NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MUSIC APPRECIATION BY MUDHRA

[CRama]

Mudhra organised the above Conference in the Infosys Hall on 1, 2 and 3 March 2014. The theme of the Conference was PADDHATI – showcasing varied formats which have evolved during recent times. With the diminution in duration of concerts, thematic concerts focussing on specific aspects in music have been looked forward by the audience. Paddhati has been designed to focus on these thematic formats. Dr. Sriram Parasuram was the Chairperson for the Seminar. The Confernce was sponsored by Govt of India, Ministry of Cultural Affairs and co sponsored by Nalli. The Conference was inaugurated by Dr. Nalli Kuppuswami Chetty, Patron, Mudhra and the Presidential address was given by Dr.Nandini Ramani, Member, Expert Committee in the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, noted dancer and disciple of T.Balasaraswathi,. In her address she informed that Govt is focussing on documentation of our traditions for the benefit of posterity. A brief write up on the Seminar- which included thematic concerts, lecture demonstrations, panel discussions, regular concert etc is presented here for the benefit of forumites.

The first concert was a thematic concert- Ragam Tanam Pallavi Concert by V.Sankaranarayanan accompanied by Nagai Sriram on the violin and Poongulam Subramaniam on the Mridangam. He sang the daru varnam of Muthiah Bhagavathar- Mathe Malayadhwaja in Khamas and Swaminatha Paripalaya in Nata for a warm up before embarking on the pallavi. Raga Keeravani was taken up for elaboration. Blessed with a resonant saareeram, the abundant creative energy of V.Sankaranarayanan evidenced through subtle and flashy expressions to present a wholesome picture of the raga. The raga alapana including violin interludes in three stages took a solid 30 minutes. The tanam was also rendered very elaborately for 30 minutes. During the tanam he made sruti bhedam to Sankarabharanam. The pallavi was in Khanda Triputa two kalai. The sahithyam of the pallavi was
Maal Maruga Shanmuga Muruga Guhaa
Then Pazhani malai urayum.

While doing the trikalam, trikalam was done separately for poorvangam and utharangam. Elaborate neraval and kalpana swaras were rendered. In the RM segment, Varali, Behag, Kapi and Revathi were taken up. Nagai Sriram stole the show with his deft strokes,anticipation and imagination. Although VS is not a disciple of TNS, TNS influence was abundantly visible in Mathe, tanam and kalpana swaras for Kapi. Poongulam Subramaniam played with lot of control and understanding. The thani was brief for 5 minutes. The programme concluded with an Ashtapadi in Sivaranjini.

Kudos to V.Sankaranarayanan for successfully managing music along with his profession which is much demanding. My only crib is that being billed as a RTP concert, he should have taken a more complex pallavi- a dwinadai or at least a 4 kalai pallavi.

The second day's programme commenced with a Lecture on Thematic Concerts by Shri NV.Subramaniam of Saraswathy Vaggeyakara Trust. The first concert for the day was given by K.Gayathri accompanied by Usha Rajagopalan on the violin and B.Sivaraman on the Mridangam. The theme was Vaggeyakara Vaibhavam – aimed at showcasing the contributions of a spectrum of Vaggeyakaras. The following songs were rendered.
Kanden Kali Theernden- Sahana, Neelakanta Sivan
Meenalochanabrova-Dhanyasi, Syama Sastri.
Sarvopaayamula, Kalyani, Annamacharya
Parampurusham-Lalithapanchamam, Swati irunal
Saraguna Palimpa-Kedaragowla
Thillana-Vaasanthi,Hamsanandi and Madhuvanthi.

K Gayathri, student of Smt Suguna Purushothaman started with a rare Neelakanta Sivan composition. K Gayathri had a really nice settling voice with a right balance of layam and raga bhavam Her alapanas of Dhanyasi and Kedaragowla were elaborate dwelling on the moorchanas of the ragam and rich in manodharmam . The neraval and swaras for Dhanyasi and Kedaragowla showed her vidwat and potential. The Annamacharya song was popularised by MS. The ragamalika thillana was a composition of her Guru SP. It was an enjoyable concert for one hour+. She shows good promise of ascending to the top very soon.

The next lecture demonstration was by Prof SR.Janakiraman on the topic Raga in Kalpana and Kalpita sangeetham. He said our music is raga based. He took Kalyani ragam and demonstrated the following compositions- some fully, some partially. He said that Kalyani ragam was not found in the compositions before 15th century.

54th andadi of Arunagirinathar- It was a tongue twister- I could not get the lyrics right.
Kamalajaadala-Geetham
Jathiswaram composed by Thanjavur Quartette
Muthu thandavar-Sevikka Vendum Ayya- Also sung in Abhogi and Andolika
Muthu thandavar-Bhooloka Kailasam iduvo Chidambaram
17th century- Bhadrachala Ramadas-Nannu brovumani Cheppave
17-18th century-Varnam-Pallavi Gopala Iyer-Vanajakshi-Ata thala varnam. He also sang the varnam in tanam format and in akaram.
Varnam in Misra Jhampa talam- Sarasijakshi ninne.
Kshetrajnar padam
Needu charana pankaja-Pallavi Gopala Iyer
Karuvelpulu-Thyagaraja
Thalli ninnuneranammi-SS
Taraka brahmaswaroopini
Tamarasadalalochani-Pallavi
Thillana

The next in the line was One Raga One Kriti concert by Ramakrishnan Murthy accompanied by VVS.Murari and Neyveli Narayanan. I heard that RKM came prepared to sing elaborate Bhairavi, but he did not want to come out of the spell of Kalyani created in the Hall by SRJ and he chose to sing Kalyani. He has got a voice that is pliable and melodious. He had learnt from KVN in the early part of his music lessons, but his unaggressive style and body langauge very much KVNish. He already has got appreciation of the music fraternity at a very early age and he will be definitely taking it to the top very soon. He sang an expansive alapana of Kalyani in typical GNB pattern – in three stages covering the entire gamut of the ragam taking upto 30 minutes without an inch of sagging. He chose Kamalambam Bhajare. The kalapramanam was ideal. The neraval was at an unusual place- Nirvana nija sukha pradayini. The neraval and swara patterns were scholarly. VVS Murari gave excellent support with his long bowing, good imagination, anticipation and embellishment of the kriti. The thani by Neyveli Narayanan was quite lively. A concert for one hour and ten minutes.

This was followed by the Lecture Demonstration by Udayalur Kalyanaraman on the theme- Sampradaya Bhajanai Padhathi followed by Devotional music concert. This attracted maximum crowd. His slot was for 90 minutes and the time was not sufficient to cover it fully. Needless to say, the crowd sat engulfed in the divine atmosphere created by his music. (To be continued)

[CRama]

(Continued)
In the next slot J.Vaidyanathan gave a lecture on Percussion in concerts. JV demonstrated how to follow with poise and sensitivity certain songs and how to avoid blasting in such cases. The selected portion of songs were sung by Manoj Siva. The songs and places demonstrated were
Mayamma-Sthiramani nammithi nammithi nammithi
Hiranmayim-to play as per the gait of the song
Meenalochanabrova-Atheetha eduppu
Varugalamo-Karai kadanthen saranam adainthen. Here he told that the Mridangist should not play at this particular place. Any vidwan who blasts at this place should be hanged.

Before this demonstration, I told Mudhra Bhaskar to request JV to demonstrate tisram, khandam etc so that a layman like me will be able to understand them. Before commencement of the programme, JV asked- who wanted to know about tisram khandam etc. I stood up and then he clearly explained the theoretical aspect of them and also demonstrated. I am very much thankful to him for his sincerity. Some other remarks made by him were
The system of tani started after Ariyakudi padhathi only
Pharans designed by Tanjore Vaidyanatha Iyer
In a concert of 3 hours, tani should be after 2 hours. It should not be at the fag end of the concert

This was followed by a lively thani avarthanam in Misra Jhampai accompanied by Anirudh Athreya on the Kanjira, Guruprasad on the Ghatam and AS Krishnan on the Morsing.

The final slot on Sunday was by the Chairperson of the Conference- Dr.Sriram Parasuram who is a vocalist as well as a violinist in three genres of music- Carnatic, Hindustani and Western. The theme was Jugalbandi padhathi. He played Begada and its HM counterpart Behagda. He showed the similarities in the structure of Begada varnam and a Hindustani composition and demonstrated the similarities and differences. He then took up Mohanakalyani and Sudha Kalyan. He concluded that let us respect and love both the systems for their uniqueness. He called upon artistes to try different ragas for the jugalbandi. He also suggested change in the format- instead of taking one line for elaboration by both the artistes, let us take a heavy CM music composition and also a khayal or thumri for jugalbandi. The music can be made richer by this.

The third day started in the evening with a Panel discussion on Traditional Concert Format in which Dr.Sriram Parasuram, Dr.Radha Bhaskar and Yours truly participated. Radha Bhaskar wanted me to present my views from a listeners' angle and I could do justice to my part. I am thankful to Mudhra for the opportunity given to me to air my views in the matter. .

This was followed by a concert of Dr. Shertalai Ranganatha Sarma in the same paddhati. He was accompanied by S.Varadarajan, Mannargudi Easwaran and B.S.Purushotham. The list of songs
Sankarabharanam Ata thala varnam
Gananaathaaya namasthe-Gowla, MD.
Cheraravademira-Reethigowla, T
Gaangeyavasanadhara-Hamirkalyani, ST
Edukkithanaimodi than-Suruti
Kamalambike-Thodi
Sagarasayanavibho-Bagesree
Slokam-Siva sakthyaayuktho- Soundaryalahari-Hamsanandi
Slokam-Ramaaya Ramabhadraaya-Kalyanavasantham
Naam Bhaje man Rama-Bhajan-Kalyanavasantham

The varnam provided a bright start to the concert. Raga alapanas of Reethigowla, Hamirkalyani and Thodi were succinct. The latter two were very elaborate displaying good imagination and adhering strictly to the grammer of the ragam. The songs were presented with visranthi. Neraval at Viyadadi bhootha kirane and elaborate swaras for Hamirkalyani and Thodi were well crafted aesthetics reigning supreme throughout. Surprisingly, he sang alapana of Khamas for one minute and then quickly took up the Hamsanandi slokam. I thought he will sing a javali in Khamas. An excellent concert for two and half hours. The accompanistes contributed significantly to lift the concert to a higher level.

Thanks to Mudhra, for organising this event and Govt of India, Nandini Ramani and Nalli for supporting the Conference.

[rajeshnat]

Raga Keeravani was taken up for elaboration. Blessed with a resonant saareeram, the abundant creative energy of V.Sankaranarayanan evidenced through subtle and flashy expressions to present a wholesome picture of the raga. The raga alapana including violin interludes in three stages took a solid 30 minutes. The tanam was also rendered very elaborately for 30 minutes. During the tanam he made sruti bhedam to Sankarabharanam. The pallavi was in Khanda Triputa two kalai. The sahithyam of the pallavi was
Maal Maruga Shanmuga Muruga Guhaa Then Pazhani malai urayum.

Crama,
Are you sure taanam was for 30 minutes , may be it was taanam and pallavi(excluding ragamaliga)

[Nick H]

Excellent report of what must have been a very interesting and rewarding event. Good to know that you participated too.

[CRama]

Yes. tanam was for 30 minutes. His imagination rode high during tanam.

[rajeshnat]

Yes. tanam was for 30 minutes. His imagination rode high during tanam.

May be there was a 1:1 vocal -violin taanam ,thank you for the clarification.

[rajeshnat]

After the discussion, it was concluded that the format designed by Ariyakudi was wholesome and will continue for many more years.

I wish it was concluded the best is taking ariyakudi bAni as a base and also augmenting with the artististic creativity in terms of expansion of creative elements of R,N,S .Not just working on just juxtaposing the order of numbers . Pure ariyakudi format of pounding multiple numbers without much elaboration is indeed not that interesting to me.

Mudhra holds one full day seminar and finally like a solomon pappiah pattimanram concludes ariyakudi format is the best towards the end(just kidding) :-*

[CRama]

Within the format, due space for creative aspects has been done by many musicians- For eg, IN Sanjay KGS concert, there were 4 alapanas, RTP and neraval for two kritis and adequate kalpana swaras. I gave enough examples in the discussion how to give room for artist's creativity within the format. Sikkil Gurucharan in his Mudhra concert sang four ragas- that too elaborate Kambodi, KH priya, one more ragam and RTP in Lalitha. It all depends on the arttistes. (Dont miss webcast of Sikkil concert).

[radha bhaskar]

Rajeshnat, for your kind information, nobody concluded that the Ariyakudi Bani is the best. If we thought so, we would not have been experimenting with so many concert formats all these years in Mudhra - ie one raga-one kriti concert, RTP concert, tukkada concert, kalpita concert, One tala concert, thematic concert etc.. CRama felt that from audience point of view, Ariyakudi format has many advantages in terms of unearthing new compositions and providing a variety fare to rasikas. But, we have always felt that there is so much scope to create different formats . So it was definitely not a conclusion like the solomon pappiah pattimandram. In fact, we are looking at some more new possiblities in format and shall come up with them shortly. Till then wait in suspense ! :-ss

[CRama]

I have edited my post suitably

[rajeshnat]

I have edited my post suitably

Crama,
You initially had put about 5 to 6 lines . You indeed as usual wrote very well and there was no need to delete what you wrote sir , which you have done now. By doing that ,posts from #7 to #9 have lost the context.On a general note , we all cannot perfectly write what we speak and hear for 2 hours. To err in written communication is ok as long we collectively clarify later.

Interestingly all three of us - you, Radha Bhaskar and me have only concluded the same thing - we need a guideline of Poochi srinivasa Iyengar that has to have more artistic improvisations that can be done by artists in every kutcheri concert. Ariyakudi took this kind of concert planning from poochi is what we know of .Unfortunately poochi the first innovator is not mentioned at all.

Radha Bhaskar,
Thank you for your clarification . Looking forward to hear future concerts

[mahavishnu]

JV demonstrated how to follow with poise and sensitivity certain songs and how to avoid blasting in such cases. The selected portion of songs were sung by Manoj Siva. The songs and places demonstrated were

Was this Manoj and not Vijay Siva?

[CRama]

Yes. It was Manoj Siva. BY this we came to know of the vocalist in Manoj Siva. He can give vocal concerts as well.

[mahavishnu]

Yes. It was Manoj Siva. BY this we came to know of the vocalist in Manoj Siva. He can give vocal concerts as well.

How interesting! Good for him.
Very talented family all around