| MAIN FEATURE The Bhavani
Duo B.V. Raman & B.V.
Lakshmanan
The following was written in 1999, soon after the passing away of
B.V. Lakshmanan, by S.V. SESHADRI, music critic and longtime contributor
to Sruti, more famous under the nom de plume, AEOLUS. It was
inadvertently overlooked at that time. It is now being published as a
tribute to the memory of Lakshmanan, and as an uttama rasika's analysis
of the music of the twins. Some excerpts :
They did not hail from a place rich in fertility of land or mind like Tanjavur; they were not cradled in a lineage, hoary with traditions of music running through many generations; and, until they began studying music as a regular discipline, they had not even imagined that they would enter a vocation as beckoning and as bewildering as music. In a more literal way and in a far truer sense than in the case of many others, it can be said that they did not choose music as their goal in life; it is music which chose them as its votaries. And they did not belie its choice
The B.V. Brothers, Raman and Lakshmanan, belonged to a Brahmin family from Bhavani near Erode, which
might have seen better days, but not certainly very affluent at the time
the brothers were born as twins in February 1921, at Gooty in the
present Andhra Pradesh. Their father, B.V. Subrahmania Iyer, was
stationed at Gooty as Deputy Collector, at the time of their birth....
In 1938, when Subrahmania Iyer died, the twins had completed their matriculation, and for a future career had chosen subjects far removed from music. Raman was learning accountancy by tuition and Lakshmanan was doing the BIET correspondence course in radio-engineering. Their father's death resulted in the winding up of the establishment at Perundurai and shifting to Bangalore where Ramamurthi was employed as a clerk in a stationary store. It was at Bangalore that the twins, at the age of seventeen, and more, entered into a formal study of music under S. Srinivasa Rao....
It so happened that Tiger had a chance to hear the B.V. Brothers sing, and was so charmed by it, that
he suggested that they should join the Sangeeta Bhooshanam course in the
Music College at Annamalai University in Chidambaram, of which he was
the Principal. Tiger offered to keep the brothers in his own house and
offered scholarships for the study.... The twins joined the college at
Annamalai University in 1939 and passed out in 1943, when Varadachariar
himself relinquished the principalship to join Kalakshetra at Madras.
(See Sruti 105/106, p. 34)....
While imbibing the best of
music at the College, the twins were privileged to serve Tiger
Varadachariar in gurukulavasam and learn from his incomparable singing
whenever he got into the mood....
After passing with credit in
the Sangeeta Bhooshanam course, the brothers came to Madras.... They
continued to attend on Varadachariar at Kalakshetra. In 1945, Lakshmanan
went to New Delhi accepting the post of a tutor in the Karnataka
Sangeeta Sabha there, while Raman remained in Madras. Since the brothers
were total strangers to the music field and had no patrons either by way
of social or family connections, they had to confine their activity
mainly to teaching music to students privately....
In 1957, when Lakshmanan
returned to Madras, it was with the intention of embarking on a career
of concert singing. Probably the brothers were the only pair who thought
of entering the concert platform well after their 35th year and made a
success of it against the established and entrenched singers of the
day....
The brothers opted for
strength and stability in their music rather than fluidity and flair.
Their disposition to frills and flights of fancy was severely curtailed
by a sense of propriety. The strongest resource in their store was the
kriti. Their music was essentially centripetal, drawing attention to the
centrality of the kriti....
In the elaboration of the
raga-s there was a marked divergence in their approach. Raman was
partial to broad sweeps of the brush and laid the colour thick and
strong.... Lakshmanan, on the other hand, was Praxitelean in the way he
caressed the swara sequences and in the looped interlacing of the
sanchara-s....
Their concern for laya vinyasa
being minimal and unobtruding, the swara singing became more a formality
than an adventure.
The brothers had built up a
vast repertoire of kriti-s of various composers....
As much as their music, it was
the personal qualities of the brothers that endeared them to the public
as well as to their peers in the field.... Their dealings with their
accompanists or with the organisers were absolutely straight and
fair.... Their generosity in appreciating the music of their
contemporaries or even juniors did not harbour any reservations....
They found strength in the
value of music which they pursued with loyalty to tradition and with
confidence in the image of the tradition which they cherished in their
hearts....
With the blessings of the late
pontiffs of the Kamakoti and the Sringeri Math-s, they have been
instrumental in bringing to public attention the existence of the saint
Sadasiva Brahmendra's Brindavan in Manamadurai and in organising annual
observance of the aradhana at Manamadurai.
Adherent To Sampradaya
The following has been
written by V. KARPAGALAKSHMI on the basis of her interviews with B.V.
Raman, the surviving twin of the B.V. Raman - B.V. Lakshmanan duo. B.V.
Raman has been selected for the title of Sangeeta Kala Acharya by the
Music Academy this year. Excerpts:
Raman relates two interesting
incidents during their concert tours:
l
The brothers were performing at Nellore Krishna Mandir during
Gokulashtami. Dwaram Satyanarayana and Madurai T. Srinivasan were the
accompanists on the violin and mridanga respectively. Ahiri raga was
developed in a pensive mood and Narayana Teertha's tarangam
Veekshegam katha was rendered. Srinivasan remarked on the stage that
they might not get any food as they had sung Ahiri. After the concert
they retired to the adjoining quarters. As the Bhattachariar was
bringing the prasadam of lemon rice and curd rice in bowls, a beggar (yenadhi)
snatched them and ran away. After a hot chase the Bhattachariar was able
to catch him but he could bring back only empty bowls, as the yenadhi
had emptied the rice in his towel and thrown the bowls away. The
Bhattachariar had to prepare food afresh for the musicians!
l
The other incident is about a musician, Bugga Papiah Sastrigal, who was
a great devotee of Tyagaraja and had, by his efforts, persuaded the
Government to change the name of Innespet to Tyagaraja Nagar. He was
conducting the Tyagaraja utsavam at Rajahmundry. His residence was very
close to the venue where the utsavam was being held. In their concert,
Raman and Lakshmanan chose Madhyamavati as the main raga and sang
Adigi sukhamu. While they were singing the niraval for the charanam
'Neeke daya putti brotuvo brovavo', they noticed sparks in the pandal
above their heads and the lights went off. Sastrigaru who was near the
stage rushed to his house to bring a lantern. After a few minutes he
came back overwhelmed, weeping and uttering "Ramudu brotunne unnadu"
(Rama keeps on saving us). In the meantime electricity had been
restored. He explained to the audience that, when he opened the door of
his house, he was shocked to find that a rat had just then toppled the
oil lamp on the pooja shelf and the fire was slowly spreading and
consuming the vastra kept nearby. He felt that it was Lord Rama's timely
intervention that made it necessary for him to go to his house, as
otherwise he would have lost everything....
lComposers
and teachers
lThematic
concerts
lTiger
and Vasudevachar
lSome
anecdotes
lOn
teaching and learning
"A number of young boys and
girls sing well today; but parents pressurise them into performing on
the concert platform too soon without allowing for natural evolution.
Youngsters are also forced to take part in various programmes/competitions
in Carnatic as well as cinema music on the TV. This is not a good trend;
spending so much time on film music is regrettable; it affects the time
spent on learning/practising classical music."
"One should not commercialise
sangeetam-- musicians should not demand money but accept whatever is
paid. We never demanded or argued about money or compared our payments
with that of other artists. By God's grace we had no problem with
payment. Similarly, we never solicited chances for performing. Things
are different today. One can't blame the younger generation for
demanding rates or forming associations."
| 
sruti.com
been a major source of material. He had spoken at length to other
critics and dancers and musicians. But floating amidst the sea of
scattered material gathered, Lada had more than once felt that he was
inadequate for this job. Rushing to his aid to rescue him out from acute
bouts of despondency had been his mother whose steadfast single-handed
support had been his source of strength throughout life's lotus-eating
years. Being constantly with Subbudu in the last few months, he had
discovered how a man who lived and breathed music and dance, often at
the cost of sacrificing his domestic obligations as husband and father,
had had the great good fortune of having by his side the support of a
loving and capable wife who had accepted Subbudu's hours away from home
with equanimity as the inevitable occupational hazard of being wedded to
an exceptionally gifted human being. Subbudu had on occasions gone to a
concert with one of his children and returned home alone having
forgotten in the after-performance excitement about the young one
accompanying him! Being privileged to learn at the feet of such a
veteran, he had also been able to glimpse the soft man who lurked behind
the hard critic. Writing this book had meant having to "live Subbudu"
not just listen to him. Lada quoted a senior critic's remark about
Subbudu that here was one who had neither praised the King nor earned
any favours for his own self.