PALLAVIS OF MS AMMA- LEC DEM BY KIRANAVALI VIDYASANKAR

[CRama]

The above lec dem was held in Ragasudha Hall on 18 Dec 2016 at 10 A.M. It was a very informative and enlightening lec dem. Smt.Kiranavali needs all praise for the painstaking research she has taken to study in depth the technical aspects of the pallavis of MSS which have escaped any analysis or reporting so far. Many of the details she shared went above my head. I am sharing whatever little takaway I had.

Dr.T.K.Murthy was the Guest of Honour. He shared relevant details when the RTPs were played. Nageswaran Sir and myself from the forum attended. Cienu requested Nageswaran Sir to present shawal to Dr.T.K.Murthy and myself handed over the bouquet to Sri TKM. I consider this as a great honour for me. The programme started with a prayer song. Anahita and Apoorva rendered Chitravina Ravikiran’s composition about MS Amma- Bhavayami sada Sangeeta Subha lakshmim tuned in a ragamalika. A wonderful composition mentioning about the great attributes of M.S Amma. The points made by Kiranavali.

• MS and DKP were the pioneers in pallavi singing in those days. But they did not have any role model among women to refer to. Their aim was to sing with necessary punch in the places in ragam, tanam, neraval etc. But they did it with genuine effort and utmost sincerity without any Aarbhattam. So many items which we now do and project as something great they did them very quietly and naturally.

• A total of 28 RTPs were studied for this purpose. As was the practice those days, MS had sung pallavis in big ragams only. In the later days, she sang pallavis in Hemavati and Dharmavati which were rare ragams of those days. It was observed that generally the RTPs extended upto 28-30 minutes and half of the time was spend for raga alapana. (I have some RTPS for 40 minutes). The shortest RTP was RTP in Simmendramadhyamam in a RR Sabha concert. For an instance of how Raga alapana was done in the pallavis, alapana of Begada from an RTP in 1955 MA concert was played. It was observed that within a time of 15 minutes the entire gamut of the ragam was covered. The daintiness, punch phrases, approach, show an influence of Brindamma in the alapana.

• Next tanam was taken up for presentation. Before starting tanam, MS sang a brief sketch of the ragam. A very short tanam of 3 minutes duration in Sankarabharanam was played from Academy 64 concert. The longest tanam she found was in Keeravani RTP in Academy 65 concert. The tanam covered all the three octaves and covered the punch phrases with precision.

[*] Swarams were not sung much. It was restricted to 4-6 rounds only.M.S has sung ragamalika swaras only in very few pallavis.

• After this she played select pallavis. It could be seen that M.S employed a variety of talams in her various pallavis. It is unfortunate that this aspect went unnoticed so far by the writers and speakers about MSS. M.S herself was upset about this.
• First was from MA 1969 concert. RTP in Thodi– Khanda Triputa. Chinthai valalar senthil velava siva maintha. The alapana by M.S and VVS are really grand and mesmerising.
• Next she played the Kambodi RTP- Parimalarangapathe from 1973 Academy concert. This pallavi is normally sung in Adi 2 Kalai. But M.S has sung this in Chatusra Roopakam 4 kalai.
• Next was Dhanyasi pallavi from KGS 1974 concert. It is very interesting. A short pallavi- Varada Venkata saila. But the talam is Tisra Triputa 1 kala- two rounds. IN this pallavi, raga malika swaras were also there- Behag, Varali, Kanada and Mohanam.
• Next RR Sabha concert pallavi with MSG – pallavi in Simhendramdhyamam Nanda Gopala Mukunda Hare Govinda was played. This was in Adi 2 kalai. Same pallavi M.S rendered in IFAS 1973 concert in Mohanam- Chatusra Roopakam- 4 kalai.
• The pallavi Un darisanam kidaikkumo Nataraja – everybody used to sing this in Kalyani only. M.S has sung this pallavi in 1970s in an Academy concert. In the eightees she sang the same pallavi in Dharmavati.
• A famous pallavi of M.S in Bhairavi (my favourite) Dharavidalitha kuvalayadala nilaya was played.This was in Tisra Triputa with Ateeta eduppu. Trikalam played by TKM was also played.
• In many RTPs, Radha Viswanathan alone sang the Pratilomam at the end. Singing Pratilomam requires great skill and accuracy. It is a commendable aspect of Radha Mami.
• In all the cases studied, tani avartanam was never given at the end of the RTP. It was always given after the main kriti. TKMurthy confirmed this.

The morning programme took us to December season of seventees when MS used to regale the listners with her haunting music. The programme concluded at 12.30.

[Rsachi]

CRama,
I was waiting with open browser window on Kala Kendra website and the programme announcement video box kept saying this programme will begin shortly. It never started...

[Ramasubramanian M.K]

CRama: Nice review.Kiranavali has revealed a dimension that rasikas like me could never fathom over 6 decades of listening.

I am glad that Cienu thought it fit to get you and Nageswaran Sir to honor the artistes.Our Rasikas forum members are precisely the type that MSAmma would have loved to meet.

[kvchellappa]

Cienu has forewarned that web stream my not happen. Looking forward eagerly to delayed web stream.

[cienu]

The report of C Rama is fantastic and it gives a glimpse of the wide range of topics covered by Smt Kiranavali during the lec dem on MSS Pallavis.
The link is expected to be uploaded in a few days. In the meantime please find below a few pictures which were taken on the occasion.

The picture of MSS taken by Avinash Pasricha.


Anahita, Apoorva and little Akshara sing the composition on MS Amma composed by Chitravina Sri N Ravikiran.


Welcoming the audience to the Special lecture on MSS by Smt Kiranavali


Smt Kiranavali during the lecture on the "RTP's of MSS"


Smt Kiranavali being honoured by Dr T K Murthy.



Dr T K Murthy being honored with a Ponnadai by Sri Nageswaran


Sri C Rama honors Dr T K Murthy with a flower bouquet


Presenting a Fruit basket

[CRama]

The pics are lovely. Thanks Cienu.

Forgot to mention. Akshara, daughter of Kiranavalli joined Anahita and Apoorva in singing the prayer song.

[thanjavooran]

Shri C Rama,
Excellent coverage of the event.
Shri Cienu,
Thanks for the beautiful pictures.
With wishes,
Thanjavooran
27 12 2016

[arunsri]

In the 1969 Academy Concert, Tani is indeed given after the pallavi. There is a 29 odd minute elaborate pakkala nilabaDi as item 5 (complete with ns d, n s korappu), which did NOT have a Tani.

Yes, by and large, 99% of the time probably Tani is post main kriti only

[rshankar]

Cienu - is the link up?

[svenkat]

Agree that it was an erudite presentation. Kiranavali was very meticulous and organized, and gave some refreshing perspectives about MS Amma's music and the historical context. The RTP samples were mind-boggling and chosen appropriately to highlight every detail of Pallavi singing. Undoubtedly MS Amma excelled in such a technical area of music. More such detailed analysis of her classical side will be a welcome change.