Comfort Music

 We are all familiar with the words, comfort food. Irrespective of the fanciest dishes in the most exquisite of settings, we long for familiar comfortable food that is redolent of memories of childhood and simple times enjoyed in our mother's kitchen.

Comfort is not a word often used in a musical context. The word sowkhyam is often used. But it generally connotes a certain type of composition in a certain type of tempo. But, I keep searching, for the word that best describes Dr Sunder's concert for Rasika Ranjani Sabha to honour the legacy of Shri Anantaraman Bhagawathar, yesterday . And again and again the word I come back to is comforting. A sense of coming home. Dr Sunder had a team of wonderful co participants too.. Shivkumar Anantharaman on violin, Rohit Prasad on mridangam, Harihara Subramanian on Kanjira and his own disciple  J B Keerthana 

He began the concert with Rakshamam in Nattai by Meenakshi Suta. As I heard the line , Pakshi vahana Padmaja Ramana Pannaga shayana Padmanabha Prabho, I was transported back to the Peddar Road living room where I first learnt this, the other students, the teacher and even the faint sounds of traffic from outside. And I think in many ways that is the key. Our favourite music( irrespective of the genre) is an important auditory trigger for a time in our life and the people and memories associated with it. And our love for the composition is tempered by that as much as the rendition by a particular artist on a given day.

This was followed by Paripalaya in Reethigowlai, a krithi by Swathi Tirunal followed by a wonderful Kapali in Mohanam. Followed by Deva deva in Mayamalavagowla with neraval at Jaata roopa. In this context, readers might want to see my blog post exactly ten years back on 23rd November 2015. There seems to be varying opinions on this line.

Followed by a really lovely short Begada alapana followed by Nadopasana. And that was another feature of the whole concert, everything seemed to be in just the right proportion...no alapana dragged.. they all seemed to be of just the right duration..but in that little time it conveyed what the raga was about. I want to write a bit more about this later.

The Begada was followed by a really brisk Maa Ramanan( Hindolam), Inta Paramugam in Purvikalyani followed by Kharaharapriya. As that alapana flowed, I was hoping he would sing Senthil Andavan. But the song was Rama nee edda. Followed by Manadukku Ugandu in Sindubhairavi by Tanjavur Shankara Iyer and lastly Unpaadame thunai Sharada, which I have never heard

I have heard only two of Dr Sunders's concerts in person and I left both with almost the same feeling... a sense of completeness. To go back to my gastronomic comparisions, like a really well cooked home meal which you know you can consume happily. It will will fill your stomach and your soul without any worries of heart burn or indigestion later in the day. His music is also very deceptively simple. And this is never more evident than in the kalpana swaras. Of course in the alapana also. There is zero unnecessary histrionics, no attempt at trying to dazzle an audience, no attempt at " trying" to be soulful. It is what it is. Very refreshing.

I think all art, whether it be in movies, music, or dance truly happens when a creator follows his inner truth. This needs a clarity and an eschewing of everything extraneous so that what is left is only a core. I saw that yesterday.

The concert was preceded by a two day workshop on Tanjavur Shankara Iyer krithis. At least two of these really appealed to me the lakshya krithi in Hamsanadam and the one in Vishnupriya( a ragam created by the composer himself). Of course I had learnt Sharavanabhava guha earlier and I am sure  I have written about that. What is remarkable is that he has learnt these compositions from the composer himself . Given that carnatic music is basically an oral tradition, we are often befuddled when we are told Dikshithar used only D1 in Reethigowlai etc etc. It prevents me from singing Shri Neelotpalanayike with a clear mind.

I cannot end this post without writing at least two sentences about the venue for the workshop. It was the very beautiful home of Maya and Hari, with the most wonderful artifacts possible. They were not just gracious enough to provide their home, but also insisted on feeding us every day!

My pilgrimage to Tiruvarur

Tiruvarur is hallowed ground for any Carnatic musician , given that it is the birth place for all three of the Trinity. In a span of thirteen years, Syama Shastri ( 1762), Thyagaraja( 1767) and Muthuswami Dikshithar( 1775) were born here. And I had never been there. So this was a pilgrimage to the birth place of Carnatic music's most esteemed vaggeyakaras. The group consisted of more than 20 music students from all over India ably led by Smt Kanakavalli who had taught these students. Ms Kanakavalli is an extraordinary musician who has a superb command over various genres like carnatic classical, thevarams and pasurams, abhangs etc. 

My trip started in Kumbakonam where my first destination was Swami Malai. I have been to five of the six abodes of Kartikeya. Tiruttani is still left....one of these days. It is believed that here the son(Kartikeya) became a guru to the father (Shiva) and explained the meaning of the pranava mantra Om. The source for Dikshithar songs like Swaminatha Paripalayasu maam( Nattai) and Shri Swaminathaaya( Kamas).

After this was the temple in Darasuram, a UNESCO World Heritage site. I had never heard about this till earlier this year. It has two sannadhis for  Airavateeswarar and his consort here Periya Nayaki Amman. The whole complex is beautiful having been built in the 12th century by the Chola emperor Rajaraja the Second and is in the form of a chariot. It is also a very quiet and peaceful place. Visit it in the early evening if possible and sit in the sprawling gardens later.

After this was the Adi Kumbeshwarar temple. The very name Kumbakonam is supposed to be derived from this sthala. The pot ( kumbha) is said to be of Brahma containing the seeds of all living beings which was displaced during a pralaya caused by Shiva's arrow and ultimately came to rest in the place now known as Kumbakonam. This temple again constructed by a Chola king in the 9th century houses sannadhis of Adi Kumbeshwarar and Manthrapateeshwari Mangalambika

After this was the Ramaswamy temple built by Achutappa Nayak and Raghunatha Nayak during the 16th and 17th centuries. The central shrine houses the image of Rama along with Sita and all his brothers as well as Hanuman. The walls of the outer prakaram have beautiful paintings depicting various episodes from the Ramayana.

Many more temples in Kumbakonam. But I had to move on to Tanjavur.

My first temple here was the Brihadeeshvara temple. This is totally awesome and has to be seen. The sight of those magnificent towers lit up at night need to be experienced. Of course if you go during the day you can experience the missing shadow( despite it's height, there is no shadow ) Also known as Periya Koil and also a World Heritage site, it has numerous shrines. Of all the songs, what stands out for me here, is BMK's Kaanada composition Brihadeeshvaro.

This was followed by a whole lot of temples the next day which just turned out to be Aadi Pooram, a day when all the female deities are adorned with bangles signifying Parvati's Valakaappu . Also believed to be the day when Andal was incarnated near Srivilliputtur. They were the Bangaru Kamakshi temple, the Kashi Vishwanathar temple which also houses the Visalakshi Amman shrine, The Navaneetha Krishnan temple, the tiny Naal Kaal Mandapam featuring Anjaneya as well as the Prasanna Venkateshwara Temple opposite , again with incredibly beautiful idols.

On to Tiruvarur where we saw the houses of all three of the Trinity as well as the Thyagarajaswamy temple which also houses the shrines of Kamalamba and Nilotpalamba. Incidentally, the navagrahas in this temple are in a straight line formation, instead of the usual square formation. I have personally seen this only in the Vaideeswaram Koil. It is believd that this is because of individual legends . For instance in Vaideeswaran Koil, it is believed the presiding deity cured Angaraka( Mars) of disease. Therefore the planets are arranged in a subservient straight lne before the main shrine which is seen as superseding individual planetary influences.We got to sing the Kamalamba navavarnams in front of the Kamalamba Sannadhi. An interesting aspect of this temple are the Navagrahas which are in a line unlike in the square format seen in other places. 

On to Nagapattinam and the Sundararaja Perumal temple which houses the shrine of his consort Soundaravalli also. Here we sang Soundararajam. I have written about this song extensively about ten years back in this very blog. Since we reached late in the evening, we got to participate in the shayana seva, where the Lord is laid to sleep in a beautifully decorated oonjal, adorned with flowers . There is an aarti and we got to put the Lord to sleep with various Carnatic lullabies... extremely moving

The next day on to Mannargudi and the Rajagopalaswami temple also called Dakshina Dwarka. Here we got to participate in a moving ritual called Vamsha Vridhi, where an idol of the Lord is given in your hands and mantras are chanted for the advancement of your family lineage.

After this to Tiruvaiyaru, the Thyagaraja Samadhi where the Aradhana is held every year. We sat here and on the steps of the Cauvery and  sang so many Thyagaraja krithis starting with Bantureethi. You can see here the original idols worshipped by him.

On to Kanchipuram on a Aadi Velli( Friday) where we sang the Kamakshi navavarnams sitting in front of her Sannadhi during the early morning abhishekam.

And then to the Kailasanathar temple which has a Shodasha Linga( made of 16 planes) where the entire complex is built of sandstone except for some granite load bearing pillars, the Ekambresar temple( which is a panchaboota sthala and I have written about in the context of Chintayamam in this blog itself) and the Varadaraja Perumal temple where we sang Varadaraja Upasmahe.

My pilgrimage to Ettaiyapuram

 This is the 250th birth anniversary year of Muthuswami Dikshithar, born on Krithikai nakshatram in the Tamil month of Panguni in the year 1775. It was a blessing to be there in Ettaiyapuram at his samadhi last Sunday. This is the 15th year that this is being celebrated by Ravi Kiran's Guruguhaamrata with more than 40 high calibre musicians. Dikshithar is supposed to have come to Ettaiyapuram twice . Firstly for the coronation of the Yuvaraja and the second time to spend his final years before he shed his mortal coil on Narakachaturdasi day in 1835. 

The proceedings started aptly enough( given that Dikshithar was a vainika) with Jayashri Arvind playing the Thodi dhyana krithi on the veena. I think at least 3 or 4 of the navavarnams were sung by various vocalists. I remember hearing the ones in Khamboji, Anandabhairavi, Punnagavarali and Ahiri. In addition through the day, starting at about 9 am one got to hear so much of Dikshithar. Of these , Shri Venugopala in Kuranji, Pahimam Ratnachalanayaka in Mukhari and Nagalingam Bhajeham in Shankarabharanam were totally new to me. I had gone there only to pay homage and listen since I registered very late and there was an announcement that the slots for performers were closed. However, when I was there I realised quite a few people had dropped out and slots were available. So decided to sing Shri Subramanya in Thodi, inspite of my trepidation in singing in front of very high calibre vocalists. But I am unlikely to be going to Ettaiyapuram again in this lifetime, so yes it was now or never.

One has to comment on this labour of love by Ravi Kiran and his Guruguhaamrata. The arrangements were excellent, starting from rooms at Kovilpatti for people to freshen up, the pick ups at the station, the to and fro to Ettaiyapuram, the really lovely meals and the excellent sound system. I know there are week long celebrations in Chennai starting on Monday. I will try to log on to these online. So immense respect and admiration for the work that he is doing and sure that the Universe will continue to support him in this endeavour.

I am happy that I went this year. Sure I was the oldest person there. Most of the musicians were in their 20s or 30s. All these activities are physically arduous. ...going to Ettaiyapuram( incidentally Subramanya Bharathis's house is also here a stone's throw away) consists of flying down to Madurai, driving down to Kovilpatti, which is 103 km away , staying the night and making an early morning trip to the samadhi. So my advice to other Dikshithar bhakthas is to do this sooner rather than later.

The next day I went to Kaghugumalai, the 300 feet rock temple. I actually knew it was nearby only as the result of a casual conversation with a lady on the bus. Subramanyena rakshitoham in Sudha Dhanyasi refers to this sthala in the charanam Kankashaila viharena.. It was one of the earliest krithis I learnt. It is a very quiet temple . So I got to sing the composition . While I did try to go the Vettuvan Koil nearby, there is a fine line between adventurous and fool hardy. Climbing this in the midday heat , with a whole lot of monkeys around and by myself seemed foolish. So I went half way up and decided to come back.

The whole trip also left me ever so slightly embarrassed and conscious yet once again about how privileged and elitist one's life is. Kovilpatti is a small town. Ettaiyapuram even smaller. And Kazhugumalai seems nothing more than a little hamlet. Going in buses to these places and observing the people who live there  makes one realise that we have lived in this ivory bubble and have no real idea of what living is for 90 percent of India's population. Well, it is what it is..but there can be no real understanding without an actual experience of these cities. Also, it made me understand at some level, Dikshithar ..the eternal pilgrim. I was exhausted after travelling and staying in air conditioned comfort. But he did these pilgrimages from Nepal( Pashupatiswaram in Subha Pantuvarali) to deep South long before even the advent of trains. That frail body sure housed an indomitable spirit. I have since heard R Sriram quoting V Raghavan that Pashupatiswaram might not be a MD composition and he might not have travelled there and the composition has " historical inaccuracies". I went through the text again and the only possibility for this statement is in the Anupallavi when he talks of the deity being extolled by the rulers of Western Kashmira( Paschima Kashmira raja vinutham). Apparently in the early 1800s, Kashmir was ruled by the Afghan Durrani empire. So yes, I am not sure any more.

The next three days were in Madurai. After Kovilpatti,  Madurai felt so wonderful.. much better hotels, availability of vegan cuisine etc. My first trip was to the Azhagar Koil in Pazhamudircholai. This is really quite lovely.. the Vishnu vigraham at the foothills with Bhudevi and Shridevi was exquisitely decorated. The Murugan temple on the top of the mountain is small, but beautiful with the Noopura Ganga and the Rakkayi Amman temple right on the top of the mountain , approachable only by foot.

The next trip was to Tiruparikundram, the first of Murugan's six abodes. As luck would have it , I landed up on the day of his Tirukalyanam to  Deivanai. Mention has to me made of our absolutely endearing trait in the humanising of our Gods. Apparently the day before the Meenakshi temple was closed since she and Sokkanadar had come to Tiruparikundram for the wedding of their son. The evening of the wedding saw the beautiful vigrahas being sent back to their abode by Subramanya.

With these two, I have now been to four of Subramanya's six abodes. Swamimalai and Tiruttani are still pending. Guess they will happen when they do. But I need to go to Trichendur again since I went there before learning Shri Subramanya in Thodi. Somewhere for me, going to a sthala before learning the particular krithi does not count. Which is why I have to go to Kalahasti too again, so I can sing the Husseini panchaboota krithi and the Kalyani one on his consort( Gnyanaprasoonambike). Incidentally, I went to Swamimalai in July and Tiruttani in December of 2025. Also, Tiruttani has the Navaveeras , I have referred to in the Shri Subramanyo krithi.

Also went to Kalahastisa on this same trip. While one does not get to stand for long in fron of the main idol, there is a Prasanna Kalahastisha idol in the elevated corridor surrounding the main sannadhi. Was able to sit there and sing Husseini. Also had this absolutely wonderful experience, when I sat for a very long time in that elevated corridor directly in front of Gnyanaprasunambike and sang the Kalyani krithi in her honour.

The last day was devoted to the Meenakshi temple and the Teppakulam Mariamman temple. The Meenakshi temple is one I have been to before. There are enough images and write ups on the net. The sculptures, the murals, even the painted kolams on the ground are all breath taking. Even with special darshan tickets, one has to be prepared to spend a minimum of 2 to 3 hours in queues. Gives one time to softly sing the Varali and Poorvakalyani songs on her by Dikshithar.

I am back in Mumbai now energised after my trip and ready to get back into year end meetings with CAs and planners and all the other humdrum work of daily living.

 

Last night at the NMACC

 Last night was quite thrilling. And I almost missed it. The event was billed as Wild Women: A Jugalbandi in Verse. Featuring Alarmel Valli and Arundhati Subramaniam. Much as I love both artists individually and collectively, I was fearful of an extremely avant garde event that would have Valli demonstrating abhinaya or doing adavus to English poetry. Since I had not seen Valli forever and was reconciled to turning up even if she was in track pants talking about Bharatnatyam, I decided to risk it. This was actually, clever misdirection by the duo. The event was broadly based on Wild Women, a book by Arundhati about sacred poetry by and about women.

 There were a total of four pieces. The first an invocation to the Goddess with verses from the Devi Mahatmyaham, Mahalakshmi Ashtakam, Subramanya Bharathi's Vellai tamarai and the Abhirami Andaadi. Now, one has heard Vellai Taamarai so many times.. and mangled so often by enthusiastic school children that I have personally become immune to it's beauty. But yesterday with Valli, I discovered the original sentiment once again. Saraswathi is not some Goddess in an ivory tower, remote and unapproachable. She is everywhere even in the most common place. In the vellai taamarai( white lotus) and the veenai naadam and so on. Almost all of it sung by Prema Ramamurthy.

The second piece was called Ecchal( Spit) by Senkottai Avudai Akkal. Akkal was born in the very early 1800s and was widowed while still a child. Her Guru was supposed to be Sri Sridhara Venkatesa Ayavaal, a contemporary of Sadasiva Brahmendra. A jivan mukta , she is believed to have composed over 200 songs in various formats. These songs in turn inspired legends like Subramanya Bharathi and even Ramana Maharishi, whose mother apparently would sing these compositions. Akkal , it is believed went up the mountains near Kutrallam and disappeared without leaving any trace of her body!!

The third piece was from Tallapaka Annamacharya, the 15th century musician,  writing not as a devotee of Venkatesa but in the voice of his consort, Alamelu Manga. It was amazing how Valli transformed herself in this piece. From her first steps on the stage for this number, she became somebody else.. playful and capricious. It was in everything, her gait, her hand movements. I have seen demos where an ageing Kalanidhi Narayanan transmuted right in front of my eyes to a coy blushing nayika. And everything about her physical body was forgotten in that moment. Valli as Alarmelu Manga was something like that.

The last was a thillana in Nalinakanti with the sahithya portion by Neelambike the wife of the 12th century philosopher Basavanna. Long after I left the theatre and I was having my Mongolian Rice in the nearby Earth Cafe, I was humming the first line S G R,,, M,, P, N,,,S,,

A little bit about the structure. I am reasonably sure that this will go on the road at least to cities with a large Indian diaspora. The compositions are all pre recorded with Prema on the locals. The backdrop and the lighting is all minimalistic.. no HD screens , no multicolor lighting arrangements.. just some marigolds in the background. So very apt. Nothing but powerful verses, music and dance. If I could be allowed to quibble , I would have preferred a marginal reduction in the sound volume and the percussion sound while mixing. What will also help(when they take this show abroad) is a small pamphlet with the lyrics and translations of the four pieces.

I will now end with my favourite poem of Arundhati's. Especially relevant today on Holi when my household staff is all absent and I have to wash dishes and cook meals. I have long been a fan of hers and am both mesmerised and energised by her words. So much of it can only be described as some sort of preternatural dejavu since I am left bewildered wondering whether she is articulating her experience or mine. So here goes.

Give me a home

that isn't mine,

where I can slip in and out of rooms

without a trace,

never worrying

about the plumbing,

the colour of the curtains

the cacophony of books by the bedside.

A home that I can wear lightly,

where the rooms aren't clogged

with yesterday's conversations,

where the self doesn't bloat

to fill in the crevices.

A home, like this body,

so alien when I try to belong,

so hospitable

when I decide I'm just visiting.

Rasa by RaGa

 Yesterday's Rasa by RaGa program at the Tata Theatre in Mumbai presented by Pancham Nishaad was really quite remarkable. Of course, it is a few months since I have been inside a concert and a few years since I have heard a live performance by the duo. That helps. As in much else, too much exposure to anything dulls our palate and gives us diminishing returns in terms of enjoyment.

The single thing that stood out was the sheer innovativeness in presentation. I think except for two compositions, Mariveregati( Shyama Shastri, Anandabhairavi) and Manasa Sanchara re( Sadashiva Brahmendra, Saama), not a single composition was a straight presentation. There were medleys in a particular raga, medleys in related ragas, griha bhedam demos etc. But more about that later.

And it was long. Today, we are getting used to a two hour or even a 90 minute presentation. Which makes one wonder if you want to spend three hours travelling and 30 minutes listening to the organiser's ramblings.

The concert started with Gambeeranattai. Two compositions, one in a straight forward Adi talam and the other Uthukaadu's Shri vignarajam bhaje in kanda chaapu

The second piece was a really slow and wonderful Marivere in Anandabhairavi..simply superb

However for me the most interesting was the next griha bhedam starting with Hamsanandi, a janya of the 53rd melakartha Gamanasramana( S R1 G3 M2 D2 N3 S) Using a thillana in Hamsanandi( or Purvi, Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar's nrnr gmgrs) as the base, the artists moved on to Hindolam by moving the shadjam to R1..Piece demonstrated here was Samajavara( Thyagaraja).. onto Durga by moving the Shadjam to G3.. piece demonstrated was a bandish on Durga. This was followed bySudha Dhanyasi by moving to M2( Dikshithar's Subramanyena Rakshitoham), followed by Mohanam ( Swagatham Krishna moving to the D) and lastly Madhyamavathi( Bagyadalakshmi) by moving to Nishadam. This was an extraordinary exercise because each of the compositions had some swarams or alapana or neraval, some manodharma component. And finally at the end a simple demo of singing the base flat notes to demo the shift. Was both thrilling and  enjoyable.

The next big segment which they dubbed as the main piece had four compositions, all in Deshadi talam and janyas of Kharaharapriya( 22nd in the melakartha scale). They were also all on Rama. They started with Bhuvini dasudani in Shriranjani, followed by Ikka Naina ( Pushpalatika, Tirupati Narayanaswamy) with neraval at akalanka neeve adharudani. This was followed by Kamalaptakula( Thyagaraja) in Brindavana Saranga and lastly Neekelana in Devamanohari of Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar. 

The last two segments were  medleys of popular songs derived from films,  folk or devotional in nature. The first segment had pieces by Subramanya Bharathi on Muthumaari, ram ratan Payoji and muddugare yashoda. The second was a medley of popular songs in Kapi in a variety of languages like Tamil Telugu Kannada, Hindi and Marathi beginning with a 1991 SP Balasubramanian song( lyrics by Vairamuthu, Composed by Ilayaraja) - Vannam Kondu Vennilave.

And one cannot end without mentioning the tani portion. Which was again different and innovative. Started with a segment consisting of konnakol by S Krishna, the ghatam artist and mridangam by Sai Giridar. And The konnakol portion, such incredible voice modulation ranging from soft as a whisper to a rising crescendo. Till I heard that, it never occurred to me that it was one of the tools available for a konnakol artist. This might seem laughable to many. But listening to him made me realise how that is a tool to differentiate too. Students need to hear stuff to get the myriad possibilities in various places. Followed by a tani segment in the usual format between a mridangam and a ghatam artist . But this was followed by a segment where Charumathi Raghuraman , the violinist started the simple takadhmi takajanu shol in chatusra , joined by the vocal artists and then the percussionists who went on to tisram and khandam etc . Given that we are used to seeing the tani portion of a concert as one where basically the percussionists perform with the others just keeping a talam, this collaborative exercise was a refreshing change.

The simple fact was that there was so much freshness and innovation in the entire presentation from a small thing like the vocalists alternating among themselves in taans once as swaras and once as aakar to the many ghatams and mridangams on stage for the griha bhedam segment.

And it showed. The Tata Theatre fully packed with not a soul moving out till the last note.

T M Krishna and the Sangeetha Kalanidhi award

 A week back,  the Madras Music Academy announced that the 2024 Sangeetha Kalanidhi award was being conferred on T M Krishna. I was happy for him. There is no question that his musical talent and vidwat more than deserves this. I remember thinking that if he could have just spent the past many years singing instead of making various ridiculous pronouncements, he might have won it earlier. And that was that. I did not think about it till Wednesday the 20th when Ranjani Gayathri announced that they would not be participating in this year's conference and their reasons for doing so.

Before I go any further, I need to set a certain context. I am totally apolitical. I have zero interest in the shenanigans of various politicians either in India or worldwide. I am not a social justice warrior. Irrespective of whether it sounds callous or uncaring, I do not jump up to defend the disenfranchised or the underprivileged. I do not subscribe to most of the current woke ideologies and since I do not want to waste my time arguing about these things, I keep quiet and go my own way.

After a lifetime in the corporate world, I want to be left alone in my urban cave. Where I do my various Isha practices, practice my music, practice my konnakol, deep dive into Dikshithar krithis, and  Sanskrit and Hindu dharma so as to understand the various references, visit his favourite sthalas and blog about them. 

However, I was forced to emerge from my cave this last week, when something this momentous that is central to my being was happening in the world.

I have been this huge fan of TMK's music. There are things that he sings that can move me to tears. I have heard many concerts repeatedly and know every nuance that he will bring out. Given that, I ignored most of his other statements. Maybe I was blind. Or I was naive. However, the quality of his music eclipsed everything else for me. I wished that he would just shut up and sing. But I forgave him. I told himself that maybe he was just bored and needed to amuse himself by singing with transgenders or in a fishing village somewhere. And again, before I am accused of being a transphobe, I have nothing against transgenders. But the quality of that music was abysmal.

I have also always believed that one should separate the art from the artist. This gave rise to a hugely vituperative discussion some time back when the popular opinion was that one cannot assist an artist in monetising his art when it is being used to propagate a criminal unjust agenda. I was asked where I would draw my line. I had said then that I did not know . But I would inform that person when that line was imminent for me.

I have spent that last 72 plus hours reading and watching everything I can on this issue. I am no expert. This is research in progress. Starting with TMK's full length 2015 essay in Caravan, which many believe is one of his first salvos. A very cunning piece of writing which belittles her in many ways under the guise of an informed article. I believe this is the main source for the anti MS propaganda that  artists refer to. The politics of Tamil Nadu and the anti Brahmin movement starting with Periyar's pronouncements. Now this is a vast subject. I need to read Periyar's directives for myself. What I have is various people's comments on his statements and views.

And again here, my whole life, I have believed that I am not religious. I am a Hindu. I am a Brahmin. But it was just something that was always so. Like the colour of my skin. Or the shape of my eyes. Nothing to be proud about. Nothing to be ashamed about. I believed, and continue to believe , that all that matters is a person's thoughts, words and deeds in this world. I have never known or tried to know the caste or community of co workers or employees or friends. I do not celebrate festivals except when I feel like it and visit a temple only when it is a Dikshithar sthala or a visiting relative wants to visit Sidhi Vinayak. I was your typical laissez faire Hindu willing to allow and include all manners of views on a variety of issues. To each his own as I phrased it. Or as Shakespeare said " To thy ownself be true. And it shall follow as the night the day. Thou canst not then be false to any man".

But today this has forced me to rethink who I am. And accept that the way I have defined myself is based on who I was in a different time under different circumstances. And my "remembered history" is no more valid in defining my current experienced experience. I need time for that.

But getting back to TMK. He has once more done me a huge favour. For forcing me to examine my core beliefs and values.

The simple fact is that Carnatic music has Bhakthi as a core component. The Trinity , as well as various other vaggeyakaras did not sit down to compose for fame or fortune. Their compositions were an outpouring of their love and adoration of the Divine. Many of them were mystics. The sahithya and the music poured out as one wonderful homogenous entity. They did not bother to even write it down. Their shishyas did so that it would not be lost to posterity. They did not care about caste or community or politics. Many would not compose on any king except their ishta devta even when they were in deep penury. That was the extent of their vairagya and their devotion to a higher cause.

Those are some of the songs we sing today. How do you exclude bhakthi from such a piece. Even if you do not feel the same fervour in your heart( understandable), how do you say bhakthi has no place here? 

And what is this Brahminical hegemony that is being referred to? Some of the greatest musicians whether Veena Dhannamal and her progeny or Purandaradasa or Yesudas are not Brahmins. Nobody gives a damn. Nobody whether it be a Dalit or a tribal is prevented from learning Carnatic music and performing.

And why is TMK accepting an award from the Academy when he has distanced himself from performing in the Chennai season? And why does his award citation refer to him using music for social reform while the reply by Mr Murali to Ranjani Gayathri says that he has been selected only for his musical abilities and not his political views?

And is there any merit in Dr Gautam Desiraju who calls him an useful idiot and implies that the Music Academy might have been arm twisted into giving him this award for political reasons. And goes on to his inclusion in various associations that have anti national interests. Honestly I do not know.

But yes, too many loose ends. Too many unanswered questions. 

ChatGPT in CM

 So a few days back, I sat down to explore if I could create krithis in carnatic music. In Tamil and Telugu and Sanskrit. Just for fun. I was bored and there was nothing interesting on any of the OTT channels.

My prompts were for a Tamil composition( with a pallavi, anupallavi and charanam) in praise of Lord Muruga. Additional prompts were provided in the iterations to refer to his valour, his compassion and his consorts Valli and Deivanayaki and use the Ramadasan mudra( attempt to create in the style of Papanasam Sivan). I stopped after a couple of revisions . But the output is given below.

This is truly horrific at so many levels. The first thing that bothers me is the superficial mimicking of something truly profound. I am not getting into the content of the krithi at this point which is garbage since one could improve that with some more tweaks. But the basic source code. All of our krithis have been the outpourings from a deep wellspring of devotion . All of the alliteration, the prasa , the references to events in mythology happened on their own without any particular planning or manipulation. Most practitioners would believe that singing Dikshithar's navavarnas is akin to doing Srividhya puja of the Devi. All of them are deeply emotional . They evolved out of an altered state and a singer can still experience that magic when listening or singing some of these. 

I stopped after maybe a few revisions because I could feel my skin crawling. You know those horror movies where a mad scientist creates this perfect looking baby in a laboratory with an advanced IQ. But totally devoid of everything that makes it human: empathy, compassion, simple kindness. And that very lack goes on to unleashing a truly evil being on the world. Something like that.

But there is more. We have today the ability to generate videos both from text and also for alteration. We can create audios or videos of a fake composition sung in the style of a music legend by anybody. In fact many years back Kavita Krishnamoorthy has spoken about how all that is needed for playback singers today is attitude. Both pitch alignment and tempo are being corrected in the studio. 

So there will be a time when there will be a fake AI generated composition in a AI generated video in the style of some old time master  previewing on Youtube and garnering hundreds of likes and comments😢😡😠😟

Margazhi in Chennai

 It has been more than a week since I have been back from Chennai and I have been meaning to do a detailed review of the fifteen plus concerts I attended. But getting very lazy in my old age.

Beginning with the excellent Vignesh Ishwar concert at Arkay today. When I was there, heard  a lot of buzz about his super crowded Brahma Gana Sabha concert early in the season. But could not catch any of his concerts. Did so today. Thanks to Arkay's live feeds

While I will not bore my few readers with detailed song lists...let me make special mention of the Begada( Shankari Neeve) and the Varali( Maamava Meenakshi).. lovely voice, lovely bhava, lovely swaras, lovely everything..what can I say..specially liked the sort of seamless move from neraval to swaram and back in Varali. And a young violinist called Sivateja Mallajosyula, who I had never heard before. Fully matched Vignesh in his bhava. And in fact, Vignesh himself acknowledged Sivateja at the end. Apparently the great Kanyakumari's student.

Will now do a detailed review of all my concerts. Watch this space.

Rama Varma, MDR and Gowlipantu

 I heard a lecdem By Rama Varma at the Music Academy recently. Not surprisingly on MDR. Easily the very first love of his life. I have to admit that I am not really a MDR fan. And not for lack of trying. Almost twenty years back RV tried to get me enthused about MDR's music. And I tried. But it did not take. I went back and in my brutally honest way informed him that he just sounded drunk. Since I have always felt that there is nothing more hypocritical than pretending to love something in any art form unless it is real for you. What can I say? MDR, like the greatest single malts, is an acquired taste. Though I absolutely loved all the MDR compositions we learnt from him like Gajavadana( Hamsadhwani), Sagarashayana, Manasa( Bowli)  and of course Hariyum Haranum.

But something happened this last week when I listened to Tera tIyaga rAda. Of course, there is this incredibly sonorous baritone which is quite distinctive. But there was something else. It was as if his singing was timeless and not in the way the word is normally used. It was outside of time. He bent time to accommodate his concept of the composition. And as I heard it again and again over the past few days I realised my mind was getting quieter and maybe my breathing was becoming slower. And that brings us to the receptivity of the listener. Ultimately every performance is a one-to-one dialogue between two individuals. What a listener will get depends totally on his mind set, his receptivity, his world view at any point in time. And I sat and thought " I have read and heard so much about banis and the music of a Dhannamal and a Ramnad Krishnan or even a MMI?" So what is it? What is the characteristic of this? What draws aficionados to  MDR? And somehow, the answer that kept coming back to me was that firstly he seemed to encapsulate a total conviction in his world view on what music was. And what was this world view? As I see it firstly everything is there in the composition. There is no need for any extraneous gimmicks, ornamentation etc. There can be incredible beauty in the deceptively simple rendering of a phrase. There is no hurry. Nowhere to go, nothing to get. The singing of a composition is a simple dialogue between you and the composer or the Divine. That is all it has to be. Nothing more. Nothing less. And if one does that authentically for one composition once in your lifetime that is enough. But that is what I got. But I know I have to listen to way more MDR. Also never knew about his Navagraha chittaswarams , which I need to now track down.

But ofcourse this lecdem also raised a query in my mind? What was this prati madhyamam doing here? Wasn't this a janya of 15? So what was going on? And of course I went to Ramya Narsimhan, my go-to on anything musical. And I learnt about many Madhyamas. Ofcourse I knew about sudha madhyama and prati madhyama and the varali madhyama which is almost panchamam. I will eventually upload her demoing the various madhyamams . But to quote her. There are actually four madhyamams: the sudha madhyamam, the tivra sudha madhyamam, the prati madhyamam and the Chyuta Panchama( or Varali) madhyamam in that order. Apparently there is no sudha madhyamam in Gowlipantu. It uses only the tivra sudha and the prati madhyamam. Thyagaraja has used both the tivra sudha and the prati whereas Dikshithar has used only the tivra sudha. Of course that makes me wonder why it is classified under 15 and not 51( Kamavardhini)?

Shri Subrahmanyo Maam Rakshathu

 Easily one of his masterpieces, Thodi, Adi( 2 kalai). Composed sometime in the last 15 years or so of his life. 

We all know the relationship between Lord Subramanya and Dikshithar. It was Chidambaranatha Yogi who had early on told him that Subramanya was his natural guru. Leading to his early visit to Tiruttani, the composition of his very first krithi, Shri Nathaadi in Mayamalavagoula and his second Manasa Guruguha in Ananda Bhairavi and the full set of eight Guru Guha Vibhakthi krithis.  The other six comprising this set are Shri Guruna (paadi), Guruguhaaya( Saama), Guruguhadanyam( Balahamsa), Guruguhasya( Purvi), Guruguha Swamini( Bhanumati) and Shri Guruguha( Udayaravichandrika). As also to his vaggeyakara mudra.

The shore temple of Tiruchendur is one of the biggest for Lord Subramanya and is one of the six main sthalas for this deity( Padai Veedu) and the second abode. The others being Thiruparikundram, Thiruttani, Palani, Swamimalai and Pazhamudircholai. It is believed that Adi Shankara composed his Subramanya Bhujangam here. This 2000 plus years old temple with a tower of over 140 feet is the only Murugan temple on a shore, the others all being in forests or mountainous areas. The anupallavi refers to patra vibhoothi which is a prasadam at Trichendur. 

It  also refers to the destroying of Taraka. That is another great story. Taraka was an asura and he wanted to fight the Gods. He did severe penance and Brahma appeared before him asking him what he wanted. He said make me immortal. Brahma said I cannot do that but you can set a very high bar for your demise. So he asked that he should only be killed by a child of Shivas who was seven years old. At that time after the demise of Shakthi, Shiva was in deep meditation in the Himalayas and Taraka was very confident that Shiva would not marry again or produce a child.

So he was granted that boon and started terrorising the Devas. But already Parvathy had been born and was doing deep tapas to marry Shiva. Now the Gods had to get Shiva to notice Parvathy. And in came Manmatha who was burnt by Shiva and it was these six sparks of fire( netragni) from Shiva's Third eye  which were ultimately deposited in the Ganges because the earth, the mountains etc could not withstand that heat.  And it was those vital elements from Shiva which went into the formation of Kartikeya who killed Taraka when he was seven years old. 

In the charanam there is reference to Shankabhishekadyupachaarah.. Honoured with Shankabhisheka( ie abhisheka with the Shanka or conch). It also references the Shadakshara mantra, which is what Dikshithar was repeating at Tiruttani when he had the vision on the 40th day which offered him the sugarcandy. It also references the nava veera nanda ( nine heroes) surrounding him. This is also referenced in his Kasiramakriya krithi. The nava veeras are the nine sons of Navashakthis and brothers of Subramanya. They are Veera Bahu, Veera Kesari, Veera Soora, Veera Mahendra, Veera Maheshwara, Veera Purandhara, Veera Marthanda, Veeranthaka and Veera Dheera. They assist him in battle

Loking at the musicality and the sahithya, we will see that it is filled with swaraksharas and prasa. Offhand, the anupallavi Bha( p), sa ma( ma), na( n) springs to mind. Both the anupallavi and the charanam are full of antim akshara prasa. In the anupallavi we have devaseno, bodhano, subhacharano and nipuno. In the charanam we have bhaskara, sobhakarah, sivakarah, hata dhira, shadakshara, mandarah, upacharah, divyambarah, guruguhah..the list is endless

Going into individual words

Shri Subramanyo Maam Rakshathu is straight forward.. Shri Subramanya protect me.

Shanmukhavatara Shakthiroopa Shanmukha( Shad + mukha) the six faced who is a manifestation of power

Bhasamana ( Radiant) Valli Devasenao. One who is radiant with Valli and Devasena

Bharatishadi( Bharatisha + adi i.e Brahma and others) Tatva( self)  bodhino. He who expounds about the Self to Brahma and others

Vasavadi ( Vasava is Indra, Vasavadi is Indra and others) Vandita ( adoring) Shubha( sacred) Charano( feet). Whose sacred feet are worshipped by Indra and others

Patra Vibhoothi pradana( gives) nipuno( famous for). Now this patra or leaf is that of the Paneer tree which is believed to have curative properties in Ayurveda, especially in curing diabetes. There are innumerable stories of the power of Trichendur's patra Vibhoothi and their curative properties, including Sage Vishwamitra and Adi Shankara himself.

Shata( Hundred) Kothi( Crores) Bhaskara( Sun) Shobhakarah. He who shines with the effulgence of a hundred crore suns.

Shishta(Good) Shiti(Peacock) Kantha( neck) atmaja( son, born of).. He who is born of the Blue necked one( or Shiva) Shivakarah( auspicious)

Pratapa( Courageous Brave etc) Tarakaadi( Taraka and others) Hata( killed) Dheera( Wise).. the wise , and hero who killed Taraka and others

Prabala( bala is strength , prabala extreme strength) Ganesh anuja( comes after or younger brother) i.e Ganesh's younger brother. Now Shadakshara is the six akshara mantra( Sa ra va na bha va).. know by this 

Shata +ayush( 100 years of life) prada( can give) Bhaktha Mandara.. Gives long life to his devotees.

 Shanka + abhisheka + upacharah worshipped with abhishekam through a conch.

Kshitish( Lords of the earth or Kings) poojitha( worshipped by) Divya + ambarah( sacred attire). Surrounded by the Nava veera Nanda and revered by Guruguha

Let us look at Dikshithar's krithis in Thodi. He has composed eight . Dakshayani Abhayambike, Kamalambike( Navavarna Dhyana krithi), Mahaganapathim Vande, Palayamam Brihadeeshwari, Ramachandraya Namasthe, Shri Krishnam Bhaja, Shri Subramanyo, and Vedaranyeshwara. I have intentionally left out the varnam Rupama Joochi because some accounts say it was composed by Dikshithar for Kamalam's( his disciple) arangetram and the Tanjore quartet became his disciples after attending this arangetram. Other accounts say that this was composed by the Tanjore quartet. Personally I find it a bit strange because there is absolutely no other varnam by Dikshithar. One will also immediately remember the other Thodi krithi on Subramanya, Kartikeya Gaangeya ( by Papanasam Sivan). Also in 2 kalai Adi. Also both start in similar ways at the Gandharam, move up to the Panchamam and come to a prolonged rest at the Shadjam at the arudi point.

Let us look at the krithis on Subramanya. These would be Balasubramanyam( Surutti ) which is sung before the Navavarnas, Dandayuthapaanim( Anandabhairavi), Kumaraswaminam( Asaveri),  Shri Subramanyaya ( Khambhoji), Shri Swaminathaya( Kamas), Senapate Palayamam( Kasiramakriya), Shadanane( Kamas),Subramanyam( Shankarabharanam), Subramanyena( Sudha Dhanyasi), Swaminatha( nata), Swaminathena( Brindavani), Saravanabhava( revagupti), Shri Balasubramanya( Bilahari) in addition to this one. So a total of 14. In addition, we have the eight composed at Tirutani and comprise the Guru Vibhakthi Krithis giving rise to a grand total of 22 on this deity.

Samukhana nilva

 I first wrote about this almost a year back. I had just heard TKG in a Musiri Chamber concert and been blown away. Surprisingly I am not able to find that same recording today. But I heard another version of TKG's Samukhana.  There is something about this composition in TKG's voice which reduces me to tears. It is as if in a few minutes he shows me an alternate reality of Carnatic music. Shorn of everything unnecessary, and reduced to what it must have been in the Trinity's lifetimes.. just an outcome of their adoration of the Divine. Just think. Today's singers all have great voices, great breath control, great stage presence, incredible range, everything.. and still TKG the sheer emotion in this is beyond words.

Kalavati

 Have just finished learning Kalavati Kamalasana yuvathi. And have a lot of queries in my head.

Of course, I am talking about the vivadi Kalavati( in the Dikshithar sampradaya) and not the Chakravaham janya in which Thyagaraja has composed.

First, what should be the exact arohana and avarohana? I am not able to find any other songs or too much info.

One reliable site lists it as SR3G3M1 PD1N1S SN1D1P MG3R3S

TKG is listing it as janya of 31, which is fine. But then he is referring to the Dhaivatam and Nishadam as D2 and N2 which does not even make it vivadi. And I am hearing the vivaadi swaroopa of this raga clearly in every version.. so far heard Ramprasad, Soumya and TMK. Also, is it a sampoorna raga? When TMK is teaching, I am clearly hearing a PD,,S,,...a clear avoidance of Nishadam in ascent.. though there are a number of PDND phases, which is understandable. TKG's notations also clearly eschew the PDNS phrase.. so any kind souls out there who happen to stumble on this post, can please enlighten in the comments section

Guru worship and Carnatic music

 Now this might be a slightly incendiary subject. But the wonderful thing is that so few people read this blog. And they are all mostly very close friends. So I have the freedom to say what I believe without too many worries about repercussions.

My whole education has been based on the Socratic method. We argued endlessly with our professors. They in turn threw out inane postulates wanting to incite the class into serious debate. And that is how we arrived at the truth for ourselves. Never by passively accepting something. But by constantly poking at things to find holes and then accepting it as true for ourselves. A sort of reductio ad absurdum approach at times. And this was what was expected of us. Through our professional careers we spoke our mind fearlessly with bosses and clients who had a lifetime of experience behind them. And we were never considered disrespectful. We did it with bosses that we idolized and clients, we adored, who were the sharpest brains in the industry.

So obviously, I came to Carnatic music not knowing that the culture here is different. And nobody to tell me otherwise. I still remember my first teacher who was such an absolute sweetheart. I was learning the Vasantha varnam and the third charanam of course starts D,,N ,SDN. I could not for the life of me understand why the composer would insist on D,, and not D,,, or D, both of which would have been easier for me. I remember arguing as to how it would make no difference to the musicality. Instead of telling me to jump out of the window, she patiently explained that the elders had composed it like this and that is the way it should be sung.

Thank heavens, I am slightly better now. But it is still very difficult for me to keep quiet when I do not understand something, whether it is in the musicality of a phrase or sahithya or the meaning behind something or even why something is notated a certain way when it is sung a different way. And my mind keeps dwelling on it in the same way as one's tongue at a piece of food caught in a deep set molar.

Many of these things I have learnt to work out on own. But I do think it would be better to open it up . I have immense gratitude for every single person I have learnt from. Teaching is hard. I would be totally incapable of it. Every time I sing, I hear that teacher in my inner ear, see their body language in my mind. They have truly been a vehicle for my discovery of something. And yet, there will be absolutely no outward manifestation of that gratitude carried in the heart. Because otherwise it gets tainted. I am incapable of being sycophantic, of falling at their feet, of praising them in exaggerated ways in front of others. It rings so false. And diminishes the immensity of my experience. But somewhere in so many of the groups I belong to, that seems to be the norm rather than the exception. 

Now let us take Bhakthi. I strongly believe that Bhakthi/adoration is between the individual and the object of his or her devotion . No third person needs to know. Just as an apple when cut and left out becomes brown, so too, Bhakthi worn on the sleeve is tainted over a period of time. And yet Carnatic music is so full of these outward symbols.  Sometimes these outward manifestations of something are themselves an impediment to the true experience of an emotion. We get hooked onto the symbols and forget the living experience of something. 

My adoration of my favourite Trinity composer consists of me cursing him every morning and saying " This really cannot go on, you know. Either I need to stop seeing the beauty in this phrase or I have to be able to execute it the way it has to be. Now you decide." 

So far he is still ignoring me.

Pranavam Sankaran Namboodiri

 I had heard this vocalist before once or twice. But not a great deal. But sometime on Sunday afternoon, I discovered this Manorama Music channel with a series of lessons titled " Learn from the Legend. Pranavam Sankaran Namboodiri". A lot of them were songs that I had learnt. I did not want to revisit. It is hard enough learning the first time. One does not want to relearn. But there were enough new compositions . Almost the minute, I started listening, I got hooked. I can say that since Sunday, that is less than 72 hours back,  I have gone onto Youtube and started listening to this first thing in the morning. Invariably, I am falling asleep with one of the refrains in my head.

Sankaran Namboodiri is an extraordinary singer and teacher. There is also a certain basic goodness that is coming through. His desire to communicate the beauty of the composition and have his students get it is transparently visible. There are also certain pidis of great beauty one can observe in almost all the compositions. 

This is not going to be a long post. Since I need to go back to Pakkala. I am learning almost one song every day. And I need to keep up the momentum. But what can can one say. Immense gratitude to the teacher and also Manorama Music for this wonderful initiative.

Demystifying Simhananda

Today morning I decided I wanted to understand a little about this tala. One has heard of it and it's complexity. I knew it was the longest tala in Carnatic music and heard some strange references to things like Guru, Plutam etc in this context. But apart from that I was totally clueless.

I started with Vasantmadhavi's book The Theory of Music and went on to two Youtube videos, a demo by Hemanth Lakshman and Guru Bharadwaaj's online seminar on the same.

This tala is depicted as follows

S S I S' I   S O O

S S I S' I   S' S I I +

I have intentionally depicted it in 2 lines with the spacing between angas since it is easier to memorise. 

You will see the first five angas in both lines are a repeat.

If you observe the line above, you will see there are five different symbols denoting five different angas. There are a total of 18 such units showing a total of 18 angas.

Normally in the course of our practice we will only be coming across talas with lagu and dhrutham because those are the components of most thalas like triputa, ata, matya, dhruva, eka etc. Occassionally we come across the anudhrutham if we are singing something in jhampe.

But seldom do we come across the Guru, the Plutam or the Kakapaada( or Hamsapada)

These are denoted by the symbols S or 8, S' and the +( plus sign ) respectively. 

The Guru has 8 aksharas, the Plutam has 12 aksharas and the Kakapaada has 16 aksharas

The I in the depiction above refers to a lagu and in the Simhananda it is a chatusra jaati lagu. The O refers to a dhrutham

So let us see how many aksharas this tala has

It has 6 Gurus, each of 8 aksharas equivalent to 48 aksharas

It has 3 Plutams each of 12 aksharas equivalent to 36 aksharas

It has 6 lagus of 4 aksharas each equivalent to 24 aksharas 

Two dhrutams of 2 aksharas each equivalent to 4 aksharas

And it ends with a Kakapaada   equal to            16 aksharas

Total =                                                               128 aksharas or 512 matras

So one avarthanam of this is equivalent to 16 Adi tala avarthanams, which would have 8 aksharas each.

The Guru is depicted with a circular motion( clockwise) to a total of 8 beats( inclusive of the Dhruvakam which is the first downward beat on lap). The Plutam is a Dhruvakam( downward beat) and a total count of four followed by a wave to the left( Krishya) followed by three finger counts and a wave to the right( Sarpini) followed by three finger counts.

The Kakapaada is depicted by the Dhruvakam, followed by three finger counts, an upward wave( Pathitham) and three finger counts and the Krishya followed by three  finger counts and Sarpini followed by three finger counts ( just like in Plutam)

What is interesting is that that the Kakapaada is supposed to be a nishabda kriya. So the Dhruvakam is made without a sound( with the fingers curved like a bird's claws on the downward beat)

All of this is demonstrated by me in the Youtube video( link below). Do take a look at it. I believe it will be quite clear. 

And now for some little mnemonics to help students remember the pattern. 

S S I S' I   S O O

S S I S' I   S' S I I +

1. If you look at the two lines, the first five characters are repeated. So first memorise this. I called it Ssishi inside my head with the sh sound for the S' signifying Plutam

2. Think of the two OOs ( dhruthams) as a mid way point. It is not. But just for this exercise. Because after this, the same Ssishi pattern will be repeated.

3. Now the first time after you finish Ssishi, you have SOO. But the second time you finish Ssishi, there is a small change. You do not have a S immediately . But a S' followed by S.

4. By the time you have come to this last S, you are almost home. This is the home stretch. You  just need to have two more lagus and end with a Kakapaadam(+)

5. Also remember, that in the Ssishi pattern, the S' is always sandwiched between two lagus. 

6. There are some tricky places one can get lost, if one loses focus.  In 2 places the lagu is followed by a S'. Now the first bit of S' is the lagu. It is then followed by the side waves. So a little focus needed there. Or you will be wondering am I doing this right?

7. Also in the second line you have a I S' I S' pattern. So literally you will be doing two lagus before the side waves. Be conscious of that.

8. And right at the end, the Kaakapaadam also begins with a lagu. So it is like you will have three lagus one after another. Only difference is that the Kaakapaadam is a nishabd kriya. So the last time you do the lagu in this avartanam, you will do it silently with your fingers bunched together like a claw.

It took me under 30 minutes to learn to put this tala, including creating these mental tricks for myself. So yes anybody can do it. Of course, this is only about putting the tala. Singing to it is a totally different ball game, since each anga has four maatras.

The demo of me doing it is available at the link. It is an unlisted video. You can enter only through the link.

https://youtu.be/v1VNhckVSeM
 

Enjoy !!

Mishra Chaapu and Viloma Chaapu

 Today morning, I was singing Nannu Brova in Lalitha. In all honesty, this is a song that I have spent some little time on. However, there was something I saw for the first time only today.

Both in the notations, I have received from my teacher and in the TKG book, it is listed as Mishra Chaapu. Which to even somebody with my limited knowledge starts on the double beat.. or expressed as takita taka dhimi. Now since this composition, starts on the dhimi portion, I automatically assumed that I would start with the double beat and begin the song on the second single beat. I had mentally classified it as an atheetha eduppu composition and got on with it.

However, for the life of me I could not figure out why the song would be notated like that. Why was the avarthanam showing as starting from taka dhimi and ending with takita? It made no sense. It could not be a mistake. And I do not think TKG makes mistakes like that. I checked to see how other mishra chappu compositions of other composers had been notated by him. And they were all nicely starting on the takita bit? But why this here? Then I checked to see if this was unique to Shyama Shastri and his lineage. But Janani ninu vina starts nicely on samam . So I could not make out. It bothered me a lot. However a query to my friend Ramya got the answer. According to her this is a viloma chaapu composition which does start on the taka dhimi portion. She directed me to ninnu vinaaga in Poorvikalyani by the same composer which starts the same way.

Now, of course this has me wondering if there is a viloma Khanda Chaapu composition lurking somewhere? If anybody stumbling on this post has the answer to this one, please do post in the comments section

TK Govindrao

 I met TK Govindrao, sometime in the early 2000s. His daughter , who lived in the US, used to come down in the summer. She had a flat in Mahindra Gardens in Malad East and my teacher and myself would go visit him . And learn a few krithis. I have had the good fortune to learn a few from him.. Brova Bharamma ( Bahudari), Sri Narada and Sukhi Evvaro in Kaanada, Rangapura etc. And in everyone, there has been some small something that I have not heard elsewhere and has stayed with me. My teacher warned me that he did not like to be recorded so I have nothing except my memory of him singing something.

I have ofcourse long believed that the six books he might have written documenting rare varnams, and compositions of Trinity and Swathi Thirunal are a humongous contribution, which has been insufficiently lauded by the community at large. I refer to his books every single day. They have been bound and fallen apart many times. 

Today, I chanced upon a 1994 Musiri Chamber concert of his accompanied by VVS on the violin and Vellore Ramabhadran on mridangam. The 5th song here is Samukana Nilva in Kokilapriya. A song I have not heard in a ragam I have not learnt. So basically know zilch about this. It is indescribably evocative with a deep melancholy in various places. And the accompanists , VVS and Ramabhadran are sublime.

Now today afternoon, this extraordinary piece of music had zero views, no likes and no comments. Of course, it has just been posted. So maybe it will still build momentum. No problem. But at the same time, the current teen wonder singing a Thirupugal has 27,69,124 views with 33K likes in the past 15 months. Now do not get me wrong. The young lady sings beautifully and fully deserves the bright future that lies ahead. 

But it is just that while we are celebrating certain things, there are other precious rare presentations that are getting overlooked. In this 1974 concert, TKG's voice is certainly not cooperating. There are places it wavers and there is a brief pause in the middle when he is trying to get his breath or drink some water etc. Any vocal coach worth his salt would hear things like that and tell the singer to do pranayam, hum, sustain the shadjam etc etc etc. But what is absolutely and incredibly marvellous is the way the singer transcends his voice. The voice, the very instrument of the vocalist, is set aside and the music happens. And what incredible music at that. It is not a complicated song. One could learn it. Once upon a time, I would have taken out my book and tried to learn it immediately. But I am a bit wiser now. I will abstain from that. I can learn those notes. I can sing that composition. But I will not be able to produce the music that was there that day.  Below is the link. Go hear it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdQkO6wIcjo&list=PLpxlqf8i24EC1OHgQ8NCGIFxx3mdd1TG_&index=5

Gajendra Moksham

 Gajendra Moksham is referred to repeatedly in various krithis by different composers. It can be referred to in different ways as " You who saved the elephant" , You who liberated even an elephant" etc etc. but the underlying story is the same. What is the story?

There was a king called Indradhyumna...noble and wise and a devotee of Vishnu. Once Sage Agasthya came to see him. The king did not get up. Agasthya was offended and cursed that he would be reborn as an elephant.  And so Indradhyumna was reborn as the elephant, Gajendra.

Similarly there was a Gandharva called Huhu who was a slight comedienne and like playing pranks. Once when a Sage was doing his ablutions in the river, Huhu dived into the water and grabbed the sage's legs like a crocodile. And Huhu the Gandarva was cursed that he would be reborn as a crocodile.

Now even as an elephant, Gajendra was noble and wise and a staunch devotee   of Vishnu. Once when he went into the river to drink water, Huhu the Gandarva who was now a crocodile grabbed his legs and kept pulling him into the water. As Gajendra was drowning, he kept pulling lotus flowers and throwing to the skies as an offering for Vishnu. Now Vishnu  never forsakes his devotees. He came with his Sudarshan Chakra and killed the crocodile. Of course if you are killed by Vishnu you get instant Moksham and both Gajendra and the crocodile were liberated from rebirth by Vishnu. And that is the story of Gajendra Moksham.

A little update from my friend and batchmate V Ramabhadran.

He tells me that the curse which Indhradhyumna got was itself a blessing since the King had some tamasic vasanas and the elephant body was best for exhausting them. He exhausted those vasanas and got Moksha in that birth. According to him the crocodile got back his Gandharva body and did not attain Moksha in that life. In that sense, his version differs from Prince Varma's version. I am sure there are other versions out there too. 

Story Courtesy: Prince Aswathy Thirunal Rama Varma ( from one of his Youtube videos)

How to learn Carnatic compositions

 I must first clearly and absolutely state that everything here is based on my experience and my world view. I am totally open to being corrected on anything I say here. As I have said, many times, I started learning as an adult and I feel the trials and tribulations faced by adult learners are unique. So what does it take?

Ideally be born in a family steeped in  music so that you are taken off for lessons when you are somewhere between four and seven years of age. Long before you know anything about music. The teacher sings something and you just repeat it so that you can be allowed to go out and play. My mami says that is the way it was with her. When she came from school, the Bhagavathar would already be sitting having his coffee waiting for her to change and come for her class. She says she used to be so irritated then. In retrospect, she understands what a boon that was.And classes were almost every day. So they sang the compositions again and again till she could sing it in her sleep. And on the days, you had to practice at home, you had a parent who knew enough to correct you, every time there was a false note. Even when I started learning, it used to be only twice a week. But I think for most students now it is once a week. So current and future generations of music students are not going to get that kind of privilege.

Learning as an adult is uphill. In our culture, we believe that no seeker should be turned away. So, you will have people say," What is there? For music, you can learn anytime." That cliche is not true. Would anybody try to be a ballet dancer in their 40s? So what makes anybody think they can be a serious classical singer that late in life. And the truth is that today there are more and more people going into various art forms at an advanced age. Rukmini Vijayakumar is having online Bharatnatyam classes for people of any age and with no training.  I tried doing the araimandi which I did effortlessly when I was ten years old and thought my knees would give up.

The idea is not to discourage anybody. But hopefully give an insight into stuff which might work for you.

Firstly, find a teacher that works for you. I cannot even begin to explain how important this is. Let me explain the phrase " works for you" The best teacher might not be the one who has all these star students, performing all over the world. Assuming that he or she takes you in some group class perhaps. 

The best teacher might not even be the one who sings so well that you yearn to sing like him or her. In some ways that is even counter-productive because when you are a beginner you will wonder why you are singing the same thing and yours sounds like shit and his or hers sounds divine. And you will not know how to correct. Maybe your voice is not capable of all the micro tones and " trying to sound like them" is inherently wrong. You have to just concentrate on trying to sing it correctly .

The best teacher is this one . You sit in front of them and you feel it is not impossible. There is a compassion and generosity which does not mean they do not correct your mistakes. They do. But they make you feel it is possible. And they have internalised the composition they are teaching you and can understand the limitations of different students and " how" to correct.I remember when I first started learning, when I was being corrected repeatedly I would often ask" What am I doing wrong?"Because I did not understand. Only a few people have been able to say what I was doing wrong. Also, when you are a beginner being told to sing with more bhava or from within etc will not help you. In fact it can be a slippery slope and you might lose out on authenticity.

A long long time back I was in a workshop . It was the first day of the workshop and we were being taught a Mukhari varnam of Vasudevacharya. I was clueless about both Mukhari and Vasudevacharya.At that point in time, I would learn a varnam over 4 classes. I remember going back after that class and in the car, I could sing most of that varnam. I was stupefied. I did not know that was possible. I still remember that varnam. And again when my sense of thalam was so terrible, I remember learning a song which had a nadai change in the middle. Almost the whole class groaned. And the teacher said " Nothing. No problem.Just repeat after me. And keep putting thalam. You will see that it will fall perfectly"

What I am trying to say is that there are people who are absolutely confident about what they are teaching and if the student does this, then that shall happen. See if you can find somebody like that. 

Nowadays, many times, notations are handed out. Now this is a double edged sword. 

There is a certain benefit in enunciating a line saying it loudly and writing it down. This act gets you in touch with the sahithya in a way that seeing it on the sheet does not. Especially when there are lines that start atheetha or run into multiple avartas. Say all the words loudly to yourself with emphasis on the pronunciation, and the breaks and write it. Understand what the words mean. Never mind if your teacher has given you a notation. When you go home say the words and write it. Do you remember when you were still in school and you used to study by writing the answers whether in maths or history or geography?Same principle.

The notation is very important. Do not get me wrong. Our generation is not repeating the song everyday like earlier generations. After you "learn" a song, you might not revisit it for six months or six years. And so when you go back to it, you need to be able to capture the flow , words etc in a jiffy. Also, one has limited time for music and you do not want to spend that time figuring out what word falls where. 

A long long time back I learnt Himagiri Tanaye( Sudha Dhanyasi, Muthiah Bhagavathar). In the charanam, the vaggeyakara mudra Harikesha is split( with Hari in one avartanam and Kesha in the beginning of the next). I was happily singing Hari and Kesha separately till I heard Sowmya sing it six months later and I hit myself on the head multiple times. The point was the teacher did not correct me and I did not know any better. Could have been  corrected easily by me.

Sing things slowly. Record yourself. You will see your mistake. Stick with this even when hearing your recording depresses you and you think, " Good God, is that how I sound?"

When you are learning a composition totally and absolutely desist the urge to go on Youtube and see how Sanjay or TMK or RaGa or any particular favourite of yours has sung. You are learning a version from a teacher. Trust that teacher. It does not matter if his or her version has more/less sangathis etc etc. Just learn that. Long after you have internalised that song, you can listen to others and you can then maybe incorporate some little thing. But that is later. Not when you are still learning.

Now just last week, I was in a class where a participant was singing the notes but when she sang the sahithya she was going wrong. This used to happen to me too( still does sometimes) And one way I found that worked for me was to sing the notes, then sing that in aakar and then sort of " cut paste" the sahithya on top. 

Use the notation to learn the structure, eduppus, flow etc. After that try not to look at it. I have so many songs I have "learnt" with multiple sangathis with such small changes, that they do not at all sound different( at least in my voice). There has to be a flow in the sangathis. If you have to look at the notation and say " Oh, oh in next it is not NDP, but NMP, then it is not working for you. I have notations, which basically do not work for me in certain places. You need to be able to change this( with the help of your teacher). See I have a theory that a consummate singer can make any notation work. But the point is whether it is organic. Does this phrase automatically lead to this? Except in cases when you just have something startlingly different.. to enhance the dramatic. 

My training, by and large, has been very very notation based. But in recent times, I have realised that the notation is like the architect's blueprint. While it is important it will not capture the majesty and grandeur of the final building... the tiles on the floors, the soft furnishings and all of the other interiors. 

Now this is a new age problem I am facing. There is so much teaching available on the net. Great gurus, teaching rare compositions, and it is theoretically possible to learn a lot that way. Try not to be a glutton. Try not to fall on each of these and download thinking" I want to learn this. I want to learn that". My laptop has so many such compositions complete with notations that I have told myself I will learn one of these days. Let it go. One cannot learn every thing that is available. Choose what you want to learn and just perfect that. Do not keep flitting from one workshop to another like a honey bee. Not all of them can help you sing better, if you do not lock yourself in your room and work on that one krithi till you have discovered possibilities there nobody else ever has. You have to do the work. Nobody can do it for you.

Ultimately, you have to decide if you want to sing ten songs badly or one song well. Shunning the siren call of those wonderful other compositions  and sticking with one composition day after day needs a lot of discipline. But do it. Sometimes, in very complex compositions you will hit a road block after a few days. So take a break and go on to something else for a few days. But come back to this and finish it.

This whole business of learning has gone through a total paradigm shift in recent times and especially in the last seventeen months. On one hand, a student today has access to the best of training irrespective of where they are living. On the other hand, if musical training continues to be online, there are things we have to be cognizant of. For example, when you are sitting in front of a teacher and your thalam is lagging, the teacher can catch you immediately. But in an online situation, when you are repeating a phrase, it is not that easy. Something is one after  a beat, you have to be conscious. And remember the teacher is not seeing your hands. I still remember sitting and putting simple adi thalam and my teacher telling me to simply press down on each finger so I would not run. How will things like this happen? And do not even ask about swara singing. If you ask me where did you start" I will give the right answer, But did I really start there?" One cannot check these things as easily. Another small thing. I used to struggle a lot when eduppus were one or three off. Samam and half eduppus are comparitively easy. I remember Padmanaabha Paali( Hindolam) where the composition begins one after the beat. The teacher used to keep saying" No, that is two after. No that was samam". And I struggled and sometimes got it right by chance. Years later I figured out for myself, how to do this. You concentrate not on where you are starting but where you have to end.

And when is the learning of the composition completed? I used to ask my executives when a project was completed. And they used to say" when it is handed over to the client". And I would say " No". And they would say, " After we have billed for it" and i would say"No". And they would say " After we have received the cheque for it( this was before most payments were direct to bank)". And I would say No. And they would be like " What the hell.." And I would say when you deposit the cheque and it does not bounce and you get your credit it in your account.

In the same way, the composition has been " learned" only when you can just sit in front of your teacher and the composition flows out of you simply and effortlessly belying all the effort and struggle in learning it.

I shall now start applying some of the excellent advice that I have given in this post!!!

Sri Vanchanatham Bhajeham

 I had learnt this some time back . ... Muthuswamy Dikshithar, Adi, Surutti.

Srivanchiyam is located 18 km from Thiruvarur and 27 km from Kumbakonam. It was also called Thapovanam or Bhu Kailasam( Kailasam on earth). In fact , in the charana , there is a line " Bhu Kailasa sthithi paatram"

It was also called Gandharanyam since it was once a forest of sweet smelling sandal trees. This is also referred  to in the charanam( Shri Gaandharanya Kshetram)

In fact, Goddess Ganga is supposed to have worshipped here to cleanse herself of the sins left by devotees who bathed in her waters.

The Shiva Linga here is believed to be Swayambhu and Appar, Thirugnansambandar, Sambandar and Manikkavachagar are all supposed to have composed on this deity. 

Parvathi is worshipped here as Mangalambikai( referred to right in the Pallavi.. Shri Mangalamba Sametam)

The Sthala vriksham is Chandana( since it was in the middle of a sandal forest) and the temple tank, Pushkarini is called Gupta Ganga or Yama Kundam. 

A special feature of this temple is a separate sanctum for Yama, along with his assistant Chitragupta. In fact Yama is one of the Vahanas of Shiva here. I am a bit surprised that there is no reference to this in the krithi.

He is also the person who grants both Jivan Mukthi and Videha Mukthi. Jivan Mukthis is supposed to refer to liberation during lifetime and Videha Mukthi is liberation after Death. In fact Kumara is supposed to have asked Shiva about this