An evening with INJIKUDI SUBRAMANIAN

[Sivaramakrishnan]

(This may be taken as the continuation of my post dated 31.07.2016 in the thread 'a meeting of three rasikas' elsewhere in the 'General discussions' forum)

Thanks to Nageswaran Sir (NS) I could be part of a brief meet with Sri Injikudi Subramanian (IS) one of the best Nagaswaram Vidwans of today, on 31 July 2016 at the residence of Sir at Mambalam, Chennai. The ‘tripartite discussion’ was hearty and informative. The anchor person was of course NS!

On the much acknowledged contribution of Nagaswaram to Carnatic music, IS reminisced on the music of some of the great names such as TN Rajaratnam Pillai, Vedaranyam Vedamurthy, Karukuricchi Arunachalam, the Sebanarkoil brothers etc. apart from his ancestors of the Injikudi clan. NS recalled his experience of Nagaswaram listening during his younger days and the grandeur of the melam which was a part of all religious and sacred occasions. TNR was adopted by Sri Natesa Pillai- another doyen of the art- who also rechristened a young Balasubramaniam as Rajaratnam. IS recalled the inimitable specialities of TNR recitals. IS also made special mention of Vedaranyam's Natakurinji delineation.

There were certain temple festivals where a single Raaga alaapana (not from the ‘big’ scales) would be selected for the ‘Naalu maada veedhi’ procession.Those were opportunities to prove one’s mastery or ‘exploratory abilities’ over janya ragas such as Huseni. Any upcoming Vidwan had to practise the challenging Mallaari-s to perfection. Tavil Vidwans were looked upon for their prowess in laya. Apart from Needamangalam Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai and several great artists of Tamilnadu, Yazhpaanam Dakshinamurthy from Ceylon also made a big name. I remembered that Nachiarkoil Raghava Pillai was a regular accompanist for Karukurichi.

Recalling his younger days IS said that the village temple was ‘everything’ in his growing up with Nagaswaram as it offered the best practising venue too. The ritualistic recitals for the ‘Kaalai sandhi’, ‘ardha jaamam’etc. gave special insight into the religious aspects and in every aspect, the Nagaswaram was wedded to our tradition not to say of its inevitable presence in weddings!

As an established artist now, besides almost all centres of India, IS has visited several foreign countries where Nagaswaram music is received with devotion and considered a must for festive occasions. Many a NRIs turn emotional on listening to the melam.

On the increasing interest of today’s generation to laya aspects (especially as demonstrated during events such as ‘Pallavi durbar’) compared to the more ‘musical’ renderings of the past golden era, IS commented that laya aspect was quite strong during yesteryears too – right from the way of ‘putting’ the taalas. The scope of the saptataalaas (Dhruva,Matya, Roopaka, Jhampa, Triputa,Ata and Eka in the 5 modes (Tisra,Chatusra,Khanda,Misra and Sankeerna) had been amply demonstrated by the luminaries. I observed that the laya aspect was predominant and ‘visible’ in Nagaswaram recitals thanks to Tavil accompaniment. Desadi Taala was commonly followed in olden times. Old masters were Pallavi masters too. On being asked on Tavil being played ‘mildly’ during raga interludes, IS explained that the Tavil phrases would be addressing an all pervading, underlying rhythm around us– quite a subjective phenomenon. (I remember the great actors Sivaji Ganesan and Tilakan opining that there is an element of rhythm even in acting!)

IS was in total reverence to the role of violin maestro Lalgudi Jayaraman in promoting his skills. He also immensely benefited from the great Thanjavur Sankara Iyer. I also took the occasion to remember some of the best concerts of IS himself and how I was ‘enslaved’ by his aalaapana of Manohari several years ago at a concert for Tamil Isai Mandram in Chennai. NS and me also recalled a few of his concerts we attended at Krishna Gana sabha in the past couple of years.

Subramanian had no words to express his thanks to Nageswaran Sir for his affectionate patronange. I requested the Vidwan to make himself available for another full day session for rasikas on several other aspects of carnatic music and Nagaswara music in particular, leave alone Injikudi's grip over the Hindustani idiom too!

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Here are two snaps taken at Nageswaran Sir's house

https://goo.gl/photos/LnHspf24AwM5wz587

https://goo.gl/photos/iyYAknB8HStynDk66

[rajeshnat]

SRK
Nice of you to recollect . Karaikurichi and TNR are very very special to me in many many ways. Atleast 10 years before there was one poster by name VinayO who made a post about vedaranyam vedamurthy - he referred vedaranayam vedamurthy as the MDR of nadaswaram. He wrote few points of how he used to admire vedaranyam vedamurthy . Nice of injikkudi recollecting all those brilliant names and still fighting with his craft and kind of succeeding . Tx to nageswaran sir to invite injikkudi and you . Deep patronage is always required for nadaswaram

[S.NAGESWARAN]

DEAR RASIKAS,

I ONLY ACT AS A CATALYST TO PROMPT VIDWANS LIKE SRI INJIKUDI SUBRAMANYAM AND OUR RASIKA SRI SIVARAMAKRISHYNAN
TO ENGAGE IN A MEANINGFUL WAYS OF DISCUSSIONS ABOUT OUR GREAT MUSIC.

THE DISCUSSIONS REPORTED IN THIS THREAD WAS READ BY THE RASIKA MADAM RADHA BHASKAR AND SHE WANTED TO HAVE ONE MORE INFORMAL MEETING WITH SRI INJIKUDI SUBRAMANYAM WITH ALL OUR RASIKAS IN THE NEAR FUTURE AT MY HOME AND DISCUSS MORE MUSIC RELATED TOPICS.

PERHAPS THIS MAY HAPPEN IN DECEMBER CONVENIENT TO SRI INJIKUDI SUBRAMANYAM.

S.NAGESWARAN.
08.08.2016.

[Rsachi]

Sri Nageswaran,
what a beautiful idea. I hope we can get a webcast of that informal event as well, for us in other locations.

[CRama]

Sivaramakrishnan, Thank you for providing us an elaborate account of your discussions with Injikudi. As you know, Nageswaran invited me also. But because of some urgent private work, I missed the opportunity. In the present scenario, Injikudi is one of the top Nagaswaram players with abundant manodharmam, impressive repertoire and pleasing sound production of his nagaswaram. His Hindustani raga alapanas are mind boggling.I have always found him most humble and venerable towards TNR, Vedaranyamand Karukurichi ( in that order). There are not much recordings of Vedaranyam available outside. I have only two concerts. I have not heard them for many years. But I have heard many old timers speaking so high of Vedaranyam. Your discussions have prompted me to dig at my old nagaswaram collections. Last week, in the function organised by Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi Injikudi played a very good Natakurinji and Lalgudi kriti Kandan seyal andro for one hour.