch into an RTP, the mridangamist leaned forward and whispered something to Suryaprakash.
Suryaprakash said that the mridangamist has a request for a song, and he better satisfy that request since there are few
more weeks left in this concert tour!! And that requested song was Orajupuchu .

Orajupuchu was quite energetic. After a rapid round of kalpanaswarams, reminiscent of TVS and MMI, he
stopped and explained ( while still keeping thalam ) the bANi differences in singing kalpanaswarams.
Sang a little bit of how SSI will sing kalpanaswarams and then how TVS will sing which is a variation
on how MMI used to sing for the same song. He talked highly of the creativity of TVS and how he
learnt 'live' sitting behind TVS as the tampura-man and used to get amazed at the
creativity pouring out of him.

Then came a great RTP in Saranga and Brindavana Saranga. It was quite brilliant.
Thanam was played with mridangam support. Suryaprakash showed he is quite skillful in all aspects of RTP and it was very enjoyable.
There were kalpanaswaras in Saranga and Brindavana Saranga followed by a satisfying thani
avarthanam.

He sang the bhajan in Misra yaman. It was quite pious. Then based on the audience request he sang the
ragamalika in 30 ragas. The audience enjoyed that very much. After a few ragas it was clear how the lyrics are arranged.
The purvangam of each line has the raga mudra and the uttarangam uses words from a familiar composition in that raga.
So it was some fun to guess which words are going to figure in the uttarangam for each raga.

Suryaprakash mentioned then that after all these creative exercises you settle down into the bhakthi mode
where it is just pure music. You reach a stage in the creativity where you sing with bhakthi bhava and
your creativity is automatically fueled by the bhakthi.

He then sang a ragamaika viruthham starting with 'Then pazhani velavane' and then continued on to sing 'Srinivasa Thiruvengada' to bring to
focus the bhakthi aspects of CM.

The lecture concert concluded with Pavamana followed by Vazhiya chenthamizh.

It was a grand evening of great music and lecture. Sri. B V. Raghavendra Rao (Violin)
Sri. Tanjore Murugabhoopathi (Mridangam) provided excellent and enthusiastic contribution.

All the aspects of creativity were explained very clearly and demonstrated. The lecture part of it was
in English. Suryaprakash talked very well and in a clear and understandable manner, along with
occasional injection of humor. It did not come across as a lec-dem but a regular concert with some
lecture to highlight the various creativity elements.

It was conducted in the club house of a suburban sub-division in the outskirts of Chicago. The ambience
was quite good. The audience, which included quite a few children and youngsters, was quite attentive throughout the concert.
Our thanks go to Sri. Madhavan and Smt. Vanitha Veeravalli for organizing this concert.

cienu · Post by **cienu** » 04 Dec 2009, 12:50

Wow VK,

That was an amazing review.

Congratulations to Suryaprakash and team for a great performance

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 04 Dec 2009, 16:40

Many thanks for passing on the details of what sounds like a great evening.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 04 Dec 2009, 16:54

Spring cuckoo,
Was waiting for this review. Of course, Suryaprakash is not only fluent in English, he can be lyrical too in quite a few languages! You put a smile on my face by your:
his voice settled into a fine form within the first half minute and continued that way for the next two and a half hours.
That is the way it is with Surya. His voice just flows from varnam to mangalam mellifluously.
A propos, I am glad that the same RTP which he planned for his Cleveland concert a few years ago and had to curtail it, found expression in your town. Earlier programs ran late and he had to finish his concert in a hurry. I am glad he had the time this time and you folks in Chicago enjoyed a leisurely Saranga RTP.

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 04 Dec 2009, 21:29

VK - a LOVELY program! Thanks for making us visualize it.

rajaglan · Post by **rajaglan** » 04 Dec 2009, 21:39

A nice review.
I miss the begada demo especially the neraval at kana kana ruchi.
I used to wonder how neraval at that is so effective.

srinivasrgvn · Post by **srinivasrgvn** » 04 Dec 2009, 22:08

Superb review, VK! Hats off to Suryaprakash! =)

Suji Ram · Post by **Suji Ram** » 04 Dec 2009, 23:28

Nice review VK. Would have been interesting to hear a lec-dem from him. He did mention to me that he loves talking about music.
Wish you posted this earlier than 22 Nov. I would have requested that 30 ragamalika-though I am not a chit passing person

You are right on his voice settling down at the start-go.

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 05 Dec 2009, 08:47

vasanthakokilam wrote:
Then came a great RTP in Saranga and Brindavana Saranga. It was quite brilliant
Thanam was played with mridangam support, There were ragamalika swaras followed by a satisfying Thani
Avarthanam. Suryaprakash showed he is quite skillful in all aspects of RTP and it was very enjoyable.
....
....
Our thanks go to Sri. Madhavan and Smt. Vanitha Veeravalli for organizing this concert.

Vk
Great review,you are ready to perform a lecdem though i dont know if you can sing too(real spring cuckoo always sings)

.This dual raga rtp must have been the same as what he sang in Musicacademy@Dec2007where he sang it for the first time. When you say rAgamAliga swaras , you only mean saranga + brindavana sarangA only not any other ragas right, just curious there.

Suryaprakash or Madhavan or vanitha
You should make this recordings available for all other rasikas for a minimal price or if it is not feasible for free

, must be a treasure especially swara kalpana manodharmam of mmi , semmangudi and tvs comparisons in ora jUpu would have been such a treasure as suryaprakash connects different paddantharas quite easily and also adds his own spice.

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 05 Dec 2009, 10:47

Thanks all.

Rajesh: The RTP pallavi line is same as the 2007 Music Academy concert that you referred to. You are right, there were no ragamalika swaras in the RTP other than the main ragas Saranga and Brindavana Saranga. ( I have fixed my post above to reflect this ). When I wrote it, I got it mixed up with the ragamalika Viruththam. I did not get all the ragas in that viruththam but one of the ragas was Myan Ki Malhar. Suryaprakash mentioned that as he sang that raga.

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 05 Dec 2009, 20:25

That 30-raga ragamalika is I believe his own composition. The RTP indeed was the same as the Music Academy concert (which also I happen to attend

)

Arun

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 05 Dec 2009, 20:59

Great review. Thanks, VK. I like how the lecdem was conducted over the course of a full-fledged concert.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 05 Dec 2009, 21:49

Rajesh,
You do know that our kOkilam makes music with a flute.

Ramasubramanian M.K · Post by **Ramasubramanian M.K** » 09 Dec 2009, 22:15

Spring Cuckoo-am usurping Arasi's salutation of you!!

Great review!I could visualise the whole concert thanks to your review done with great eclat and imagery- short of demonstrating I have always found the written medium--no matter what language it is written in--to be very limited in describing a CM concert. Your succinct reporting came as close to actually attending as was possible!! Kudos to you!!
Talking of the richness and the subtleties of Begada reminded me of a story about the great TNR--the Nadaswaram Maestro:

Once in an AIR interview a few years before his death,he was reminiscing about his Guru --violinist Thirukkodikaval Krishna Iyer(uncle of SSI).I believe when he (TNR was about 10/11 at that time) was introduced to Krishna Iyer(having been initiated into Nadaswaram earlier by his uncle Tirumaruhal Natesan) for Gurukula vasam. Iyer asked him to play a raga--the maestro started with Begada and played the notes flatly without any gamaka--especially the Madhyamam- Iyer I believe impetuosly hit him on the shoulder with the bow of his violin for not using the gamakam-TNR said(he was a precocious impertinent lad as is well known!!),he felt like "slapping' him back but better counsels prevailed and he restrained himself and swore to himself that he will never play a note without the appropriate level of gamakam and kept it up throughout his life.He acknowledged that that incident was the turning point for his playing the "vocal" style in his Nadaswaram. He is also reported to have said with true humility later(rare for TNR!!),when people complimented him for having imbibed the essence of Krishna Iyer-- Ayyarval sindhi pottadu(a crude way of describing how he retained barely the phlegm discharged by the "old" man!!! ).
Older forumites --I am sure would agree that TNR brought out the Jeevan of the ragas that he played(he deliberately restricted his repertoire to the Gana ragas but brought every possible nuance of that raga). Surya Prakash's accent on this point re: Begada was very apropo!!

Sorry for the digression!! How rich is our CM lore when a mere mention of a raga stimulates an outpouring of anecdotes/incidents!!

sureshvv · Post by **sureshvv** » 09 Dec 2009, 22:41

Ramasubramanian M.K wrote: Ayyarval sindhi pottadu

Truly a colorful line! Even acknowledges the effort put in by the Guru