Bringing Back old Tiruvaiyaru Music in Sacred Spaces
- V.R. DEVIKA
A religion and culture editor, a psychotherapist, a poet, a housewife, and a writer – women formidable
by any standard – made great company! We made a motley group with a musicologist from the Netherlands
travelling to witness the first "Tiruvaiyaru on Kaveri – a festival of Sacred Music" organised by Chennai
based Prakriti Foundation. Though associated with Prakriti Foundation, as its cultural coordinator from its
inception, this time I was going only as part of the audience as I did not play any role in the organization
of the festival. Ranvir Shah, founder of Prakriti Foundation was standing in the scorching sun of Tiruvaiyaru
as he got the Panchanadeeswara temple cleaned for Bombay Jayashri’s concert. Theatre actor and director Pravin
Kumar worked on the mood lighting. Together they created discreet lighting on the temple gopuram which was the
backdrop for the concert and soft lighting on the musicians. The many bronze lamps of varying sizes that Ranvir
had carted from Chennai were lit in front of the dais.
Ranvir wanted to host three kutcheri-s at three different and unique venues in the town. So on Day One
(February 26), Bombay Jayashri performed at the Sree Panchanadeeswara Temple, sitting on a stage surrounded
by glowing earthen lamps. She sang compositions on Siva. The silence and the stillness and the sense of
peace that pervaded the Panchanadeeswara temple were reflected in the soulful music of Jayashri. Particularly
haunting was the Dwijavanti Akhilandeswari. Pravin and the sound expert Kalai Selvan moved all the equipment
after the concert to Pushya Mandapa by the Kaveri for Jayanthi Kumaresh’s veena concert the next day (February 27).
Parikrama… a journey that never ends
- PADMINI GANESH (a disciple of Sucheta Chapekar)
"Guru saakshaat param brahma, tasmay sree gurave namah" – the true essence of this verse was brought
out by Kalavardhini Charitable Trust in a three-day event held from 4-6th December 2008 in Pune.
The memorable event was organised to mark the 60th birthday celebrations of Bharatanatyam exponent
and guru Dr. Sucheta Bhide Chapekar (see photo) who lives in Pune and runs a dance school in the city.
It was also an occasion to felicitate Sucheta Tai for being nominated to receive the Sangeet Natak
Akademi award. She is a disciple of Guru K.P. Kittappa Pillai and Acharya Parvati Kumar. The festival
was visualised and executed in a highly professional manner by Arundhati Patwardhan (daughter and
disciple of Sucheta) and Juee Deogaokar. It was conducted at various venues in Pune to facilitate the
participation of students, guru-s and art lovers.
The festival had a colourful start at the prestigious Bal Gandharva Rangmandir, with
performances by the disciples of Sucheta Tai, titled Arghyam, followed by a unique blend
of rhythm and melody, titled Saundarya Laya.
Tyagaraja Aradhana in Tiruvaiyaru 'Kainkaryam' galore- MANNA SRINIVASAN
The Margazhi magic was closely followed by the Tiruvaiyaru magic. The aradhana coincided with the Pongal
festival this time. As a result, there were two festivals simultaneously for two days, the Tamil Isai festival
held in celebration of Pongal for more than three decades, taking place just a furlong or so from the 'samadhi';
but no clash here, as most of the important office-bearers of the latter are also closely involved with the
aradhana and the spirit of both being devotional in character. Some musicians participated in both. The
loudspeakers had their territories (lamp posts) earmarked! The walls were free this time of vulgar graffiti
seen in earlier years, protesting against singing in Telugu in Tamil Nadu. Perhaps, the futility of the
misguided move has been realised. The whole place was transformed into an ‘intensely musical’ orbit, to
the delight of so many outstation visitors
An 'atmospheric' change could be felt at the main event. With Kunnakudi's passing away and the vacancy not
being filled, the main responsibility fell on the shoulders of the tavil maestro, Haridwaramangalam Palanivel.
He acquitted himself very creditably. He could motivate a dedicated team including 'mridangam' Srimushnam
Raja Rao and 'tavil' Tanjavur T.R. Govindarajan, working tirelessly to handle the packed schedule (more than
60 concerts each day for more than four days, involving hundreds of participants) from morning to late
evening. The relative orderliness and quality of the Pancharatna chorus could also be cited as proof.
"The herb in the backyard has no power," (Kollaip-pacchilaikku veeriamillai) – thus goes a Tamil proverb.
But, this was disproved by a function conducted in memory of the doyen, the great Bharatanatyam guru,
K.P. Kittappa Pillai (direct descendant of the Tanjavur Quartet), in Tanjavur, on 30th October 2008, with a
packed audience. The venue was the historical Sangeeta Mahal. The event was organised by the K.P. Kittappa
Pillai Natyalaya, Tanjavur and K.P.K. Chandrasekaran, son and disciple of the illustrious guru. It was supported
by the central Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi. The function was presided over by S.N.M. Ubayadullah,
Minister for Commercial Taxes, Govt. of Tamil Nadu.
Generally, such functions are dominated by speeches by dignitaries. Contrary to this, this event could
rightly be called a ‘dance homage’ by the disciples of the late guru. Even the Minister politely refrained
from making the customary and formal inaugural speech.
Ananya Foundation, which took up the responsibility of bringing out the Kannada version of Subbarama Dikshitar's
monumental work Sangeeta Sampradaya Pradarsini, (six volumes + Prathama Abhyasa) organised a pleasant function
recently to release the collection as well as felicitate the unassuming musician, vidwan Anandarama Udupa, at
Seva Sadan Hall. The function started with the rendering of Roopamu joochi varnam in Todi raga (from the first
volume), followed by Pancha matanga (Malahari) from the second volume, Amba paradevate (Rudrapriya) from the
third volume, Mamava Raghuveera (Mahuri) from the fourth volume, Kalavati kamalasana yuvati (Kalavati) from the
fifth volume, Sree Ramaa Saraswati (Nasikabhooshani) from the sixth volume and concluded with Purandaradasa's
Hari Narayana in Kurinji raga, from the Prathama Abhyasa volume. The first and last were sung in chorus while
the other five were rendered individually by Usha Kesari and Geethamoorthy, Vidya, Saralaya Sisters, Kalavathy
and Hamsini Nagendra.
40th anniversary of dance school
Venkatesha Natya Mandir recently celebrated its 40th anniversary with a six-day dance festival
'Rasa Sanje 09' at the A.D.A. Ranga Mandira in Bengaluru. It was founded by Guru Radha Shridhar
seniormost among the second generation dance guru-s in the garden city.
The festival featured two performances every evening, The solos by established dancers were
followed by group presentations. Indrani Parthasarathy, Rama Vaidyanathan, Mavin Khoo, Navia
Natrajan and Usha Datar were the solo dancers who participated in the festival. The group ensembles
featured included Nirupama & Rajendra (Kathak), Monisha Arts (Mohini Attam), Venkatesha Natya Mandir,
Sivakami of Natya Niketana, Rasavrinda Artists from Mysore and disciples of guru Bhanumathy, Natyapriya.
Pandit Santosh Banerjee is a veteran surbahar player who can still extract tuneful melody out of
this regal, almost extinct instrument. The frail old master performs very rarely now. Bhawanipur Sangeet
Sammelani, a century old organisation of the city, presented an evening of soul-stirring instrumental music.
Featured were young flautist Dipankar Mukherjee, talented sitarist Sahana Banerjee, and finally her father-guru
Santosh Banerjee regaled the audience with dhrupad and dhamar on the surbahar in raga-s Bagesree and
Kausi Dhwani.
30 years of guru-sishya parampara
The saga of the age-old oral tradition was retold by the ITC Sangeet Research Academy this year once
again with the focus on its guru-s and their sishya-s, to celebrate its 30 years of glorious existence.
Delightfully varied hues and tones of different vocal schools, represented by guru-s Ulhas Kashalkar,
Ajoy Chakrabarty, Arun Bhaduri and Mashkoor Ali Khan, superbly supported by their disciples, were spread
over the two-day long soiree. Veteran instrumentalist guru-s Buddhadev Dasgupta (sarod) and Manilal Nag
(sitar) offered a rare jugalbandi.
The coveted ITC Award (Kolkata) went to Ustad Ali Ahmed Hussain Khan, an eminent shehnai exponent who carved a
niche for himself despite the overwhelming presence of the late Ustad Bismillah Khan. The awardee and his
entourage presented a sparkling shehnai recital later. Two of the Academy’s scholars Manali Bose (vocal)
and Abir Hossain (sarod) gave impressive solo recitals as the opening items of each day. The only guest
artist was Anindo Chatterjee who, supported by his disciple, played a thrilling tabla solo. The key note
running through this melodic series was the bond between teacher and taught and of course the
'joint-family' kind of ambience.
Musician, musicologist and artist S. Rajam turned 90 on February 10, 2009. At Sruti it was a special day for celebration
as "Rajam Sir" has been associated with the magazine almost since its inception. Many members of the Sruti
Parivaar assembled at Rajam's home at 41, Nadu Street to greet and pay obeisance to the grand old man. A
delighted Rajam Sir recalled that it was customary to visit Tirukkadaiyur to celebrate such milestones in
a person’s life. However, as health did not permit him to undergo the strain of travelling, he spontaneously
invoked the blessings of the deity of Tirukkadaiyur by singing Muthuswami Dikshitar’s kriti Sankaram Abhirami
manoharam in a voice that rang out strong and clear. He insisted that all of us should sing along. We did so
for a few lines and gave up as we could not keep pace with his sangati-s!
It was a memorable occasion for all of us as Rajam Sir cut the cake we had ordered. We honoured him
with a shawl, and presented him with a specially designed card and poster which read "S. Rajam – A Rare Gem".
The Royal Heroine of Kathakali
- K.K. GOPALAKRISHNAN
Septuagenarian Kottakkal Sivaraman, the Kathakali actor renowned for his heroine roles, is the recipient of
the first Mali-Karnasapadam award, instituted by the Mali Foundation in memory of the late Mali
V. Madhavan Nair, for his lifetime contributions to Kathakali.
Kottakkal Sivaraman is 72. Discharged from hospital after a couple of months of chikan guniya, he is
well on his way to recovery. The man who delighted Kathakali followers for over five decades felt let down
that they stayed away in his moment of suffering. "This is the fate of any Kathakali artist in Kerala",
he says, sitting on the veranda of his house, surrounded by nature, in Karalmanna of Palakkad district.
It was through Sivaraman, the female characters of Kathakali, traditionally donned by men, earned recognition and
equal status with male characters, especially in the northern school of the art. Advancing years have
compelled him to substantially limit his performances and retire from most of his celebrated roles, except
that of Damayanti in Nalacharitam and Kunti in Karnasapadam.
Prof. R.C. Mehta An Institution and an Institution Builder
- DEEPAK S. RAJA
In the first week of January 2009, when the Sangeet Natak Akademi announced the Akademi Ratna award for Prof.
R.C. Mehta, his phone did not stop ringing for several days. The Akademi award was the crowning glory of a
distinguished career that had already been honoured many times before by other cultural organisations. But,
when his name appeared in the list of Padma Bhushan awardees on January 26, his friends and admirers mistook
it for some other Ramanlal C. Mehta. Hardly anyone could have imagined that a musicologist would be included in
the Republic Day awards. When the truth dawned, Prof. Mehta’s phone started buzzing once again
This is the significance of Prof. R.C. Mehta's dual decoration. His services to musicology, and to
the community of musicologists, have elevated the entire profession – no bigger than a few hundred
in India – to a level of consideration at the highest levels of decision making in the country.
A round 12.30 pm on 17th February 2009, Hindustani vidushi Malabika Kanan passed away at Mohan Clinic in
Kolkata. Born in Lucknow on 27th December 1930, she became a guru of the ITC Sangeet Research Academy on
2nd July, 1979. One of the foremost women vocalists who maintained the traditional purity of the khayal
form and the aesthetic beauty of raga-s, she had a rich repertoire of current as well as rare raga-s and bandishes.
She was initiated into music at the age of four by her father, Rabindralal Roy, a well known musicologist and
disciple of Pandit Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande and received systematic training from him in dhrupad, dhamar and
khayal for a number of years. Travelling to many parts of the country in her father’s company, Malabika had
the advantage of his practical and theoretical training in music and systematic regular riyaz under his loving
guidance. At 16, she became a regular broadcaster and since then, she had participated in a large number of
concerts, conferences, National Programmes, Radio Sangeet Sammelans and so on. After her marriage to the noted
singer Pandit A. Kanan, her style gained a new dimension because she assimilated many good features from his
Kairana style and she was initiated into thumri singing under his guidance. She also sang bhajan-s with equal
élan.
The writer ANURADHA JOG was a co-worker with Rohini and Jaydev Hattangady for 30 years.
She is a theatre actor, a critic of Marathi theatre, and consultant and professor for Bharatanatyam in
the Arts Faculty of Tilak Maharashtra University.
Jaydev Hattangady was a multi-faceted theatre personality and theatre activist. He was born on
28th August 1948. He acquired the required skills to become an Indian theatre director at a very young
age, when selected for training at the National School of Drama (NSD), New Delhi. At NSD it was a beginning
of the scholarly thought process that led Jaydev to become passionate about experimental theatre.
A recipient of the best producer award at NSD, he passed out with flying colours in 1974 under the
taskmaster Ebrahim Alkazi.
K.S. KALIDAS, mridanga vidwan and connoisseur of classical music, a keen follower of the
young musicians brigade for a number of years, has offered to contribute to the Young Talent
and Generation Next columns in Sruti.
K. Gayatri
This 24-year old's musical personality reflects her sunny, vivacious nature. It is a joy to watch and hear her
perform on the stage. She readily breaks into a smile when she negotiated a difficult sanchara or her
accompanists complement her in her swara-combinations or korvai-s.
Athira Krishna
This girl from Tiruvanantapuram in Kerala is a revolutionary. At the age of eight, she decided to be a violinist, and
that too a soloist! To someone who could identify raga-s at the age of three and grew up in a house where music filled
the air during all the waking hours, Athira’s pursuit of music full-time is understandable but why solo? Today, at 21 and
after suggestions from many well-meaning people that she should start being an accompanying artist rather than only
a soloist, Athira does concede that there are advantages in providing accompaniment like increased visibility,
learning a large number of kriti-s and different pathantara-s, but also states that the full potential of the
violin cannot be realised as an accompaniment. It is not the ego problem of being a "main" artist rather
than being relegated as a "side" artist. For one as talented as she is as a soloist with encomiums from
Sangita Kalanidhi M Balamuralikrishna and Pandit Jasraj, her reasoning sounds convincing.
sruti.com
A religion and culture editor, a psychotherapist, a poet, a housewife, and a writer – women formidable
by any standard – made great company! We made a motley group with a musicologist from the Netherlands
travelling to witness the first "Tiruvaiyaru on Kaveri – a festival of Sacred Music" organised by Chennai
based Prakriti Foundation. Though associated with Prakriti Foundation, as its cultural coordinator from its
inception, this time I was going only as part of the audience as I did not play any role in the organization
of the festival. Ranvir Shah, founder of Prakriti Foundation was standing in the scorching sun of Tiruvaiyaru
as he got the Panchanadeeswara temple cleaned for Bombay Jayashri’s concert. Theatre actor and director Pravin
Kumar worked on the mood lighting. Together they created discreet lighting on the temple gopuram which was the
backdrop for the concert and soft lighting on the musicians. The many bronze lamps of varying sizes that Ranvir
had carted from Chennai were lit in front of the dais.
"Guru saakshaat param brahma, tasmay sree gurave namah" – the true essence of this verse was brought
out by Kalavardhini Charitable Trust in a three-day event held from 4-6th December 2008 in Pune.
The memorable event was organised to mark the 60th birthday celebrations of Bharatanatyam exponent
and guru Dr. Sucheta Bhide Chapekar (see photo) who lives in Pune and runs a dance school in the city.
It was also an occasion to felicitate Sucheta Tai for being nominated to receive the Sangeet Natak
Akademi award. She is a disciple of Guru K.P. Kittappa Pillai and Acharya Parvati Kumar. The festival
was visualised and executed in a highly professional manner by Arundhati Patwardhan (daughter and
disciple of Sucheta) and Juee Deogaokar. It was conducted at various venues in Pune to facilitate the
participation of students, guru-s and art lovers.
The Margazhi magic was closely followed by the Tiruvaiyaru magic. The aradhana coincided with the Pongal
festival this time. As a result, there were two festivals simultaneously for two days, the Tamil Isai festival
held in celebration of Pongal for more than three decades, taking place just a furlong or so from the 'samadhi';
but no clash here, as most of the important office-bearers of the latter are also closely involved with the
aradhana and the spirit of both being devotional in character. Some musicians participated in both. The
loudspeakers had their territories (lamp posts) earmarked! The walls were free this time of vulgar graffiti
seen in earlier years, protesting against singing in Telugu in Tamil Nadu. Perhaps, the futility of the
misguided move has been realised. The whole place was transformed into an ‘intensely musical’ orbit, to
the delight of so many outstation visitors
"The herb in the backyard has no power," (Kollaip-pacchilaikku veeriamillai) – thus goes a Tamil proverb.
But, this was disproved by a function conducted in memory of the doyen, the great Bharatanatyam guru,
K.P. Kittappa Pillai (direct descendant of the Tanjavur Quartet), in Tanjavur, on 30th October 2008, with a
packed audience. The venue was the historical Sangeeta Mahal. The event was organised by the K.P. Kittappa
Pillai Natyalaya, Tanjavur and K.P.K. Chandrasekaran, son and disciple of the illustrious guru. It was supported
by the central Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi. The function was presided over by S.N.M. Ubayadullah,
Minister for Commercial Taxes, Govt. of Tamil Nadu.
Venkatesha Natya Mandir recently celebrated its 40th anniversary with a six-day dance festival
'Rasa Sanje 09' at the A.D.A. Ranga Mandira in Bengaluru. It was founded by Guru Radha Shridhar
seniormost among the second generation dance guru-s in the garden city.
The saga of the age-old oral tradition was retold by the ITC Sangeet Research Academy this year once
again with the focus on its guru-s and their sishya-s, to celebrate its 30 years of glorious existence.
Delightfully varied hues and tones of different vocal schools, represented by guru-s Ulhas Kashalkar,
Ajoy Chakrabarty, Arun Bhaduri and Mashkoor Ali Khan, superbly supported by their disciples, were spread
over the two-day long soiree. Veteran instrumentalist guru-s Buddhadev Dasgupta (sarod) and Manilal Nag
(sitar) offered a rare jugalbandi.
Musician, musicologist and artist S. Rajam turned 90 on February 10, 2009. At Sruti it was a special day for celebration
as "Rajam Sir" has been associated with the magazine almost since its inception. Many members of the Sruti
Parivaar assembled at Rajam's home at 41, Nadu Street to greet and pay obeisance to the grand old man. A
delighted Rajam Sir recalled that it was customary to visit Tirukkadaiyur to celebrate such milestones in
a person’s life. However, as health did not permit him to undergo the strain of travelling, he spontaneously
invoked the blessings of the deity of Tirukkadaiyur by singing Muthuswami Dikshitar’s kriti Sankaram Abhirami
manoharam in a voice that rang out strong and clear. He insisted that all of us should sing along. We did so
for a few lines and gave up as we could not keep pace with his sangati-s!
It was a memorable occasion for all of us as Rajam Sir cut the cake we had ordered. We honoured him
with a shawl, and presented him with a specially designed card and poster which read "S. Rajam – A Rare Gem".
Kottakkal Sivaraman is 72. Discharged from hospital after a couple of months of chikan guniya, he is
well on his way to recovery. The man who delighted Kathakali followers for over five decades felt let down
that they stayed away in his moment of suffering. "This is the fate of any Kathakali artist in Kerala",
he says, sitting on the veranda of his house, surrounded by nature, in Karalmanna of Palakkad district.
It was through Sivaraman, the female characters of Kathakali, traditionally donned by men, earned recognition and
equal status with male characters, especially in the northern school of the art. Advancing years have
compelled him to substantially limit his performances and retire from most of his celebrated roles, except
that of Damayanti in Nalacharitam and Kunti in Karnasapadam.
In the first week of January 2009, when the Sangeet Natak Akademi announced the Akademi Ratna award for Prof.
R.C. Mehta, his phone did not stop ringing for several days. The Akademi award was the crowning glory of a
distinguished career that had already been honoured many times before by other cultural organisations. But,
when his name appeared in the list of Padma Bhushan awardees on January 26, his friends and admirers mistook
it for some other Ramanlal C. Mehta. Hardly anyone could have imagined that a musicologist would be included in
the Republic Day awards. When the truth dawned, Prof. Mehta’s phone started buzzing once again
A round 12.30 pm on 17th February 2009, Hindustani vidushi Malabika Kanan passed away at Mohan Clinic in
Kolkata. Born in Lucknow on 27th December 1930, she became a guru of the ITC Sangeet Research Academy on
2nd July, 1979. One of the foremost women vocalists who maintained the traditional purity of the khayal
form and the aesthetic beauty of raga-s, she had a rich repertoire of current as well as rare raga-s and bandishes.
The writer ANURADHA JOG was a co-worker with Rohini and Jaydev Hattangady for 30 years.
She is a theatre actor, a critic of Marathi theatre, and consultant and professor for Bharatanatyam in
the Arts Faculty of Tilak Maharashtra University.