Sikkil Gurucharan- Bharatiya Vidhya Bhavan-2015

[grsastrigal]

Gurucharan-Vocal
Patri Satishkumar – Mridangam
V Sanjeev-Violin
27th Nov 2015,

Bharatiya Vidhya bhavan Annual Music Festival, Mylapore.

Part 1- Patri Satish kumar-“musical musings”

• When I saw Patri in the concert list, I thought of not going to the venue as I was confident that that I could hear the concert sitting at home.
• When Patri played at BVB, KaRpagAmbAl along with kapAli moved to KailAsam from Mylapore for 3 hours to escape from the sound. kapAli felt that patri’s mridhangam sound is louder than His “damaru”.
• ThillAna mohanambal- 1968 –Movie- a dialogue.
Manorama asks Shivaji Ganesan, who is the nadhaswara vidhwan whether the ‘sunAdham” comes only from his Nadaswaram or from any other nAdaswaram. Shivaji Ganesan repies - “it is not like you think. This comes from our inner “nAbi kamalam” along with God’s blessings. ”

Present day- 2015

Manorama asks Patri - Whether the blasting sound comes only from your mridhangam or from any other mridhangam,

Patri replies- No, if you tune your mridhangam with “dOlki” type instrument with silver rods fitted around mridhangam’s tOppi, even you can create this sound while playing.

• For Patri, there should be another upa-pakka vAdhyam like ghatam or khanjira so that our ears are at peace (in one piece) when the other vidwan is playing.

Part II-Concert

Sikkil Gurucharan gave another “soulful” concert with sadAnanda tAndavam and ekkAlathilum in pUrvi kalyAni.
tuLasi dhalamulacE- Neraval in “sarasIruha punAga” followed by Swram- Thyagarajar
Kamala charanE- GNB- Amritha BehAg.
Submain-bahudArai- Achutha dAsar’s “sadAnanda dAndavam” (S)
husEni- rAma, ninE nambi nAnu, -Thyagarajar
main-pUrvi kalyAni-ekkAlathilum unai maRavamalE – Tiruvarur Ramaswamy pillai- Neraval in ….”Ishwari unai allal igathil uNDO vEdham”.. (S)
TanjavUr ponniah pillai’s “Ashta rAga mAligai” in Darbar, kAnada, atAna, amIr kalyani, kamAs, paras, behAg and surutti.
Oru pozudhu- behAg-Tiruppugazh-Arunagirnathar
Srirama chandranukku- surutti-Mangalam

In bahudAri, his swaram ending in tAndavam, Ananda tAndavam, sadAnanda tAndavam was very nice.

Ponnaiah pillai’s rAga mAliga kriti was new and very nice. Each and every rAga was included in the lyrics except behAg.
His rAga alApana always stands out to be full of bhAvam. He never hurries it up. pUrvi kalyAni was beautifully exhibited and like “jackfruit chocked in honey”

Another good concert.

Sanjeev, as usual, is at his best.

[pattamaa]

GRS - I have heard patri and also other mridangam vidwans... defintely he doesn't bang mridangam unlike few others... was the amplification too high ?

[harimau]

GRS - I have heard patri and also other mridangam vidwans... defintely he doesn't bang mridangam unlike few others... was the amplification too high ?

I was at the Priya Sisters' concert at Bharathiya Vidya Bhavan yesterday.

Patri was more than a tad too loud. He doesn't seem to realise that his excellent accompaniment loses its charm because nobody can appreciate loud noises emanating from one side of the stage.

During the tani avartanam, I felt bad I didn't have cotton to stuff into my ears. I also wished to have brought my decibel meter so I could measure the loudness.

I went to the concert particularly because Patri was playing the mridangam. Now it is going to be the reason to avoid certain concerts.

[kvchellappa]

En intha jwaram avarai PATRIkondatho?

[Govindaswamy]

Mr Harimau

Most of the mridanga vidwans insist on keeping the volume very high. Extracts from my letter to Sri Satish Kumar and his reply are enclosed. The sound level of concerts in both the well known music sabhas of Madurai is intolerable. To call the performances as ‘Chamber music’ is a misnomer.
Govindaswamy


ஐயா
தங்கள் மிருதங்க வாசிப்பினை வானொலியிலும் தொலைக்காட்சியிலும் கேட்டிருக்கிறேன். நேற்று(5.8.2015) முதல் முறையாக மதுரை பாண்டியன் ஹோட்டலில் தங்கள் வாசிப்பைக் கேட்டேன். மற்ற சில ரசிக நண்பர்களுடனும் நான் கருத்துப்பரிமாற்றம் செய்துகொண்டேன். உண்மை சிறிது கசப்பாக இருந்தாலும் அதைக் கூறுவது என் கடமை என்று எண்ணுகிறேன். (என் வயது 83. சிறு வயது முதலே கர்நாடக இசையில் ஈடுபாடு உண்டு.)
தியாகராஜர் ம்ருதங்க வாசிப்பு இவ்வாறு இருக்க வேண்டும் என்று கூறுகிறார்.
• ‘ஸொக3ஸுகா3 ம்ரு2த3ங்க3 தாளமு ஜத கூர்சி நினு
ஸொக்க ஜேயு தீ4ருடெ3வ்வடோ3
•
சொகுசாக, மிருதங்க தாளத்தினைச் சோடு கட்டி, உன்னை சொக்கவைக்கும் தீரனெவனோ!
• நீங்கள் ம்ருதங்கத்தை அழுத்தமாகத்தட்டி பலத்த ஒலி எழுப்பினீர். தவிற ஒலி பெருக்கியில் ஓசை அளவை மிகவும் அதிகமாக வைக்குமாறு ஆணையிட்டீர்.
• ஒலியின் அளவு (Decibel level) செவிப்பறையின் (Eardrum) வலி சகிப்புத்திறனைத் (Threshold of pain ) தாண்டியது.

Hello sir,

Namaskaram. Sorry in replying in english since i feel i can be more expressive in English. I sincerely respect your age and your feelings.

Though you might be hearing music from the time of palakkad mani iyer sir & palani sir..
1) The current generation of musicians of all kinds are suffering with DIFFERENT MICROPHONES changing day in and day out.. Musicians even with proper sound n balance in the instrument inherently(Tone of the instrument).. ( I AM NOT TALKING ABOUT THE VOLUME.. Hope you understand the difference between sound and volume).. Whatever thyagarajar the great said, those were the times where there were NO MICROPHONES... SO EVENTUALLY THEY MIGHT HAVE ENJOYED THE REAL SOUND AS IT IS

HOPE YOU ARE TAKING IT IN THE CORRECT SENSE...

2) Nowadays the concerts are happening in differently shaped halls ( Like marriage halls, other halls) which are not accousitically built for music.. We being musicians dont get to hear ourselves when we play in such halls ( because of no good feed back)..
HOPE YOU NOTICED THERE IS NO FEED BACK SPEAKER FOR THE ARTISTES

HOPE YOU ARE TAKING IT THECORRECT SENSE...

3) Mridangam as an instrument needs two microphones where in both the mikes are adjusted in order to bring in good balance.. When the sound guy reduces one side.. Eventually the total sound gets disturbed.. ( these problems we commonly face because of the compulsion of microphones in todays life style)..

[pattamaa]

agree with patri sir's observations. Few months before, i heard a chamber mikeless concert, where patri played mridangam. I was sitting right next to him, and enjoyed whole concert.... In fact, i saw and heard he was asking main artist whether his playing volume was okay, as playing without mike is totally different task and experience...

[arasi]

Thank you, Govindaswamy AND Patri for his courteous response. Makes a lot of sense.

I think of the few occasions when I couldn't take the 'noise' anymore and had to walk out when even the best of them were playing on stage.

As with air conditioning, most of the sabhas still have to get the hang of it all--to have a better understanding of the modern modes which they may install but have no clue about how to use them effectively.

It must be even more frustrating for Patri and other artistes who play in fusion music where I imagine the sound people know better about how to adjust sound.

[grsastrigal]

I don't understand his answer and whether that reply answers the question. How come only Patri has got this problem and Mannargudi Eswaran/Rajarao/UKS do not have. Tiruvaru Bhaktavatchalam has nurturned Delhi Sairam and Sumesh Narayanan the technique of banging. Patri also joins the bandwagon.

I don't understand why he has the steel rods built around the tOppi like dOlki. May be because of that the sound gets more noisy.

[Sundara Rajan]

The artists should arrive before the auditorium is opened to the public and have a good sound check done from every corner of the auditorium. Most artists arrive late and/or the organizers do not care enough to have this done resulting in sound blasts. I AM carrying ear muffs that I use on planes to the concert halls these days, in spite of the fact that my hearing is not as good as it used to be !

[pattamaa]

may be, rasikas should boycott concerts where mic balance is not proper, or protest ?

GRSastrigal - please hear patri's playing in academy, raga sudha, or at venues where acoustics is good and then comment..

[harimau]

may be, rasikas should boycott concerts where mic balance is not proper, or protest ?

GRSastrigal - please hear patri's playing in academy, raga sudha, or at venues where acoustics is good and then comment..

I have listened to Patri in every hall imaginable in Chennai.

His playing is always louder than what an accompaniment should be.

At BVB for Priya Sisters, the theermanam at the end of every song -- and yes, there was one for every song -- was explosive. The tani avartanam was unbearably loud.

During the concert, one cannot minimise the sound with cotton in your ears because that would block out the vocalist and the violinist too.

My quota for Patri this season is over. He can play for Goddess Saraswathi herslf and I shall not attend such a concert.

I shall listen to Parupalli Phalgun and see if he as fallen prey to this disease.

[ramamantra]

I don't understand his answer and whether that reply answers the question. How come only Patri has got this problem and Mannargudi Eswaran/Rajarao/UKS do not have.
I don't understand why he has the steel rods built around the tOppi like dOlki. May be because of that the sound gets more noisy.

Me too. I also found his replies really funny. this is why we have a saying in Tamil, aada teriyaa...

[kvchellappa]

From The Hindu today:
"Patri Satish Kumar’s mellow, silken and alert support on the mridangam was also a veritable treat. His anticipation was very sharp and the tani played along with the morsing support of top grade mridangam artsiste of Akashvani B.V.S.Prasad came as a special rhythmic treat."