CHENNAI, August 14: The penultimate day of Svanubhava II at The Music Academy on August 8, 2009 was noteworthy for its rich content. Violin brothers Ganesh and Kumaresh entertained the students with a Janaranjani composition they had composed. What followed was an interesting question-and-answer session. Which among the three - interest, talent and passion, is the most important for a musician? This question from a student set the brothers thinking for a while. "Hard work is most important than anything. We should use our brain. Use your intelligence to expand yourself apart from all these,’’ they said. A questioner stumped them by asking why did they not play pakka vadyam? "The occasion for that never occurred to us,’’ replied Kumaresh. "The idea of playing pakka vadyam never struck us,’’ they went on to add. Playing pakka vadyam or accompanying instrument was indeed very useful and there was scope for learning more, they clarified. There was this interesting poser by a student: Is devotion or bhakti towards God very important in music? “Work is worship. Nada yoga is most important worship,” replied the brothers. Saint Thyagaraja himself had mentioned this in his compositions, they pointed out.

Pallavi-singing focuses on laya: The next session saw an interesting and intelligent lec-dem singing by Smt. Charumathi Ramachandran on RTP (ragam, tanam and pallavi). RTP is one of the complex parts in a concert. It deals with the creative aspect or the manodharma sangeetham of an artiste. Pallavi singing mostly focuses on the laya aspect or the rhythm rather than the emotional aspect. In other words, intelligence played a major role than emotion, explained Smt. Charumathi. In Devarnamas and such other kritis, pallavis were more feminine and suitable for women giving way for emotion, she elaborated. Dikshitar’s “Sri Subramanyaya Namoste”, according to her, is most suitable for pallavi singing. Many musicians of the past had taken the pallavi of this kriti to sing in tri kalam (three speeds) and make tisram or thrice as per the rules, she said.

Antyaprasam: An interesting aspect in pallavi singing is the use of antyaprasam or words with a rhyme ending. She demonstrated this with an example by taking three ragas - Madhyamavathi, Hemavathi, Saramathi. She took the pallavi line “Madhava Sothari Sundari Madhyamavathi” and sang in Madhyamavathi. The same was changed to Hemavathi as "Madhava Sothari Sundari Sankari Hemavathi’’ and then to Saramathi. This really sounded novel. She went on to explain that more ragas such as Dharmavathi, Nithimathi et al could be included.

Intense competition: She also recalled how late D.K. Pattammal once took up a complicated pallavi in Jaganmohini raga. Stalwarts such as Mudikondan Venkatrama Iyer, Naina Pillai and others in those days had such an intense competition with the pakka vadyam, she said. They kept the mridangists in the dark on the talam they employed. They would set the pallavi to a complex talam and let the percussion artistes play a guessing game. They would reveal the talam only during tani avarthanam. Such was the situation those days, she said. They would even hide their palm with their angavastra as they counted talam, she pointed out. Indeed, it must have been a great challenge for the percussion artistes.

A mind-boggling exercise: Mudikondan Venkatrama Iyer once sang a pallavi in 32 kalai at The Music Academy. It was a mind-boggling exercise, explained Smt.Charumathi, who was also present at concert. It was highly adventurous, she recalled. Umayalpuram Shri Sivaraman played mridangam for this artiste that day. Late M.L.Vasanthakumari, popularly known as MLV, was a pallavi expert and had composed a pallavi in a 16 kalai talam. Smt. Charumathi said that she herself had tried composing up to eight kalais, which itself was a challenging task. Aryakudi, the pitamah who had pioneered the format for Carnatic music concerts, was a hit in pallavi singing. MLV and her guru late G.N. Balasubramaniam took ragas such as Devamanohari, Nattai, Kalyani, Revati and such others. They made the pallavi session enjoyable during their concerts. Once GNB had taken Purvikalyani, a small raga with little scope, and made a mark, Smt. Charumati pointed out.

A surprise order: Smt.Charumathi recalled how her guru MLV had once asked her to sing during a wedding concert all of a sudden. " I was totally surprised. But I did manage to sing well that day,’’ she said. MLV had told her to be prepared to sing niraval and swaras next time around. Smt. Charumathi urged the established musicians the methodology adopted by MLV to help the students quickly mature in their music lessons.

It was in 1979, reminisced Smt.Charumathi, at The Music Academy that she sang her own first pallavi in a Sankirna nadai in Bhairavi raga with Anandhabhairavi, Salagabhairavi and Sindhubhairavi. These, she explained, were known as mitra ragas or friendly ragas. Sankirnam meant nine beats or tisra rupaka tala, she explained. The pallavi line was “Marakoti sundarangi mathangi ma bhairavi”. She followed this up with singing pallavi in ragas chosen as Anandhabhairavi, Salagabhairavi and Sindhubhairavi, in their respective ragas.

Sahityam structure must be intact: Smt. Charumathi said that the structure of the sahityam should be kept intact in pallavi singing. While singing niraval, it should be even and not lopsided. The Alathur brothers, she said, had demonstrated to her guru MLV how a four kalai pallavi could be sung with folded hands. Vocalist late Ramnad Krishnan was a laya vidwan those days. He used to sing the pallavi so well that the percussion artistes had a tough time. This legend didn’t even use to count with his fingers. But the aksharas would fall in its place. Such was his laya vidwath, explained Smt.Charumathi.

Smt. Charumathi explained how ragam singing for a pallavi is different from ragam singing for a kriti. For a pallavi, it has to be sung in all three stages. This had been narrated in a musical treatise Ragavardini, where various aspects of manodharma singing were explained in detail.


Tanam singing: Tanam had to be sung in a madhyma kala. MLV’s tanam was quite special, she said. Varnams were also classified into tanavarnams. Smt. Charumathi demonstrated this by tanam singing a Saveri varnam. Vaggeyekaras those days used to know the talam so well, she said. Shyama Sastri had composed in viloma chapu talam or existing misra chapu talam. Thyagaraja’s pancharatna kritis would be ideal to take tanam practice, she said. "You can become adept in tanam singing if you practice tanam in these kritis”. These kritis are replete with information and they form a treatise of laya actually,’’ she said. Drupad music and Carnatic music had the same base, she explained. The Bandish-Sahityams were composed in chowka kalam. Only the alap syllables differed and knows as "nom-tom alap’’. She said she had adopted a few fine aspects of Drupad way of tanam singing into Carnatic music from the Gundecha Brothers. "They give lot of jaru or glide in their style of singing,’’ she pointed out. Muthuswamy Dikshitar had, in fact, adopted the Drupad style of singing into his compositions since he had stayed in North India for quite a number of years, she pointed out.

Manikka Mudaliyar had composed Manikka Chandrikai, akin to the Sangitha Sampradya Pradarshini, and such other works in 72 melas. It dealt with melakartha ragas and talas. Keeravani talam with 18 aksharas was the easiest among the toughest, she explained. Smt. Charumathi demonstrated this with the pallavi line “Madhuravani Veni Keeravani Matangi Maragatangi’’ in Keeravani talam. It was a remarkable exercise. "I felt happy when I sang a pallavi in Malavi raga in the All India Radio,’’ she said. She was pleasantly surprised to get a telephone call from legendry late M.S. Subbulakshmi. “Yaru Charu Va? (Is this Charu)?’’ Subbulakshmi asked Smt. Charumathi and congratulated her for singing so well in the radio.

"There is a pancha-nadai pallavi, which deals with aksharas 3,4,5,7 and 9. This is also very difficult exercise like a tight-rope walking,’’ said Smt.Charumathi, demonstrating this in raga Karnaranjani, a complicated one, with the pallavi line “Karnaranjani Mampahi Karunakari Amba”. She went on to explain how the raga bhavam or melody and talam count had to be taken care off simultaneously. "One can’t afford to miss any of these,’’ she said.

Raga and places: Smt. Charumathi also explained an aspect which dealt with humour in music. She demonstrated how words played in music. For a concert in Toronto in 1999 she had actually composed a pallavi line. It ran thus: “Parukulle Nalla Nadu Ungal Canada” .The raga Kanada was used as Canada for the Canadian audience. Ragas such as Suddha Bangala, Sauratram, Kuriji and others corresponded to names that were synonymous with the names of places, she said. Smt.Charumati also explained how a Gopuccha yati was used by a vidwan as he instantly composed pallavi for an event.

Q&A session: There was this query by a student to violinist Lalgudi Smt. Vijayalakshmi. Should an instrumentalist also know the sahityam while playing for a vocalist? "One must not only know the sahityam but also the meaning of the sahityam. Then only the bhavam or the expression will come to light,’’ Smt. Vijayalakshmi said. Why RTP can’t be taken out of concerts and sung separately? Smt.Charumathi was not for it. Already, the duration of RTP in concerts had been cut down. If RTP was taken away from regular, concerts then the whole creative singing exercise might completely disappear, she felt.

How many parts is a mohra divided into? A student quizzed mridangist Kallidaikurichi Sivakumar. It was in four parts in case of adi talam, said the mridangist. Why not in three parts? The student queried. As a duel ensued, T.M. Krishna stepped in to bring the focus back.

There was also a question on Pratiloma, Viloma and Anuloma. Anuloma deals with singing the pallavi in all three speeds and keeping the tala constant. Viloma meant singing the three speeds of pallavi in reverse order. Pratiloma deals with changing the speed of talam and keeping the pallavi intact. As Smt. Charumathi drew the curtain down on the morning session by singing the line “Svanubhavam Tarum Krishna Swaramum Layamum Jayashri Sametha”, there was thunderous applause from the students. After the RTP session, Krishna invited the volunteers on to the stage and revealed the faces behind the Svanubhava experience.




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