Tribute to Smt T.Muktha on Her 12th Anniversary

[RaviSri]

Today, March 11th. It is now 12 years since my guru Muktamma passed into eternity. Here’s a rare video link to her one and only Cleveland concert, just a small snippet, where she is honoured and also continues her concert with a Tamil padam, yArukkAgilum bhayamA in bEgaDA. vocally supporting Muktamma is Kiranavali Vidyashankar. Accompanying her on Chitraveena is N.Ravikiran and on mridangam is Manoj Siva.

https://youtu.be/xBTRueFdGbs

[shankarank]

Thanks RaviSri. The concert had all heavy hitters, SrI dakshiNAmUrtE, vINA pustaka dhAriNIm, and to top it all, kAntimatim karuNA mIRa in kalyANI! I was there in attendance!

The concert I remember was available in sangeethapriya!

[Ramasubramanian M.K]

RaviSri: Thanks for the posting. Vidtarthis of this forum would do well to note the Kuzhaivus Odukkals and Chedukkals(these are terms that the Dhanammal family used to emphasize I believe in ther teachings). At 87 Mukthamma could touch the higher octaves with clarity and purity. I wonder if the present day lady musicians could maintain this standard when they get to be in their eighties!!( I may not be around but that is a different matter!!!).
Ravisri, Viswa Sir sent me a slightly different version of the PAdam in 1986 when I requested him to sing and provide the lyrics for my Daughter's Arangetram. no less authentic and melodious!!

The legacy can never be erased or superseded.
Admittedly I am terribly biased.
In my twenties I did not think much of their music but later on I realized from family members who had learnt under B-M how difficult the Bani is and how merciless it can be if one is undisciplined.
As Goldsmith says 'FOOLS WHO CAME TO SCOFF REMAINED TO PRAY". I am proud to admit I was one of those fools!!

[RaviSri]

MKR well said. I was also one of those fools who came to scoff but remained to pray. In this connection a joke. Mukthamma had the capacity to laugh at herself, a very rare quality among humans.

Once, after teaching us a padam, in which there were a profusion of gamakas, she asked me, "unakku teriyumA, enga reNDu pEraiyum (meaning Brindamma and herself) 'weeping sisters' apDInnu sholluvAnga" (Do you know, they used to call us as weeping sisters). Yes, she used the English term. I told her, "AmAm ammA, kELvipaTTirukkEn" (Yes, Amma, I have heard). There arose on her sculpted face a faint smile that defies description. An understanding smile it was of those who scoffed at them.

[RaviSri]

MKR well said. I was also one of those fools who came to scoff but remained to pray. In this connection a joke. Mukthamma had the capacity to laugh at herself, a very rare quality among humans.

Once, after teaching us a padam, in which there were a profusion of gamakas, she asked me, "unakku teriyumA, enga reNDu pEraiyum (meaning Brindamma and herself) 'weeping sisters' apDInnu sholluvAnga" (Do you know, they used to call us as weeping sisters). Yes, she used the English term. I told her, "AmAm ammA, kELvipaTTirukkEn" (Yes, Amma, I have heard). There arose on her sculpted face a faint smile that defies description. An understanding smile it was of those who scoffed at them.

[ajaysimha]

ravi ji,
those who scoffed at them actually meant
sisters who could make listeners weep, with their emotion packed padams and javalis.-weeping sisters

[arasi]

Weeping sisters?
Sweeping sisters--in paring away the nonsense, keeping the essential intact--
Mopping sisters, in making every sung line gleam with meaning and precision--
Making 'us' tearful,while we listen to the chiselled phrases of their art...

[RaviSri]

Excellent. Thank you. You summed up their music precisely

[SrinathK]

My whole understanding of CM gamakas changed after listening to Brinda and Mukta. I swear some new pathways have opened up in my brain since.

To appreciate their music deeply, you must already be fairly advanced yourself.

[arasi]

As a child, though I found their music dragging, their was something in it which made me pause and listen to even more. Though not an advanced student of music, I have admired their music all along--for their worth alongside what marabu and marabaNu (tradition and genes) have endowed to them...