And then they were back, though in a truncated form. The concerts started all over the place. Narada Gana Sabha held its annual Sadguru Gnanananda Sangeet Sammelan, which is usually scheduled in September. This time it was for four days with concerts held in camera sans audience. The duration of each concert was one hour.

The inaugural concert was the violin duo by A. Kanyakumari and her disciple Embar Kannan accompanied by Mannargudi Eswaran (mridangam) and Purushothaman (khanjira). The brisk opening with Pranamamyaham set the tone and pace. The alapana in Todi was followed by Syama Sastry’s swarajati Rave Himagirikumari. An intensely moving piece, the swara passages even without the lyrics conveyed the same intensity of emotion. Another alapana in Arabhi was the prelude to Palimpa raava delara, a rare composition of Pallavi Sesha Iyer. The unusually formatted, racy chittaswaram, said to have been composed by vidwan T.M. Thyagarajan, eminently suited the instrument and  added pep to the short song. The main piece was an expansive alapana in Kalyanavasantam, soaked in emotion. The guru and the sishya played second fiddle to each other with such empathy that it was a seamless build up to a high point and resolution. The kriti Sree Venkatesam in Kalyanavasantam with the Guruguha mudra (attributed to Muthuswami Dikshitar and to Ambi Dikshitar)  is a beautiful composition, regardless of whoever might be the composer. The raga seems to have dictated the treatment for the swaraprastara which proved to be an object lesson in sustaining the mood set by the alapana and the song. The brief and sharp tani avartanam was followed by the enchanting Muralidhara Gopala in Mand, and the concert concluded on a meditative note Madhava mamava deva in Neelambari. Kanyakumari’s total identification with her instrument lets the playing go almost on autopilot as her fingers fly over the strings. To have trained a disciple to share the dais on an almost equal participation speaks volumes for her as a teacher of extraordinary competence and generosity.

A rich and ringing voice ensured instant appeal to Manimaran’s concert, from the opening syllables of the viruttam in Nata. Swaminatha paripalaya was crowned with an assertive swaraprastara, far from the run of the mill kind. The rest of the concert was a welcome pack of Tamil compositions. A spirited alapana of Suddha Saveri entirely in akaaram was followed by the Papanasam Sivan kriti Arumuga adimaiyai kai viduthal aramalla. The pallavi which sounds like a statement in prose, metamorphed into evocative lyrics through the power of the music. Sound pathantaram, adherence to the sangati build up and a clear enunciation of the lyrics breathed life into the song. Sivan followed again with the Poorvikalyani kriti Ksheera sagara. The raga Nadanamakriya spells poignance and when it comes at the tailend of the concert enveloping bhakti soaked lyrics, it can be a moving experience. It did here when Manimaran concluded with the Tevaram Pattharai panivaarkal ellaarkkum adiyen. The judicious use of canned applause at the right moments created the aura of a packed auditorium and enhanced the concert experience.

A plethora of organisations have sprung up at home and abroad to provide a platform to a host of young musicians, performing from their homes. Sa Ni Da Pa Live operates from the US and some of the talents they have showcased are indicative of the vast unexplored hinterland of unseen and unheard artists, who deserve to be heard and encouraged. Sharada Karthik, who has been into music for three decades, had the advantage of having Sriram Brahmanandam accompany her on the mridangam (from a different venue), during lockdown and isolation. Opening on a bright note with Marakoti sundari in Bahudari, a composition of GNB, she took up Chintayamam in Bhairavi as the main piece. Competent alapana and swaraprastara and rendering of  the kriti testified to her maturity and involvement in the art. A lovely tillana in Durga composed by Lalgudi Jayaraman concluded the short and commendable mini concert. Rucha Muley launched on Pooria
Dhanasree and Bagesree, which testified to years of training in Hindustani music. Endowed with a voice that coursed up and down with comfort, she presented a rich fare in the short span. Nisha Kulkarni took off into Madhukauns and her powerful and melodious voice explored the emotional content of
the raga.

Watching and listening to these young set of talents, one could not but admire and appreciate their commitment to their art and their enthusiasm and involvement. It is a matter of conjecture whether
they would have many
performance opportunities or other avenues to pursue a career in music. But the talent, training and practice are unmistakable. The digital platform is a great opportunity for them to be noticed and brought to
the fore.

The descendants of vidwan Sathur A.G. Subramaniam paid a novel tribute to their ancestor through a Nada Nivedanam by twenty of his grand and great-grand children rendering a rare song made famous by him and his disciples. Singing from their respective homes in several countries and continents, they created a musical mosaic that was posted on Facebook and YouTube. Two young girls also presented it in dance alongside. This was conceptualised by his daughters Lalitha Santhanam and Bhuvaneswari Rajagopalan, popularly known as Sathur Sisters. Taught and monitored by them, this gem of a song, Sree Jagadamba kadamba vananta vasini Meenakshi maye, came through with the purity of a venerated pathantaram and the sense of devotion and dedication to their forebear and the Goddess of Madurai. Inheritance of an art is a treasure that can only augment with time. Not many families realise the value of this and the pursuit of music as career or a serious hobby was not an option until a few decades ago. The younger generation migrating to alien shores for career prospects often lost touch with the art or maintained a casual interest; and the second generation lost the context altogether. The new millenium has been witness to a resurgence in the arts at home and abroad and the gen next has taken to it with a sense of belonging and pride in their heritage. This family is a telling example of this phenomenon where the ancestor was more a legend whom they had never met. And they took to his art on their own impulse.

Strung in the appealing ragamalika of Chenchuritti, Punnagavarali and Nadanamakriya, the song Sree Jagadamba has an unusual form and gait with evocative namavali. While the song is given as a single raga composition in some texts, Sathur’s version was in ragamalika. The composer is variously known as Ramachandra Bawa, Ramachandra Bhave and Ramachandra Kavi. Musicologist Premeela Gurumurthy informs that there was a kathakar called Ramachandra Morgaonkar Buwa, a contemporary of Serfoji, in Tanjavur. It seems probable that he might have been the composer of this song. Scholar and musicologist, B.M. Sundaram informs that the composer’s descendants are still living in his old house in Tanjavur. He also says that the kathakars composed and sang several songs as illustrations for their story, which were known as “kathai uruppadis”. This song which is in Manipravalam of Sanskrit, Telugu, and Marathi, and does not adhere to the kriti or keertana format, is a movement in emotive appeal. This gem cannot be a loner from a gifted creator, there must be more. One can only wish that someone would unearth them and add them to the inexhaustible storehouse of compositions that form the body of Carnatic music.

A forward from a friend brought a picture in a quadruple frame. A girl was dancing in one while a girl was doing nattuvangam in the next. The third frame showed a girl singing and the fourth was that of a girl accompanying on the violin. I did a double take and found that it was the same girl in all the four!  It was the multi-talented, versatile Parur M.S. Ananthasree of the famed Parur clan of musicians. Granddaughter of  Parur M.S. Anantharaman and daughter of Parur M.A. Sundareswaran, both violin vidwans, Ananthasree has trained in violin, vocal music, and Bharatanatyam. She has also proved her mettle in composing music for dance. Another instance of the younger generation pursuing the art of the family forward.

Then there was the deluge of 345 artists presented in 245 concerts spread over 20 days.This was the unique Viswa Veena Mahayagyam organised by Narada Gana Sabha and The Bharata Ilango Foundation for Art and Culture (BIFAC),  curated by veena vidwan Kannan Balakrishnan and hosted by Kalakendra, the crusader for the performing arts on the digital platform. A festival of this magnitude calls for separate coverage.

Music is sacred, music is spiritual, music is bhakti, music is meditation, music is a tapas.... Wait a minute, music is fun too! This generation is aware of it and enjoys and imparts the fun. The seven-minute short film by the cousins Anantha R. Krishnan and musician Abhishek Raghuram, produced by Madrasana is a quirky and unique treat in rhythm play—and play it is for the virtuoso pair. They call it ‘super heavy, ultra magic’. Both are grandsons of the mridangam maestro Palghat Raghu and are his disciples, one a left hander and the other right.They play on two mridangams  facing  each other within arm’s length and indulge in top speed variations on the first syllables ta dhi tom nam of the mridangam lesson and build on them. With cameras on either side and from the top, the rhythm goes on with the young men playing on one another’s valantalai (right side) and toppi (left side), giving hi fives, snapping of fingers and beats on the lap. On the beat and syncopated, the syllables go nonstop with the precision of a metronome. Inherited and perfected with passion and perseverance, laya runs in their veins and reigns supreme in this exhilarating manifestation.

The lockdown has also provided an excellent opportunity to well known organisations to share good programmes from their archives. Natyarangam, the dance wing of the Narada Gana Sabha, started webcast of two of its thematic festivals held in the last couple of years. The first was Devi Bharatham, where the aspects of Devi were presented under the titles Janani, Harini, Paalini, Vani and Poorani by Divya Shivasundar, Meera Sreenarayanan, Pavithra Bhat, Praveen Kumar and Narthaki Nataraj, respectively. The performances, which were posted one per weekend, gave enough time for viewers around the globe to catch it and not get surfeited. This was followed by the dances of the Chithra Bharatham festival where the paintings of artists like Thota Tharani, Keshav, Ramesh Gorjala, Ravi Varma and S. Rajam were presented by Rama Vaidyanathan, Lakshmi Ramaswamy, K.P. Rakesh, Lavanya Ananth and Navia Natarajan respectively. These two festivals saw the blossoming of the talents with new ideas in concept and execution. Over the years, Natyarangam’s  annual thematic  festivals (featuring an insightful talk followed by the dance) have achieved a twofold purpose—the progress and maturity of the individual artists and the advancement of the art in a dynamic progression.

Sruti has been featuring very informative and interesting lecdems from its archives on its YouTube channel. One such was  ‘Ragas created by Tyagaraja’  presented by versatile musician-scholar
Sriram Parasuram, during the Lecdem Mela on Tyagaraja, organised by Sruti and the Music Forum in 2017. He illustrated what a master craftsman Tyagaraja was in his creation of ragas and in being the first to explore some of the melakarta ragas like Keeravani. He classified Tyagaraja’s methodology into four—namely varjya (dropping of notes), vakra (changing the linear order of notes), anga (putting together parts of different scales) and janya (born of a parent scale). It came as a surprise when he mentioned that there were more than eighty ragas that Tyagaraja had composed. It was a greater surprise to be told that the familiar and oft repeated ragas like Hamsanadam were his creations as were Chandrajyoti and Jaganmohini. Sriram could have gone on for hours and the audience willing to journey with him all the way wandering around the glorious garden of ragas. Perhaps he should plan on a series of talks on the subject, which would be a veritable archive for the musician and the student as well as a fountain which could quench the thirst of the rasika.

The lockdown lifted, my serenade—the nightingale in my neighbourhood, seems to have flown away and how
I miss the music!

SUJATHA VIJAYARAGHAVAN

(Writer, musician and dance scholar)