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Semmangudi
Srinivasa Iyer - an ineffable musician
Sudha Jagannathan
sudha_jagannathan@yahoo.com |
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As the Carnatic music world celebrates the birth
centenary of Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer today (July
25), we at www.carnaticdarbar.com offer our pranaam
to the doyen of Carnatic music. His steely resolve,
concern for details, emphasis on perfection and
caring attitude had all made him an outstanding
musician. More than this, he had been a warm and
friendlier human being through out his life. His
life holds many lessons. Musicians and non-musicians
have plenty to learn from his life. It had not been
a bed of roses for this musician. He had to traverse
a path that was littered with thorns en route. |
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It was his determination
that saw him emerge a vocalist of top order. There
was this interesting anecdote. Semmangudi had often
accompanied his brother for concerts during his
younger days. Once he had gone with him to a village
in Salem district for a marriage concert. His brother
was to play violin for vocalist Dakshinamurthi Pillai.
All of a sudden, the vocalist prodded Semmangudi
also to sing. An elated Semmangudi gave his best.
At the end, however, Pillai told Semmangudi’s
brother that, ``His (Semmangudi’s) voice is
as melodious as the noise created when a coconut
shell is scraped on a rock. Don't bother to give
him vocal training. Let him learn to play the violin.’’
Upset by this remark, Semmangudi right away decided
that he had a point to prove. From thereon, he had
started practicing for nearly eight hours a day
to demonstrate his voice skill.
For him, 1928 was a memorable year. That was when
Govindaswamy Pillai took him to Tiruvaiyaru, the
birthplace of Saint Tyagaraja. Musicians gather
there every January for the Thyagaraja Aradhana.
Semmangudi sang a kriti in Bhairavi. At the end,
Govindaswamy Pillai patted him and told him that
he would become really big in a couple of years.
Pillai indeed was proved right.
The turning point in his life came when he went
to the Gokhale Sastri Hall in Madras to hear Maharajapuram
Viswanatha Iyer sing. Govindaswamy Pillai was to
play the violin and Dakshinamurti Pillai the kanjira.
It was a solar eclipse day. Unfortunately, Viswanatha
Iyer could not sing. The organizers had to ask Semmangudi
to stand in and sing. Maharani Sethu Parvati Bai
of Travancore was at the concert. Impressed with
his concert, she had asked him to come to Thiruvananthapuram
to edit and popularize the compositions of Swati
Tirunal. He took up the job on the advice of Kanchi
Paramacharya. His nomination to the post of Principal
of Swati Tirunal Music College was a chance happening.
Harikeshanallur Muthiah Bhagavathar, who was the
Principal of the College then, had found fault with
his Surutti ragam in front of a large gathering.
This had hurt Semmangudi deeply and made him prove
that the Bhavathar was wrong. The rest was history.
Arabi lover: Raga Arabi had
a great lover in Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer. Some
time in 1951, flautist Mali was holding the rasikas
riveted to their chairs at a Navarathri concert
in Ramakrishna Home in the now Chennai. Mali was
at his best, recalled L.Sundaram, one of the disciples
of Mali. The veteran flautist was playing a kriti
in Raga Kalayani.
All of a sudden, Semmangudi trooped into the hall.
Spotting him as he was entering the hall, an excited
Mali stopped Kalyani and started playing the kriti
`Nada Sudha Rasa’ in Raga Arabi. The genius
vocalist later went away nodding his head in appreciation.
This incident according to Sundaram, not only brought
out the Pitama’s love for Arabi Raga but also
underscored the immense respect he had elicited
from artistes of all sorts.
Erandu
Kalai kriti: Artistes usually sing `oru
(one) kalai’ kritis like Vathapi or Bhavanutha
in Raga Mohanam. Semmangudi would, however, present
`erandu (two) kali’ kritis in a halting and
leisurely manner. Compositions like `Everimata,
Ksheera Sagara Sayana and Giri Pai Nela in Raga
Sahana’ fit in this category. This enabled
rasikas to understand the minds of composers in
handling the raga taken by them. Semmangudi had
also set a lot of tunes for several of Swathi Tirunal’s
compositions. He popularized the toughest of all
Swara Jathis in Raga Bhairavi composed by Shayama
Shastri. It was indeed a pleasant experience for
listeners when they heard it along with the accompanying
sound from the Mridangam of Palghat Mani Iyer, recalled
Sundaram.
Young at heart:
Vocalist Bombay Jayashri told this correspondent
once that she always had a highly exciting and stunning
experience while listening to Semmangudi. She felt
that his audio and books were easy to follow and
sing. Jayashri had also recalled with fond memories
the millennium programme at Music Academy in Chennai
in which well known younger generation artistes
like herself, Sowmya, Sanjay Subramanyam, T.M. Krishna,
Sangeetha Shivakumar,Vijay Shiva, among others,
participated. The Academy was packed. Semmangudi
was to inaugurate the festival. All artistes were
eagerly wishing to hear Semmangudi perform without
any accompanying percussion instruments. He sang
“Devadeva Kalayamithe.” He sang yet
one more kriti but only with Tambura for the sruti.
He was generous and presented everyone with books
of Dikshitar’s Navagraha kritis after signing
it. Jayashri said she felt very excited and happy
when he wrote her name in the book and signed it.
Weaving a necklace: When a
Kriti is interspersed with different ragas, it is
known as Ragamalika. Semmangudi had the uncanny
ability to weave a garland of ragas out of a Kriti
composed in just a single Raga. A classic case is
the Kriti `Bhavayami Raghuramam’. This is
originally set to a single Raga – Saveri.
But the genius in Semmanguid had worked on it to
make this Kriti a Raga garland. He converted this
composition into a seven-raga necklace, embedding
Raga gems like Saveri, Nattakurunji, Dhanyasi, Mohana,
Mukari, Purvikalyani and Madhymavathi. Each stanza
ends with a Cittaswara having a Mukuyswara passage
in Saveri, resulting in Pallavi.
Ineffable:
According to Smt.R.Vedavalli, a research scholar
of Devanagavalli Trust, Semmangudi had the ability
of attracting everyone with his sowlabya. In a telephone
interaction with this correspondent once, she recalled
how Semmangudi had used to appreciate her research
work. Semmangudi had an amazing memory power and
used to quote all happenings and remember percussionists
who had played for him. Semmangudi’s depth
of knowledge and creative skills had always struck
young and old artistes alike. Vedavalli felt that
there was no area in the music where he had not
left his indelible mark. ``He is very good at Raga
alapana and Niraval singing. There is no one equal
to him. He is also an expert in tuning kirthani
and tarangam singing. His service is widely spread
and in Kerala especially, he has contributed immensely
to the spread of carnatic music,'' she said. Smt.Vedavalli
also recalled her own experience in singing for
the Album Nachiyar Tirumozhi and releasing of a
book with notations. Semmungudi, inspite of his
ripe old age of 96, had written an introductory
letter beautifully with his own handwriting, she
pointed out.
Read also:www.carnaticdarbar.com/legends_semmangudi.htm
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