When jugaad is NOT the answer!

[harimau]

It is a truism that one must take the right tool to do the job correctly.

I have always felt that Indians, though generally quite intelligent, fail to appreciate the truth in the above statement. This results in the "Chaltha Hai" attitude that you see prevalent in India in all walks of life. This is now even touted as "jugaad", India's unique contribution on how to get things passably done so that the VIPs are satisfied during the 5 minutes they spend inaugurating some building, bridge or tunnel, only to have the thing collapse a couple of months later. This term gained prominence after the last Asian Games when the facilities were hopelessly abysmal till the opening day but somehow the Games opened on time. Of course, jugaad was employed prominently in accounting and in contracting and we will not see the conclusion of the legal mess in the 21st century. Jugaad is equally evident in the new Chennai airport where glass panels and false ceilings fail unfailingly once a week.

Such a scene was seen in the concert by the Duelling Abhangists for Bharat Sangeet Utsav on Nov 9 but the details have to wait.

Charumathi Raghuraman - Violin
K Arun Prakash - Mridangam
Aniruddh Atheya - Kanjira

The song list was:

Brochevarevare - Sriranjani
Gnana Sabhayil - Saranga
Kotinathulu Dhanushkoti - Todi
Aradella - Purvikalyani
Chetha Sri Balakrishnam - Dwijavanthi
Viruttham - Bhairavi, Chakravakam, Sindhubhairavi
Chandrasekhara Isa - Sindhubhairavi

After a 10-second delineation of Sriranjani, the first song was begun. The elder sang "Brochevarevare Raghupathe" while the younger sang "Brochevarevare Ninnuvina". Realizing the error, the younger one corrected herself and the song proceeded smoothly. Though this was not jugaad, this was a harbinger of things to come much later.

The next two songs were rendered competently. The Purvikalyani krithi was announced as a Purandaradasa composition and was easily the best. Arun Prakash and Anirudh Athreya couldn't bang away as the song was rendered in soothing terms.

Then came the main piece of the day. The long alapana of Dwijavanthi was barely passable and the violin reply consisted of going around in circles. Why couldn't the
duo have sung a small krithi such as "Engu Naan Selven Ayya" in Dwijavanthi and used Purvikalyani for the main song? I would have slept through Dwijavanthi but for the incessant inquiries about if the seat next to me, vacated by someone who decided to go elsewhere, was available though one lady had already ascertained that it was free and put her copy of Kaccheri Guide to reserve the seat for her husband.

Then came the viruttham in three ragas with no chance for violin reply followed by Chandrasekhara Isa.

It was 6:45 pm, the time for the concert to end and Sri Krishnamurthy, Secretary of Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha came up to the podium to say a few kind words about the performance of all the artists. I got out of my seat, offered it to one of the pestering ladies deliberately ignoring the other lady who may have preferred to sit with her husband for whom she had reserved the next seat, and walked to the front.

This was the point of time I was referring to when I said Indians do not bring the right tools for the job.

Because, the Duelling Abhangists announced that they hadn't finished singing and I realized with a start what they meant: they were going to sing an abhang! I had
completely forgotten their USP! Imagine what would happen if they didn't sing an abhang. Word would spread through Chennai like wildfire that the duo have stopped
singing abhangs and the crowds would melt away preferring instead to listen to Nisha Rajagopal who sang an abhang in her BSU concert!

If only Sri Krishnamurthy had an ectoplasm detector with him, he would have seen the phantasmagorical figure lurking in the background just behind the duo and employed the necessary ghost busting equipment well in time. Instead, he got slimed by the duo.

The abhang in question was the Fat Ghost song!

I paused for a few seconds to identify the song. I was offered a chair by an usher to sit but I came out, danced my way around the Madisaar Mami's father, and left
the venue.

[vasanthakokilam]

Ha..what a story! You do reserve the best for the duo!! That is a new word for me. Hope the Mars program did not indulge in any jugaadism!

Whose jugaad is it? Is it that the lady should have reserved the seat with her hand bag instead of the Kaccheri Guide?

[rajeshnat]

I was offered a chair by an usher to sit but I came out, danced my way around the Madisaar Mami's father, and left the venue.

Harimau in hurry move mode is referring visaka hari's dad here , as she was slated to perform next

[grsastrigal]

Ranjani & Gayathri-Vocal
Charumathi Raghuraman - Violin
K Arun Prakash - Mridangam
Aniruddh Atheya - Kanjira

The song list was:

1)Brochevarevare – Sriranjani- Swaram in different places, like ninivinA, raghupathE, Sri Rama nenaruna and sakalaloka nAyaga.
It was interesting to listen to the swarA exchange with different endings. Handled very well.
2)Gnana Sabhayil – Saranga- Brief raga for a minute followed by this kriti. Neraval in sAma gAna vinOdhanE …nathanE”
3)Koti Natulu Dhanushkoti – Todi – Well driven Todi by Ranjani followed by this kriti. Neraval in “poṅgucu śrī raghunāthuni prēmatōpogaḍē” and swaram.
4) Aththi thella hoLithE Ayitu – pUrvikalyani –Dasar
5) Dwijavanthi- Main-Ragam- Cheta Sri Balakrishnam-MD
Tani
6) nAdum nagaramum naRRiru kovilum- Tevaram- must be Sambandar
In Bairavi, Chakravaham and sindu bhairavi followed by ChandrashEkara - Sindhubhairavi
7) RasikAs request- pandareecha- raag- booth ?

A two hour concert – One could not expect more than this. As Sri.harimau explained-R&G started with brochEvArevarE ninuvinA….. . They corrected. After that the neraval flow was superb.

Saranga kriti was rendered nicely. The missed one or two words in anupallavi and other managed it. Surprising was that they referred the book and stumbled upon the words. This kriti is bit difficult in the literature part as “mAnum mazhvum, pincju, madhiyum, nadhiyum tavazh,…. So many small words. “. If one understands the meaning of this kriti and loves the language and the beauty of Papanasam Sivan of literature excellance, no one will refer the book.
Bringing half a dozen books has been discussed a lot in this forum. We don’t have any right to criticize Malladi duo for their Tamil accent.

Dwijavanthi- rAgam was rendered well and it had all the elements of sowkyam. But it is the rAga (like kapi, revathy) which can evoke “sowkhyam” in 3 minutes. Remember SSIs Dwj followed by chetashri. Nothing was there for 12 minutes, but Gayathri made full justice in rendering it beautifully.

I remember last Dec, Sanjay took Dwijavanti in one concert as main and Kunnakkudi Bala murali took it as RTP in Parthasarathy Sabha.

If they reduced neraval in Saranga, they could have rendered RTP in a better ragam.

Tani was simple, short as usual, Arun Prakash. (Hope arun Prakash does not reply this with his resume !!!)

Charumathy raghuraman – somehow, is a surprise to me. She does not have the quality to accompany senior artists like R&G. Her dwijavanthy return was not good and Ranjani asked her to finish it fast. She got confused how to finish. Her return to Todi neraval was ok.

May be that is why for Vritham-R&G did not give the return to CR.

Abhang- Sri.Harimau is right. So much of confusion. Rasikas went beserk. They must have kidnapped R&G if they did not sing abhang. For me, these abhangs do not show any bhakthi bhAvam it is only the “octave-bhAvam” and the Rasikas “pAvam”

Shri.harimau
Crowd part- You could not help it. People are crazy to come for Vishaka hari’s discourse more than R&G.
Good- you were not there for VH discourse. There was a near stampede. 10 chairs were put before the first VIP row and only heads -everywhere.
I was there only for 10 minute for VH. When she started abhang style “brigAs”, I could not take it because I was afraid to get “Abhang-fever”

[Nick H]

sounds more like a gangbhang.

(apologies if this cheeky comment is thought unfit for a family site )

[PUNARVASU]

I think the purvikalyani Dasarpada is 'Adaddella oLitE Ayuthu'. But the you tube upload of AS's version says it is pantuvarALi. I have learnt it in pk.

[priyashekar]

My favourite Harimau is already in full form. Am waiting for his interesting comments for the season concerts. monkey song /snake song /cow song and now fat ghost song. Only Harimau sir can do it! Love his humorous reports go for it sir

[kanchi perivaa]

grsastrigal, you amaze me with your postings.

I, for one, thought it was a pretty good concert. I was happy they took up Dwijavanthi as the main piece for the day, a nice change from the usual Kalyanis, Kambojis and Shankarabharanams that we hear all the time. Sitting on the dais, I didn't see any signs of "Bringing half a dozen books" there. Infact, I found Ms. Charumathi's returns to be quite challenging to the main vocalists, as they also appreciated her duly (again sitting on the dais, I saw no signalling for the violinist's raga to be wound up earlier - please do get your facts right!). With respect to viruthams, Ra-Ga sisters, I believe, sing it by themselves and never give the violinist a chance? That is my observation from going to their concerts. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong here.

All in all, a satisfying concert from the sisters. They never disappoint their audience!

[grsastrigal]

Kanchi Periava
You deserve to be amazed.

If you are sitting in the dais, you will not be able to see what is happening below the mike. You will be blocked by Mrid or Violin.

I was sitting in the left side of the artists, 2nd row, 4th seat (from the extreme left). VIP Row. I had two advantageous. One LED TV to see the movement very clearly and 45 degress angle where I can see what is happening below the mike.

It was a red colour dairy and they did refer the book. Even if you sit 6/7th row, you would be thinking, they close the eyes and sing. Our Row rasikas could clearly confirm they see lowering their eyes to see the words in the book. Moreover, Gayathri could not get the word (like pinju, madhiyum) because the book was with Ranjani. So, she stopped singing those words.

You are correct, it may not be half a dozen books. My concern is referring a book for a tamil kriti.

Even a eye movement or show your hands in a fraction of second is enough for anyone to understand. That is what Ranjani did to CR to play fast. You may have missed it.

Charumathi Raghuram- If you find her playing is impeccable. I have no issues. I reserve my comment.

I don’t have any issues with Dwijavanthi as u can see my post nor the quality of the concert.

Hope I got my facts right !!

There are two more issues I wanted to address

1)Sowmya, the pamphlet mentioned that she would be performing a special concert with Parur V ananthakrishnan, Poongulam.
I could go in the last 5 minutes to follow Sanjay. Sasikiran announced in thanks giving speech that Sowmya rendered only vivadhi rAgAs without “vivAdham”.

I think the word “vivAdham”, he meant was “tamil vivAdham” (without any confusion/problem.)
Is it something new ? or this deserves discussion ?

Second, Gayathri venkatragavan's mess up of mAmava mAdhava-Narayana Teertha kriti. Along with Mysore srikant and J.Vaidhyanathan and papanasam sethuraman, she was giving a concert before Malladi Brothers.

When I entered the hall, the Tani got over and she started vrittham followed by this kriti.

Correct sArva bhava ; rendered -sarndha bhauma
Correct kambu shubhagreeva; rendered- kambu sulagreeva
Correct lagna sumouthika: rendered - ratna sumouthika
Correct chandra janita madana; rendered- Chandra nibha dana

I leave it to the rasikas for comment !!

I remember a joke, when a typist showed the letter to his boss to see any mistakes, the boss said, .. “good you have only two mistakes….. now let me see the second line”

[arasi]

gsastrigal,
Amazing observations on your part!

If I were a vocalist, I would wonder about the books: to have or have not, that's the question!

If the audience frown on it or the screen in front of them (many of us do), they are not happy. If they do without one, they may make mistakes or have a mental block on occasion about the words. sAhitya Suddham is ideal and is expected, of course.

They have in their repertoire hundreds of krutis and how often do they sing them to remember all the lines! New compositions are even more tricky as their concert experience is nil with them.

Yes, it's ideal if they brush up on such songs before they come to the stage (practise, practise!).

Still, if they had not planned on a song and feel like singing it on the spur of the moment, this can happen.

We are after all rasikas, and not judges on talent contests! So, I don't mind it that much (unless the words make no sense), and I mean it, because it has happened with my songs too

[mahavishnu]

I remember a joke, when a typist showed the letter to his boss to see any mistakes, the boss said, .. “good you have only two mistakes….. now let me see the second line”

I was sitting in the left side of the artists, 2nd row, 4th seat (from the extreme left). VIP Row. I had two advantageous. One LED TV to see the movement very clearly and 45 degress angle where I can see what is happening below the mike.

It was a red colour dairy and they did refer the book.

#justsayin :-s
(emphases mine)

[rupavathi]

1)Sowmya, the pamphlet mentioned that she would be performing a special concert with Parur V ananthakrishnan, Poongulam.
I could go in the last 5 minutes to follow Sanjay. Sasikiran announced in thanks giving speech that Sowmya rendered only vivadhi rAgAs without “vivAdham”.
I think the word “vivAdham”, he meant was “tamil vivAdham” (without any confusion/problem.)
Is it something new ? or this deserves discussion ?

This was the sequence of ragas in Smt. Sowmya's concert: Nattai, Ganamurthi, Vagadheeswari, Neethimathi, Kalavathi (Dikshitar variety), Ganavaridhi, Varali (main), etc....
All Thyagaraja or Dikshitar kritis except the one in Neethimathi. An intelligently crafted and presented concert that proved all that vivadi dosha talk as just hogwash. Of course the sheeple (thanks harimau) didn't have a clue, even when the organizer spelt it out at the end! #:-s

PS: for a slightly more hidebound take on the concert, click here: http://www.thehindu.com/features/friday ... 350830.ece

[drohit]

I have really not understood the objection to sing an abhang in the tukkada section which Ranjani and Gayathri always render beautifully. I have heard what I could call as "faaltu" tukkadas (i hear the worst ones in tamizh) sung at the end of the concert. The Ranjani Gayathri abhangs also have a wonderful short "taans" section at the end, and the piece is musically nice compared to when I hear visamakara kannan by Smt.Aruna!

[arasi]

Preferences and prejudices...after all, art is the reflection of life
Or, should I say, music appreciation is the reflection at times of the whims of listeners?

[Meera]

The raga sisters performance always assures you the minimum guarantee and it was present here too.Singing an abhang at the end of a concert need not be considered a crime or blasphemy.But I somehow felt their performance standard has dipped noticeably.

[SrinathK]

Here's the meaning of the abhang's lyrics:
http://myprasad.blogspot.in/2011/02/pan ... karam.html
http://soulraga.blogspot.in/2012/12/in- ... bhoot.html

Having heard Ganapati Tukaram Maharaj's explanations of many abhangs, I never understood why those songs raise eyebrows -- humor and repetitive numbers notwithstanding -- the lyrics might be in Marathi but the meaning is right up there with Thyagaraja, Dikshitar, Annamacharya and Purandaradasa and even Pasurams. :-BD

[SrinathK]

But the review was hilarious...

[arasi]

srikantk,
True.
Yet, according to some, the fortress of CM cannot be entered by a non-CM language (sanskrit being the only exception). Still, there were those royals who came from that part of India where abhangs originated to TN, and made Tanjavur their capitol, patronized the local arts, and that was when the golden era dawned for CM!

Current history of CM presents another picture, to be fair. There are a few practitioners of CM who make theirs more of a tukkaDA fare, and that's what irks the purists, I guess. Still, if a Swathi number or a DAsara pada can fit in well in the earlier part of a concert, so can an abhang (so long as it's not sung in PaTdIP, but in Ananda Bhairavi, they might say)

[varsha]

Beware people! Pandhari (Pandharpur) is haunted by a dreadful ghost. Be careful when you are passing by this place or visiting it. This ghost nabs every one going near the place. If you are afraid of being possessed by the ghost, change your path or just cancel your plan in the interest of your (so called) well being.
That was literal meaning. In the hindsight, Maharaj wants to suggest exactly the opposite. He hints, if you stay away from the place, you will never have the divine experience which is possible only in the company of Vitthal-Rakhumaai

the lyrics might be in Marathi but the meaning is right up there with Thyagaraja, Dikshitar, Annamacharya and Purandaradasa and even Pasurams.

Are the lyrics really right up there with ......
The best judge to assess whether an abhang deserves to be in a carnatic concert ( as a matter of routine) is a genuine follwer of Abhang tradition . Those songs were meant for groups walking hundreds of miles and converging into a sea of devotional fervour - (fervour is the key here ) where distinction between love of God and madness is wafer thin - at least while the singing is on
No wonder Harimau is scared of ghosts and the first slippery stones
I used to be scared of being crushed under the feet of singers , in jam packed Vittal mandirs , as a tiny tot ...

[sankark]

Y'day DD Podhigai telecast an interview with Vijay Siva. They played couple of clips where in DKP sang. singAra vElavan vandhan in Ananda bhairavi & kAnAmal vInilE kAlam kazhithOme in nIlambari which would make fantastic end pieces (if not main pieces). Now, my issue with Abhangs & bhajans in CM concerts is not per se against Abhangs and bhajans but why not have them in appropriate setting but sing these very good CM uruppadi's in CM concerts lest they vanish altogether. When is the last time we have heard OVK's mani nUpuradhAri or kuzhalUdhi manamellAm in a concert setting - that would make a fantastic wrap to a great concert, wouldn't it?

If anyone counters that even that is music and all swara based/notes based, for that matter then even rock/jazz/light/cine/ultimately any music is swara based/notes based. So we could as well include them (may be name every raga misra-something).

I think jAvalis and padams are in endangered species already. For that matter even most shyAma sAstri/muttutandavar/ovk/papavinasa mudaliyar songs are in endangered list what with preponderance of T's songs.