Chitravina Ravikiran and Anil Srinivasan( Piano) teamed up to present a concert at The Residency Towers, T.Nagar, as a curtain raiser for the Bharat Sangeet Utsav concert series to follow the next few days.
This is NOT a review , report, feedback or criticism, but just a few of my perspectives after I heard the concert and left the hall.
Anil has been doing a good job of trying Carnatic Music with the traditional Piano and has been teaming with vocalists and instrumentalists to present a few concerts in the last few years.
This time it was with Chitravina Ravikiran and together they have also released an album titled " Flame of the Forest".
I joined the concert audience when Ravi was announcing the Reetigowla song (enna punniyam seideno), which he played solo. Thereafter Anil joined in for the Gamakakriya song Meenakshi Memudham Dehi and Teeradha Vilayattu pillai .
Gamakakriya or Poorvi kalyani, such a melodious , soulful raga that extends so much possibilities to the artists to develop and create an intricate web of patterns, came alive in Ravi's hands. Ravi also changed into Nattai, Arabhi and came back to Gamakakriya with ample ease and the whole thing enmeshed beautifully. Teerada Vilaiyaatu pillai , played by Ravi with the changes in tempo from one to the other, reminded one of the "kolaattam" patterns of yesteryears.
Chitravina being such a powerful instrument and Ravikiran, being an umatched professional on this instrument, the whole process of playing a raga like Gamakakriya, was a joyful, blissful experience to me. Our music and our South Indian instruments ( here I include the Violin too, as it has been honed to play our kind of music, ) are crafted to produce the right gamakas, and the myriad hues and patterns of raga alapana. Akkarai Subbalakshmi on the violin was doing her job well.
I felt that the piano, in contrast to this was almost sounding weak and got drowned in this power. Western instruments ,at best can produce the right notes according to scale but, in a situation when it is put in consonance with a powerful instrument like the Chitravina, the soul or the life of our music cannot be brought out by these instruments. Or the artist on the western instrument, should work on tweaking the instrument and should indulge almost full time in researching what can make the instrument produce the necessary elements. Piano with a vocal combine , I feel will still work well, as the balance between a voice and a supporting, piano might mesh better.
Here, I am not questioning the need for experimentation or the open mindedness of approaching music, but rather, asking myself what works best for fusion.
If we were to say that the flavour of each instrument is to be taken as it is, then the fusion will only be a combination of a few musical sounds leaving a fleeting momentary impact ; at best it will be an unfused experimentation, leaving the listener to take what he or she likes best.
I was left with many questions, joy of having heard the Chitravina maestro, appreciative of Anil's experimentative approach and boldness, thorougly enchanted by the deftly played mathematical patterns in assorted speeds during the thani by both Patri Satishkumar's (mridangam)and Purushottaman's (Khanjira).
Bharat Sangeet Utsav - Special inaugural concert - 30.10.09
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ganeshkant
- Posts: 963
- Joined: 05 Feb 2010, 11:59
Sivapriya,
I am with you as for ur views about Piano with an instrument like Chitra vina.Yesterday the piano didn't gel with chitravina at all.
In the ragamalika session I think Ravi palyed Vagadheeswari & Varali while AS played Arabhi.Anil played Simhendramadhyamam.
RK really ruled the stage yesterday so naturally the other things got eclipsed.
I am with you as for ur views about Piano with an instrument like Chitra vina.Yesterday the piano didn't gel with chitravina at all.
In the ragamalika session I think Ravi palyed Vagadheeswari & Varali while AS played Arabhi.Anil played Simhendramadhyamam.
RK really ruled the stage yesterday so naturally the other things got eclipsed.
Last edited by ganeshkant on 01 Nov 2009, 11:23, edited 1 time in total.
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sureshvv
- Posts: 5542
- Joined: 05 Jul 2007, 18:17
Seems to me that Anil's approach is not to make the piano the "main" instrument, but a supporting instrument to embellish the main artiste. And the supporting technique is not to repeat the same phrases the main artiste sings/plays but playing phrases that are consonant with that. Since the piano is very non-obtrusive ("weak"), it allows for such accompaniment.
Last edited by sureshvv on 31 Oct 2009, 13:55, edited 1 time in total.
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uday_shankar
- Posts: 1475
- Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:37
I think it may be a matter of taste...
If one does not have a taste for western classical music and experience listening to it, it may not be possible to appreciate such efforts. As luck would have it, I have spent a lifetime drinking the nectar of western classical music thanks to an early taste for it. Equally luckily I have also developed a taste for Carnatic music.
Nothing more can be done by Anil Srinivasan to "tweak" the piano to produce "the necessary elements" to make Carnatic music on it. If one wants to listen to hard-core Carnatic music with gamakams on the keyboard, there are plenty of other options. I would like to bet that that is not the goal of Anil's efforts, although I have not been authorized to speak for him
.
The whole idea is to provide western harmonic color to Carnatic melodies and create a harmonious whole. If Anil simply repeated Carnatic melodies on the piano, with or without the horrible "pitch bender" devices, it would be a meaningless effort. The whole effort would be no different from a regular Carnatic katcheri on a piano. Who needs that ?!
I liked the purvi kalyani quite a bit but the best moment was when Anil sneaked in a beautiful simhendra madhyamam into the mix. Simhendra madhyamam lends itself very well to such efforts since it is a small variation from the lovely harmonic minor scale. I thought the interplay between aural color created by Anil and the liquid gamaka-laden melodic shapes on the chitravina was really good.
There's a difference between how we listen to Carnatic music and how we listen to western classical music and I will try to expain this. While listening to Carnatic music, we hug very very tightly the single melodic pattern that wafts across our consiousness. We attach ourselve to it and dance with its intricate gamakas and go into every nook and cranny that it takes us. The only larger structural element that we may attach ourselves to, often subconsciously, is the underlying tAla structure but the melody is still paramount.
We listen to western classical music very differently. It is an integral aural experience. Melody plays a part for sure, but only in the context of an overall aural color, the effect of the sounds. Imagine listening to Carnatic instrumental music, say nagaswaram or flute, from a very long distance, in the quiet of the night. For example, from a neighbor's radio or or a temple or some open air auditorium a long distance away. You cannot hear the details of the melody exactly and certainly cannot make out anything about the gamakas. But it is all very suswaram and sounds good. You can readily fix the shruti at which the katcheri is being played because the shadja is often the dominant sound in the spectrum of aural color that wafts across. You can also make something about the tempo of the music that's being played. You may also be able to make out some individual swaras that have sufficient distance...say chatushruti rishaba and chatushruti dhaivata...Suddenly you realize it might be pakkala nilabadi in kharahapriya...you hear a lot of the mel sthAyi chatushruti rishaba, probably nA manasu ! But really you can't even be sure it's even kharaharapriya. You get an overall aural color and it's very pretty. You certainly know that the raga played has R2 and D2 and it does not have antara gandhara because that would have also shown up in the aural color. So you have an intergral experience of sound. Of course, there's also harmony, but that's a whole different universe and cannot be explained quickly on an internet chat board !
If there's one thing that detracts slightly it is the deviation of the equally tempered gandharam of the piano with ravikiran's precise intonation for G3 in the purvi kalyani piece. For simhendra madhyamam the discrepancies between equal temperament and just intonation didn't matter.
If one does not have a taste for western classical music and experience listening to it, it may not be possible to appreciate such efforts. As luck would have it, I have spent a lifetime drinking the nectar of western classical music thanks to an early taste for it. Equally luckily I have also developed a taste for Carnatic music.
Nothing more can be done by Anil Srinivasan to "tweak" the piano to produce "the necessary elements" to make Carnatic music on it. If one wants to listen to hard-core Carnatic music with gamakams on the keyboard, there are plenty of other options. I would like to bet that that is not the goal of Anil's efforts, although I have not been authorized to speak for him
.The whole idea is to provide western harmonic color to Carnatic melodies and create a harmonious whole. If Anil simply repeated Carnatic melodies on the piano, with or without the horrible "pitch bender" devices, it would be a meaningless effort. The whole effort would be no different from a regular Carnatic katcheri on a piano. Who needs that ?!
I liked the purvi kalyani quite a bit but the best moment was when Anil sneaked in a beautiful simhendra madhyamam into the mix. Simhendra madhyamam lends itself very well to such efforts since it is a small variation from the lovely harmonic minor scale. I thought the interplay between aural color created by Anil and the liquid gamaka-laden melodic shapes on the chitravina was really good.
There's a difference between how we listen to Carnatic music and how we listen to western classical music and I will try to expain this. While listening to Carnatic music, we hug very very tightly the single melodic pattern that wafts across our consiousness. We attach ourselve to it and dance with its intricate gamakas and go into every nook and cranny that it takes us. The only larger structural element that we may attach ourselves to, often subconsciously, is the underlying tAla structure but the melody is still paramount.
We listen to western classical music very differently. It is an integral aural experience. Melody plays a part for sure, but only in the context of an overall aural color, the effect of the sounds. Imagine listening to Carnatic instrumental music, say nagaswaram or flute, from a very long distance, in the quiet of the night. For example, from a neighbor's radio or or a temple or some open air auditorium a long distance away. You cannot hear the details of the melody exactly and certainly cannot make out anything about the gamakas. But it is all very suswaram and sounds good. You can readily fix the shruti at which the katcheri is being played because the shadja is often the dominant sound in the spectrum of aural color that wafts across. You can also make something about the tempo of the music that's being played. You may also be able to make out some individual swaras that have sufficient distance...say chatushruti rishaba and chatushruti dhaivata...Suddenly you realize it might be pakkala nilabadi in kharahapriya...you hear a lot of the mel sthAyi chatushruti rishaba, probably nA manasu ! But really you can't even be sure it's even kharaharapriya. You get an overall aural color and it's very pretty. You certainly know that the raga played has R2 and D2 and it does not have antara gandhara because that would have also shown up in the aural color. So you have an intergral experience of sound. Of course, there's also harmony, but that's a whole different universe and cannot be explained quickly on an internet chat board !
If there's one thing that detracts slightly it is the deviation of the equally tempered gandharam of the piano with ravikiran's precise intonation for G3 in the purvi kalyani piece. For simhendra madhyamam the discrepancies between equal temperament and just intonation didn't matter.
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arasi
- Posts: 16873
- Joined: 22 Jun 2006, 09:30
Uday,
What a suitable comparison from you about music wafting in from afar and the effect it has on us! Though I am familiar with western music, I do not know it well. There are others who have no clue about WM and yet find Anil Srinivasan's playing to be very agreeable in the CM context. We have accepted a violin or a mandolin in the way they sound and should. So, is it lack of familiarity with the instrument that makes the piano sound as if it is 'weak'? Is it because the sound is compared with the chitra vina? The problem arises when you enter the hall with pre-conceived notions about how foreign a piano is, and how different CM is--and more so in this case because the piano is teamed up with an old indian instrument played by a classical master like Ravikiran!
Tastes do differ, but as you say, there are numerous concerts where there isn't much creativity but sincere attempts to play a foreign instrument as if it has 'converted' to CM and owes no connections to its past.
I hope I get to hear RK and AS together in concert (and also listen to their Flame of the Forest) before I say anything more!
What a suitable comparison from you about music wafting in from afar and the effect it has on us! Though I am familiar with western music, I do not know it well. There are others who have no clue about WM and yet find Anil Srinivasan's playing to be very agreeable in the CM context. We have accepted a violin or a mandolin in the way they sound and should. So, is it lack of familiarity with the instrument that makes the piano sound as if it is 'weak'? Is it because the sound is compared with the chitra vina? The problem arises when you enter the hall with pre-conceived notions about how foreign a piano is, and how different CM is--and more so in this case because the piano is teamed up with an old indian instrument played by a classical master like Ravikiran!
Tastes do differ, but as you say, there are numerous concerts where there isn't much creativity but sincere attempts to play a foreign instrument as if it has 'converted' to CM and owes no connections to its past.
I hope I get to hear RK and AS together in concert (and also listen to their Flame of the Forest) before I say anything more!
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sundance
- Posts: 19
- Joined: 01 Jul 2009, 21:59
@uday and arasi -
wonderful posts from both of you. i could not agree more.
as it happens, i was at this concert, and found the effect of anil's playing with ravi highly agreeable. The Purvikalyani piano prelude (it reminded me of Debussy or Satie - either way, highly impressionistic) - was absolutely delectable. I only wish Anil was on the stage instead of being relegated to the side, but I suppose the size of the instrument and the strength of a temporary wooden platform contribute to this.
I also thought that this concert was a very interesting beginning of sorts. I think Anil shows great maturity in being unobtrusive, subtly accompanying Ravi without taking away from Ravi's mastery. It also shows marked contrast to his playing style with Sikkil or Unnikrishnan or even Lalgudi GJR Krishnan.
Arasi - your post ends on an ambiguous note - are you saying that you find Anil's playing pleasing or are you reserving judgment?....to throw in my two-cents, I think that this is not just an experiment but the result of two mature and highly sophisticated minds - Ravi being the senior and more proficient (naturally), and Anil being the junior and getting better all the time!
wonderful posts from both of you. i could not agree more.
as it happens, i was at this concert, and found the effect of anil's playing with ravi highly agreeable. The Purvikalyani piano prelude (it reminded me of Debussy or Satie - either way, highly impressionistic) - was absolutely delectable. I only wish Anil was on the stage instead of being relegated to the side, but I suppose the size of the instrument and the strength of a temporary wooden platform contribute to this.
I also thought that this concert was a very interesting beginning of sorts. I think Anil shows great maturity in being unobtrusive, subtly accompanying Ravi without taking away from Ravi's mastery. It also shows marked contrast to his playing style with Sikkil or Unnikrishnan or even Lalgudi GJR Krishnan.
Arasi - your post ends on an ambiguous note - are you saying that you find Anil's playing pleasing or are you reserving judgment?
....to throw in my two-cents, I think that this is not just an experiment but the result of two mature and highly sophisticated minds - Ravi being the senior and more proficient (naturally), and Anil being the junior and getting better all the time!
Last edited by sundance on 31 Oct 2009, 22:39, edited 1 time in total.
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arasi
- Posts: 16873
- Joined: 22 Jun 2006, 09:30
Sundance,
My last statement? Sorry, it was ambiguous. All I meant to say was that I have not heard Anil with Ravikiran before (though with Gurucharan and Viji Natarajan on the violin).
As I walked away from the computer, I did realize that I hadn't mentioned anything about how mature in his art Anil seems to be--in that he isn't ready to pounce in at the first chance to prove anything to himself or to others! As a matter of fact, that's what appeals to me about his playing. He is into his music and yet is very sensitive to the artiste he is playing along with. He is not giving a piano concert here, but goes along with (wouldn't call it accompaniment, but part of a duo) where understatement defines his role (I am guessing) and he is very happy with it. He neither wishes to display his proficiency in western music nor in CM. I think he is as keen on creating something, going along with the CM musician. All that I know is that it is effortless (in the sense he is not working so hard to prove something to us about his ability). Someone like him, who grew up in a CM-filled family and who aspired to learn WM certainly would have reverence for both genres to do anything to bring down the level of both kinds of music and the artiste he performs with!
My last statement? Sorry, it was ambiguous. All I meant to say was that I have not heard Anil with Ravikiran before (though with Gurucharan and Viji Natarajan on the violin).
As I walked away from the computer, I did realize that I hadn't mentioned anything about how mature in his art Anil seems to be--in that he isn't ready to pounce in at the first chance to prove anything to himself or to others! As a matter of fact, that's what appeals to me about his playing. He is into his music and yet is very sensitive to the artiste he is playing along with. He is not giving a piano concert here, but goes along with (wouldn't call it accompaniment, but part of a duo) where understatement defines his role (I am guessing) and he is very happy with it. He neither wishes to display his proficiency in western music nor in CM. I think he is as keen on creating something, going along with the CM musician. All that I know is that it is effortless (in the sense he is not working so hard to prove something to us about his ability). Someone like him, who grew up in a CM-filled family and who aspired to learn WM certainly would have reverence for both genres to do anything to bring down the level of both kinds of music and the artiste he performs with!