In 2017, dancer Ananda Shankar Jayant created and produced Natayrambha, a Bharatanatyam practice app (www.natyarambha.com)  that has been well-received by gurus and digital leaders alike, and is now followed across the world.

Natyarambha, is also a digital platform, that has been creating unique content, on arts, inspirational videos, learning capsules, motivational talks, and sharing of Indic knowledge.

Natyarambha  has now  produced and presented  Kutty Kahani - Eternal Stories , Young Storytellers. Kutty Kahani is a unique and game changing idea, in how India’s civilisational and cultural ethos, can be shared with children, and by children bringing together tradition and technology.

As adults we have often been concerned about young India’s disconnect with our civilisational roots. It is often noticed, that this important Indic cultural and civilisational  knowledge connect, is side stepped due to punishing work schedules of parents, and formal school education not providing for this knowledge. And yet, the streams of enduring Indic knowledge continue to be taught and learnt, by generations of young Indians. A stream that begins, when young toddlers, learn of these tales, from grandparents and parents, and when some of them learn of this cultural ethos, as students of India's myriad arts.

Kutty Kahani with Ananda Shankar as its Creative Director was premiered on 20 November 2020, and will continue upto 31st December 2020 ( Season 1) with one video released every day

A series of short videos of stories from India, that aims to create a digital bank of Indian stories and storytelling, of Indic knowledge and wisdom, encapsulated in brief videos further embellished with animation and digital design - thereby connecting tradition to technology 

A daily series of short video premieres, of stories from India, of India's timeless wisdom and knowledge, of storytelling and performance by enormously talented young children, (age 6 to 13 years) 

A multi art, multi lingual, (with subtitles as needed) story telling by young storytellers from across India, Malaysia, UK and USA, bringing to us India's ancient wisdom, creating, ready to access digital Indic content for children.  Kutty Kahanistories are from the spectrum of India's culture - stories from the epics, sthala purana of temples, rich tales on the origins of music and dance, handicrafts, folk tales, inspirational poets, Bhakti poets and poetry.

An absolutely new way of sharing India’s timeless stories and eternal wisdom; as understood and internalised by young children, through chanting, music, dance, poetry, puppetry, acting and of course storytelling; in short sized video capsules, (each video is about 5 minutes long)  in a unique format, of  short stories, told by young children, yet  making it a must watch for child and adult alike.

Kutty Kahani showcases the possibility of a simple and digitally enabled way of sharing Indic content, a new way of how India’s eternal knowledge can be transmitted in a simple and easily accessible way, that will help the young of India to have their cultural and civilisational roots and yet reach for the sky.

Click here to view the episodes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhhNaKm0I10&feature=youtu.be

Seventy- three years old, born on July 13^th 1947, Astad Deboo slipped away from life quietly on December 19^th 2020, leaving behind a varied legacy of creative productions, built up through sheer hard work in a painstaking career – the unostentatious artiste while braving through a- not- very- congenial ambience for contemporary dance in India, never stooping to drawing aggressive attention to himself. Ploughing a lone furrow through five decades of work with the body, Astad lived in a world of his own creativity, his non-conformist approach following no established dance norms, traditional or contemporary, defying categorisation. Born to a Parsi family in Navasari of Gujarat, with no history of anybody taking to the dance, Astad, inexplicably drawn to the art form, began his dance career as a boy of six, with Kathak lessons under K.Mohanty and later Prahlad Das in Jamshedpur, where the family settled for some years, after an initial shift to Kolkata, before the father got employed in Tata Steel.

While studying in Podar College, University of Bombay, in the sixties,  Astad ‘s eyes opened to the thrills of Contemporary Dance after being treated to a Murray Louis Dance Company show. In 1969 dancer Asha Coorlawala, seeing his vaulting enthusiasm helped him find a place in the New York School for Dance, studying Martha Graham’s method of approach to movement. In 1974, Astad joined the London School of Dance to study the Jose Limon technique. Later he worked for some years with Pina Bausch’s Wuppertal Dance Company in Germany.

After also working in Dartmouth with the Pilobolus Dance Theatre Company of Alison Becker Chase who won the Guggenheim fellowship in 1930,  he travelled through Europe, Japan, Indonesia, finally returning to India in 1977. And here he was advised to learn some Kathakali – not for performing but to improve his body’s Indian dance vocabulary. His guru was E. Krishna Panikar.Astad even mentioned performing in the Kerala temple! With this melange of movement forms, his body had experienced, one wondered what he was going to create. While critics cynically debated on what this medley of dance techniques would lead to, Astad was quietly working at discovering his own body language – which as he himself remarked to me once, fell between two stools- “not Indian enough” for the western critic, and “too westernised” for the Indian watchers. “But I was determined to discover my own method of movement”. And in deed he did, his dance theatre productions gaining sizeable audiences.      

To soldier on, through nagging criticism about this assemblage of mixed vocabulary, one needed courage, daring and  a sense of adventure – all of  which Deboo’s quiet façade accommodated in plenty.   

One remembers the dancer moving on the stage performing ‘Mangalore Street’, suddenly take a leap to land on the lap of a startled Baba Jamshedji seated in the audience! In similar defiance of all performance rules, during the Khajuraho festival , while following Satyadev Dubey’s idea of performing “Ladki Ka Ravan”, he made his stage entry, heralded by loud sirens  and black cat, in an Ambassador Car! In yet another production, he landed from a height jumping on to a stage full of burning candles ! One wondered how he avoided getting severely burnt while moving through this forest of lit flames. Constantly travelling, his adventurous nature accepted no boundaries of what one could try in dance. He collaborated with Pink Floyd at Chelsea Town Hall in London. In 1986 he was commissioned by Pierre Cardin to create a short piece for dancer Maya Plisetskaya performing for Bolshoi Theatre, using South east Asian hand movements! In 2004 Astad choreographed for a Hindi film by Painter M.F.Hussain - a work called Meenaki- Tale of three cities and in 2019, he collaborated with Hema Rajgopal, Sikil Gurucharan and George Brooks to present INAI with Natya Dance Theatre in Chicago.

Unlike traditional dance where expertise is judged by the effortlessness of a highly trained dancing body performing immaculately, Contemporary and Modern Dance believe in testing the endurance of the body in performance.  And Astad was a champion at this – his sweating tortured body performing a whole work with two syringes sticking out of his hand, or wriggling  his punished body  through  the spaces between strands of a ladder! Showing the mentally and physically tortured ‘Drug Addict’, and in works like ‘Insomnia’ produced in 1982 and ‘Asylum’ in 1979, the watching spectator’s body and mind also suffered – so contorted were the dance movements. These facets represented typical Modern and Contemporary Dance, where the body (without any facial expressions) conveys meaning through pure movement unaided by the histrionics of abhinaya.

But the confusing aspect was that Astad also consciously used facial expressions – and of a strong type thanks to his Kathakali training. But very often his eye and brow movements came as part of body movement – rather than to express an emotion, though that too was not taboo.

I often wondered if this self - flagellation of the body pointed to a certain compulsive trend of morbidity in the dancer’s personality. He also, while collaborating with puppeteer Dadi Padumjee, dealt with Death in ‘Thanatomorphia’ and here the dancer dialogues with Death appearing as a puppet character. “Is Death a liberation or is it a celebration?”

Myth which provides so much material for the classical dancer was also not precluded. He once told me “I have no special predilection for myth, nor do I nurse an animosity towards it. If a myth helps in bringing out a point, I will use it. And I have taken recourse to myths, generally in tones of a light hearted interplay like Yama who is mistaken for Krishna, caught in an exchange with Radha and Yashoda. In countries like Mexico and Spain, the item was highly appreciated.”

Astad is not just sombre themes and one cannot forget what a funster this dancer could be in his art and his repertoire has several skittish and playful numbers like ‘Chewing Gum’ for instance where his entire body shrouded and covered in stretchable material moved like kneaded Dough taking on myriad shapes and forms! Astad also created spectacular productions built round the concept of Devi – represented in over - sized striking Padumjee - designed puppets in red – the powerful visual extravaganza giving an entry stealing the show in many a festival ! Turned out in a striking gown flaring out when he took a pirouette, the dancer evoked a high meditative mood like a dervish, as he kept circling round the stage. This one Kathak movement of the very slowly spun ‘chakkar’, would be maintained over several minutes with tireless non-stop pirouetting – pointing to the extent to which Astad had trained his body. Never once through all these years could I ever catch him losing balance even once! At the age of 73, his body retained the same ability, some of the poses mind -boggling in the kind of muscle control required!

Astad’s taste in Music was equally eclectic. His love for western music was a natural inheritance from his Parsi background. He loved Rap, variety of Popular Music, Gregorian chant rather than authentic modern music, and a variety of different types of music superbly recorded and assembled formed part of his work. He had friends Indian and western who shared this interest with whom he worked. Astad also enjoyed Indian music. He did a whole production with the Gundecha Brothers Ramakant and Umakant.The slow Drupad Alap and music with Astad ‘s body interpreting it through poetic unhurried movements, made for a fine combination. He also collaborated with other classical musicians like Bahauddin Dagar the Rudra Veena player and with percussionists Shiva Mani and Lories Band in a work commissioned by Zee T.V.

How then did one define the Dance Theatre of Astad? No two productions were the same and stylistically it was difficult to think of a set of norms his work followed. It was not certainly traditional, and yet with his facial movements and deliberate use of mudras, it did not resemble Contemporary Dance in the east or west. One important feature running through all his work is the element of surprise and the unexpected that he believed in. For him anything predictable could never become great art. Always testing the body’s potential, his sense of adventure had no limits. With the prop of a wooden contraption with squares, some closed and others open, he would dance behind this, with parts of his body being seen through the uncovered spaces – creating strange visual aesthetics of body parts. Dadi Padumjee his puppeteer pal mentions how Astad, on his request, choreographed a work built on a line from a Jose Saramago novel “Angst, Angst Coonth Coonth Boom Baram Dhandal Damal Kaput”! Astad worked with several theatre directors like Sunil Shanbag, the Korean Director Hyoung – Taek Limb and others and also on poetry of Bulleh Shah, Tagore, and writings of Manto. Anything was grist for his choreographic mill. In fact, his unpredictability also came from the places he performed in like the 40 ft high walls at Champaner, atop the Wall of China where he presented ‘Astad Tandav Mudra’.He performed in a pool of water in Chandigarh and danced on the catwalk of the IGNCA building. Site dancing was his specialty.

Astad himself was not given to describing or categorising his work through any kind of theorising. “It is my type of body work” is all he said. For him differentiating between categories like ‘traditional’ and ‘Modern’ in movement or music made no sense. In fact his latest collaborations have been with Thang Ta Manipuri artists –  who are perhaps the most rigid in terms of not deviating from their tradition. Astad’s desire to collaborate with these martial artists led him to their Guru in Manipur whose permission he sought. He gave his word that while the artistes would collaborate in his productions, he would never interfere with their traditional vocabulary or change them in any way. Similarly his work with the Pung Cholom Manipuri drummers in ‘Rhythm Divine’, is an interplay  for artists pertaining to two very different approaches and schools of art.

Critics like Sadanand Menon wondered if Astad had a definite philosophy which he was trying to project through his work. Was he making some kind of statement or was all his work just extravaganza? He wondered why the indignation against the power structures of contemporary society, exhibited in the work of most contemporary dancers , was missing in his work.

These attitudes stung the very sensitive Deboo. “I have heard cutting remarks. I have my convictions and they do find expression in my work, but unobtrusively. I do not scream out my criticism. With a certain sadness he recollected how the “Gundecha Brothers who enjoyed singing for him were asked to stop accompanying him ‘if they valued their classical status’ – by the then Secretary of the Sangeet Natak Akademi!”  Behind my work is deep thought and effort. I do not do anything lightly. Some of the established classical dancers too have made very cutting remarks about my dance. If one does not fall into a slot one becomes a misfit. Never one to take part in a slanging contest, Astad suffered in silence.

I often pointed out the fact that he was the most travelled artiste (covered over seventy countries) having seen every corner of the world performing – which even the most famous of classical or Contemporary dancers cannot boast of. Astad’s reply was “Unfortunately I have to travel to survive. In India staying in one place, I will never earn enough to keep body and soul together. Not many have a love for Contemporary Dance and it is only now that some festivals have begun to include non-traditional work as part of the programme. And with the stage setting and lights my works require, sponsorship is minimal. So I have necessarily to be a nomad. And constant travelling can be very taxing.”

For me Astad represented the typical Zoroastrian in mind and work – given his inclusive and very accommodating mental attitude which apart from being all embracing was very giving. The Parsi community in India is known for its high sense of duty towards the needy in society. Few industrialists have been as giving as the Tatas. Astad’s compulsive humane qualities of unstintingly using his art to help the less fortunate in society, has been equalled by few artists. He first started with training youngsters from The Salaam Baalak Trust.  Those trained by Astad are a credit to society. His work in dance with the Deaf and blind had to be seen to be believed. He worked for quite some time in the University for the Deaf in the United States. He participated in the Olympics for the Deaf in Spain.In 1995 he produced ‘Road Signs’ working with the deaf with his own students and those from Gallaudet. Working in the Clarke School for the Deaf with 12 deaf women in 2005 Astad created some fine work. He worked with the Salaam Baalak Trust NGO for six months, his work in 2009 entitled “Breaking Boundaries’ astonished those who saw it. Seeing the poise and confidence with which these children trained and moved under Astad’s teaching, one was astonished to think that these were once street children ! Watching his training classes when he participated in the S.P.I.C MACAY Convention, I saw his meticulous teaching and strict attitude brooking no nonsense. Wondering if youngsters from these handicapped and deprived backgrounds would flourish under such rigorous rules, I had to change my mind when I saw how his students from nearby towns and cities never failed to attend his concerts - and the affectionate after- performance exchanges left me in no doubt of how much these youngsters loved and adored their teacher. And my respect for Astad increased when I stumbled on this side of him, without his ever mentioning the topic even once! And I was told by sponsors that on tours abroad with these children, he insisted that they stay in the same hotels that he was put up in. His desire was to make these youngsters feel a part of society and equal to others in every way. This aspect of Astad was so appreciated by Sadanand Menon that he felt that Astad, while given his still perfectly poised body, should nevertheless give up performing to concentrate on just training bodies – for dance badly needed such excellent trainers. Alas little did anyone realise that eating into the vitals of that superb physicality was non-Hodgins Lymphoma which would snuff out any future plans!

That Astad procured the SNA award and later won the Padma Shree were proof that his work had earned due recognition. And above all this that an old fashioned,  traditional art sponsoring institution like the Sri Krishna Gana Sabha should have thought in terms of decorating Astad with a title and award is proof to the fact that Deboo’s work had succeeded in communicating to all sections of people and that this gentleman artiste had danced his way into many hearts. The art world is the poorer without this gentle, giving spirit!

Leela Venkataraman,

Every country, and sometimes every region of a country, has its own style of music. Thus, the exposure to such a varied genre of music during her Masters and Post Masters Fellowship studies at Berklee College of Music, led Apoorva Krishna’s fascination to concept of chords and the realm of harmonies in Western music to grow. Though her basic interest is Indian classical music, this exposure to world music genres led her to want to create fusions of Indian classical and contemporary Western music. Apoorva is already an accomplished violinist belonging to the Lalgudi school. Her recent composition Merging Parallels has been garnering international attention. Several eminent artists like John McLaughlin,  Aruna Sairam, Bombay Jayashri and Ranjani-Gayatri, Abhishek Raghuram, her gurus Anuradha Sridhar, Srimathi Brahmanandam, among others have expressed their appreciation with encouraging words. Says John McLaughlin, “I've been involved with musicians from India and Indian music for the greater part of my life and one of the fascinating aspects I have experienced is the attempt to integrate harmony into the Indian traditions and now we have this young generation of the 21st century and they are studying Western music -- in particular, harmony and this music video from Apoorva and Varijashree is amazing on how they are integrating harmony into the melody, with the sophisticated rhythms of India and it's really an amazing piece of music, really quite outstanding."

Something a young aspiring violinist would only have dreamt about came true for Apoorva Krishna when in November 2019 two legendary maestros  John McLaughlin and Zakir Hussain invited her to play the famous Shakti masterpiece Lotus Feet at the Harvard Business School organised by the Berklee India Exchange. Since then McLaughlin’s encouragement led her efforts towards merging the music of East and West.  

Lalgudi tillanas have had a great fascination for her with their melodies and rhythms; they were the muse for her to compose five tillanas, and the debut album Apoorva Tillanas was released during the Cleveland Aradhana festival in 2018. Apoorva says, “With my love for Carnatic  tillanas and Western harmonies, Merging Parallels came to life. The piece relates to the concept of adhara sruti bheda ragamalika, which means different ragas over different srutis and tonics -- like the world of different modes over different keys and chord changes”.

Adapting, transposing and improvising over chord changes and different styles of playing, besides the strong difference between Indian classical tuning and the Western standard tuning, was a big challenge that she had to take on. It was her abiding passion for music and the exposure to different genres of music along with her training from understanding teachers that  gave her the courage to continue with the venture of composing melodies with Indian classical ideas with chord changes. Merging Parallels was a natural corollary that has swept her up to greater levels of acclaim.  

Merging Parallels runs for 3.15 minutes and is set to khanda Chapu tala with ateeta eduppu. It contains 18 ragas with chord changes and is set aesthetically, abiding by the tillana format, patterns, mathematical jati prayogas, as well as a lyrical section in Sanskrit in the raga Saramati.  Apoorva has been fortunate to have had other artists joining with her in this production, which has added to its musical value. Vajrashree, through her clear passionate voice, has rendered vocal support, the versatile Sunaad Anoor has brought forth his creativity with percussions like konnakol and khanjira enhancing the rhythmic aspects of the tillana. Apoorva adds, “Aleif Hamdan’s magical colours, chords and love for Indian classical music paved way for seamless transitions, rhythmic synchronisation and rock-solid harmonic support. The double bass support by Bruno Raberg has enhanced the total effect immensely.” All the musicians have played from their own homes due to the pandemic situation; nonetheless the coordination is completely seamless.

Apoorva has been part of several collaborations with both Indian and Western musicians.  Shankar Mahadevan’s composition Ragamaya is a fusion of Indian classical music conceptualised with graham bhedam with contemporary arrangement. Essenceis a recent electronic track produced by Atmanam, where she plays the violin; it was shot in the heart of New York and it has been popular on Spotify.Transcendhas William Cepeda, the creator of Puerto Rican jazz and a four time Grammy nominee; this is a collaboration of Indian classical music and Latin jazz styles.

There are some very recent  yet to be released works with her playing the violin which have influences of various musical genres such as Flamenco, Latin jazz, Polish jazz, Western classical, Electronic, Bluegrass, Iranian and hip-hop.

V. KARPAGALAKSHMI

The Dance India Asia Pacific 2020 (DIAP) was a hybrid ten-day seminar (4-13 September 2020), which brought together over fourteen master classes, twelve webinar sessions, and six choreographies. The conference also showcased residency programs, panel discussions, and a special dance workshop for children amongst several other special events. Besides the annual master classes conducted by DIAP faculty over two weekends covering Bharatanatyam, Kathak, and Odissi, this year, Carnatic music and mridangam master classes were also included, and all these were presented digitally to Singapore-based dancers.  The DIAP faculty for 2020 included regulars such as Priyadarsini Govind, Bragha Bassell, Rama Vaidyanathan and Mohanapriyan Thavarajah. Joining them were Aditi Mangaldas, Illeana Citaristi, S Sowmya, Patri Satish Kumar amongst other eminent artists.

The highlight of this year’s edition was the uniquely curated nightly double-bill webinars which covered a vast variety of topics and featured interesting personalities that made for an enriching experience. Topics included The Dancing Body by Priyadarsini Govind, which took a deeper look on the skeleton framework of the anatomy with live demonstrations with her students and a holistic discussion on the physical training required for dance.  This was followed by evening webinars starting with two topics for the solo repertoire. The first, Evolution of the margam, was presented by dancer Swarnamalaya Ganesh. This was a popular topic that reviewed Sadir – the earlier form of Bharatanatyam through historical pictures, and the construction of the margam at different phases in history including rarely performed elements. This was followed by dancer Malavika Sarukkai’s lecture on Reimagining the solo performance, where her personal journey on how she has uniquely constructed her own version of significant pieces within her solo repertoire over her career, shown through videos of her iconic works and dance films.

The first Carnatic webinar took place with vidushi S Sowmya’s lecture on Veena Dhanamma’s school of padams, where she shared her firsthand experience of learning from the eminent T Mukta, and the true essence and nuances found within this bani. She demonstrated and explained both the performing style and the teaching philosophy which was beneficial to both dance and music students. This was followed by a unique lecture-demonstration by dancer Rama Vaidyanathan on Exploring thumri in Bharatanatyam.  In this session, using live Hindustani musicians, two thumris were shown and the audience saw how Bharatanatyam can embrace and communicate emotions in good measure albeit with a different system of music. 

A first for DIAP took place the following day with a presentation by the Chitrasena Dance Company of Sri Lanka with a showcase on Kandyan dance. Presented by Heshma Wignaraja and Taji Dias, the history and evolution of this unique dance was explained and they demonstrated some of the key movements that emphasise agility and flexibility with live drumming.  This was followed by a session on the age old Silapathikaram and how it has endured as a dancers’ delight through the ages, was presented by dancers Sreelatha Vinod and Anjana Anand. Both the dancers, through live video demonstrations, showcased selected verses from this story amplifying the varied themes within this epic.

By mid-week, Odissi and Kathak webinars were a welcome change. Veteran Odissi dancer Ileana Citaristi demonstrated sancharis within the Odissi format and dancer Aditi Mangaldas spoke on Reimagining dance during lockdown. She shared the thematic mini-dance films her repertoire company dancers created, and spoke candidly about her journey this isolating crisis created.

The webinars also covered other important aspects related to dance - light design was presented by Gyandev Singh, where he explored the technical approach for lighting ensembles, solos, the use of digital mapping through images and video. This was followed by scholar and writer Sujatha Vijayaragavan’s lecture on the Appreciation of music and poetry in Bharatanatyam. Here, she detailed the necessity to pay attention to phrase emphasis and how dance communicates best when musical elements especially in song are well articulated through gestures and rhythm coming together.

The final two sessions culminated with Lalgudi tillanas, presented by the Lalgudi siblings GJR Krishnan and Vijayalakshmi. The duo presented some of Lalgudi’s famous tillanas, and the stories behind them including their relationship with him as their teacher and father. The webinar series culminated with a lecture by Gandhian scholar and arts writer ,V R Devika, on Nataraja and the Cosmos, which delved into the deeper meaning and cultural significance of the symbolism of this iconic image and its connections to scientific theory and philosophy; a fitting conclusion to the ten-day long series. 

DIAP 2020 also presented two interesting sessions with famed performers, Alarmel Valli and actress-dancer Shobana, in conversation with Aravinth Kumarasamy and Priyadarshini Govind respectively. The artists shared their life journey, the people who inspired their dance and the choices they made in their career, and how dance shaped who they have since become. For many fans, this was a treat and offered much inspiration and food for thought.

This year’s DIAP 2020 also featured the launch of several digital performances including Kaana Vaa, which featured three solo dances in Bharatanatyam, Kathak and Odissi, presented as group choreography, in collaboration with Raga Labs, Singapore. In less than two weeks, this performance crossed over 100,000 views on social media. Another digital presentation, an annual collaboration with Esplanade, Theatres on the Bay, featured Natya Lahari, an hour-long program of curated presentations.

Overall, DIAP 2020 offered a valuable range of knowledge for both connoisseurs and practitioners of dance and music. The Apsaras Arts team enjoyed putting this together despite the challenges of safe-distancing and brought the community together and kept the art alive and growing despite the pandemic crisis.

The DIAP digital performances can be watched on:  

https://www.apsarasarts.com/digital-performances/

In keeping with his professional excellence, classicism, and hard-core ability to move with the times, Ratikant Mohapatra’s creativity and managerial skills as director of Srjan, has enabled him to handle the pandemic scenario to catch up  with the practice of online programmes. He successfully presented  the 26^thOMC Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra award  festival by streaming live performances with music accompaniment on a proper stage or studio. This gave the viewer a feeling of watching the programme in an auditorium.

The Governor of Odisha, Prof. Ganeshi Lal presented the awards with adherence to government mandated Covid 19 safety guidelines. This year’s sole recipient of the Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Award was veteran cinematographer Raj Gopal Misra -- for his invaluable contribution to Odia films. The Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Yuva Pratibha Samman went to Prabhat Kumar Swain for Odissi dance and Himansu Shekhar Swain for Odissi music.

Inaugurated by Hema Malini (Rajya Sabha member and erstwhile dream-girl of the Indian screen) on the digital platform from Chennai, Srjan dedicated the festival to the doyen Pandit Jasraj and to Jaidev Das, multifaceted theatre personality, light-designer and a long time associate of Srjan.

This festival saw the introduction of  Vilasini Natyam -- the temple dance from Andhra Pradesh, and  quite a few of the talented present generation artists.

Dances

The festival opened with  Madhusmita Mohanty’s Odissi recital. The ritualistic mangalacharan, a pushpanjali, a richly choreographed and flawlessly presented Keeravani pallavi and the ashtapadi Madhave ma kuru manini,proved that she was no ordinary dancer.

P. Praveen Kumar’s feel and commitment to Bharatanatyam was fortified from the very beginning with Aditya Hridayam– the sacred verses worshipping the Sun God. With excellent agility and technical expertise, the jatiswaram in raga Abhogi, Adi tala, choreographed by his guru Narmada, was a gratifying experience, and so was the impassionate rendition of the two episodes of  Purandarasa’s devaranama, choreographed by Praveen. Eulogising Lord Krishna in two episodes -- Viswaroopa darsan and the Vamana avatara saw the dancer at his best.

Kathak dancer Gauri Diwakar’s sringara based Dheerapresented in four parts, explored the mystique  of the nayika  with  an array of themes including love, life, self-exploration, and fulfilment. While Chhabili naarsaw her technical prowess in footwork, her abhinaya skills in the cult numbers -- the Bindan in thumri Sab bann than aai Shyam pyari re followed by Naino ke dorey, and the concluding Meerabai composition Sanware ki drishti did not impress as the  facial expressions seemed static. It was a pity that the names of the legendary composers of the third and last numbers were announced in the reverse order.

Consummate dancer Purvadhanasree offered a spectacular performance of Vilasini Natyam.  Her training and art were reflected in the choornika, she was exemplary in the jatiswaram, followed by Sadasiva Brahmendra’s kriti, Kreedati vanamali, and  concluded with brilliant abhinaya for the  ashtapadis Radhika tava virahe  and Pravesa Radhey.

The home production Anweshanaa had a bouquet of Ratikant’s popular and  memorable neo-classical choreographies like the invocation Antara Ramavisualising the deep devotion of Hanuman, the spectacular tarana with the throbbing music of Vyzarsu Balasubrahmanyam, Rase Harimiha set to the music composition of the late Pandit Jasraj, concluding with Tulsidas’Sree  Ramachandra kripalu bhajamana. The live performance was appealing and exhibited the skill and expertise of the dancers.

Music

The festival gravitated towards a variety of instrumental recitals starting from  Vishwamohan Bhatts six short pieces of mellifluous ragas on his mohan veena on the first day with only a self-adjustable metronome to Dhaneswar Swain’s thundering mardala recital in Adi tala with Muralidhar Swain on the harmonium, mesmerizing the audience with quality music and rhythm, confirming once more the mardala’s reputation and vital position in solo concerts.

Santoor maestro Tarun Bhattacharya, explored the strains of the raga Bageshri with Hindol Majumdar on the tabla to offer an engaging recital; and there were canned clappings too!

The only vocalist of the festival, Abhishek Raghuram’s soulful renditions of compositions of Tyagaraja were clear, emotion-filled and shining, bringing forth the spirituality, musical harmony, and emotions with effortless brilliance and proved that language was no bar. He began with Nenarunchara composed in the rare raga Simhavaahini, Adi talam followed by Durmaargacharaa in raga Ranjani and Rupaka talam, symbolic of the anguish that Tyagaraja faced. Following this was Neevaadane Gaana in Saranga, concluding with a song on Lord Nataraja at Chidambaram, composed in Behag, Adi talam by Gopalakrishna Bharati. Abhishek was ably accompanied by Mysore V Srikanth on the violin and Anantha R Krishnan on the mridangam,

NITA VIDYARTHI

Photographs courtesy Srjan

Ritachhanda, a unit of the SNB Foundation Kolkata, transmits the cultural and spiritual heritage of India to the younger generation inspired by the messages of Brahmachari Satyadev, of Dev Sangha, Deoghar, his disciple Narendranath and by the spiritual successor Sauyendranath Brahmachary, a brilliant erstwhile technocrat.

A traditional transfer of learning through the gurukul system is facilitated by renowned dancers, distinguished  musicians, and their annual festival is the proof of their immense success and selfless service.

Luckily, this year’s two-day festival at Uttam Manch, grazed past the beginning of the first Covid 19 lockdown. After the inauguration and an enlightening speech by Swami Suparnananda Maharaj, Secretary, Ramakrishna Institute of Culture, Kolkata, the evening devoted to dance opened with an Odissi dance performance by Sujata Mohapatra, a complete disciple of the legendary guru Kelucharan Mohapatra. She presented the finest elements of style and idiom in the timeless compositions of her guru. Sujata began with the invocation Shantakaram, a Vishnu vandana in raga Gurjari Todi set to tala Joti, followed by the Hamsadhwani pallavi composed in 1973, where the mellifluous phrases of the lilting raga were steeped with flourishes of intoxicating movements, swirls, intricate nritta and smiles of her charming presence. The singing and accompanying music was deftly strategised through her abhinaya for the historic choreographic composition of  Ahe nilo sailo,  loaded with the soul-stirring lyrics of poet Shalabeg, portraying Lord Krishna’s compassion. Ardhanareeswar, was her concluding masterstroke that can be seen repeatedly for its nritta. The violin support by Suramani Ramesh Das, mardal by Ekalabya Mudali and vocals by Rajesh Kumar Lenka strongly added to the enigma.

The dance–theatre Shikhandini, choreographed by the renowned Kathak dancer Asimbandhu Bhattacharya also paved an entirely exciting form of aesthetically rich, deftly strategised exposition of vengeance of the compelling episodic character from the Mahabharata. In the structural strategies of the script by Amit Dasgupta, the well-known forceful story of Amba, the princess of Kashi, who claims the male gender from Yaksha, reborn as Shikhandini to avenge the ignominy she suffered in the hands of Bhisma, had been given a generous touch of vivacity, gorgeousness and rigour of Kathak elements by choreographer Asimbandhu Bhattachary. A delight of expertise and imagination was observed in the amazing marching in dhamar taal while raging war against Vishma, where a unique ‘Sawari’ has been incorporated in eleven matra! The narrative smeared with unclouded intellect and power, stylish  pastel shaded costumes, incorporation of masks, expert dancing in sync with the music. Throbbing light effects by Dinesh Poddar, vocals of Debashish Ghosh, bol paranth, Tanum tanana derena or for that matter gatbhav and taatkar or a sparkling physicality of Kajal Hazra’s  Kalaripeyettu as Yaksha, and the long open tresses of Asimbandhu as Shikhandini. His astutely significant intense gender-balanced portrayal sharply maintained the opulence and proceeded like a series of brush-strokes maintaining the ambivalence of both dance and theatre. Tanni Chowdhury portrayed Amba, Mayukh Dutta as Bhisma, supported by Avik Chaki. The voice-over for the characters were by Saswati Sen, Bimbabati Devi and Biplab Ganguli. 

Venkatesh  Kumar known for his rendition of Haridas Pada, had all aspects of musical excellence of the sastras. He took the audience on a spiritual journey with his recital in a devotional vein with high erudition, supported by Samar Saha on the tabla. Rabindra Kakoti needs special mention for his marvelous harmonium accompaniment. Kushal Das’ sitar recital had a strong base of that of Nikhil Banerjee and delighted with the compelling table support of Subhashish Bhattacharya.

NITA VIDYARTHI

Photo Courtesy  Asimbandhu Bhattacharya and Ritachhanda.

Sruti wishes all its readers a Happy New Year 2021. We sincerely hope it will usher in good times—of hope, prosperity, peace and well being. With the pandemic raging across regions and continents, the year 2020 was a trying one for everyone, including members of the arts fraternity. Covid 19 impacted society in various ways—physical, financial, emotional and psychological. Several people lost their lives and livelihood, leading to fear, and depression. For the first time ‘positive’ took on negative overtones!

In the arts world we have been hit by a barrage of deaths of several prominent personalities in the past few months. We have been writing about them and their contributions in the pages of Sruti. This month, we pay tribute to several famous artists who have passed into Eternity—veteran dancer-artist Amala Shankar, Carnatic stalwarts P.S. Narayanaswamy and T.N. Krishnan, Bhagavata Mela artist S. Natarajan, and Kuchipudi exponent Sobha Naidu. Some of the tributes penned by youngsters highlight the impact these artists have had on the next generation. We offer our heartfelt condolences to the family members of the departed artists. As the magazine goes to print we are shocked to hear the news of the demise of our Roving Critic Sunil Kothari, a good friend and long-time associate of Sruti. He was a jolly, happy-go-lucky person who got invited to seminars and events on dance across the globe. A jet-setting critic and prolific writer of books on dance, and a life-long learner, his enthusiasm and curiosity to know things is worth emulating. He is among the few whose knowledge was not solely bookish but also based on firsthand research into various genres.

We are indeed privileged to have a stalwart like Prof. Trichy Sankaran write about P.S. Narayanaswamy, and also his association with the Lalgudi family. This issue also includes the concluding part of Sivapriya Krishnan’s candid interview with Lalgudi G.J.R. Krishnan and Vijayalakshmi on matters musical.

It is a matter to be proud of that the arts fraternity has not been cowed down by the Covid pandemic. This year the December Arts Season too has got into a rhythm of its own. The early morning Margazhi bhajanai is happening with gusto in Mylapore. The social media is humming with activity. Kutcheris are being aired online everyday. It is heartening to watch artists give of their best in the programmes uploaded virtually. Their voices seem to be in fine fettle, as they must have spent the lockdown time practising, ruminating and revitalizing themselves and the art. Contrary to apprehensions, rasikas, especially senior citizens, are actually enjoying the concert experience in the safety of their homes. It has also opened up the concerts to a larger and wider audienc  across the world. Although the halls may not be reverberating withmelody, rhythm and ankle bells, the sound of music has entered the heart and home of rasikas.

The Federation of City Sabhas had a well coordinated hiprofile start to its ‘Yours Truly Margazhi festival’, with the Vice President of India, M. Venkaiah Naidu, virtually inaugurating the event from Hyderabad. He lauded the organisers for the virtual initiative and called upon artists to leverage technology and reach out to art lovers in a creative way. He rightly pointed out that in future, the real and virtual medium would likely co-exist. Describing our rich cultural treasure as India’s greatest gift to the world, he said it is a potent source of soft power to expand our global outreach.

The Madras Music Academy’s virtual season too began with a crisp and sober inauguration.

While inaugurating the annual arts festival of the Kalakshetra Foundation, Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit called upon gurus to bring art closer to the common man. He said apart from enriching life, art should also contribute to spreading social\ messages about contemporary issues. He exhorted the rich and the corporate world to contribute to the cause of art to supplement the efforts of the government. Hope many are listening!

S. JANAKI

 I was taken by my uncle (husband of my mother’s younger sister) to meet Parur Sundaram Iyer about whom and his two sons M. S. Anantharaman and M. S. Gopalakrishnan, I had already heard a lot. In fact, I had attended a few concerts in which MSG was featured as the violin accompanist.

 I paid respects to Sundaram Iyer and we indulged in some small talk. At some stage, he said that contrary to general perception, there was no basic difference between Carnatic and Hindustani music systems. Both had the same basic notes: sa, ri, ga, ma pa, dha, ni. The difference, such as it was, lay in the manner of treatment of these notes and the importance given to lyrics in the Carnatic system and the overwhelming importance given to melody and less importance to words in the Hindustani system; there was a lot more of gamakas in the former.

I also learnt that the Parur residence, a non-descript, two-storied house in Appar Swami Koil Street in Mylapore, had been hallowed by a succession of musicians of both systems. It had reverberated to the tunes of Ravi Shankar and to snippets by leading Hindustani vocalists. It had also hosted Yehudi Menuhin.

Iyer and MSG had accompanied the redoubtable Omkarnath Thakur and D.V.Paluskar. It is said that when Omkarnath visited Chennai for a concert, he was asked who he would prefer to accompany him on strings. He responded, “When my son, Gopalakrishnan, is here, there is no need to look further.”

MSG and his brother were put through a punishing schedule of lessons and practice, practice and yet more practice. That accounted for the tonal purity and impeccable fingering techniques of the brothers. In fact, this style of playing is popularly known as the Parur bani.

I have been a very keen fan of MSG since his and my  younger days. The first time I heard him play was in Tiruvanantapuram in 1945 or thereabouts. He was the violin accompanist to yesteryear titan, Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar.

Chembai elaborated a raga for some time. It was the turn of MSG to do so on the violin. Remember he was only 15 or so and was perhaps hesitant or looking for a green signal from Chembai who said into the mike for the audience to hear: “vasi, vasi. ennai kekkava ivaal ellam vantirukka? unnai kekka thaan” (“Do you think these people have come to listen to me? They have come to listen to you!”) Look at the strongly encouraging words of the great man! His heart was as large as his undoubtedly large corps.

Chembai, more than any other musician of his times, was responsible for encouraging and pushing up many promising youngsters.

Thereafter, I do not think I have missed any concert of MSG as soloist or accompanist in the places where I was posted.

In Delhi, my wife and I had hosted MSG for about five days. He had concerts on all these days. He stayed with us but his presence was hardly felt. He did not make any demands on us, quite unlike many others.

Before he left, I requested him to play tanam in ghana ragapanchakam. He agreed. He also played Brindaavana Sarangaand Revati. I had recorded the event. Alas, now the cassette player is dead as the dodo and I am unable to play his music any longer.

 As far as I could gather, MSG was not one to run after or fawn over sabhasecretaries, as many in the music world do, to have ‘chances’. He took concerts as they came his way. He was also one among the very few violinists in his times to accompany women singers; many would not. From reports, I gather that he had accompanied MSS and K. B. Sundarambal. I have attended a few MLV concerts where he was the accompanist. And they were marked by a kind of friendly rivalry that brought out the best in both. But all this ended after a while for reasons I could not fathom.

MSG was not given to being interviewed. In a rare interview, he was asked a question that should not have been asked: how did the play of the then top violinists – the violin trio - compare? His answer was as truthful as it was diplomatic. He said that T.N.Krishnan’s violin concerts were replete with soukhyam, and Lalgudi was the undoubted master of layam. As for his own style, he said he was trying to carry forward the ‘Parur bani’, so assiduously inculcated in him by his father.

MSG had provided violin accompaniment to all leading stalwarts of the Carnatic music world. In my view, KV Narayanaswamy, Voleti Venkateswaralu, S. Ramanathan and Balamuralikrishna and MSG performed, complementing each other so well as though they were made for each other.

I would like to briefly touch upon a few memorable concerts wherein MSG excelled himself. One was a solo recital in AIR. His swaraprastaram for Nalinakanthi (Manavyalakim) still remains etched in my memory though the concert was in 1966. In it you could discern-apart from violin sounds- the sounds of sitar, shehanai and the flute. If I remember right, the previous day, he had accompanied the incomparable flautist, Mali. Two pieces stood out: one was in Kalyani, the other in Kapi. The noted connoisseur, ‘Aeolus”, wrote in Shankar’s Weekly that it was hard to say who was leading whom in the concert.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7lKOttZR7g

The other concert was in Chowdiah Hall, Bangalore. Emani Sankara Sastry, a titan of a vainika on the veena and MSG on the violin. The concert was truly a memorable one but I would note two pieces that stood apart: simply out of this world. One was a kriti in Khamasand the other was Naadaloludai in Kalyanavasantam.  The second was verily a friendly clash of two titans. It was a veritable deep dive by both into melody and rhythm. And rise to ecstatic heights.

MSG was equally adept in playing Hindustani music. He learnt the ropes from Krishnanand, a veteran teacher settled in Madras. I had on my tapes a piece by MSG playing a Fritz Kreisler composition. Alas, there is no way of listening to the tape now.

Before I close this piece, I would like to narrate an incident that shows the man. Narmada, MSG’s daughter and disciple was playing solo violin in Sastri Hall, Mylapore. It was one of her early concerts as a soloist. After some time, MSG came to the hall and the secretary rushed to greet him and ask him to take a front seat. MSG politely declined and a little later, left.

I think the explanation for this rather peculiar behaviour was that it was occasioned by MSG’s natural anxiety how Narmada was faring. More importantly, he not want to stay on which would have put pressure, and cramped her flow.

MSG passed away on 3 January, 2013, leaving behind a void that is hard to fill.  The New Indian Express reported the event thus: ‘The Bow Has Fallen Silent’.

G. Sankaran

(The author was the former President ,Customs, Excise and Gold (Control) Appellate Tribunal, and a Carnatic music rasika)

 By Lavanya Narayanan

Vocalist Nisha Rajagopalan stands in her kitchen over a pot of simmering Akkaravadisal. It’s her paati’s signature recipe, and amidst the screams and laughs of her children, six-year-old Vidyuth and 16-month-old Kavya, she calls mother Vasundhra in a frenzy to verify that this is actually what it’s supposed to look (and taste) like.

They are adding to the cooking blog, A Pinch of Turmeric, that began as Vasundhra’s aid to daughter Nisha and her two sisters, Deepa and Divya, as they attempted to recreate podis, masalas for their own households. A passion project that took roots as early as May 2019, it became a full-time venture during the lockdown, in light of the Corona virus pandemic that seems to have usurped 2020 and the Margazhi season as well.

Now, Nisha is what mom Vasundhra jokingly calls “tech support”.

“I don’t understand technology at all, so since the beginning, Nisha has been in charge of the website, the formatting, everything. And now, we’ve begun a YouTube channel for it, which she is taking charge of. So a huge thank you to her,” she chuckles. Ask Nisha, and she’s just grateful for the abundance of recipes that have come to her aid and satiated her taste buds.

The blog is just the tip of the iceberg for the mother-daughter duo that share much more than a love of indigenous cooking. Both Carnatic vocalists, an unexpected and rather-delayed love for the arts took hold in the 1960s when, at the age of 16, mother Vasundhra began learning vocal music from Delhi-based vidwan Gopal Iyer. A dream that seemed short-lived at the time, marriage whisked her away to Toronto, Canada, a mere six years later and, occupied with a full-time corporate job, her passion transformed into classes, annual Tyagaraja festivals, and the one-off concert in a city barren of Indian classical arts at the time. 

“Because I had just had around five years of exposure to Carnatic music in India itself, I hardly considered it a career option. It was just something I was passionate about and wanted to share with others, especially with our communities in Toronto and Ottawa,” says Vasundhra.

Hands full with a life abroad and raising her daughters, the family journeyed to the popular Sri Venkateswara Temple in Pittsburgh, PA occasionally, often when visiting artists presented concerts or a festival was being held. It was on one such occasion that they chanced upon a concert by vidwan T.R. Subramanyam (TRS) who Vasundhra happened to know during her time in Delhi, all those years ago.

“He was thrilled to see me, as I was him! As it turned out, he was spending that summer in Pittsburgh, teaching music and running a summer programme,” she adds.

“It was Siddhi Vinayakam in Mohanakalyani – Amma had taught it to me,” she smiles fondly. The rendition immediately caught the vidwan’s attention and he had only one piece of advice that he shared with Vasundhra, almost instantly: “Move back to India if you want to have Nisha make it in music”. 

Of  course, it would be a few more years before that move materialised. While Nisha spent her weekends that year attending the summer music camp along with Vasundhra, the family visited Delhi just a year later for more intensive training. It was then that a surprise cancellation in a temple saw Nisha present her very first concert: it was a 45-minute-slot that would trigger a life-altering decision.

“I hadn’t realised the importance of music when I was growing up and honestly, I didn’t want Nisha to have the same regrets I did. So I spoke to my husband and we decided to follow our instincts: we moved back,” Vasundhra says.

Whether or not Nisha would pursue music as a full-time career was yet-to-be-seen, but with the ball rolling, the family packed their bags in 1992 and headed back. They went first to Delhi and, under the guidance of guru TRS, continued to learn from him before journeying and finally settling down in Chennai in 1995. 

Adjustment, of course, is never immediate, and it was far from it in Nisha’s case: plagued with a slight foreign accent and placed in a new environment, immersing herself in both music and its new social strata took time. Despite having led what most people would consider an ‘Indian lifestyle’ in Toronto, the new environment posed a host of challenges. Continuing under the tutelage of guru TRS, she began to grow and evolve as a musician. 

Comfort, however, gradually came calling in the form of additional gurus P.S. Narayanaswamy and Suguna Varadachari, who both Nisha and Vasundhra began to learn from whilst in Chennai, supplementing classes during guru TRS’ short Chennai visits. Guided by the intricacies and nuances of each guru, Nisha blossomed. This novel phase even allowed her to begin to perform, compete, and get involved with the popular youth-led organisation, Youth Association for Classical Music (YACM).

“That was when I really began interacting with musicians my age and got involved,” she tells us. Juggling education as an engineering student and what evolved into a full-time performing schedule as an artist, a seemingly well-timed hiring slump gave Nisha the time to pursue music full-time before, three years later, she was bitten by the ‘work bug’.

“I started wondering what a corporate career would be like, for some reason,” she laughs. She joined the HR department of Flextronics, beginning what would be an incredibly hectic phase as she balanced corporate culture and performance pressure alongside mother Vasundhra’s balancing act of her own.

The stint lasted for two years before finally, Nisha was exhausted. Something had to give and somewhere, she knew what that ‘something’ would be. 

“One day, I was sitting at Nandanam signal, stuck in traffic – as always – and I called Amma and said ‘Amma, I’m quitting my job’. Her only question to me was ‘What took you so long?’ ” They both laugh heartily. Not an ‘aha’ moment, they say, but one that Vasundhra could more than relate to: it’s how she felt when she quit her own job at a prolific multinational firm in India after returning.

“I was working steadily but one day I asked myself: Didn’t I return to India for the sake of music, for me and my daughter? So why was I distracted? That clarity, it seems, was all I needed,” Vasundhra shares. 

It’s been over a decade since that paramount shift and the ladies have only gotten busier with time. They tell us that in the busiest of Margazhi seasons, they will practically not see each other, often occupied with their own concert activities and schedules. 

Strangely, it seems, the ongoing Covid 19 pandemic has been its own blessing in disguise. A forced lockdown means a lack of concert flurry – now, Nisha is able to see mom Vasundhra and dad Raju (alias Rajagopalan) weekly and despite having her hands full with her young toddlers, the two stay intimately connected through their love of food, music, and A Pinch of Turmeric, a venture that has now grown far beyond their initial humble dreams. 

In actuality, it’s far from ‘just a blog’. When Vasundhra’s ‘vaasana podi’, a powder used for organic baths for Nisha’s daughter Kavya, went live on the internet, it attracted the attention of someone who would become her first customer. At her behest, she began to sell it commercially, creating an e-commerce platform that sells homemade, indigenous soaps, herbal powders, and the like as close as in Chennai and even as far as America by way of courier services. 

Despite the almost instantaneous success, Vasundhra decided this was not a venture she wanted to capitalise on for profit. “I never intended to make money of   this -- my focus was simply to share our rare, home recipes with a larger audience.” Instead, she reached out to her network of peers and after intensive research, decided to partner with an NGO, Sri Arunodayam Charitable Trust, located in Kolattur, Chennai. The organisation services 110 rescue children, all with special needs, and through her profits as well as special weekly music classes that Vasundhra has taken up for the children, a beautiful relationship has blossomed.

Of course, the never-ending pandemic has thrown up challenges of its own: shipping products abroad is a tall order, what with the multiple restrictions that have been imposed. But the mother-daughter duo continues to serve their local apartment communities, many of whom have ramped up their purchases, hoping to boost their own immunities in the wake of this deadly virus. 

It has also given the ladies a chance to develop the blog into a YouTube channel, one that continues to grow as Vasundhra now attempts recipes that reach outside the realm of ‘native foods’. For instance, her repertoire has grown: products like ‘tofu’, which have been harder to acquire in the market due to lack of supply, are being made in-house, allowing both Vasundhra and Nisha to continue to innovate and avoid the recipe and food fatigue that seems to plague other households as they attempt to innovate with what they have on-hand.  

Listening to the tale of the blog begs the question: What time is left for music? Especially when concerts are virtual and the hustle, bustle, and demands of the live festival season are absent this year, one would imagine that complacency sets in. But if anything, it seems the opposite is taking place.

“When we listen to these new, young singers nowadays, they all seem so talented, so equipped. There is a technical understanding and prowess that I definitely didn’t have at that age – it’s unbelievably inspiring,” Vasundhra says.

“Definitely. I think the access to material and resources has helped that; the wealth of concerts and knowledge available on the internet now is immense, and young artists are really taking advantage of that! It’s extremely praiseworthy, all the things they are able to do and constantly present,” Nisha adds. 

Ask the ladies what they personally prefer, tradition or innovation, though the answers might shock you ever-so-slightly! While Nisha is more comfortable in the realm of a conventional concert, Vasundhra presents the newer ‘katha kutcheri’ in which storytelling is juxtaposed with kritis to tell a compelling tale, often one taken from mythology or religious texts. 

“The speaking bits can still get me and nowadays, there is an increasing demand to speak on stage, even just to describe the piece you are presenting! I think the audience has become more aware, more knowledgeable even, of what they are listening to and well, I still have those slip-ups when it comes to telling stories, especially in sentamizh, on stage,” Nisha admits while Vasundhra laughs in the background.

So much, it seems, has changed since the days of Toronto, corporate life, and even the family’s heydays in music. There is a settled comfort in the music scene and its community now, one that the ladies have sought solace in during this trying time. A product of the evolving dynamic that surrounds them? Seems so. 

And yet, in some ways, they say it seems like nothing has changed at all. As they speak about those initial struggles, juggling schedules, gulping mouthfuls of ‘thayir satham’ between paatu classesand work shifts in a rapid, almost blink-and-miss-pace, there is a sense of heartwarming nostalgia. It’s one that reveals what the secret of this mother-daughter duo really is -- the tight-knit camaraderie that, if one didn’t know better, would suggest that they were sisters, best friends, or both. 

Entwined by music and food equally, enshrined in the throes of family loyalty and love, it stands testament to what the two have built in these multiple decades and to the years of both that lie ahead, waiting.

It was some years ago that I received a call asking me to be a part of a special concert. I was being asked to play with the legendary ‘SPB’, and I was further told that he wanted these segments to be just with me and no other accompanist on stage.  I grew up in an era where SPB was perhaps the only singer on every song I loved (with maestro Ilayaraaja being the composer of nearly all of them).  For the years that followed, I became a part of his ‘posse’, a dedicated fan group of the person that he was, in addition to the superlative vocalist and performer that he was.  And I will say that to know SPB is to become a part of this privileged group that knows of his extraordinary kindness, sense of humour and ability to inspire joy wherever he went. To be a good musician is to be a keen listener to life, he was to remark on many an occasion. And I saw him living it. He was generous to a fault, and an avid participant in the business of life – negotiating tumult and greatness with grace and agility.

In being asked to write about his musical legacy, it is difficult to know where to begin. I find analysis very tough when it comes to singers as prolific as he was (he has recorded nearly 43,000 songs across languages and genres!) as adjectives do not do justice, language often struggling to encompass what can only be transmitted musically. A turn of phrase, a tremor especially affected for a phrase,  a bass quiver – and you know that your life is changed forever due to that particular rendition, the gravity and depth he confers that particular moment in a narrative. In India, we tend to turn any retrospective into a hagiography, and I know I am already in that zone.

SPB was transcendental in a way few singers were, but knowing him was also loving his approach to music. He saw it as a part of a whole, as his ‘karma’ towards a greater ‘seva’ to humanity, retreating behind his composers and his music directors rather than enjoy the shine.  I feel that it is this quality that endeared him to most of us. We would be discussing Nanda en nila and he would sit like a schoolboy, his face in a reverential trance as he transformed into a young Balu singing for the late, legendary Dakshinamoorthy Sir. He would discuss Kamban emandhan and get palpably excited when discussing MSV and that odd note (the end of the second line is on a different gandharam). He was least aware of the effect he was having on all of us around him, listening in rapt attention as also his vocal acrobatics in providing, on the spot, three or four different sangatis on the same line, as if it is the most natural thing in the world.

So in deciding to write this, I thought I would use five songs of his (I am thrilled to say that I have played these songs with him on stage and on television), as it helps me with the framework for analysis.  Each of these songs also varies by genre, stories they fit into and different stages of his musical trajectory. Each of these selections also reflects a different use for the voice, and I believe there is much to be gleaned from observing them carefully.

For instance, in Teertha Karaiyinile (1980, Varumayin Niram Sivappu, MS Viswanathan) It is the gentle and melancholic ballad that is given prime importance. Bharatiyar’s immortal poetry is used to reflect a protagonist pining for a love that is now irredeemably lost, a song of nostalgic pain and hurt. MSV chooses to characterise this with just the voice and a gentle guitar backing, leaving the former to do most of the heavy lifting. And it does with SPB’s muted and controlled emotion, laying emphasis on the words, their enunciation and that tremendous irony in the lyric. In fact, when the song reaches its end the line Nanoruvan mattilum pirivenbadhor naraga tuzhaluvadho(“When it is only me suffering this separation, it is like being tossed into hell”), the ‘holding back’ that he has done in the previous lines suddenly suffuses into a free-flow of emotional release, and he lingers, mid-phrase – to let the listener empathise with the narrative. It breaks the heart, and makes Bharatiyar’s own tribulations well up and coax the tears out of each of us.  

In Enakku oru kadhali (1976, Muthaana Muthallavo) we see the serenade, beautifully essayed on screen by Vijayakumar and ‘Thengai’ Srinivasan. With a piano and a violin to keep them company, MSV and SPB (a rare combination for singing) take us through a sweet paean to romance. SPB masters this form once again, and the use of his voice to sculpt the beautiful end-phrase of the pallavi is among the masterpieces in film music literature. The violin mimics the voice, and the voice the violin in a pas-de-deux between these two melodic strains, and SPB offers up sangatis that are as evocative as they are wondrous.

I had asked SPB about that turn of phrase and how he decided to craft it that particular way, to which he retreated, in his characteristic style, to the superlative vision of MSV. He went on to remark that MSV made him practice that phrase multiple times, and was quite strict about it. We shall now never know what actually transpired, but we have this delightful melody to savour.

In rendering the classical, such as in Manasa sancharare, Sankarabharanamu or Dorakkuna, I have often been told by purists that this would not pass muster in a classical concert. The heaviness of SPB’s bass notes, and the relative lightness in the uccha sthayis are not desirable, I would be told. But we must remember that these were rendered for film. Indeed, in Naa jeevadhara in Thyagayya (1981, Telugu, KV Mahadevan), the architectonics of the first and second sangatis of the pallavi line are so redolent of the Lalgudi style of rendition. When I referred to this in conversation, he replied that the Lalgudi rendition was his gold standard to practice this, and he ended the comment by his usual self-effacing apology when it comes to the classical. “Unlike you all, I am not classically trained”, he would often remark.  I often wonder if humility is the true hallmark of greatness, because if so, SPB was a great testament to that notion. Purists’ opinion aside, SPB displayed tremendous reverence for the classical, often referring to the late M. Balamuralikrishna and often his ‘Anna’, K J Yesudas as his exemplars and teachers.  

The narrative is important, as is the narrator, he once said: The story is paramount, and all craftspeople in service of that story, he would add. He would become the ‘voice’ of the protagonist, and his rendition the storyline. It was a different era to grow up in music, and he took his cues from the innumerable music directors he worked for across the country. These were times when as a highly sought after performer, he would record four to five songs in a day! To think that he would still take the time to sit down and listen to the story, to the implicit directions of his composers, and become the character is tough to believe in a digital era where singer-celebrities often eclipse the context they represent.

And yet the SPB I knew was not a man who placed undue emphasis on ‘voice management’ or ‘silences before concerts’.  He would be joking in the greenroom, regaling us with some story or the other, and be a perfect marvel minutes later when curtains opened. And he would be able to hold the stage for hours afterwards, getting better with the passing hours!  He loved his food, his indulgences and his life, it would always seem.

But it is perhaps in the lyrical nocturne that SPB becomes an indelible part of our lives. In Nilave Vaa and Kanmaniye kadhal enbadhu and countless others, SPB carries the romance in his phrasing, imbuing phrases with so much tenderness that the listener picturises themselves in the narrative.

The relegation to the self towards serving others, reverence to one’s teachers and colleagues, taking it ‘easy’ and taking things in one’s stride, to be an avid listener and above all, to be compassionate – my list can go on. These are lessons for all of us.

These are the songs of our lives, and these are the melodies of our own youth and romances. In his passing, I do not believe that we have lost a great singer. I believe we have lost the soundtracks to our lives.

 His heart commanded the fingers

Charumathi Raghuraman

Violin maestro Trippunithura Narayana Iyer Krishnan wasborn on 

6 October 1928 and passed away on 2 November 2020 in Chennai. 

It was providence that brought me into the wondrous and most cherished orbit of violin maestro T.N. Krishnan Sir. It happened exactly 25 years ago. I was a young girl, a novice violin student in Mumbai. At the suggestion of a close family friend, my mother and I proceeded to meet TNK Sir at NCPA, where he had a visiting professorship. I was too young and clueless to realise that, at that very moment, I had found the purpose in my life as a violinist.

Upon entering NCPA’s campus, we were taken to Sir’s workshop where I walked into a room brimming with eager eyes and ears, all tuned to a welcoming soft face and a distinguished aura. I was one among many, but his charisma was disarming and personalised to every single person. The violin sat on him like the perfect head jewel of a crown.

Then, like a true Zen master, he wielded the instrument that served his every command and musical gesture. There was no microphone or any other artificial enhancement, just the simple acoustic violin which filled the room at the NCPA and my heart. The sound was complete as its own entity. The richness of the tone, the purity of the bowing, the sway and lilt of the melody and many more magical qualities I was unqualified to know at that time, became imprinted in my mind on that very first encounter with Sir and the violin.

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 A life in nada

Rithvik Raja

Visiting Krishnan Mama was always a wonderful experience. Conversations at his home were laid back, with him recollecting many old memories and sharing invaluable stories from his travel and concerts. He took immense pride in how the past masters lived through music. He was constantly filled with nostalgia, and once shared a vivid and detailed account of how every station master would know when they were travelling in the first class compartment, and special hot water arrangements would be made for their bath followed by meals that were freshly prepared and served on banana leaves, all immaculately coordinated bet een stations. While he shared these poignant stories, they always had an important lesson in them, from which we could all learn.

His music was a culmination of all these experiences. Having played for so many great musicians, he followed intently and assimilated the best from all of them. He always mentioned Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar, and called him the ideal musician. Having shared the stage with him from a very young age, he firmly believed that his principles are important and relevant even today to maintain the core classical values and learn the nuances of concert presentation and proportion. He instructed me to go listen to a specific recording of Ariyakudi effortlessly singing Ongiulagalanda at an unusual gait, to understand how deceptively simple his music was, but how difficult it I  to sing like that. Needless to say, the kalpanaswaras that followed were a   lesson in Arabhi, with Krishnan Mama flowing along breezily.

Semmangudi Mama was held in highest regard, and Krishnan Mama considered it his blessing that he could learn under such a stalwart. He emphasised how much importance Semmangudi gave to pathantara, and how he instilled that discipline in all his disciples. Bhava laden raga delineations were the forte of both, and it is no wonder that they performed so many enthralling concerts together. I can recall, many years ago, when he began playing Surati during a concert, he stopped after a few initial phrases and explained where the Surati nishada should ideally be and how Semmangudi Mama taught him that. He even conceded how he didn’t quite get it right at the beginning. A few seconds later, he quipped “Ah, that’s where it is!” Such was his honesty and humility towards the art, which he always placed  above himself.

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India has been home to some of the finest artists in the fields of music, dance and theatre since time immemorial. With a rich heritage in the arts, it is no surprise that India is nothing short of a gold mine of exceptional talent. The Singhal Iyer family foundation (SIFF), a Bangalore based philanthropic organization that was set up with the singular purpose of providing young talents in India, a safe and healthy environment to hone their skills and evolve into the best versions of themselves. It seeks to bring about a common love and respect for the arts and cultivate it with the necessary resources to facilitate a seamless journey.

The seed for Young Artiste was sown decades ago, as the founders Kavita Iyer and Sandeep Singhal realised the significance of cultivating these art forms in children. The arts often tend to take a back seat often as per the academic curriculum. Even in institutes where the arts are taught, students are unable to pursue it further due to the lack of a structured training program. SIFF Young Artiste is a platform that was birthed to fill this gap, with emphasis on both classical and contemporary art forms.

SIFF Young Artiste2020is a national level talent hunt, providing scholarships to students between the ages of 11-18, to showcase their skills in the multiple genres of music and dance, ranging from classical to contemporary forms. Receiving over 12,000 entries, the talent hunt has proven to all that there is always a time and place for the arts to flourish, even in the middle of a pandemic! The finals for YA 2020 are set to take place in Summer 2021.

Dr. L Subramaniam, Violin Maestro and YA jury member and mentor says, “I am very happy to be a part of Young Artiste 2020, and to know that they have organised workshops in order to provide advanced facilities and educational opportunities to some of the most talented students whom they have selected. By undergoing this mentorship program, the students can learn several complex techniques, compositional forms, and interpretation, which are the building blocks of music. I wish all the students great luck!”

After several months of a rigorous selection process, SIFF Young Artiste 2020 announced 100 finalists and scholarship recipients who are currently undergoing the Young Artiste Advanced Mentorship Program (YAMP), a series of masterclasses, workshops, and collaborations among fellow young artists. The purpose of the mentorship program is to expose students to world-class maestros in their respective fields and provide them with the rigour and structure of any academic program. The students will be enabled to recognise and build on their strengths, learn advanced techniques and practice methodologies, while also addressing their shortcomings. At the end of the program, these students will come out with a deeper understanding of the discipline and focus required to pursue a career in the arts. The mentorship program, for a duration of nearly six months, will culminate in a grand finale performance in the summer of 2021.

An esteemed panel of judges for SIFF Young Artistehave been involved with YA 2020 from the very beginning and are currently leading the mentorship program for all 20 categories. Music and dance virtuosos such as L Subramaniam, Kavita Krishnamurthy, and Madhavi Mudgal have consented to mentor the participants. Additionally, experts in the field such as Rukmini Vijayakumar (Bharatanatyam), Anupama Bhagwat (Sitar/Sarod), Nikhita Gandhi (Indian & Western Vocal), Sagar Bora (Hip-Hop), among others, will be driving the category specific sessions. The finale, which will be a showcase of the exceptional talent recognized, will be hosted in accordance with the evolving COVID-19 situation and government guidelines issued at the time.

The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic is changing the landscape of performing arts and art education. Owing to the digital lifestyle, it is bound to have ramifications on how the arts are taught and absorbed by teachers and students alike. This holds particularly true for complex forms such as dance and instrumental music, as it is best served when the student and teacher share a physical space. According to the organizers, the mentorship program has been challenging to execute and yet the overwhelming response to this initiative has been extremely encouraging.

Pratibha Jagannathan

Indian Classical Dances have always been an elaborate affair, with prime venues being sought after by artists. The behind the scenes process of any production or project is rarely known to anyone other than the artists involved in the production. But with the current limitations on social gatherings, dance performances have been confined to personal spaces such as living rooms or in case of a lucky few, studios. Innovating in these times of limited space and resources, is Divya Warier, a mohiniyattam artist and one of the trustees of the Warrier Foundation, an NGO dedicated to service of the underprivileged members of society.

Divya launched the Pratiroop mentorship program, a novel project, aiming at getting senior performing artists, of various classical dance styles, mentored by legendary gurus from a completely different classical dance style, than their own.

Bharatanatyam dancer and teacher Rama Vaidyanathan mentored Kuchipudi dancer Prateeksha Kashi, Kuchipudi expoenent Vyjayanthi Kashi mentored Kathak dancer Nishtha Budhlakoti, Kathak guru Prerana Shrimali mentored Bharatanatyam dancer Keerthana Ravi, Odissi guru Sharmila Biswas mentored Mohiniyattam dancer Divya Warier, Mohiniyattam dancer and teacher Neena Prasad mentored Odissi dancer Rohini Banerjee.

Spearheaded under the leadership of Divya Warier, this unique project was successful only because of the team work of Pratiroop which included Pratibha Jagannathan, Ramesh Vasu, Vidya Pradeep, Keerthana Ravi, and KeerthiKumar.

Dancer Rohini Banerjee, has been performing under her guru Sharmila Biswas for many years now and she calls Pratiroop, “ a challenging project which pushed her out of her comfort zone, and the journey was equally beautiful and unique. Rohini, who was mentored by Mohiniyattam guru Neena Prasad is enamored by her mentor’s netra abhinaya, and is looking forward to being able to learn more of it.

Not all mentees had a smooth run though, especially since everything was virtual and getting artists for the music was an ordeal. Nishtha Budhlakoti, disciple of guru Prerana Shrimali, had challenges in not only recording the music but also had to reshoot her video to align to the vision of her mentor Vyjayanthi Kashi. She says, “This experience has been new for me and different from what I have been doing so far. Though it was very challenging for me initially, with help from my mentor, I was able to implement her vision finally.

Kabir had always been on the mind of Keerthana Ravi, a Bharatanatyam dancer. When she was placed under the mentorship of guru Prerana Shrimali, everything clicked. Keerthana was able to jump right into the poetry of Kabir with the help of her mentor who had already done a lot of work on Kabir. Keerthana shares “ Preranaji gave me the full liberty to explore the piece the way I wanted to and she willingly shared with me her experiences with Kabir’s compositions, that helped me give life to my piece.”

It was a dream come true for Prateeksha Kashi, a Kuchipudi dancer, daughter and disciple Vyjayanthi Kashi. She was ecstatic to be mentored by guru Rama Vaidyanathan who she says, helped her understand how Kuchipudi can depict an abstract theme, elaborated by metaphors rather than mythological stories. She enjoyed this approach to choreography which was totally new to her.

“Why I choose Hidimbi? I wanted to get out of my comfort zone. The character Hidimbi provided that opportunity. As my mentor explained Hidimbi as a single mother, a woman who has gone against her community and married Bhima, a kshatriya prince. Yet she brought up her son with the basic knowledge and ethics of her community.” says Divya Warier, a Mohiniyattam artist and disciple of dancer Neena Prasad.

Sharmila biswas says, “We were dealing with a kind of motherhood we have never seen. We were dealing with a cannibal, and trying to justify it from her perspective. We were dealing with a woman with simple but strong likes and dislikes.” Divya has put in endless hours of research, thanks to the analytical approach of her mentor and has not shied away from incorporating elements that are not traditionally used in Mohiniyattam performances.

The process of mentorship was shared with the viewers through Warrier Foundation’s YouTube channel, as were the final performances thus reaching across a global viewership and rave reviews pertaining to each artist's solo presentation . The project, which was powered by Indian Raga was also a fundraiser for enabling remote education of Warrier Foundation’s underprivileged children and generates more than one lakh rupees through their crowd funding platform on GiveIndia.

Anjana Anand

Sahrdaya Creative Spaces launched its new venture, Sahrdaya Sound Studio in Thiruvanmiyur, Chennai on 1 January, 2021. A dream project of dancer – nattuvunar and choreographer Sheejith Krishna, the studio follows closely on the heels of the 70-seat Black Box which was inaugurated a year ago. The Kalakshetra alumnus envisions a space where artists can create and record work with quality infrastructure. The idea of this recording studio is more than just a space to record new work. It offers artists the choice to use in - house consulting and musicians in their artistic endeavors. The artistic team comprises of Sheejith Krishna, Jyothishmathi Sheejith and Akhila Ramnarayan who offer their expertise in helping artists create unique work.  Sheejith, who has to his credit many original productions like Marthyan, Masquerade, Pravaha, Ram Katha and Don Quixote has decades of experience putting together ensemble work from scratch -including musical score, instrumentation and dance choreography. Jyothishmathi Sheejith, also a Kalakshetra alumnus trained in Carnatic music has honed skills as a singer in Rukmini Devi’s dance dramas and later as a vocalist for leading Bharatanatyam dancers. She has composed music for many of her husband’s productions. Akhila Ramnarayan is a writer and has been part of the creative work at Sahrdaya since 2011.

The studio also has experienced recordists who are themselves musicians- Deepu K Nair (vocalist), Rakesh Pazhedam(mridangam) and Sheejith himself. The studio has two sound booths, one for live and the other for vocals. The console is equipped with state-of-the-art recording equipment and technology. A unique feature of the studio is a rehearsal space in the same premises where the composer or choreographer can practice and compose while recording happens simultaneously. This allows artists to meet, brainstorm and create while the recording is in progress. Future plans include a library and archival centre open to all, where dance compositions of legendary musicians are preserved. Sheejith Krishna shares his vision with Sruti.

Music plays a large role in your understanding of natyam. Please share your experiences.

I experience music as a series of patterns which is sometimes interrupted by a cross rhythm or just silence. That interplay between repetition and interruption in pattern creates different soundscapes. The idea of the coming together of sound, silence and melody has always fascinated me. My exposure to music in Kalakshetra has laid this foundation for me. The beautiful compositions of Rukmini Devi’s dance drama productions instilled a deep sense of aesthetics in me. Dance is just an extension of my musical understanding.

Sahrdaya Creative Spaces includes the Black Box and a recording studio. Was this part of the plan from the beginning?

This has always been a dream project of mine - to have a space where all artists can experiment and create work. This fuels my own creativity and love for art. I have always been enamored by technology. I am very sensitive to sound and enjoy dabbling with different equipment. This is the reason I did not want to compromise on the quality of my equipment.

The reason this did not happen much earlier was because I was worried about the finances of the whole project. During the lockdown, I decided that I would somehow raise the funds to kickstart my long term dream.

What would you say are the unique features of Sahrdaya Sound Studio?

As I mentioned, artists can expect a high quality out of recordings because we have both the equipment and the team to run it. I was lucky to have the goodwill of experienced sound engineer/designer Madhu Viswanathan to advise me on the studio set up along with my good friend Deepu K. Nair. The studio acoustic design was handled by Jaishankar Iyer. The success of a studio lies largely with good sound engineers, and all three of us, Deepu, Rakesh and I have enough experience in this area along with musical training to take care of our artists’ needs.

Our rehearsal area in the premises is available for artists to work with musicians and our creative team during the recording process. I would like to help budding dancers and choreographers to record work with inputs from our consulting team. I want to make their recording experience a stress-free and creative one.

I spent a lot of time on the interior designing of the studio, choosing fabrics, woodwork and colours myself. I believe strongly that the aesthetics of a space creates a positive vibration, which will allow an artist’s creativity to unfold naturally. 

 P.R.K.Sastry

Tyagaraja’s compositions are prevalent thanks to the three distinct schools of music which took forward his legacy to the vast number of students world over. One cannot imagine a concert without a Tyagaraja kriti. Every year, his remembrance day is observed and celebrated across the globe and musicians do perform his compositions with great devotion towards him. There are also few composers who are either his students or belonging to his musical lineage and wrote compositions in praise of him.

Walajapet Venkataramana Bhagavatharar, composer who was the direct disciple of Tyagaraja. The Walajapet School of music is famous for keeping the original notations of Tyagaraja’s compositions. Venkataramana Bhagavatharar penned a sloka on Tyagaraja, in his Vyaso naigama charchaya sloka, he attributed several great qualities of the great devotees and sages in this world to his master. He also wrote a Guru mangalasthakam in praise of Tyagaraja.  The former sloka is often rendered by musicians, before they begin a Tyagaraja kriti.

Ramanathapuram (Poochi) Srinivasa Iyengar and Mysore Vasudevachar are both disciples of Patnam Subramaniam Iyer - belonging to the musical lineage of Tyagaraja - have composed two great gems on the saint composer. Srinivasa Iyengar praised him as a great devotee who attained salvation by always meditating to Lord Rama and is credited for spreading the hidden truths of the Bhagavad Gita through his compositions; like in the Reetigowla compostion, Sadguru Swamiki. On the other hand, Vasudevachar described him as an entire essence of the music, also as an icon of great fame and great knowledge in his Sanskrit composition, Srimadadi Tyagaraja Guruvaram in Kalyani.

Vidwan M.D. Ramanathan, a versatile vocalist and a composer, who also belongs to the musical lineage of Tyagaraja, described him as the basis for a musical composition and praised him as a garland, in which the gems are ragas, Tyagraja Gurum ashraye (Kedaram).

Vidwan M Balamuralikrishna, another well-known composer and a multifaceted personality, also belongs to the musical lineage of Tyagaraja, composed two kritis in praise of the saint composer. In his Todi composition, Tyagaraja gurum bhajeham, he describes Tyagaraja as a person who provides the righteous path through his compositions and also someone having supreme qualities. He also describes Tyagaraja as a source of livelihood and salvation, and as a reformer of Indian music in his Nattai composition, Gaana Sudharasa paana niratam. Almost all the compositions have stressed a common point regarding the saint composer; and they all praise him as an incarnation of sage Narada.

ANALYSIS

Sree Tyagarajaya mangalam                                                                  T.R. Aravind

The term ‘mangalam’ indicates auspiciousness amongst the many other denotations that it conveys. Mangalam is usually rendered at the end of a nama sankeertanam, Seeta kalyanam, or at the end of a concert to be propitious to both the listener and the reciter. Mangalam can be compared with the ‘phalasruti’ recited at the end of any sloka and usually eulogises a deity. Though not many mangalams are now in vogue, in the past, many families inherited their own repertoire of mangalams. The family deity or a deity enshrined in a town to which the family belongs would be extolled in the mangalam. I have had the good fortune of listening to my grandmother singing a mangalam in Kamavardhani raga, addressing Lord Devanatha of Tiruvahindrapuram. Age-old mangalams too run in the family through generations. SreeRamachandranukku, a common mangalam appended to Arunachala Kavi’s Rama Natakam and often sung in Madhyamavati, is sung in Asaveri in our family. Interestingly, the oldest book which mentions the raga for this kriti mentions it as Asaveri.

Occasionally, mangalams were also composed on saints and mortals. Though their sahitya might superficially appear inconsequential, they provide a lot of biographical details, especially if composed by individuals closely associated with the nayaka of the mangalam.

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Every year, on the eve of Republic Day, the Padma Awards—among the highest civilian awards of the nation, are announced by the Government of India in three categories— Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan, and Padma Shri. Given to eminent personalities who have made a mark in their respective disciplines, we eagerly await the list of artists selected to receive the awards in the field of performing arts. Last year we bemoaned the fact that the awards were conferred on very few classical musicians and dancers. This year it’s no better; the number has shrunk further! Out of the 119 Padma awardees, the selected artists can be counted on your fingers. There is no dearth of highly distinguished top performing artists in the country—one wonders why they are not being considered for these prestigious awards? Classical dancers don’t figure in this year’s list. Moreover, there are several veteran artists like Vyjayantimala Bali, Kalamandala  Gopi, Sudharani Raghupathy, Chitra Visweswaran—to name only a few (there are many more in different genres) who were conferred the Padma Shri decades ago and have continued to enrich the art form, but have not been bestowed the higher awards! All this talk about promoting our rich cultural heritage seems like lip service if the government does not recognize deserving art practitioners in time.

This year, the famous singer S.P. Balasubrahmanyam has been selected to receive the coveted Padma Vibhushan. He certainly deserves it, but it is a pity that he is being honoured posthumously. In this month’s issue, musician Anil Srinivasan pays tribute to this singer whose hallmark was ‘versatility with humility’.

It is a matter of some consolation that the Padma Shri is being conferred on a few artists. Two veterans—Carnatic violinist Annavarapu Ramaswamy and Subbu Arumugam who helped revitalise villupaattu, are also being conferred the Padma Shri; they deserve a higher award. Senior mridangist Nidumolu Sumathi and star vocalist Bombay Jayashri are also among the awardees. It is heartening that several folk artists in different parts of the country are also being honoured. British theatre director Peter Brook and musicologist Sanjida Khatun from Bangladesh are among the foreigners chosen for the award. Sruti congratulates all the awardees and hopes the Padma awards list will be more inclusive and extensive next year.

The Sruti cover stories in February focus on three famous exponents who have courageously pursued their passion for the arts. K.J. Yesudas, the man with the “golden voice”, has entered his eighties. Famous in the music field film, devotional and classical music—he has drawn countless music enthusiasts to Carnatic music. Lata Pada’s life is a lesson for many—she immersed herself in dance to overcome shattering personal loss to become an acclaimed dancer, choreographer, and teacher in Toronto. Art has been her solace and healer. She and her Sampradaya Dance Creations are ‘sector leaders’ for Indian dance in Canada. In the passing away of Astad Deboo, India has lost a pioneer in the field of contemporary dance. He ploughed a lone furrow, as his personal dance style defied categorisation; thereby denying him due recognition. Unfazed, he plodded on his adventurous pursuit of his art, using it also to help the less fortunate in society.

We also bring to you the first part of the Chennai season coverage. Concerts were webstreamed from mid-December every day. Of course, this time our reviewers had the luxury of watching them virtually from home. Like the ‘live’ season, this too posed the problem of plenty. Happy reading!

S. JANAKI

 C. Ramakrishnan

Last season, I attended more than 100 concerts live. This year, I viewed all the online concerts hosted by the Madras Music Academy, Mudhra and sporadically by other sabhas.

SRGS Mohandas

THE MUSIC ACADEMY

The Academy’s eight-day festival was inaugurated on 24 December 2020, by Roshni Nadar Malhotra, Chairperson HCL Technologies. There were 27 slots in total—15 senior slots of 90 minutes duration and 12 junior and sub senior slots of 60 minutes duration. The packaging of the concert for the contrived duration was challenging for the musicians, but over all, everyone strived to give a complete concert experience in the abridged slot.

Inaugural concert

The inaugural nagaswaram concert at the Academy was by SemponnarkoilSRGS Mohandas, supported by Mylai K. Selvam. Rameswaram T.B. Radhakrishnan and Swamimalai Gurunathan ably accompanied them on the tavil. Their Kharaharapiya (Rama nee samanamevaru) and Bahudari (Sadananda tandavam), with a series of ragamalika swaras were refreshing and the percussion artists added colour and gusto to the concert. Sree Ganapatini in Saurashtram and Annapoorne Visalakshi in Sama were rendered in the first half of the concert. While there had been criticism in earlier years that the nagaswaram artists were seated on the stage floor, this was rectified this season and the artists were seated on the erected dais.

Ranjani-Gayatri

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P.R.K.Sastry

A pada varnam composed by vidwan M. Balamuralikrishna in the 22^ndmelakartha raga, Kharaharapriya has great richness in the Telugu literature and this composition  narrates the the events that happened according to the Ganesa Purana. The beauty of this particular composition is the rhyming word sequences that occur in the stanzas, and also a single word being used at multiple places for conveying different meanings. The varnam was not composed entirely at once. First Balamuralikrishna composed the pallavi, anupallavi and ettugada, later, he added chittaswara sahityam and then kept adding the charanams to it, and he rendered this during a concert in Chennai in the year 1999.

To listen to this varnam please click

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T887RCz58yY

The six-stanza varnam starts with the pallavi, Ninnu nera nammithi Gananayaka, nata jana vighna vinaashana. The composer says that he has a great faith on the Lord Ganesa who is always engaged in eliminating the obstacles of his devotees. The composer has inscribed his signature/mudhra in the anupallavi, and it rhymes at end of the each phrase perfectly; Muni gana pranuta, mangala charita, Murali Krishna sahodari sutha.  The composer describes Lord Ganesa as being praised by the holy sages, with an auspicious history and the son of the sister of Murali Krishna;  Goddess Parvathi,  sister of Lord Vishnu. In order to inscribe his signature, the composer describes the incarnation of Vishnu in the form of Krishna who holds flute (Murali) in his hand.

The chittaswara sahityam describes an important incident in the Ganesa Purana. The moon, which adorns the head of Lord Siva laughs at Ganesha on the sacred Chaturthi day, when Ganesa with his stomach full is unable to bow and offer his prayers to his parents Siva and Parvathi. In order to suppress his ego, Ganesa curses the moon that whoever person sees the moon will face unnecessary blames and undeserved defames. Having realised his mistake, Chandra (moon) surrenders to the feet of Ganesa. The Lord retracts the curse, but says that a person who will see the moon on the Ganesa Chaturthi without worshipping him will have to face the undeserved blames!

The ettugada pallavi continues at end of each stanza. The composer describes Lord Ganesa as Sumukhaa paavana, sritha sumukha,meaning, the lord is holy and handsome and is agreeable to his devotees. The first Sumukha refers to describe the handsomeness of the Lord and in Telugu, the word Sumukha means accept, agree or to make a nod.

In the first stanza, the composer says that he trusts the feet of the Lord. In the second stanza the composer says that Naraadi vinuta pada vaarana mukha, bhaya vaarana vara guna daana vitarana.  Lord Ganesa, with an elephant face, whose feet is worshipped by the humans, is the remover of fear, and has the noble character as he showers his blessings liberally. Once can see rhyming word at end of each phrase, and also the word Varana is being used at two places. It is used as a synonym for an elephant in the first place, and in the second place it is used as a synonym for removing/eliminating. In the third stanza, the composer feels grateful to the Lord and says that he feels blissful by reading the glorious history of Ganesa and asks him to forgive the sins committed knowingly or unknowingly and to transform him into a noble/kind hearted person.

The first three stanzas describe the qualities of Lord Ganesa and the wishes made by the composer on behalf of the devotees. The last three stanzas describe the incidents that happened according to the Ganesa Purana. In the fourth stanza, the composer says that Ganesa took the form of a bird and killed three demons that were in the form of a tree, a net and a human, thereby bringing peace and prosperity to earth. In the fifth stanza, he describes how Lord Ganesa suppressed the demon Durasara. Durasara was a greedy demon, who attempted to invade and conquer the holy city of Varanasi. At first, Ganesa took the form of a dwarf, and then expanded himself to full strength, killed the demon by crushing his head with one foot, and spread the second foot as an umbrella over the entire city of Varanasi and hence established peace. Finally, the composer says that Ninu pogada mementha – we humans are meagre people to sing in praise of you. There are continuous rhyming words that come one after the other in this stanza such as Varanasi nakraminchina durasaruni durasa nirasa gavimpa. Here, duraasa means greed, and niraasa means sorrow. There is an underlying message being conveyed that too much of greed will always lead to sorrow.

The sixth and final stanza, and the largest of all, describes how Lord Ganesa acquired the leadership of the ganas. There is a story where the ganas, the servants of Lord Siva ask him to appoint a leader for them. Then, Lord Siva calls upon his two sons Ganesa and Muruga (Karthikeya) and conducts a test that whoever goes around the entire universe and takes a dip in all the holy water bodies and returns first, will be assigned the leadership. Muruga heads out on his peacock. Ganesa, unable to move fast, recognises that the entire universe is dependent on his parents, and hence goes around them, and thus wins the test.

This composition is unique since no other varnam describes the glory of Lord Ganesa in such an elaborative manner.