The big bias barrier!

In a recent interview given to NDTV, this year's Sangita Kalanidhi designate Smt. Sudha Ragunathan had opined that gender bias in carnatic music has come down but not gone.

TRINITY OF SORTS! (From left: MLV, MS & DKP)

She is absolutely right. Many accompanists of yester-years did not prefer to perform alongwith female musicians. We needed path-breakers like Vidushis D K Pattammal, M S Subbulakshmi & M L Vasanthakumari to not only take up this field but also be pioneers of sorts. T M Krishna in one of his recent articles says "DKP’s music was called ‘man’s music’ and the brahmin woman was accommodated in the kutcheri world, but many male musicians would not accompany her. Only those who did not find a footing in the male world would do so. When Palghat Mani Iyer (1912-81) accompanied her and, much later, M.L. Vasanthakumari, on the mrdanga, it was a gracious personal gesture rather than a conceptual acceptance of women as important musicians. This meant that DKP’s kutcheris had to be attractive enough with just her name on the invitation. She could not depend on the names of her accompanists to attract more people".

Violinist Jyotsna Srikanth observes.... "I faced gender discrimination at the age of 9 when I started accompanying Carnatic artistes on violin. Once in a Thyagaraja Aradhana conducted by a city-based organisation, I was asked to get off-stage as I was not eligible to accompany a male vocalist for he did not prefer a female accompanist. When this incident took place, I was only 10 years old. Since then, many episodes have gone unsaid. This encouraged me to find my own path that would not be dependent on male chauvinistic artistes.”

Habeeb Tanveer in an article on Vidushi Gangubai Hangal writes "Gangubai’s her journey in life was beset by the hurdles of poverty and caste and gender discrimination". For every Gangubai who managed to overcome these obstacles, one wonders how many fell by the wayside, buried under the burden of deprivation and discrimination. Gangubai commented on the entrenched gender bias in the world of music: 'A male musician will become an ustad or a pandit, but a female musician, even one of the calibre of Kesarbai or Mogubai, will always remain a bai!' "

Reasons for the gender bias in the past can be considered as an extension of oppression that women underwent in general in their lives, and male chauvinism. Reasons for hesitations in accompanying female artistes commonly given are strain in the accompanying instruments because of high pitch of the main performer, attention on women performer (the attire etc) rather than on accompanists and so on. However, the same accompanists do not hesitate to perform alongwith female artists during the initial stages of their career (given the same conditions).

But can we simply blame the previous generation and get away with it? Though the bias seems to be waning away, we need to make alpha changes in such a way that egalitarianism is brought about. The question is not of mere sympathy but of empathy. Giving fair and due chance to the deserving sans all prejudices is the key.

- R Shridhar (marggoindia@gmail.com)

Watch out for these....

As one would yearn to listen to the seasoned artistes, here is a snapshot of some of the budding ones to watch out for:....

VISHNUDEV NAMBOODIRI: This Carnatic idol 2012 winner gives power-packed performances always. He has received numerous prizes in competitions and is an 'A' graded artiste of All India Radio, Trichur.

SEASON 2013:

22nd Dec (11:45 am) @ Kamakoti Hall, Krishna Gana Sabha, T Nagar

AISHWARYA SHANKAR: Winner of People's choice award in Carnatic Idol competition in the year 2011. She is also a 'B High' graded artiste of All India Radio.

SEASON 2013:

23rd Dec (6:15 pm) @ Infosys Hall, Ramakrishna Mission School, Bazullah Road, T Nagar.

ANAHITA RAVINDRAN: Student of Chitravina Ravikiran. Has accompanied her guru in all his concerts. Was one of the finalists of Carnatic Idol competition.

SEASON 2013:

28th Dec (3 pm) @ Sastri Hall, Luz, Mylapore

10th Jan (4:30 pm) @ Amarabharathi Kalyana Mandapam, West Tank Street, Thiruvanmiyur

KARTIK NARAYANAN: Student of Raj Kumar Bharathi.

SEASON 2013:

2nd Jan (5 pm) @ Ganapati Sachidananda Ashram, Velachery

5th Jan (6:30 pm) @ Davanotsava Bungalow, T P Koil Streetm Triplicane

N J NANDINI: Student of senior musician Parassala Ponnammal.

SEASON 2013:

28th Dec (5 pm) @ Sastri Hall, Luz, Mylapore

19th Jan (6:15 pm) @ Tattvaloka, Eldams Road, Teynampet




- R Shridhar (marggoindia@gmail.com)

Carnatic super-human!

We constantly converse and ponder over value creation and innovation. But do we really wonder as to how much one can go about it. We also say that innovation has no boundaries. But what if you come across a person who believes and practices innovation in such a way that every-time he performs, he seems to be reaching near its contours; and the next time widen the contours of innovation.

Yes, hers is Abhishek Raghuram for you. Every concert of his transcends all senses of just being ordinary, just being extra ordinary, just being effective, just being innovative..... It also seems to transcend excellence!

Whilst one may attempt to write on his music, it is very difficult to completely express it even in many words. What makes his music special is not only excellence in melody and laya with undisputed equality, but innovating with control over his music. Innovations would factor in some errors in the short term, but would herald excellence in the long. But this musician seems to innovate without errors.

His amazing flow of manodharma (flow of imagination) in alapanas, nirvals, swarams and tanams are always an aural and spiritual treat. The rasika of the day would never forget last season's Parthasarathy Swami Sabha concert of his featuring amazing Pantuvarali alapana. The rendition of Raghuvara Nannu (Thyagaraja composition) lead into Niraval and Kalpanaswaras (in Manasuna Neeke - Charanam verses) had standing ovation and the audience 'go wild'! Ordinarily, simple renditions would have been expected after that. But Abhishek continued his concert with Ragam Tanam Pallavi in Purnashadjam in panchama shruti!

This is nothing short of a constant pursuit towards consistent and continued excellence in the least!

There can be numerous such examples which would prove nothing but the above.

May this scion of Vidwan Palghat Raghu continue to enthrall one and all.

Happy listening!!

- R Shridhar (marggoindia@gmail.com)

Has T M Krishna gone the Kamalhassan way of promoting the Art?

                                               

It’s all happening around T M Krishna.... He is getting too sensational these days and here are some of his views which I am sure is going to create heat among the rasikas and music lovers....

I am willing to give up the kutcheri’

The relationship between melody and text is far deeper than its linguistic meaning.

Whether an atheist or a non-Hindu can be a Carnatic musician?

Can I bring bhavam without understanding the meaning?

A kutcheri is not a variety entertainment show or a circus presentation where you need to experience the frown of the lion and the snigger of a clown.”

T M Krishna winds up concert midway, rasikas have mixed feeling

T M Krishna’s lofty thoughts on imagination and creativity, to issues of Brahmin domination and male chauvinism are disturbing. Is TMK confused about Bhakthi and religion?

 

Many singers and most of the audience often do not understand the meaning of the songs. Yet, they enjoy the music. Often the mood of the song is completely disjoint from the meaning of the lyric                            

                      Dr Venkataraman

Of course Dr Venkataraman is right. This is also one form of entertainment. It can be conventional or it can be unorthodox... But then the bottom line is the happiness quotient. It does not matter if the bhavam comes out of deep understanding of the lyric or not.

If the artist wants this not to be entertainment and delivers in a particular structure, its fine as long as he could connect his thought process with that of the rasikas. We can be sure that the rasikas have been enjoying the way TMK presents his concerts and that will rest all the controversies.

May be this is one way of creating visibility and brand value... and one can see TMK being very good in marketing and his style of approach resembles much of Kamalhassan's way of branding his movies before release... designing pre release controversies.

As much as Kamalhassan is enjoyed onscreen and valued for his performance, so much TMK is for carnatic form of art....  Their quality of output will deliver more brand value and visibility than the controversies they create.

Let the art prevail upon the individuals......

Young and trending!

The youth brigade is blazing all guns here! A snapshot of ten of them.

BHARAT SUNDAR: First winner of Carnatic Idol competition. Bestowed with powerful voice. Student of Sri. P S Narayanaswamy.

Season 2013:

15th Dec (10 am) @ Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Mini Hall

18th Dec (4:30 pm) @ Narada Gana Sanbha Mini Hall.

19th Dec (2 pm) @ Vidya Bharathi Kalyana Mandapam

21st Dec (12 noon) @ Music Academy

29th Dec (10 am) @ Raga Sudha Hall

RAMAKRISHNAN MURTHY: Mellifluous voice facilitating easy flow of sangatis. Another good concert performer. 'A' grade artiste of All India Radio. Trained under multiple masters of music.

Season 2013:
16th Dec (7 pm) @ Kamakoti Hall, Krishna Gana Sabha
18th Dec (2 pm) @ Vidya Bharathi Kalyana Mandapam
20th Dec (2 pm) @ Narada Gana Sabha Mini Hall
24th Dec (1:45 pm) @ Music Academy
27th Dec (1:30 pm) @ Mylapore Fine Arts Club

S SAKETHARAMAN: A student of Sri. Lalgudi Jayaraman & All India Radio 'A' grade artiste. He has become a seasoned artiste this time.

Season 2013:
18th Dec (6 pm) @ Sivagami Pethachi Auditorium
22nd Dec (6:30 pm) @ Main Hall, Vani Mahal
24th Dec (4:30 pm) @ German Hall, Balamandir School
12th Jan (6:30 pm) @ Amarabharathi Kalyana Mandapam, Thiruvanmiyur.

SANDEEP NARAYAN: Student of Sanjay Subrahmanyan. Power-packed performer. Singing in prime time in select sabhas this time around.

Season 2013:

20th Dec (2 pm): Vidya Bharathi Kalyana Mandapam

21st Dec (4:30 pm): Narada Gana Sabha Mini Hall

28th Dec (4 pm): Sivagami Pethachi Auditorium

29th Dec (1:45 pm): Music Academy
31st Dec (10:30 am): @ YGP Auditorium, PSBB School.

G RAVIKIRAN: Student of T M Krishna. Specializes in Dikshithar compositions.

Season 2013:
19th Dec (7 pm): Kamakoti Hall, Krishna Gana Sabha
27th Dec (9:30 am): Mylapore Fine Arts Club
9th Jan (6:30 pm): Rathnagireeswarar Temple, Besant Nagar
10th Jan (4:30 pm): Amarabharathi Kalyana Mandapam, Thiruvanmiyur

SRIRANJANI SANTHANAGOPALAN: Daughter and disciple of Sri. Neyveli Santhanagopalan. Imbibed the positives of her father's style. One may also get a feel of Sri. T N Seshagopalan styled brighas sometimes. One of the most promising artistes.

Season 2013:

16th Dec (4:30 pm): Narada Gana Sabha Mini Hall

19th Dec (2:45 pm): Sivagami Pethachi Auditorium

20th Dec (10 am): Vidya Bharathi Kalyana Mandapam

22nd Dec (7 pm): Sastri Hall, Mylapore

24th Dec (6:45 pm): Meenakshi College of Engineering

K GAYATRI: Disciple of Smt. Suguna Purushothaman. Great Tala skills including Dwitaala Avadhaanam (singing to different talas in both the hands).

Season 2013:
14th Dec (9:30 am) @ Mylapore Fine Arts Club
21st Dec (2 pm) @ Narada Gana Sabha Mini Hall
22nd Dec (9 am) @ Balamandir German Hall
27th Dec (5:30 am) @ Prabhata Sangeetam (Ground Floor, Saraswathi Apartments, 14/2, II Street, Luz Avenue, Mylapore
28th Dec (5 pm) Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Mini Hall

NISHA RAJAGOPALAN: An established performer. Disciple of Vidwans T R Subramaniam, P S Narayanaswamy, Calcutta Krishnamoorthy & Suguna Varadachary.

Season 2013:

16th Dec (6:30 pm) @ Sastri Hall, Mylapore

18th Dec (6:45 pm) @ Narada Gana Sabha Mini Hall

22nd Dec (10 am) @ Vidya Bharathi Kalyana Mandapam

30th Dec (4:15 pm) @ Music Academy

KUNNAKUDY M BALAMURALIKRISHNA: Student of Sri. P S Narayanaswamy. Also learning Mridangam from Guru Karaikudi Mani.

Season 2013:
19th Dec (4:30 pm) @ Ramarao Kala Mandap, Karnataka Sangha School, Habibullah Road
21st Dec (7 pm) @ Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Mini Hall
27th Dec (6:30 pm) @ Tattvaloka, Teynampet

R RAGHAVENDRA: Son of Mridanga Vidwan Srimushnam Raja Rao. Winner of Carnatic Idol.

Season 2013:

15th Dec (2 pm) @ Narada Gana Sabha Mini Hall

18th Dec (3:45 pm) @ Sivagami Pethachi Auditorium

29th Dec (9 am) @ Balamandir German Hall

- Written by R Shridhar (marggoindia@gmail.com)

Unusual as usual?

For TMK, unusual is the usual! He has depicted this so many times through his music, views and opinions. Apart from taking initiatives to make things better in this field, he has made changes in his presentations. The vast changes he has made to the kutcheri format (or his kutcheri format rather) has got lot of attention. Some of these are varnam as main piece, nirval & swram rendition in mangalam, stand-alone alapana not followed up with kriti in the sama raga to name a few.

He came under some immense criticism when he tried something similar in music academy some time back. This year, he is not performing there. Is he looking to try and create more impact with his new format or will he stick to the usual format prevalent today? Seems that he would present a mix of both.

In this year's Margazhi Maha Utsavam by Jaya TV, he has sung a Ragam & Pallavi (No Tanam at all) in a particular tala and it was left to the percussionists to decide the tala which they wanted to choose for their taniavartanam.

We have to see how rasikas view this in the days or months to come. We are sure that he would bring upon changes that evoke the spiritualistic domains of the rasika.

Let's wait and watch!


- Shridhar (marggoindia@gmail.com).

Innovative & inquisitive.

That the much coveted and awaited December music season has arrived, we thought of covering interesting aspects of one of the biggest music festivals. We, then surely can’t miss out on artistes and their performances (though there are other aspects to the fest like food, artiste wardrobes etc).

As a first, we are starting over with a write-up on T M Krishna famously known as TMK.

TMK - the musician has been created and moulded broadly from:

• Strong music loving family.

• Tutelage during early years under Sri. B Seetharama Sharma.

• Special training in Ragam Tanam & Pallavi from Sri. Chengalpet Ranganathan,

• Advanced training from Sri. Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer.

• Due to his own efforts (of course).

His greatest achievement is in not just in being a concert performer, but also in innovating and creating value; and making these two aspects as an integral part of the musician in him.

The value addition initiatives of his include:

• Swanubhava that provides learning opportunities for music students across institutions and styles and making them contributing to Indian performing arts.
• Kalachara Marumalarchi that aims to revive temples as cultural hub by organizing events therein.
• Matrka, a publishing company that aims to showcase the richness of Indian art and culture ("Voices Within", a coffee table book on 7 greatest pioneers of carnatic music was released as part of this initiative. This was authored by T M Krishna & Bombay Jayashri).
• Jnarnava: Under its auspices, Muthuswamy Dikshithar's compositions were documented. According to me, this is the closest we can get to the beauty of Dikshithar's compositions. The source of this documentation was the book Sangeetha Sampradaya Pradarshini by Subbarama Dikshithar (grandson of Muthuswamy Dikshithar's brother).
• Shabda (www.shabda.co.in), aimed at creating an online archive of various aspects of Indian performing arts. I would regard this as the knowledge management initiative.
• Sumanasa (www.sumanasaf.org): Children and student focused initiative. Aimed at providing access to learning music in underdeveloped areas, providing platform to showcase young talents and providing music therapy to special children.
• Margazhi Ragam, the first film dedicated to carnatic music ever. This features a concert by T M Krishna and Bombay Jayashri.

Whilst he can be appreciated for all his initiatives, he is not a person who has remained away from criticisms.

He has quoted controversy right away from “asking rasikas not to leave during mangalam” to “writing articles like ‘Listen, please don't eavesdrop’ ( http://newindianexpress.com/magazine/article181259.ece)” to his efforts in “making changes in the kutcheri format”.

Here are a few examples from scores of such instances:

• Thodi varnam (Kanakangi) as main piece @ Mylapore Fine Arts Club (2011).
• Khamas Varnam (Mate Malayadwaja) as main piece @ Nada Sudha.
• Consider this portion of one of his concert lists: Alapana in Kambhoji, Sahana & Dhanyasi followed by Talli Ninnu Nera - Kalyani (main piece) - Dec 2012 @ Krishna Gana Sabha.
• @ Music Academy - Jan 2013: List of renditions…..

          1. Bhairavi Pada Varnam (Mohana En Meedil).

          2. Nagalingam Bhajeham (Dikshithar composition) - Shankarabharanam 

          3. Dalachina Varu - Dhanyasi.

          4. Alapana - Ataana followed by Tiruvatriyur Thyagarajan.

          5. Alapana - Kalyani, Surati & Anandabhairavi.

          6. Teliyaleru Rama - Dhenuka.

          7. Marubari Talalenura - Khamas.

          8. Taniavartanam. 

          9. Viruttam - Thandai Thayum in Thodi, Kambhoji, Sriragam.

        10. Varugalaamo Ayyaa - Manji.

We see in the list above that there are so many alapanas. After Kalyani, Surati and Anandhabhairavi, one would expect a ragamalika RTP in these three ragas. A rasika can be easily be disappointed if an artiste moves on to another composition abruptly.

Let’s take another example. May 2013 @ Abu Dhabi (part list):

6. Dhanyasi Alapana-stand alone

7. Arabhi - Taanam followed by Chala Kalla (Arabhi - Thyagaraja) followed by Tani.

Here, the catch is that a great Dhanyasi alapana was not followed up with a kriti in Dhanyasi itself.

The problem in this is not something related to the kutcheri format. It is all about completeness of the concert. A kutcheri otherwise would be more balanced because:

• It would have a mix of short, swift as well as detailed renderings.
• There will be proper focus on a raga, and a single raga can be brought with much of variety (for example, alapana, kriti, niraval & swarams).

There was news that a similar attempt by him in one of his (Music) Academy concerts had the audience to get up and walk off.

So, it is better he “tones down on all these kind of changes”.

However, some of his other initiatives can really be appreciated. Varnam as a main piece is a really a welcome step. Once he rendered Nattakuranji padavarnam (Sami Naanundan Adimai), a masterpiece of Papanasam Sivan once in Narada Gana Sabha (concert organized by Sivan Arts Academy) as one. Herein, there was a very detailed alapana followed by the varnam. Niraval was in charanam verses (Nataraja Deva Sachhidananda). The sahityam verses corresponding to the chittaswarams of this great padavarnam were utilized very well by the artiste in the niraval to be interspersed with the main charanam verse (Nataraja deva…..) as fulcrum. This added the much needed variety to the rendition and gave him lot of scope to sing a detailed niraval. This also showed us a way of presenting varnams better. So, in this way, the change was a welcome one.

Another one is nirval and swaram in mangalam. Rasikas were in for a pleasant surprise when he started niraval and swarams in “Rajeeva Nayana Tyagaraja….”, the concluding verses of the mangalam “Pavamana”. So, mangalam got the treatment of a complete composition in this way. He should have taken inspiration from this (Sangeetha) Kalanidhi speech of Vidwan Ralapalli Ananthakrishna Sharma in Music Academy (visit https://sites.google.com/site/rallapallisharma/Home/presidential-address).

"Peer Pleasure" - Views on Sanjay:

A part of his views on Sanjay Subrahmanyan expressed in The Indian Express was interseting; especially those on Sanjay’s tryst with Hindustani ragas (Here is the link…. https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/552417_10151276136009052_570926907_n.jpg.

None of the ragas borrowed from Hindustani music have gamaka embellishments and still sound to be scales Sindhubhairavi, Yamunakalyani and Behag included. So, ragas like Patdip and Ragesree can also be explored; well it may take more time for these ragas to be accepted. This pursuit of Sanjay’s did not spark a debate or a furore.

The last word:

All said and done, TMK longs to bring in change through innovations, definitely a musician to revere.

Rasikas in the coming days might expect him to bring in more smooth and stable innovations with focus on making it a soul pleasing and searching means. He would surely continue to create value.



- Shridhar (marggoindia@gmail.com).