Role of Mrudangam in enhancing a concert- Prof. Trichy Sankaran- Lec Dem

[semmu86]

Sangeetha Kalanidhi Prof. TS gave an insightful lecdem on the subject matter @ SPSS (Vidya Bharathi kalyana mandapam) on 30.12.2014. A wonderful topic and the choice of vidwan to present the same could not have been better either, as we have very few Mrudangam vidwans worthy enough to discuss on the same in today’s scenario.

Despite being a relatively cold & a rainy morning, the lecdem was quite decently attended too, with lots of musicians and students. He was ably assisted on the Kanjira by Vid. B.S. Purushothaman. Giving a gist of what he spoke.

• Mrudangam is an indispensible vaadhyam for accompaniment to both CM & to dance.
• There are some “Innovations” today to sing without percussion support and he leaves it as the prerogative of certain artists.
• He wanted to dwell more on the finer aspects of percussion accompaniment, and that he wanted to share whatever he had learnt from his experience spanning over 6 decades.
• “Concert ethics” & “Percussive ethics” play an important part in a Mrudanga vidwan’s career.
• Any good Mrudanga vidwan should know how to play while accompanying and while thani to make the entire concert a success & not indulge in individual upmanship.

(This point I would personally say that TS is one of the very few Mrudanga vidwans qualified enough to say this. Purely because there are lot of senior Mrudanga vidwans who try to be intimidating and try to show off while accompanying musicians junior to them. Am not sure how many attended the Malladi-TS concert @ the MA. Even though the Brothers might have been atleast 3 generations junior to TS (Performance wise), the way TS completely adhered to pakkavadhya dharma and supported them is a lesson for one and all).

• Real test for a Mrudanga vidwan lies in his imagination, gelling well with the main artiste, anticipating & interpreting their music, familiarity with their styles & knowledge about vocal music is critically important.
• Unfortunately, this is such a tricky topic to present, it cannot be taught and a Mrudangam vidwan matures on this over a period time with acquired experience. This topic is unfortunately not properly spoken about or documented too.
• Syllabic & melismatic approach to accompaniment was spoken about beautifully.
• Importance of Sarvalaghu :: Sarvalaghu is the key element (Like a staple diet). Sarvalaghu can be of different types--- Vilamba, madhyama & mel kaala sarvalaghu.

(There were couple of audio clips here to demonstrate the last two points. Dinamani vamsa from the airport concert & Bhairavi swarajathi of SSI_LGJ_TS from the famous RRSabha concert).

• Vallinam-Mellinam, aesthetics & the valam-edam serkkai highly important for a Mrudangam vidwan.
• Where to play and where not to play becomes highly mandatory to understand.
• “Playing for Eduppus”:: This is an highly specialized area, a beauty that only CM has.
• Various eduppus were demonstrated (This is getting too wordy so i would cut it short).

BSP was asked to speak by TS at this juncture on upa-pakkavadhyams. BSP just elaborated on his association with TS and how fortunate he was to get his association.

N. Ravikiran spoke after this. Amongst the points that he made, one thing that stood out was the need for the Main artiste too to understand and be familiar with the styles of various Mrudangam artists, so that the concert becomes an overall success.
TS & BSP rounded off the programme with a short thani. I guess there was a brief Q&A session but had to leave post this.

PS :: Kindly assume honorific before all vidwans’ names.

[Nick H]

Thank you for the report and summary. Much appreciated.

[Ramasubramanian M.K]

Semmu: A nice summation!! TS has absorbed/imbibed all the finerst points of the Pudukottai Style and within its contours has improvised and innovated without sacrificing any of the salient aspects of the Palani syle. Although his tutelage under PSP was short(because PSP died very young--TS must have been in his early twenties,PSP put all his heart and soul into teaching TS and "championed" TS for every concert that he--PSP was playing--as a Double mridangam.
In fact I recall one such concert@ the kalki gardens on the occasion of Cienu's mother Radha's marriage-- with SSI,TNK and PSP and TS--Need I say anything about the galaxy of artistes on that occasion--if the recording is available(Cienu--I know you were not born!!) you would hear several shabashs and Bales from SSI!!!

What is amazing and noteworthy is the fact that TS has not lost his "sheen" despite the fact that he had migrated to NA--and hence not having had the opportunity to play for all the Vidwans over several generations except for his annual journeys during the Music festvals.

Imagine HOW if Sachin Tendulkar were to migrate to a country where Cricket is rarely played and that too with less-than-the-top players and then visit India every year and produce a stellar performance!!!

Seemu good review--wonder what your Guru UVS has to say on it!!!!!

[mahavishnu]

Thank you for the excellent summary, Semmu!

[semmu86]

I think the lec-dem cut across gurus & schools and the points that he made would be applicable to each and everyone learning and practicing this art. The quintessential take away from this would be that "Making the concert an overall success rather than indulging in individual upmanship", by doing which the Mrudangam artiste would make himself/ herself look better subconsciously.

But that is a delicate art, to establish one's own authority without disturbing & imposing upon the main artiste is something that most of today's Mrudangam artists seem to lack and more worryingly that tribe seems to be on the decline.

[vasanthakokilam]

Thanks very much Semmu. Nice summary.

I think I understand the point 'Syllabic & melismatic approach to accompaniment was spoken about beautifully.' Would 'Bhavanutha' and 'O Rangasayee' be prototypical examples of Syllabic and Melismatic songs?

Btw, I hear people talk about vallinam and mellinam. Can you expand on that, what they are and how they are produced and where they are used ( i assume the nature of a portion of the song dictates use of one vs the other )?

[semmu86]

Would 'Bhavanutha' and 'O Rangasayee' be prototypical examples of Syllabic and Melismatic songs?

Krithis like mArubalka, DhinamaNi vamsA for syllabic & krithis in ragas like sahaAnA, nIlAmbari etc for melismatic ones, just to give a generalized example.

Btw, I hear people talk about vallinam and mellinam. Can you expand on that, what they are and how they are produced and where they are used ( i assume the nature of a portion of the song dictates use of one vs the other )?

Vallinam-Mellinam roughly translates to hard-soft strokes. Its quite tricky to explain that here. There are no hard & fast rules regarding the application of the same. However, the golden rule is to follow the mood of the artiste and that of the music that is rendered. There are also exceptions to this in terms of playing contrastingly, which sounds beautiful at the hands of certain Mrudanga vidwans alone. There is a school of thought about vallinam-mellinam compensating for the long pauses that creates effects. Thats purely one's own prerogative.

TS' accompaniment to the NR_LGJ duet chakkani rAjA, (Esp the concert having Ramnad Raghavan on the double Mrudangam), UKS Sir's accompaniment to KVN's "hechcharika rArA", (There are tons of examples but am stopping here) are some of the finest examples of vallinam-mellinam playing that you can listen to.

Unfortunately, it involves lot of aesthetics and hence, cant be taught. It has to be "acquired" over the years and this is one factor that separates "Great" Mrudanga vidwans from the lot of other "Good" Ones.

[vasanthakokilam]

Thanks very much Semmu.

Right, defining 'what it is' is one thing but 'when to apply it and how' is a totally different ball game. Syntax vs Semantics & Pragmatics difference, I suppose.

[thanjavooran]

Thanx semmu86 for the detailed write up.
Thanjavooran
03 01 2015