Rushed opening ceremony at the Mylapore Fine Arts

A couple of sabhas had their inauguration today. The major ones are The Mylapore Fine Arts Club and Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, apart from Mudhra and Sruthilaya.

A main sponsor and arts patron had to be present in more than one venue.
The result is the hurried inaugural evening at The Mylapore Fine Arts Club.

The audience were slowly coming in and warming up inside the auditorium, but by then the awards were given away and the chief guest had left the venue.

But the felicitation by Cleveland Sundaram for the doyen M.S.Gopalakrishnan, who received the Sangeetha Kala Nipuna, brought back the memories of yesteryear concerts by MSG and his accompanists. He expressed awe in how could a 10 seconds' time have a lot of intricate swaras for MSG as though it was an hours' time!

Senior dancer Sudharani Raghupathy felicitated Rhadha, this year's Nrithya Kala Nipuna awardee. She recalled that both the dancers' bio-data used to be the same with the performances and venues they both performed in their prime days.

The highlight of the inaugural ceremony was the prize distribution to the various contests the sabha hosts during the 'season'.

The prestigious Tambura prizes for Thyagaraja krits and Purandaradasa kritis in the seniors category were bagged by two young girls V. Vatsala and Aarti Ananthakrishnan.
Vatsala (seen on the left in the picture) is the disciple of vidwan O.S.Thiagarajan and Aarti's guru is vidushi Seetha Rajan.

The Mylapore Fine Arts Club hosts the music festival till Jan. 2, 2011 and thereafter a dance festival till Jan. 16, 2011.

The complete schedule of concerts are here - http://www.chennaidecemberseason.com/2010/11/mylapore-fine-arts-club-2010.html

Sadhana of Kerala's music colleges

It requires an enthusiastic teacher like Prof. M. Balasubramoniam and a minister like M.A.Baby and an institution like the Music Academy, Madras to make possible a 'Sadhana'.

It was indeed a sadhana in many aspects.

Bringing the students of three state-run music colleges in Kerala to Chennai on a cultural exchange trip for the second consecutive year.

Bringing most of the Sangita Kalanidhi awardees on a single stage.

Bringing the scholars to the students to educate and inspire them during the busy 'season'

The programme 'sadhana' is an initiative of the Government of Kerala put together by Prof. Balasubramoniam and his team.

At the inauguration of the four day programme Honourable minister for Education & Cultural Affairs, Kerala state insisted that the students had courage to take up study of their interest rather than timidly accepting the choice of their parents.

By this he hoped to have more people taking up liberal arts, language and more soul satisfying studies.

View more photos of the event here >>>

The minister M.A.Baby's was indeed an inspiring speech.

N. Murali, MD of The Hindu and the president of The Music Academy wished every state had a minister like M.A.Baby.

Violinist Prof. T.N. Krishnan, chairman, Advisory Committee, Govt. Music Colleges, Kerala applauded the works of the Government and the convenor of the programme Sadhana.

Scholar Pappu Venugopala Rao observed that from a visit to the Music Academy archival centre last year, the students got inspired and set up a similar archival centre at Sri Swathi Thirunal College , Trivandrum,

Having the greats of Carnatic music together on stage is another inspiring moment for the students. Each of the Sangita Kalanidhis present on the stage were honoured and the students got received their blessings. The bonus surprise was a photograph of the students with the dozen stalwarts of music to cherish for the lifetime.

During the four days the students will get to listen to senior vidwans like R.K.Srikantan, Prof. T.N. Krishnan and Parassala Ponnammal apart from educative and interactive lec-dems by Chitravina Ravikiran and Prof. T.V. Gopalakrishnan.

The students of Sri Swathi Thirunal College of Music, Thiruvananthapuram, Chembai memorial Govt. Music College and R.L.V.College of music & fine arts, Tripunitura are in Chennai till Dec. 9, 2010,

Contact the convenor of 'Sadhana' Prof. Balasubramoniam at 094470 14885 or 094464 33751

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Brahma Gana Sabha opens its 'season'

For a change, the evening had a clear sky. That brought in a sizeable audience for the Mangalai Isai at Sivagami Pethachi Auditorium inside M.CT.M. school on Luz Church Road.

The awardees of the evening were present on time. While Nithyasree was seen exchanging pleasantries inside the auditorium, S.Ve. Shekher was happy interacting with his fans outside the hall

A quick and well timed felicitations marked the evening.Carnatic vocalist Nithyasree Mahadevan received the title Gaana Padmam and S.Ve.Shekher received 'Nataka Padmam'. The Natya Padman will be conferred on senior dancer Vyjayantimala Bali later, as she is travelling,announced the sabha.

The president of the sabha Nalli Kuppusamy Chetti, Doordarshan A.Natarajan shared memories of Nithyasree and her family. While Nalli chettiyar remembered that Nithyasree shares birthday with his daughter, Natarajan attributed 50% of Nithyasree's achievements to Mahadevan, her husband.

The chief guest K. Jayarama Krishnan, vice-president, Tata Consultancy Services spoke on the relationship between two ITs - Information Technology and Indian Tradition and that his company is encouraging the college students to perform fine arts.

Nithyasree announced the institution of an award in the name of D.K. Pattammal and expressed happiness that the sabha has chosen vidwan T.N.Seshagopalan to receive the honours this year.

Nithyasree tried to be modest in her acceptance speech. She said, she feels shy of receiving such awards since there are many deserving and senior artistes out there. She concluded attributing 100% of whatever she has achieved to her husband!

S.Ve. Shekher's speech evoked waves of laughter from the audience throughout. But he did not forget to remember his first act initiated by 'Radio Anna' Koothapiran and V.Gopalakrishnan who made his debut possible, but as a corpse!

Shekher also announced that the award money will be used for purchasing laptop and desktop to deserving students who have earlier expressed the need to him.

The drama fraternity came with shawls to Shekher and Shekher, on behalf of the drama artists presented a shawl to Nithyasree.
December music festival guide prepared by S. Kannan sponsored by Nalli was also launched on the occasion.

Following the felicitations, a Bharathanatyam performance by Aniruddha Knight, the grandson of yesteryear Bharathanatyam exponent Bala Saraswathy was presented.

Aniruddha was full of abhinaya and his authoritative presence on stage with bright coloured attire was a a treat to the eyes.

The tickets for Brahma Gana Sabha shows are available at the venue and online at http://www.ticketnew.com

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Honours for V.S.Narasinhan, violinist

Can we call one a neo classical Carnatic violinist?

If yes, V.S.Narasinhan tops this category of musicians. Son of a Gottuvadyam artiste, V.S.Narasinham of the Madras String Quartet received the Gottuvadyam Narayana Iyengar award for Excellence at the inaugural function of Chennai Fine Arts.

Run by Chartered Accountant P.N. Muralidharan and his team, Chennai Fine Arts is not among the sabhas that race to organise concerts in various slots for a span of two weeks during the season.

Guided by his guru Chitravina Narasimhan and musicologist, scholar B.M. Sundaram, Muralidharan dedicates the festival to vaggeyakaras. And the events and concerts at this festival are educative, informative and brings our the rarity of the compositions and composers.

Standing apart from the crowd in its programmes, Chennai Fine Arts also chose an artiste of an innovative genre of music. V.S.Narasimhan, one of the Madras String Quartet formed the group in 1993 and has been on the concert platforms as well cut a few discs.

The four 'stringists' - V.S. Narasimhan, Hemanthraj Muliyil both violinists, B.J. Chandran, viola artiste and V.R. Sekar, cellist share the music and the rhythm among themselves and a present complete concerts with just strings. But Narasimhan prefers to call them as 'four voices'!

At the award function, N.Murali of The Hindu expressed happiness that more and more young people take to music these days, but said it was paradoxical to have fewer young audience still in the concerts.

S.Balasubramaniam, managing director of City Union Bank which is the main sponsor of the Thyagaraja Aradhana at Thiruvaiyaru observed that the concerts in the mofussil attract huge audience. He felt the city was overfed, while the towns like Thanjavur and Kumbakonam where music reigned once are now starved of good music and music teachers.

B.M. Sundaram spoke on the unassuming qualities of the legendary musician Gottuvadyam Narayana Iyengar, his passion for music and his contribution to the world of Carnatic music.

The concert by the Madras String Quartet followed the inauguration.

Though simple, the music was elegant.
There were typical pieces - Sara Sara samaraika sura in Kuntalavarali and Raghuvamsa sudha in Kadana kuthoohalam, but one could also find intricate sangatis in classical ragas like Charukesi and Chakravakam. The performance by the quartet was complimentary to each other and the team spirit stood tall throughout the concert.

Click here for the schedule of events hosted by Chennai Fine Arts this season.

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Concerts by the pond

Chennai has been experimenting music concerts at different venues lately.

It began at the Nageswara Rao Park in Mylapore. Now concerts happen at Anna Nagar Tower Park, CIT Colony Park, Sivan Park in K.K. Nagar area...

And Kalakshetra, the legendary arts centre has thought of a different ambiance. They created a pond around which granite steps and mandapams are constructed. Landscaping is done to bring about a feel of a pond in a traditional village.

Leela Samson, a veteran dancer, director of Kalakshetra who now wears another hat as Chairperson of Sangeet Natak Academy thought of this idea and went ahead with plans.

The pond is named as Padma Pushkarini after the 'dynamic founder member of Kalakshetra, Dr. D. Padmasini' Leela Samson says.

The work is still underway and expected to be completed in full and the space be ready for concerts in Feb.2011 to coincide with the 75th anniversary of Kalakshetra and the birthday of Rukmini Devi Arundale, the founder of the institution.

However, the almost-done space will host concerts of young performers during this December season.

A concert by T.M.Krishna was held on Nov. 29, to mark the opening of Padma Pushkarini for the season.

Though it was dark at 6.15 pm, the oil lamps put up by the students of Kalakshetra all around the space and the volunteers guiding the audience with a torch light, finding the steps and place to sit was not difficult.

As Krishna began the concert with 'Sri Naadadi Guruguho', he requested, 'No flash, please' to the photo enthusiasts, who tried to shoot from variuos dark corners. Yes, the only lit place was the stage. But Krishna could have felt the presence of huge audience from the sound of the applause he received after every alapana, song and swarakalpana!

The following concerts are scheduled at the Padma Pushkarini from December 21 to 31 from 5 pm to 6 pm. The concerts are free and open to all. Do drop by the pond, it is worth an experience.

Dec. 21, 2010

Sriranjani Santhanagopalan (Vocal), Akkarai Sornalatha (Violin), N.C. Bharadwaj (Mridangam)

Dec. 22, 2010

G. Ravikiran (Vocal), R. Sivakumar (Violin), Trivandrum Vaidhyanathan (Mridangam)

Dec. 23, 2010

Deekshitha V. (Vocal), Sudha R.S. Iyer (Violin), K. Parthasarathy (Mridangam)

Dec. 24, 2010

R. Sriram (Veena), Prashanth (Mridangam), Krishna (Ghatam)

Dec. 25, 2010

Brinda Manikavachakam (Vocal), K.P. Nandini (Violin), Srivanchiam Sriram (Mridangam)

Dec. 26, 2010

Sruthi Sagar (Flute), S. Rahul (Violin), Vijay Natesan (Mridangam)

Dec. 27, 2010

Aishwarya Vidya Raghunath (Vocal), Adithi Krishnaprakash (Violin), K.S. Ramana (Mridangam)

Dec. 28, 2010

Bharathsundar (Vocal), S. Rahul (Violin), R. Sankaranarayanan (Mridangam)

Dec. 29, 2010

Ranjani Ramachandran (Hindustani Vocal), Vyasmurti Katti (Harmonium), Charudatta Phadke (Tabla)

Dec. 30, 2010

K. Vandana (Vocal), S.V. Krishna (Violin), K. Ramesh (Mridangam)

Dec. 31, 2010

Keerthana Vaidyanathan (Vocal), K.P. Nandini (Violin), Sumesh Narayanan (Mridangam)

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Bhavan's music festival sets the mood for the 'season'

The East Mada street on Mylapore is always bright with lights of small businesses competing with each other. On the Karthigai Deepam day this year, it was brighter with serial bulbs glowing on the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan building running from the top.

It was the inaugural of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan's Sangeet Naatya Utsav.

The chief guests M. Narendra, Chairman and Managing Director, Indian Overseas Bank, T. S. Krishnamurthy , Former Chief Election Commissioner and chairman of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Chennai Kendra and Preetha Reddy, MD, Apollo Hospital spoke about their association with the Bhavan's Chennai Kendra and the contribution of the kendra in promotion of arts and culture.

The closer you got to the dais, the brighter it was. The artistes Sudha Ragunathan and T.M. Krishna added bright colours that evening.

These two artistes were honoured with awards instituted in memory of industrialist and arts patron P. Obul Reddy and P.Gnanamba this year at Bhavan. Sudha felt special being the first recipient of the award.

On the occasion, Bhavan felicitated three senior vidvans - Clarinet maestro A.K.C. Natarajan, vocalist and teacher Chenglepet Ranganathan and mridangam vidwan Guruvayur Dorai. Bhavan also honoured three young artistes at the inaugural.

Until the felicitations were over, the late comers and those who came just to listen to T.M. Krishna's concert after the 'speeches' at the inauguration were asked to climb up to the balcony or choose to view the CCTVs set up outside the hall.

More photos ...

But when Krishna opened his concert with the Dhanyasi kriti 'Meena Lochana' in a tad fast pace, the rasikas got ready to gatecrash. And the audience were willingly standing and listening to Krishna after that.
He paused during the niraval and attributed his niraval singing skills to the master Chenglepet Ranganathan.

The Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan concerts draw full house since they are 'free' concerts and held at the heart of Mylapore.

Another interesting watch at the venue is the painting exhibition by H. N. Suresh on Rasi & Nakshatra. Even if you are not going up to the balcony for the concerts, it is worth a climb for this exhibition put up on the lobby and in the adjacent room upstairs.

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Trivandrum R. Venkataraman - RIP

Senior Veena vidwan Sri. R. Venkataraman, a recipient of Sangita Kala Acharya from The Music Academy this year died in an accident on Jan. 5, 2010.
The 71 years old vidwan and his 40 years old daughter Jayashri were travelling in a car and while crossing a bridge, the car fell off from a height of 40 ft. Later both the father and the daughter were found dead near the newly constructed flyover on the national highway at Ulundurpet.

Trivandrum R. Venkataraman, one of the finest exponents of Veena, played the instrument in a unique style with rare blend of tradition and modernity. He was part of the popular veena-venu-violin team along with violinist Lalgudi G. Jayaraman and flautist N. Ramani.


Sri R. Venkataraman had his early training in veena from Smt. Lakshmi G. Krishnan. He later joined the Swati Tirunal College of Music. Trivandrum and graduated in veena and vocal in 1951. He had his advanced training under Sri. K. S. Narayanaswamy, another renowned veena vidwan. He then served as Assistant Professor of Veena at Sri Swati Tirunal College of Music. Later he joined All India Radio, Trivandrum in 1964 and served there until his retirement in 1996. He is also a recipient of Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Academy award among many other awards.

Of late, he had been teaching at the Teachers' College of Music, The Music Academy - Madras and is decorated with the title Sangita Kala Acharya by the Music Academy. While receiving the award on Jan. 1, 2010, he presented the acceptance speech on behalf of the other awardees Smt. N. S. Jayalakshmi, Trichy Sri R. Thayumanavan, Sri Akella Mallikarjuna Sharma and Sri B. M. Sundaram.

On Dec. 25, 2009, he performed a concert for Carnatica at MGR Janaki College and on Dec. 26, 2009, he performed for Naada Inbam at Raga Sudha Hall. He was also present at the lec-dem session of Jayanthi Kumaresh on 'Different styles of Veena Playing' at the Music Academy on Dec. 27 and offered a value addition to Jayanthi's presentation about another vidwan M.K. Kalyanakrishna Bhagavathar and insisted that he should not be confused with M.A. Kalyana Krishna Bhagavathar, another veena exponent.

The dedicated rasikas and students condole his death at this forum.

The photo above was taken on Dec. 25, 2009 at Carnatica's Samarpanam Festival held in Chennai.

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GNB Style : Lec-dem by Trichur Ramachandran

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On the birth centenary year of the celebrated musician G.N. Balasubramanian, (GNB to his rasikas and GN Sir to his fellow musicians)one of his senior disciples Trichur Ramachandran presented a lec-dem on GNB's unique style or bani.

He started the lec-dem by saying bani is nothing but presenting the music in one's own manodharma displaying his or her personality. He began with a tribute to his guru by singing his composition on Vinayaka - Vara Vallabha Ramana in Hamsadhwani.

He said GNB was an embodiment of all things nice and aesthetics - music, presentation of his self, his pattern of concert presentation... His alapanas used to grow like a painting. The layers of the raga finally elevated the audience to a different level, he said. He could sing a raga alapana for a minute in its crisp form as well for an hour bringing all the swaroopas of the raga, he added.

You can listen to Trichur Ramachandran sharing his experience of what he learnt from GNB in this part of the video:

The other points he shared in a nutshell :

• He learnt many things by listening to great vidwans, though he did not have a 'guru' for himself.
• He was efficient in adding his touch to the kritis like fitting a perfect swarksharam in the right place, but not imposing for the sake of a 'Swaraksharam'.
• He had clear understanding with his accompanists. He chose different songs dependingon the accompanist of the day. While there were different kritis for Palghat Mani Iyer, he used to chose completely different ones for Palani Subramania Pillai.
• Palghat Mani Iyer was an admirer of GNB and used to refer his tala gnanam as Brahmalaya.
• He used all the 'pracheena pidis' adding sophistication to them.
• He was bold to use landings in Shuddha swarams and discovered 'sruti bhedam' by singing the ragas starting from different notes.
• GNB insisted on building up a raga and used to say that raga alapana too has a kalapramanam.
• Though GNB used to present Todi ragam in many of his concerts, every Todi was different.
• He used to sing Pallavis even in ragas like Nattakurinji. The Pallavi he presented at Sri Shanmukhananda Sabha in Bombay in 1964 along with M.S. Gopalakrishnan on the violin and C.S. Murugabhoothy on the mridangam was remembered for a long time.
• GNB used to tell his disciples that music should not pour like water from a tap, but should be let out in uniform flow.
• He also guided the students on how to open the mouth while singing and control the voice according to the kriti rendered.
• Every year, he introduced a rare composition by vaggeyakaras including the trinity. He introduced Chenchukambhoji kriti 'Vararagalaya' in 1964 at The Music Academy
• GNB's repertoire was vast. He even knew padams, which he was not using in his concerts very often. Once in Manapparai, he sang a padam and surprised the listeners.

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Christmas Special At The Music Academy

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The listeners at the morning concert at The Music Academy on the Christmas Day were treated with a special Christmas feast.
And the host was none other than the veteran violinist T. N. Krishnan.
After traditional Carnatic music pieces beginning with Ata Tala Varnam in Kalyani (TNK announced that he was yet to decide on the opening piece just before starting the varnam!) and grand Bhairavi Swarajati and a Ragan Tanam Pallavi in Kapi, the child inside the maestro prompted him to go for a Christmas Song!

And the bells came jingling in! Yes he played 'Jingle Bells..' Tiruvarur Bhaktavatsalam and Vaikom Gopalakrishnan too joined him to enhance TNK's presentation.

Here is it....

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Where are they?

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The popular Tamil Daily Dinamani published in their today's issue on the whereabouts of Radha - Jayalakshmi, the singers who mesmerised rasikas in the 1950s and 60s with their brisk and fast paced singing!

Source : Dinamani, Dec. 22, 2009

For those who cannot read Tamil, here is the gist.

The sisters who learnt under the same guru sold their house in Saidapet in Chennai and were last said to have left for Puttaparthi. Nobody now knows their whereabouts. The owners of a grand music who entralled the rasikas with their music. If you know where they are now, please let us know!

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Kalyani's Sankarabharanam

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The morning slot on Dec. 21 at The Music Academy, for a generally unusual number of rasikas for a veena concert, should have been a different experience and travel into the past on a modern mode of musical journey.

Smt. Kalyani Ganesan presented a Veena recital, which made the senior rasikas reminisce about veteran vainikas of the olden days. The young students and rasikas would have thought that if a Veena recital could ever be presented with aesthetics yet with a modern approach to it.

Every musical instrument has its own pace. Smt. Kalyani Ganesan could find the right pace or the Kala pramanam for her style of traditional playing and set the entire presentation just on it.

Beginning with Sriraga Varnam, she played the Hamsadhwani kriti of Mysore Vasudevachar - Vande anisham. On Monday, it could not be any other vara kriti than Chandram bhaja manasa, in Asaveri and in Chaturasra Matya talam.

As a tribute to the maestro GNB, she took up his composition 'Parama Kripa Sagari' in Yadukulakambhoji. Every syllable explicitly poured out the raga in its true form. After a short alapana of Purvi Kalyani, she rendered Paripurna kama, of Thyagaraja in rupaka talam.

A garland got ready in the hands of the vidushi and became a Sankarabharanam that was offered to the 'Akshayalinga'. Misra chapu precisely set into the kriti.

Then came Saveri. If one looks at the list of ragas and kritis presented so far, the traditional attire the concert wore would be felt. The essence of Saveri ran through the alapana and spilled over the tanam. the pallavi Kari moralida in Adi was neat and crisp. She let the mridangam and kanjira to have their 'tani' at this point. Umayalpuram Mali (mridangam)and KVRS Mani (Kanjira) fit their part in tune with the tempo and style of the veena artiste and their tani reflected the mood set in by the main artiste.

The swaras for the pallavi followed after the 'tani' giving it a different approach.

The post tani session had bright ragas and a ragamalika, yet with compositions of stalwarts. Mamava sada janani in Kanada by Swati Tirunal, Arabhi maanam, the Ragamalika of Tarangampadi Panchantha Iyer, Manadirkugandadu in Sindhubhairavi of Tanjavur Sankara Iyer gave a colourful yet ethnic touch to the concert. When it was a tillana, it had to be of none other than Lalgudi jayaraman's Khamas.
The rich and traditional veena concert ended with her tribute to Mylapore Karpagambal - 'Karpagame' of Papanasan Sivan in Madhyamavathi.

For a set of senior people who came to Chennai from the neighbouring states for the December season, the concert was an inspiring one and they all gathered backstage to prostrate before Smt. Kalyani Ganesan!

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Thamizh Pannisai - a part of December Season

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Tamil Isai Sangam hosts exclusive Tamil Isai concerts for decades now. Also the new generation singers include many Tamil compositions in their concerts both old and new. Since Margazhi coincides with December, the concerts invariable have a Tiruppavai or Tivempavai as part of them.
Papanasam Sivan's compositions find place even in Ragam Tanam Pallavi's too>

To go in trend with the December Music season, Pongu Thamizh Pannisai Manimanram hosts an exclusive Pannisai Peruvizha for seven years now.


This year it was held at the Corporation Community Hall on C.P. Ramaswamty Road on Dec. 19 and 20. The stretch of the road from the flyover on the northern was lit and flags and posters were part of the decoration. There were discussions by Tamizh pandits and Pann concerts in the evening.

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Kerala Music college students in Chennai for season

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It is one of the nicest things a government could do to students with regard to cultural exchange.
When M.A.Baby, Hon'ble Minister for Education and Culture of Kerala initiated a cultural exchange in arts and music, he chose the right time for the students to be in Madras.

The students of music from three Govt. colleges in Kerala landed in Chennai early December and spent a week here. There were educative sessions with veterans like Dr. Balamuralikrishna, P. S. Narayanaswamy, 'Chitravina' Ravikiran, T.V. Gopalakrishnan. After the sessions, the students presented Sangeethanjali in groups at Srinivasa Sastri Hall, Luz, Mylapore.

In one of these sessions senior vidwan P.S. Narayanaswami was giving these students a few tips apart from teaching them a new kriti. "Always practise in your own sruti irrespective of whether you have caught cold or other inconveniences. Practise varnams by singing them in 2 kalais and in a single breath for two avarthanams" he said.

Students of Sri Swati Tirunal Music College, The Tripunithura Music College and the Chembai Memorial Music College, Palakad travelled all the way to Chennai and visited a few colleges here including the Teacher Training College at The Music Academy.

It is learnt that the students from the Music Academy in turn will visit the colleges in Kerala to get a hands on feel of learning music in these places and the government of Kerala is sponsoring the entire programme.

A good idea. But not many students in Chennai were seen at these sessions or to listen to the good music presented by the Kerala students. The local students too should have utilised the opportunity to rub shoulders with their counterparts at this programme, one of the observers felt.

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A chat with 'Ghatam' Karthick

Should the title have been Dr. S. Karthick? This Ghatam player would have preferred this, for he could only tell how hard earned his doctorate was!

It was during a chat session organised by Deccan Chronicle at the Rasam restaurant on Dec. 5, Karthick shared informal moments with his rasikas over a plate of snacks and a cup of coffee.

Blending humour with musical anecdotes, Karthick said in two lines how he rose to be 'Ghatam' Karthick from a mere optional sub-percussionist. And he owed it all to his late father, who did not have a background in music but encouraged his only child to take up this instrument full time.

Now that he travels abroad accompanying Carnatic musicians as well as the fusion artistes, what feedback he gets from the rasikas abroad? He says Hindustani is still better known there. "Perhaps, Carnatic music is badly marketed though it is a very beautiful thing. And of late the Carnatic artistes are getting better in dress sense and presentation, but it was not so a decade ago. This may also have been a reason."

Karthick also shared the lec-dem sessions he had done for the foreign students. "If one talks from the angle of traditional Indian percussion, it does not interest them. You need to make it simple for them to understand and relate to what they can connect with."

For a question on deciding a career in upa-pakkavadyam, Karthick said that it was a bold decision. "One of my father's friends asked me if my scores were very low in plus-two exams and was it the reason for me to choose ghatam. That really irritated me. But my father showed me the right direction to make a mark in what I chose."
And he said that the doctorate was also his father's wish.
"My thesis was on musical intruments in Sanskrit literature. It is kept as reference material im Madras University and a few other colleges. It got delayed by 7 years due to my busy schedule and various other unexpected reasons. Even one of the communications relating to my thesis was lodged in the dead letter office!"

And how is it like workingin films? Karthick recalls his playing before any track getting ready for the song 'Madrasai suthi pakka poren' in May Maadham and playing after everything was over for the song 'Margazhi thingal allava' in the film Sangamam - two contrast situations.

But should the Carnatic music stick to its tradition and be performed in its own format? No says Karthick. There should be scope for flexibility as in Cricket which is now also in T 20 format. "Arts also change with times and we should accept it."

That's how his 'HeArtbeat' ensemble was born and the next day another performance of this ensemble was scheduled with a new item included in it.

Deccan Chronicle already held two such sessions with singers O.S. Arun and Sikkil Gurucharan. It plans to hold more such informal chats with Carnatic artistes. Do watch the daily for announcements.

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Hitchcock in Carnatic music concert

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Carnatic music concerts are no more in 'the same old' format.
They are now set in themes.
Many of the themes are chosen by the organisers, who do a bit of research to know who is the best to present specific themes. But some are left to the artistes, who do their homework to bring out their strength out in the open.
Jaya TV's Margazhi Maha Utsavam this year has various themes celebrating different things and moods.

From a straight forward theme like 'Celebrating D.K. Pattammal' by her granddaughter Nithyasree and 'Celebrating Earth, seasons and festivals' by the violinists duo Ganesh and Kumaresh to intriguing themes like 'Celebrating Myriad Hues of Ragas' by S. Sowmya, the list is long.

The one which made many eyebrows raise was a theme and name - 'Celebrating Suspense' - given to T.M. Krishna's concert on Dec. 4.
The auditorium inside Chettinad Vidyashram School began getting filled up by 5.30 p.m. when Gayathri Girish was singing her main piece.

When it was time for Krishna's concert at 6.30 p.m., the gallery in the upstairs was also 75% full. Many were curious and waiting for Krishna to reveal the 'suspense'!

Krishna said 'Namaskaram' with a mischievous smile and expressed his 'surprise' over the theme printed on the Jaya TV's event invite. "I never expected that the organisers would mention the theme as 'Celebrating Suspense' in their press releases and invites!'' He continued to say that he could not find an apt name for the set of songs he selected for that day and so he called it a suspense and wanted the rasikas to assist him in giving a theme name at the end of the concert.

The concert began with the song 'Anbe Jeevadharam' in the raga Bahudari composed by 'Spencer' Venugopal and in Tamil. The next was from a Kannada poetry collection on winter season followed by a Malayalam piece from Mayura Sandesham. Krishna said that this piece was set to tune by Sangeetha Sivakumar.

Then came 'Kathamaham varnayami ramyalila' a composition in Sanskrit. He announced, "This is a composition of R.K. Sriram Kumar, my close friend."
After a Bengali song from Rabindra Sangeeth, Krishna wrapped up the concert with Subramanya Bharati's 'Chinnanjiru kiliye' again in Ragamalika but with a different set of ragas.

It was time for the question hour. When the audience started moving, the organisers requested them to stay back at least for the first question, as the reply to the question will be a surprise.
"This team of T.M.Krishna, R.K. Sriramkumar, Arun Prakash, and Purushotham is a powerful team. Can we have four lines of a mikeless singing?" was the question. Krishna's team was game to respond and the mikes were muted.

Then came the real surprise. Krishna sang 'Modi jesa velara', the Khamas raga javali in the fast pace. The team proved that it was really a powerful one.
But what was the theme 'suspense'? Krishna finally declared that he gave the title for the theme of his songs presented, 'Bhakthi'. Anything that has to do with devotion irrespective of whether it is love, affection, celebration... is Bhakthi!

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Stand alone or go under an unbrella?

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In the IT entrepreneurs' world, there is a new debate on whether to set up one's own limited company or to operate under an umbrella organisation.
And the argument is valid for the huge number of Dot Com companies and service providers too.

With the advancement in technology, the ATM of banks is now integrated - you can push in your card in any bank's ATM and draw the money.
The cell phone companies will soon be giving you an option to switch over the service providers without changing your phone numbers.
In a sense, we all will be under one umbrella for each of these services.

But, how will people take the idea if it is introduced in our art festivals?
If all the sabhas come under one roof to host this grand December Music and Dance Festival across the city ...
If they jointly publish their schedules date-wise and artiste wise ...
If they all share the expenses as well the gate collections...
If all the newspaper and media come together and publish a grand daily issue in print and online...
If they all come together and promote worldwide this exclusive December Season, unique to Chennai...
If they all jointly host educative series for the newbies and engage the younger generation...

In a discussion about this across a coffee table, a few people agreed that this grand event needs global promotion and recognition and there are many advantages in joining hands and celebrate December.

P. Krishnamoorthy, a senior citizen, showed a preface written by Sri. R. Yagnaraman, (who was heading Sri Krishna Gana Sabha) for a book published by GNB Foundation. Sri Yagnaraman has signed as the President, Federation of City Sabhai, Madras dated 10-12-1971. And wondered whether this was a federation of all the sabhas in the city!

However, as an ardent fan of critics like Kalki, Subbudu, Veeyesvee, he was of the opinion that when it comes to coverage and reviews, there should be variety. He wants to read the long essay-like pieces in The Hindu, wants to read the reviews in Tamil in magazines like Kalki and Ananda Vikatan and also wants to keep a tab on the Internet for the latest news. He loves to forward links to interesting stories to his sons in the US and Europe.

What is your take? Please post your comments and share your views.

Curtain raiser to the 'season'

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Dec. 1 of every year is a date to mark in the diaries of classical art lovers in Chennai and for people who have their base in south India.

The senior citizens who depend on the newspapers for planning their daily rounds to sabhas look forward to the issue dated December 1, from the publishing house of The Hindu. Many people cut out the advertisements carrying the schedule of concerts published in this issue and keep them as reference material throughout the season.

The last page of this special supplement is reserved for the Music Academy schedule for a long a time now. The Krishna Gana Sabha, and Sri Parthasarathy Swamy Sabha used to take a half page either on the front page or on the third page. These adverts used to carry all the information of the accompanists and the theme if the concert has one.

Today's issue has not carried detailed advertisements of many major sabhas, except the Music Academy. The Mylapore Fine Arts Club's advertisement asks the readers to contact the sabha's office for details of concerts.

Did the downturn play its role on the 'season' and the spending on advertisements too? One cannot say so, because the number of concerts and venues and artistes haven't come down.

But, if one looked for every line in today's issue or read between the lines, an umbrella could be found, where all the details of most of the major sabhas in the city are online.
A website promoted by Nalli, a business house known for traditional silk saris, and the person who extends his support to quite a few sabhas in the city, has now become the umbrella.
www.nallimargazhimoments.com
This site has a brief history about each sabha, their contact info and the schedules of concerts of sabhas including the major ones such as Parthasarathy Swamy Sabha, Nungambakkam Cultural Academy and Sri Krishna Gana Sabha.
You need to scroll down to know who supports this website.
Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd. There you go - The Times Group, who wants to establish themselves in the land of The Hindu in all fronts.

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A conversation to archive

Sampradaya, a non-commercial organisation that documents and archives the South Indian music traditions have been around for more than three decades now.

Now, it aims to bring the documentation process open to the public. The interactions with senior musicians are being held in public halls where the rasikas get to listen to the artistes and pose their questions to them about the rich musical traditions they have been practising for long. The entire session is videographed and archived simultaneously.

'Samvada'- an open discussion series began with conversations between Sri. R.K. Srikantan and Sri. N.Ravikiran in August 2009. Following this, another session with mridangam maestro Sri. T.K. Murthy and Sri Palghat T.R. Rajamani was held. The third in the series was between Vina Vidushi Smt. Kalpakam Swaminathan and vocalist Smt. Suguna Varadachari.

Early in the season, the recent session of 'Samvada' held on Nov. 27, 2009, featured violin maestro Sri. M.S. Gopalakrishnan in conversation with Sri. Sriram Parasuram.

The septuagenarian violinist who can play both Carnatic and Hindustani styles of music with equal accomplishment opened the session with two hallmark renderings of Parur style, of which the Nalinakanti kriti of Saint Thyagaraja stood out as it did decades ago.

B. Ganapathiraman on the mridangam was seen enjoying his accompaniment on that day. Then the maestro presented a piece in Hindustani style. He said, "You can say it is set in Misra Mand."  His daughter, disciple and violinist Dr. Narmada added "This is one of the pieces that is sung like our post tani tukkadas, but in Hindustani."  From slow pace to dhruth, it was a perfect Hindustani piece and the tabla player Dilip did add to the hues of the Hindustani style.

Sri Sriram Parasuram had his questions to ask about the Parur style and MSG's additional contributions to the style. He did notice the shift of fingers differently and MSG said that Sri Parur Sundaram Iyer made the shift of the fingers from one string to the other easy by adopting a different fingering method.

He also explained how his father adjusted the violin birudai bowing simultaneously with the other hand to reach the lower octaves, during one of Pandit Vishnu Digambar Paluskar's concerts.

The questions from the audience brought out the person in MSG.
To one of the questions, "What would you like to mention about your contemporary violinists like Lalgudi, T.N. Krishnan...?",  MSG responded spontaneously. "Nobody can beat Lalgudi in Layam. And T.N.Krishnan's music is 'sowkhyam'. Why should we leave out Kunnakudi - his was a different style. But all are good music!"

"How do you see yourself as a rasika?" was a question, he left to his daughter to reply. Dr. Narmada said, "If in a concert, I did not play up to the standards of the vocalist, he expresses it clearly to me when I am back home. He applauds the vocalist wherever he or she performs well. He even calls up the radio station to appreciate the musician if he finds the performance very good!"

Talking about the practice patterns of Parur Style, he asked Dr. Narmada to demonstrate a few jantai varisais - eight jantais to 16, and 32 in a single bow.

MSG recollected his accompanying the stalwarts Ariyakudi, Chembai, Semmangudi, G.N.B., Madurai Mani Iyer and so on. "I have also accompanied many women vocalists like M.S., M.L.V and D.K.P.,"  he proudly declared!

To top it all, a question from Sri. Sriram Parasuram, on what MSG would like to convey to the younger generation, emanated. Here goes MSG's prescription - "If one practises what he or she is taught for a minimum of four hours a day (this is in today's busy world; it used to be more in our days) for five years continuously, he or she can become an 'ordinary' violinist to begin with!" (சொல்லிக் கொடுத்ததை ஒரு அஞ்சு வருஷத்துக்கு தினமும் நாலு மணி நேரமாவது சாதகம் பண்ணினால் ஒரு சாதாரண violinist ஆக வரலாம்.)

To conclude MSG played a Ghana raga tanam, which bore the distinct stamp of the Parur style and reflected his seven decades of practising the art.

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