CHITRA VENU LEC-DEM ON 15.04.2016

[uday_shankar]

Would you say Sikkil Sisters school would be more on the thuthakAram side of things. How about Shashank? ( may be he has got more HM techniques now )

One of the most amazing things about Carnatic flute in the decades gone by is the wide variety of styles, all competingly brilliant, developed after Mali sir broke the spell of the previous generation. Tirupambaram Swaminatha Pillai himself broke the spell in many ways but it was left to Mali to take the business of gamakam on the flute (a sort of tonal WYSIWYG, if you will) to full expression.

So unconsciously, they are all "disciples" of Mali sir.

A genuinely alternative style, as represented by H Ramachandra Sastri, which harks back to the older era of Sarabha Sastri, is being carried forward faithfully by Shashidhar. That has to be allowed to thrive. I am not a fan of monoculture but CM has a tendency to move in that direction. Every violin accompanist wants to play like Lalgudi. Nobody wants to follow, say, Dwaram.

Carnatic fans too make a beeline to preferred styles to the exclusion of everything else. A strong case can be made that instrumental music need not sound like a exact replica of vocal music.

[uday_shankar]

Ravi, BTW, sorry if bore down like a freight train. Certainly not my intention but seems like I have a lot of things to say !

[vasanthakokilam]

Uday, thanks for all that info. So, thuthakAram, whether used for swara enunciation or sahitya syllable definition, both are tonguing techniques, right? Any difference between the two use cases?

[rshankar]

Ravi, BTW, sorry if bore down like a freight train.

No offense taken at all... and please do say what you have to...

[Sivaramakrishnan]

A strong case can be made that instrumental music need not sound like a exact replica of vocal music.

You said it Uday! I also think that the 'still not well defined' concept of 'Gayaki style' has compelled many instrumentalists to fine tune their playing techniques to 'extract' human voice from the instruments! The fact that 'Gaatrasangitam' is the highest form of music itself would explain the limitations of instruments and it will be only proper to retain/ propagate the old playing techs. Yes, none wants to play violin in the 'Dwaram style' and follow only the trinity (Lalgudi,TNK, MSG). And where gone is the Chowdiah violin?

[vasanthakokilam]

Sivaramakrishnan, We are talking here CM audience.
They have to hear vAthApi, rAma kathA sudhA, karpagamE etc lest you will even lose the paltry audience they get for instrumental concerts.

But not all is lost. Most people have strong association with the starting line and may be the usual Niraval line. Instrumentalists can take liberties with the rest. May be that is the trick. Work hard to get the starting line and the nirval line down pat, go crazy with the rest that suits the instrument.