bANi - possible any more ?

[ganeshkant]

During mArhazhi mahA utsavam of Jaya T.V in 2004,I asked a qn.to LGJ,which got me a prize also and the qn.was “ What is bANi and is it possible for each to create their own and is it important to have one’s own bANi’”.

His son replied the qns.with inputs from the veteran and the summary of the answer was “Deliberate attempts to create a bANi may not fructify. Rather the other word for bANi is hard work.Your hard work coupled with your manodharmam may be ultimately called as your bANi” and so we all know how lAlgudi bANi came into vogue.

But with my little knowledge I just brushed my brain to take cognizance of any bANi in the last 2 decades and after TNS I am unable to get any name. I may be proved wrong , because once SS expressed in the same MMU that his style may be called as SS bANi after a few decades and the past masters’ styles were not recognized instantly.

Even if I agree a bit on SS’s expression how is that TNS got recognized instantly ? Is it because most of us have never heard his guru Ramanathapuram Sankara Sivam ! Because though many artists have deviated from their gurus in a very convincing way where no one can frown on their own styles, still theirs was not recognized as a bANi.May be the only one who had really made a mark amidst these atmosphere could be mahArAjapuram santhAnam.Even Madurai Somu almost created his own bANi though fully adhering to his guru Chitoor yet Somu was diff.from Chitoor.

So is it possible that we may see more bANis in the coming days or has it saturated ? Like they say in film music nothing new is possible hereafter since ARR has brought in and mixed world music. Of course we can’t directly compare with diff.genres in general terms. I wrote that just for the sake of driving home my mind.

[srikant1987]

SS == Sanjay Subramanyam?

[MaheshS]

I wouldn't say or even think for a moment that TNS got "instant" recognition, his work rate behind the scenes was something super-human added with his god given vidwath made him what he is. Being from Madurai I know this for a fact, my 90 odd year old patti till talks about "Gopu" singing Thirupugazh and Bajanai's when he was very young. I vaguely remember going to his house in Madurai [when he was teaching in the Samajam] in the 80's surrounded by students and veenai's

So sorry, I do not agree with SS on TNS getting instant recognition / appreciation.

Bani wise, I agree, I can't think of another person after TNS to set his own bani, then again things do not happen like instantly regardless whether we have mega speed internet or not. Nothing can escape time!

In our music [Carnatic] saturation is NOT possible. This is my very humble opinion.

[anandasangeetham]

my unlce sri OST once in a discussion replied to a question by Smt Radha Bhaskar. The question was what is the difference amongst school, style and bani. he went on to describe (in his opinion and perception) that style is something that belongs to the person..like kunnakudi style - MDR style. MMI style followed only by the individual.....school is something that is followed by the sishyas primarily....parur school ...lalgudi school...DKJ school....when everyone follows the "Style" of an individual irrespective of whether they belong to his shcool or not then it is bani.....GNB bani....Semmangudi bani...Ariyakudi bani.....the first takes only hard work..any individual can form a style...the second takes perseverence and also the technic to impart the same to all the students of the individual... ala parur school...but Bani ...is purely in the hands of GOD.....if it is imbibed by all and sundry.....then it is Bani..an individual CANNOT create a bani.... at the most create a style or school....Sri LGJ is absolutely right in saying that one cannot consciously create a bani....then again there is no fixed time period for a bani to surface and flourish....PMI is Bani as most percussionist follow his method of playing whether or not they come from his school...but PSP is a school (in my opinion) and Harishankar is style...is bani Possible..YES ...only time will tell whose it is....

[ganeshkant]

Anandasangeetham,

Thanks for ur post.In fact today I thought of adding these same things and you have made my job easier.

[varsha]

There is a lovely article written by GNB for Publications division - A book titled Aspects of Indian Music - which discusses this subject in some detail

An extract of this article is uploaded here .
http://www.mediafire.com/?nsr6fiia2b9re5u

[Purist]

When a individual's style is so unique to oneself (like for example MDR, MMI ,Somu ) to such an extent that anybody else
can only mimic but not make them their own (in singing) ..then Bani is not evovled . Only the style remains.

Whereas in the other cases (GNB , SSI ,Parur ,LGJ , Pattamal, Alathur etc) their styles could get imbibed or adapted,
and be known as their Bani.

[arasi]

So, can bANi be called school and 'style' individuality??

[venkatakailasam]

"Can one consciously develop a bANi or is it inborn? The answer is yes and no. It is fifty percent conscious effort and fifty percent inborn. Rather with the given voice a person can consciously develop a style to suit the same, but the intelligence to do so is inborn! That intelligence can also be called creativity!"

An article received at 'Carnatica Global Essay Contest."...by Vimala Sriram....read at

http://www.carnatica.net/special/essay-vimala.htm

[arasi]

A very well written article.

Yet, we are still not sure about how the term bANi is used by us all. Is it gharana, school, vazhi? Then, is it 'style' which is the stamp of an artiste, which he/she develops, given the voice and intelligence is carving a particular way in which to sing?

What Charlie Parker says (as quoted by Vimala Sriram) makes a lot of sense:

Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it (the key words, it seems), it won't come out of your horn (in his case--let's call it 'your vocals').

As for the word bANi itself, is it pANi? pANi (as handled by?). kaiyALudal? Scholars to the rescue

[venkatakailasam]

Is it not one's way of doing a thing??

[anandasangeetham]

my understanding is as under:

Style is more of small snippets, uniqueness of rendition, etc....to elaborate..if someone sings oo aa eee etc we may comment "are you trying to mimic MMI?" MMI nue nenaipo? avar style padariye?..similarly if someone attempts a fast paced briga the we immediately identify as GNB style...the style aspect is more in bits and pieces...with sudden florish...the high pitched super upper octave playing of Kunnakudi...very base voice of MDR...style is more on the character of the vidwan's rendering, voice, method of singing (any one or couple of combinations and not more)...very micro and not macro (or did I put it the other way round). if anyone attempts it will only mimcing and nothing more and cannot give a full fledged performance...the mimicing will be lost somewhere....any opne can mimic if he /she has the ability to keenly observe and has the knack of mimicing...then again only in bits and pieces

school is the next level where the individual's style is more formalised in terms of technics and formatted...Parur school...DKJ school...where the strict adherence to the innovators style is imbibed and no wavering....it will be more than just bits and pieces but more of the essence...unless a person learns from the particualr shcool one cannot follow that....no mimicing here..it is more of the technic...

Bani is the ultimate...it takes more than mimicing and also has to rigourasly assimilate the style of the individual, imbibe, make a part of one' repertoire, etc and then present...to put it very flatly it is the topmost level of mimicing...give a full fledged performance.....an example...SUryaprakash - MMI style - since MMI is not a school ( the singing of MMI and TVS has a wide variation though TVS at times "mimics" MMI - with due respect to TVS)...if more musicians try what Suryaprakash did then it could also become MMI bani....

Bani is more wholesome....unless one understands the completeness of the individual's style and then imbibe thoroughly Bani cannot evolve...ARI is just not about format, GNB not just about briga oriented singing, but more....KVN's vishranti singing, method of raga building, neraval etc if followed then it will become a Bani..

to give a cricket analogy...srikanth's wide stance is his style...any cricketer can mimic this stance for ball or a over at the most but cannot play serious cricket with that stance..but his aggression, and drive from the very first ball, taking advantage of the restricted fielding placements, etc can be imbibed and thats what the srilankas did...this is bani...though they were not seriously tutored by Srikanth to call this a school.

[varsha]

bANi
is that cause - effect that makes one listening to a 40 minute Mayamalavagowl a RTP by MSS , enjoy that great mood created .
And find all of that in T Balasarswathis exploring just two words - Chira Kalamu - in her Tulasidala .
Lucky are the ones who heard the earlier conceptualisation of that style .

If something does not survive the test of three generations in some unmistakeable , unflinching adherence to any set of core value , then I would reckon that is NOT bANi. The inheritor would not do it in any other way at any cost . Like the way my Grand Uncle would fold the pleats of his veshti with a back and forth movement - between fingers - for an hour before donning his gandhi topi .

[venkatakailasam]

When an artist establishes a distinctive stamp in his successive renditions either in developing raga alabana bringing out the essence of the raga or in development of thanam or adding colour and interest to swarakalpana by approaching the eduppu with a plethora of permutations, then it becomes his bani or his distinctive way of doing things.
Excellent structure, concise and brimming with essence of Swarakalpana ,
more brigas , pauses between sangathis, reflecting soukiyam are all part of this bani….
The melodic impact can linger for long even post concert….

[Ranganayaki]

In reading the opening posts on this topic, I was struck by the fact that we have been comparing three words (school, style, bani) forgetting that they are from two diferent languages. We have not considered that Bani could be an Indian word that overlaps both “school” and “style”.

I have been thinking about this, and I feel that a Bani is originated by one artist who places his distinctive stamp on the music. This distinction comes from technique and style that he develops over a long period of time, along with the more personal, inimitable qualities like flair, verve, inspiration. The Bani is first recognized in the original artist, and does not need a school or followers for its existence. Shishyas, who receive this technique and necessarily imitate the style as taught to them, do adopt the bani and propagate it. The Bani becomes more widespread and it is in that form that it has a more plastic, less fluid existence and we tend to associate the bani with the whole collectivity and we forget that Banies ever had an independent existence, growth and blossoming with just one person, that it was already a Bani with that one person.

(As I was about to post this, I just read the last posting here by Venkatakailasam which I’d missed, and feel that my thoughts and his seem to share a track. I'm fascinated that we’ve even used a couple of the same words, “distinctive stamp” whose idea is central to our posts.

[Ranganayaki]

bANi
is that cause - effect that makes one listening to a 40 minute Mayamalavagowl a RTP by MSS , enjoy that great mood created .
And find all of that in T Balasarswathis exploring just two words - Chira Kalamu - in her Tulasidala .
Lucky are the ones who heard the earlier conceptualisation of that style .

If something does not survive the test of three generations in some unmistakeable , unflinching adherence to any set of core value , then I would reckon that is NOT bANi. The inheritor would not do it in any other way at any cost . Like the way my Grand Uncle would fold the pleats of his veshti with a back and forth movement - between fingers - for an hour before donning his gandhi topi .

Varsha.. you say "bani.." and to you that word means everything you find in a single individual, T. Balasaraswathi.. and I agree with you.. but then you go on to set (seemingly) arbitrarily a 3-generation test. Why not 2 or 4? And then you sound rather dogmatic when you say "unflinching adherence" to some "core values". I think a Bani arises in a much more gentle, natural, creative way, rather than from any strong or "unflinching" intellectual position one can take.

[rshankar]

I have issues with equating Smt. Balasarasvati's unique style as being bANi. Now, bANi as I understand it, be it equated with 'school', or 'style' or even a hybrid of the two, is something that is preserved along the guru-siSya lineage. I have to say that I find most of the people who are from the school (and I use the word in its very narrow meaning) of Smt. Balasarasvati to be merely hollow imitations - now this may be harsh, and I would normally not want to discuss this, but I feel it has to be said in the context of calling Smt. Balasarasvati as establishing a bANi - it might have been, if the bar had been lower perhaps; but she set the bar so impossibly high that others can merely try and imitate it - and if attempting to merely aspire to be like the originator constitutes a bANi, then, I suppose it certainly can be called the bAlasarasvati bANi!
Ranganayaki - was this the same question you were asking?

[mahesh3]

bAni is beyond just "style"..., or "school"...or other archaic definitions like "popularity" in my view - its a musical vocabulary one establishes that grips and goes beyond elements such as the above - S. Balachader is a great example of this! How does one even start to proclaim what it is about him - its not just about copying his style - he was brilliant and could bring-in-format many musical aspects - that his musical language had so many facets - composing, performing, singing, playing, directing - it's not just any one element that can be codified and followed by students! If so - we'd have had 100 SB's - given how good our kids are at practicing/memorizing . Same so with GNB or an MDR or a Lalgudi - some had bAni's that were not as universal as others - yet in the billion niches that carnatic music schools have had - these have come to exist! It is possible in today's music - we still have a few stalwart and original musicians who have that creative brilliance - but like any other creative field today, there are many serious challenges one has to overcome in order to get there! And the bAni becomes apparent long after - it need be apparent right away!

[Sivaramakrishnan]

'Baani' could have originated from the word 'PAANI" meaning 'hand' in Sanskrit. It denotes a way of handling things. in fine arts, bani may emerge out of a long term practice of the way of handling, thus more comprehensive than 'style'. Style could be a component of bani. There is nothing wrong if shades of nasal singing is noted in a disciple of Semmangudi. This need not be construed as 'mimicry'. I have seen that many artists for fear of being branded as 'imitating the Guru' try out their own style and end up nowhere! To me, this seems to be a bane of vocal music. The singing of many sishyas of Madurai Mani Iyer lack the 'soukhyam' element characteristic of Mani Iyer. In their pursuit of the so called prescription to add originality or 'own original stamp' many lose the Guru's touch.

Interestingly when it comes to instrumental music, rasikas are extremely happy to see a disciple performing exactly like the guru! 'Appadiye Lalgudi maathiri' , 'Appadiye Emani maathiri' , 'kanyakumari maathiri' 'Sivaraman maathiri' , 'karaikudi maathiri' etc. Is it because there is an 'instrument in the hand' (paani)?!

This 'dichotomy' of vocal and instrumental music in the context of bani seems to be looked into.

[arasi]

Sivaramakrishnan,
Yes. I think I had that connection of pANi in mind too and mentioned it somewhere?? The tamizh verb: kaiyALudal means 'to handle'--handle in one's own way? Giving the music one's own stamp?
If we speak of style,then pANi could be 'one's own' style.
So, how do we define one's own style in English, differentiating it from just style?

[Sivaramakrishnan]

arasi,
It is difficult to find corresponding term for 'Bani' in English. Going by the inputs in this thread, I find aspects of both style and school are interpreted as Bani by a few forumites.

I await response to my observations on Sishyas (vocal) losing hold of the Guru's bani while trying to establish a distinct path and 'instrumental' sishyas being praised for getting a ditto of guru's way!

[srikant1987]

I have seen that many artists for fear of being branded as 'imitating the Guru' try out their own style and end up nowhere! To me, this seems to be a bane of vocal music. The singing of many sishyas of Madurai Mani Iyer lack the 'soukhyam' element characteristic of Mani Iyer. In their pursuit of the so called prescription to add originality or 'own original stamp' many lose the Guru's touch.

Interestingly when it comes to instrumental music, rasikas are extremely happy to see a disciple performing exactly like the guru! 'Appadiye Lalgudi maathiri' , 'Appadiye Emani maathiri' , 'kanyakumari maathiri' 'Sivaraman maathiri' , 'karaikudi maathiri' etc. Is it because there is an 'instrument in the hand' (paani)?!

Having one's hands free, as one does when singing, gives one more ways to imitate one's guru, some of which can be (very) off-putting.

[vasanthakokilam]

I was reading an interview with Ernest Hemingway. Here is one Q&A. Not sure of the exact equivalences in CM but it seems like something is there.

Q: Could you say how much thought-out effort went into the evolvement of your distinctive style?

HEMINGWAY
That is a long-term tiring question and if you spent a couple of days answering it you would be so self-conscious that you could not write. I might say that what amateurs call a style is usually only the unavoidable awkwardnesses in first trying to make something that has not heretofore been made. Almost no new classics resemble other previous classics. At first people can see only the awkwardness. Then they are not so perceptible. When they show so very awkwardly people think these awkwardnesses are the style and many copy them. This is regrettable.

[munirao2001]

I am copying here the portion of my article"Karnatic Music, Tradition and Enlightenment", published in http://www.talkclassical.com and Music magazine"Kala Sinchana" of Ananya, Bengaluru:

"b]Bani and Style in Karnatic music[/b]
Tradition-Bani-Style is distinct and are separate, if correctly understood and with clarity, enjoyment is unconditional, pure and total.

Musical practices and performances, unique and distinctly identified with a great maestro/guru/a school of music (like Tiger, Ariyakudi, Musiri, GNB, Semmengudi etc), system or with a geographic region (like Thanjavur, Ramnad, Mysore, Andhra and Karnataka), are recognized as Bani.

The style is distinct and unique expression/communication of musical phrase(s), interpretation and mannerisms of the performer(s). A style is also a statement, method of delivery and is always ‘identified’ with the originator(s). A Style copied and re-produced or re-presented, remains, style only. Styles, attaining popularity, are being imitated or followed with limited objective of rasika’s/listener’s appreciation, acceptance, enjoyment and patronage. While Bani is, serious pursuit of classical excellence, with distinct and rich contributions to the tradition. Style’s objective, with conscious, deliberate/intentional efforts and compromised, is to please the rasika-ranjakatvam, relatively easily and create the habit of getting pleased, with minimal efforts (on the part of rasika) and for expecting and demanding the excitement every time of listening to stylish renditions. Style is nature’s order. Maestros, with deep knowledge and practice, resort to style for establishing the identity, appreciation/adulation, with minimal erosion in values of classical music. Intention, comfort and convenience of the performer, takes a discernible pattern of rendition. With the support of listener/rasikas, the renditions become, style.

For the questions, ‘Is style is Tradition?’ and ‘Is style is Bani?’ the answer is, emphatically, no. Also, not to be mistaken with the opinions of ‘stylish traditions’ and ‘traditional styles’. As already noted above, while style is a method of delivery, Bani is a system of practice and performance, the tradition is the very substance! Style can be trivial, tradition, can not be trivial. But, trivialization takes place, when tradition is not fully understood, practiced, with lack of vision and deep commitment. Invariably and un fortunately, stylists largely contribute to trivialization. In the task of preserving and up holding the tradition-classical excellence, the stylists have not been helpful and successful. Due to their habitual compulsion for sensational and exciting musical phrases/statements, adopting the master pieces and great works to fit in with the very personal propensities and idiosyncrasies of their talents and capacity. This was/is an enterprise, in which, they freely tamper the great works, retaining only the skeleton and the broad sketch of the compositions and push their style in to the substance and improvisation (sangathi ornamentation) of the works. This practice of con temporizing and attempts to make it appealing to suit the present times and trends, is updating.

Only the quintessential creative works- both sangita and sahithya- of great vaggeyakaras, as bequeathed to us by the great maestros, uncom promisingly and unconditionally, keeping it classical with the flame, passion and fragrance of the original creator burning in them, becomes, legacy.

With the growth of styles and personal interpretations, the ideal of pata integrity suffered, eclipse. This is the major factor, which has contributed to the decline in the excellence and quality of classicism in the cutcheri music of Karnatic music. Stylists declarations that the tradition is restrictive, with compulsions of being repetitive, does not give scope for imagination and creativity, that they have created their style as music and tradition, is reflection of their improper understanding and lack of clarity or at worst, escapist tendencies from very tough and arduous practice and continuous improvement called for, to adhere, to up hold and enrich the tradition. It is hurting to hear from stylists that they have moved away from tradition, to be part of contemporary music or simply, music in demand."

S.Madhva Muni Rao(munirao2001)