Mridangam Demonstration by Vidwan Trichy Sankaran

appu · Post by **appu** » 30 Jun 2007, 18:34

Venue: Berklee Performance Center,
Berklee College of Music
Boston, MA

Date: June 28th, 2007
Time: 7:30 PM

Students at the week long Percussion workshop had a unique opportunity to witness the legendary mridangam maestro Trichy Sankaran demonstrate the art of South Indian percussions. Shri Sankaran began with a tani avartanam in Adi Talam (2 kallai). He in his very unique way introduced the students to the various nadais in a tani avartanam. He very brilliantly incorporated Thisram, Ghandam and Misram. The beauty of the tani was the simplicity with which he demonstrated the power of the mridangam, both the left and right. The adi talam tani lasted an approximate 35 minutes. He had the students spell bound during this time. The end of the tani had everyone in a tunderous ovation.

The second tani was in Misra Chapu talam, not as elaborate but had all the makings of a master piece. The tani lasted about 12 minutes with beautiful taekas and a load of farans. The end Koruvai was beautiful and brilliant.

He next demonstrated the Kanjira and did what he called a tala malika. He incorporated Rupakam, Ghanda Chapu, Misra Chapu, Chatusra jathi triputa and Sankeerna Chapu talams. I was not very sure the nature of the change in the talam. The change was more arbitrary to my liking. I guess the purpose of the exercise was more to show the students the various talams in South Indian music.

From here Shri Sankaran migrated to something called a Thiruphaghal talam in 21 beats. He introduced it to the students as

Tha Kitha, Tha Kitha, Thaka Tha Kitha
Tha Thin Ki Na Thom
(3 + 3 + 5 + 10)

The total Konnakol avartanam was about 2 minutes. The students were very attentive and grasped the concept instantaneously. I was very impressed to see the amount of enthusiasm and support CM is receiving here at the Berklee campus.

The last number was a sawal jawab between resident percussion professor Jamey Haddad and Shri Sankaran. The instrument that Jamey played was not introduced by name. I will try to articulate the shape of the instrument. The instrument is of Middle Eastern descent (I believe). Resembled a Chinese wok with the lid sealed shut with eight holes on the lid for air to escape. The instrument is played like the Ghatam and various sounds are produced by blocking the openings in various combinations. If any body else attended this concert please do put up the name of the instrument.

Over all a memorable hour and a half. As I walked away from the concert I left wondering why our CM community was so underrepresented by the rasikas. The concert was free and open to the public. The only logical answer that crossed my mind was may be the publicity was limited and did not get into the Boston community. I am sure CM rasikas would have enjoyed this wonderful and unique event. To satisfy my curiosity about other events I walked around the campus and stumbled upon another concert scheduled for July 20, 2007. Details of the event are as follows.

South Indian Violin: Aishwarya Venkataraman
Venue: David Friend Recital Hall
921 Boylston Ave
Berklee College of Music
Time: 7:00 PM
Cost: Free and open to all rasikas.

Lastly if our resident mridanga vidwan Shri Balaji could elaborate a little bit more on the 21 akshara talam, I would be highly obliged.

shripathi_g · Post by **shripathi_g** » 30 Jun 2007, 21:21

Was it like this? - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rXcdcDB2S8

appu · Post by **appu** » 30 Jun 2007, 22:55

Yes, on the money. That was the instrument Sripathi_g. I guess it is called a hang drum.

mahakavi · Post by **mahakavi** » 01 Jul 2007, 00:20

Interesting! It looks like a rotor that goes into centrifuge. I am sure some gnome is sitting inside that rotor (drum) making all the musical sounds!!!!!!!!!!

erode14 · Post by **erode14** » 01 Jul 2007, 21:04

appu wrote:From here Shri Sankaran migrated to something called a Thiruphaghal talam in 21 beats. He introduced it to the students as

Tha Kitha, Tha Kitha, Thaka Tha Kitha
Tha Thin Ki Na Thom
(3 + 3 + 5 + 10)

appu,

thiruppugazh thALams are called chandha thALams, where the construction of the beats per aavardham is done like the construction of the words in the song.

is it a thiruppugazh like this in the rAgam shankarAbharaNam?

kAdhi mOdhi vAdhaDu nUl kattriduvOrum.....?

thats a 10.5 beats thALam.

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 01 Jul 2007, 21:25

shripathi_g wrote:Was it like this? - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rXcdcDB2S8

When I hear the youtube, I am hearing two sounds one is the percussion beat and the other is something like jalatharangam. Is both sounds produced by the same instrument or is it that the artist is playing the percussion beat alone with some musical instrument like jalatharangam in the background which is only heard but not shown in the video as played.

s_hari · Post by **s_hari** » 01 Jul 2007, 21:42

Great!! Is there any audio / video available to share / buy?

=hari

mahakavi · Post by **mahakavi** » 01 Jul 2007, 22:26

rajeshnat:
It is my understanding that both sounds (the beats and the music) emanate from the same instrument (what I call a centrifuge rotor)

mri_fan · Post by **mri_fan** » 01 Jul 2007, 22:38

For that instrument, it sounds like you might be able to develop a rough musical scale...and after watching the video, does anyone think it might be possible to play a song on the instrument (like a keyboard that doesn't have that modulator for gamacas)

appu · Post by **appu** » 01 Jul 2007, 22:39

Yes all sounds come from the same instrument. s_hari is requesting audio/video to share/buy. Are you asking about the Sankaran demo or about the hang drum. The lec/dem was recorded professionally by the university with 3 video cameras at different angles. I will check to see if it is available to the general public

mridhangam · Post by **mridhangam** » 02 Jul 2007, 10:26

The Thakita Thakita Thakathakita Tha . ka. tha. ki. ta is 10.5 aksharas and also 21 as was earlier mentioned in the posts. Trichy Sankaran has already released a CD titled Count 21 and has played Tani in this Tala also. It is Chanda tala thiruppugazh containing the words as mentioned by Erode Nagarajan.
JBalaji

jonsinger · Post by **jonsinger** » 03 Jul 2007, 17:12

I a graduate of the Berklee College of music and have studied with Jamey Haddad as well as attended some of Trichy Sankaran's classes and concerts at Berklee in the past. I would like to comment that the instrument that Jamey was playing was most likely his own creation: the Hadgini. This is the instrument:
http://www.vintagedrum.com/category/Lat ... AE+Hadgini

Jamey has played this with mrudangam artists when he get the chance as he learned mrudangam in the 80's and developed this instrument with artist Frank Giorgini (www.udu.com) - now the LP company is mass producing it. Jamey created his own repertoire based on studied with Ramnad Raghavan, Karaikudi Mani. and V. Nagarajan. Some may be interested to know he has also created an instrument the Hadjira, which is a blend of tambourines including the kanjira.

-Jon Singer

appu · Post by **appu** » 03 Jul 2007, 18:17

Jonsinger, Thank you for your enlightening input. Were you there at the lec/dem this last weekend. If you were there could you elaborate on the instrument that Jamey performed on. If I observed correctly it was a single head and not a double like in the vintage drum link that you provided above. Now I may be wrong too as I was sitting way in the back to enjoy the sound quality of the drums itself.

Thank you in advance

erode14 · Post by **erode14** » 03 Jul 2007, 22:32

thank you jon singer for the info.

the swaras played on hangdrum sound like rAga sudhdha dhanyAsi... singer's [:)] can clarify....

jonsinger · Post by **jonsinger** » 04 Jul 2007, 10:33

I was not there so I can not say for certain which instrument Jamey was playing. He commonly plays the Hadgini and has done so with vid Trichy Sankaran many times in the past.

-JS