Harimau eschews kim-chi in favor of grandma's cooking

[harimau]

Nov 17th was a day that had only meager offerings for music lovers. The Hindu Friday Review November Fest was in full swing and that day's offering was the Korean pop music group "Be Being" that was supposed to combine computer-generated music with live chants by Buddhist monks. This was not my bowl of kim-chi or KFC (Korean Fried Chicken) and so I looked elsewhere for good music.

Now I can see in my mind's eye that some of you are thinking that I am antipathic towards the name Gautham and its association with "Sid Hearth" Buddha and that is why I wanted to avoid Be Being. Someone went to the extent of pointing out that Gautham is one of the saptharishis or Seven Sages who have been immortalized by being transported several thousand light years away from Earth so they can blink at us benevolently. And you are happy that they are several thousand light years away since you would want to avoid most of them for they have the tendency to lay curses on anybody who crosses their paths. If NRIs wanted to name their children after the Seven Sages, one would expect that statistically there should be as many children named Athri, Bhrigu, Kutsa, Vasishta (Bashisht to the Northies), Angeerasa or Cash-Yap as are named Gautham; the first three are quite short and easy to pronounce and one would expect that the Anglo-Chinese sounding Cash-Yap would find favor with folks from the equally Anglo-Sinically named garbage-strewn capital city of Chen-Nye. But not having seen a single Athri or Bhrigu among the NRI children, I am forced to conclude that this was a lame excuse trotted out by someone who has not one but seven close relatives all named Gautham and who is consoling himself by thinking that Gautham is a placeholder for Athri, etc. When you don't have a single Bashisht in sight even in India, the justification that Gautham is the name of a Hindu sage and thus entirely appropriate for an Indian child is, if you ask me, just a load of horst schist without any bashist in fact.

Really, how come not one child is named Durvasa or that guy who chose for himself the deceptive name Viswamithra (Friend of the World) but who managed to take offence at perceived slights and laid down horrible curses on whoever had the misfortune to get within 10 feet of him?

You want the name of a sage for your child? I will give you a name for your child. Cowsick. Pronounced exactly as it is spelt and Anglo-Saxons who find Indian names difficult can't complain about this name. So name your next child or grandchild Cowsick. But not Gautham.

I think the kids named Gautham need to pay their parents back for having chosen that name. In these days of weird hairdo's and bizarre body piercings, the least some of these Gauthams can do is to stretch their earlobes by wearing a pambadam, a heavy gold ornament worn by an earlier generation of milkmaids (edaichis) and wear their hair in a top knot in the fashion that was made popular by Buddha. The more adventurous can actually have a bump formed on top of their head by having a bottle of saline injected under their scalp. Googling for "donut implant Japan" should get these Gauthams information on what I am talking about.

Coming from a generation of people named Sivaramakrishnan, Ananthapadmanabhan and Ramavenkatasubramanian, I decided to avoid concerts by persons named Abu
Sheikh and similar names and was happy to find that Smt Seetha Narayanan was performing for Kala Kruthi, which I believe is an all-women's organization. Now, that would be the name our grandmothers have and I, having heard her before, knew that I would get madi sangeetham from her; you don't get anything else from people of that generation.

I had to locate the venue on Google Maps. But when I reached the general location, the road I wanted to take was blocked and I had to ask for directions to get to the venue, which was "Sankaralayam" on Mayor Ramanathan Road in Chetpet. It is one of those grim, cheerless function halls with a stage where you can hold functions such as weddings so I guess the grimness and lack of cheer is entirely appropriate. Concrete walls, tiled floors, and windows opening on to a main road full of honking traffic define the hall. Not an ideal place for a concert but that didn't seem to faze the artists. Just before the concert started, an elderly person sat in front of what looked like an amplifier and tweaked some knobs. Come to think of it, I didn't see a mixer so how did they mix the inputs from the various mics? And certainly there wasn't any feedback monitor so nobody could ask to increase the volume or "add some bass" (pronounced 'boss' by Indian vocalists).

The concert started without any fuss a few minutes after the scheduled time to an audience of about 30 persons. A few more persons wandered in and out during the concert but the core audience remained about 30 persons only.

Here is the musical fare:

Smt Seetha Narayanan - Vocal
Mullaivasal Chandramouli - Violin
Thanjavur Ramadas - Mridangam
H. Prasanna - Ghatam

Evari Bodhana - Abhogi
Siddhi Vinayakam - Chamaram
Sakala Graha Balam Emi - Atana
Eppadi Manam Thuninthatho - Huseni
Halasyanatham Smarami - Darbhar
Evaroora Ninnuvina - Mohanam
Koluvamaregetha Kothandapani - Todi
Tani Avarthanam
Krishna Nee Begane Baro - Yamunakalyani
Tumaki Chalaku - Bhajan - Tulasi Das
Mangalam

Darbhar, Mohanam and Todi were presented in full Carnatic glory. At the end of the Tani Avarthanam, the mridangist Thanjavur Ramadas humbly said, "What gnanam! I haven't heard this krithi rendered as well since the days of Ramanuja Ayyangar! It is my good fortune to be playing for this lady today!" You don't hear such spontaneous praise in a concert by today's crowd-pullers.

The Yamunakalyani piece was preceded by the ugaboga "Aneye karadhare". There were no cheap or cliched sangathis in this song that has been beaten threadbare by various musicians. Even that Tulasi Das bhajan was presented with great dignity.

This concert was as far away as one could get from kim-chi, and as close as possible to a meal at grandma's which was what I wanted.

By the way, concerts by this lady are as scarce as hen's teeth. There seem to be only three during this season. You could do worse than attend one of those. In fact, the fact that auditoria are crowded when certain popular artists perform is proof that indeed you are doing worse.

[Nick H]

--- It is a dreadful hall. The people coming in and out would have been seeking brief respite from the scent of the Cooum, just across the road. "Concerts happen here" is what Bharat's wonderful Sabha-Locations Google-Maps overlay says, but he might have added, "...but you can't hear them." I travelled all that way to catch a brief concert by Sumithra V. (How is her name?), my first solo of hers. Oddly, she is singing there again tonight. I'm sure she will understand my absence. There are probably lots of place where "concerts should not happen here but they do." This one, and the place near Mandaveli Station are high on my list.

--- Have you never heard the mridangist pick up the mic, and with his cheque in mind, mutter, "What sari! It is available from Pothy's, No:15, Nageswara Rao Road, Panagal Park, Chennai - 600 017. Tamil nadu, India, Phone: 43966333 / 24310901 / 02 / 03?" Hmmm... One day you probably will!. The kanjira response? "What a fine kurta, sir: it must have come from Rasi Silk, No. 1,Sannadhi Street, Chennai-4. Ph:044 2464 1906, 4900 7300!"

--- What are these Gauthams to do about the abdomen? Take to drinking copious amounts of beer? Will their illumination grow with their waistline?

[rajeshnat]

Harimau,
The spur tank road(mayor ramanathan road) is now one way with entry only from the egmore side . kalakruthi sabha held concerts for 4 to 5 years in a marriage hall near Dasaprakash hotel, then for very few months they held in a very small one room hall near Egmore Children's hospital (I remember attending a Kunnakudi Balamuralikrishna there ), and for the last few years with the patronage of kanchi Jeyandra saraswati swamigal they are continuing in sankarAlayam. Every year they just manage to hold concerts which is a miracle.

Glad you liked the music ,inspite of the few knobs of thagaradabbA mixer. In few occasions that I have attended , I have seen the mrudangam artist handing over the mike and not using it where there is just one center mike for vocalist , and second one for violin - something that was a norm forty or fifty years back.
Tx for your review.

[Nick H]

By the way, concerts by this lady are as scarce as hen's teeth. There seem to be only three during this season. You could do worse than attend one of those.

I forgot to say... yes, thanks, I will try to do so!

She is at Vani Mahal mini hall on 10th, 4.00pm and Ragasudha hall on 27th, 6.15pm (Thanks, Kutcheries.com --- and I am not getting a cheque for that plug )

[Nick H]

kalakruthi sabha held concerts for 4 to 5 years in a marriage hall near Dasaprakash hotel, then for very few months they held in a very small one room hall near Egmore Children's hospital (I remember attending a Kunnakudi Balamuralikrishna there ), and for the last few years with the patronage of kanchi Jeyandra saraswati swamigal they are continuing in sankarAlayam. Every year they just manage to hold concerts which is a miracle.
.

Didn't you write about this sabha a while back? I remember you being touched by the dedication of a group bringing music to a small number of people in that part of Chennai.

[rajeshnat]

Didn't you write about this sabha a while back? I remember you being touched by the dedication of a group bringing music to a small number of people in that part of Chennai.

Nick ,
Yes I wrote about this sabha in my few concert reviews.

[MV]

Is as far away as one could get from kim-chi, and as close as possible to a meal at grandma's which was what I wanted.

That line is gold Is the Darbar kriti a MD one? Yes, will look out for her this season. Thanks for the review

[harimau]

She is at Vani Mahal mini hall on 10th, 4.00pm and Ragasudha hall on 27th, 6.15pm

Also at Rama Rao Kala Mantap, Nungambakkam (another dreadful hall) at 4:30 pm today, Dec 8.

[harimau]

Is the Darbar kriti a MD one?

Of course! Who else could pen such majestic krithis?

[Jigyaasa]

I'm curious as to how the kriti was sung. Dikshitar's version of darbAr is supposed to be quite different from what is commonly heard today.

[harimau]

I'm curious as to how the kriti was sung. Dikshitar's version of darbAr is supposed to be quite different from what is commonly heard today.

I only heard the standard Darbhar.

It all depends on the patantharam one has.

T M Krishna has lamented about how the Deekshithar scheme of asampurna mela paddhati has been completely superseded by the sampurna mela scheme.

He of course is trying to revive it in his own way by singing the Sangeetha Sampradaya Pradarsini as if the songs were divasa mantrams!

[Jigyaasa]

It all depends on the patantharam one has.

True. I remember from a lecdem on aTANA by Smt. Vedavalli, her statement that everything can be appreciated as is in that very context.

[semmu86]

[quote="harimau]as if the songs were divasa mantrams! [/quote]
Brilliant