'Bit adikkarathu'

[kvchellappa]

Sriram V ‏@ twitter

Things have come to a sorry pass if a singer needs a paper for lyrics of Evarani (Devamrtavarshini). As seen on SVBC channel

[shankarank]

Well if the singer is anybody in the thick of musical milieu - that is a travesty. If it is somebody new , young, next gen , unfamiliar to us rasikas - that only shows the reach of CM

Depends on who it is!

[CRama]

My most irritating moments were when Hyderabad Bros had to peep into their ipads/note books for even common kritis which they have been singing for years. Recently Yesudas went to Sabarimalai and the videos were viral in the social media. Also the wild criticism for referring to his ipad for singing Harivarasanam in front of the Shrine. A song which he would have sung 10000 times.

[Gamakam]

I once asked S.Rajam - the one with an infallible memory - on why he always referred to the lyrics of the songs in his renditions (Most of the videos we have of his renditions show with a piece of paper on hand). I knew first hand that he could recall rarest of the kritis by heart. He just smiled and said he didn't want to take a chance. He also said, in his experience he has faced sudden bouts of memory lapse where the words would just vanish as if someone had cast a spell even on the most popular of the songs. That may well be the case with Yesudas and Hyderabad Bro's.

[CRama]

For Mr.S.Rajam, considering his age and the rarity of the compositions he handled, he did not repeat much- it can be justified. But can not be justified in the case of the other two musicians- that too for the most common kritis that they have been singing for more than 30 years.

[Gamakam]

Dear CRama,

The point I'm trying to make is, Rajam sir dd not differentiate his approach to rare vs. regular kritis. It was his decision to refer to notes during rendition of kritis no matter how well he knew them. I respect that decision and I don't see it as an insincere approach. I would like to the benefit of doubt to the artist. I personally feel rendering the kriti wrongly is worse than rendering it right while referring to notes.

[kvchellappa]

There are two views obviously. Sanjay quoted his guru saying, 'You are going to sing 13-14 items. Why can't you be sure of the wordings without having to refer to noes?' Even after referring to notes, I wonder how many really pronounce the words rightly. I am curious to know whether anyone refers to notes while singing pancharatna krithis in Thiruvaiyaru.
When I was a student, I saw my Samskrtam vadyar refer to the book while reciting Vishnu Sahasranamam whereas the Hindi vadyar (a scholar in Samskrtam as well) recited from memory fully. I had the audacity to ask my vadyar who has a soft corner for me anyway. He replied, 'I also can do it. But, as the Samskrtam teacher, I am responsible for the correctness, you see.'

[CRama]

If a professional singer for 40 years still needs to refer to ipad to sing songs like Evareni correctly, then the mistake is in his grooming and sadhana. Same case with Harivarasanam of Yesudas. Even after rendering 1000 times, will he be insecured of rendering correctly. These things can never be justified. See the case of Sanjay, He is singing many rare kritis and varnams without referring to notes. Is he singing incorrectly all the time.

On a side note, there was a lec dem by Suguna Purushothaman Mami who always had a humorous way to drive home some point. She said. "Saraswathi Pustakapani. Athanale taan ippo ellarum kayyile pustakatha vachindu pathu padara.".

[Sundara Rajan]

Worse is the case where two sisters or brothers share the same note or paper placed between them for reading from or singing from !

[arasi]

Let's for a moment imagine that an offspring sings along with the brothers. What a field day it would have been for the incomparable Gopulu! To depict the youngster peering over the pad from behind, as the two brothers leaned towards it from either side while the accompanists on stage played away merrily

[shankarank]

We should have consideration for those who are older and due to lives' travails and their involvement in various things, may become fallible in their memory faculty.

The tweet is about evarani (devAmRta varshini). Any upcoming musician who is young in the milieu of music world would be expected to sing such evergreens without referring - having anyhow chosen to sing a tyAgarAja kriti ( amongst all things available these days ! ). This is irrespective of whether they understand a word of it.

And this is not about being a nAdOpAsaka!. This kriti they should listen to all the available renditions 100s of times!!! Just have that modern passion about things! Good enough!

I think we are bringing tenuous and obscure examples to dodge around the main import of the tweet.