SUBBUDU...
ramamurthy Suryanarayan
I have come across several music reviews by one Subbudu.
Right from criticising semmangudi, he also asked m.s.anantharaman
to stop playing violin, bombay sisters to stop their acrobatics,
Bhimsen Joshi not to think carnatic rasikas are ignorant and so on.
He even offered to shave his head if any one else plays Lathangi
better than Mandolin Srinivas.
Does any one know Subbudu's background. His reviews are
full of technicalities which i hardly follow. He was recently
honoured on his 70th birthday by semmangudi
srikanth
ssam...@poppy.ucdavis
NOTHING IS SUPERIOR IN THE THREE WORLDS THAN MUSIC AND DANCE
Krishna Kunchithapadam
Subbudu (P.V.Subramanyam in real life) is the doyen of
Carnatic music critics. His incisive remarks and reviews
alternate between the caustic and the vitriolic. He has clashed
heads with almost every musician around and does not hesitate to
blast them for what he considers a sub-standard performance.
The Tamil magazine "Kumudam" had an issue guest-edited by
Subbudu where he discusses in detail his background. Try to see
if you can get a copy from India. The issue was dated sometime
in the first half of 1991. It makes really enjoyable reading.
One of his better known remarks - "Semmangudi is not a
Sangeetha Kalanidhi, but a "Sali" (Tamil for the mucous
associated with cold) Kalanidhi". I think he has had most of his
arguments with Semmangudi.
The best way to read Subbudu's reviews are to ignore the
technical details and concentrate on his overall description of
the performance. BTW, Subbudu is bald, so his offer to shave his
head does not mean much.
The "Kumudam" issue I mentioned earlier had a cartoon
story by Subbudu, which he claimed was based on a true incident.
I found the story hilarious and will try to recount it as best as
I can here. However, you need to know a little about Mela ragas
to enjoy this one. The story was in Tamil and it does lose much
of its charm in the English translation, I really cannot capture
the subtle Tamil phrases which add to the enjoyment of the story.
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Title: Kaashaaya Bhushini
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mr.X was a well known Carnatic critic and reviewer for a
popular daily. During the December concert season, he would
write excellent reviews of the ongoing concerts in the Sabhas and
enjoyed a large readership. However, Mr.X was a fraud. He was
totally ignorant of the fine aspects of classical music. The
secret of his insightful reviews was that he had befriended Mrs.Y
who was as knowledgeable in matters musical as Mr.X was ignorant.
Mr.X would always seek out Mrs.Y before the concerts and cling on
to her like a leach, extracting from her all the nuances of the
performance, and would write it up for the papers (atleast he was
a good writer even though the ideas were not his own).
One evening calamity struck. Mr.X was at the Sabha where
one of the most eagerly anticipated concerts of the season was
about to begin. But Mrs.Y was nowhere to be seen. Mr.X got
panicky and decided to give any thoughts about a review. The
concert had begun and he couldn't say what was going on.
Then, suddenly, Mr.X spotted Mr.Z, whom he knew to be a
cheeky but extremely talented and knowledgeable journalist. Mr.Z
was not known for his great writing but Mr.X knew that he could
collect his review material from him. So, at the conclusion of
the varnam, Mr.X slowly moved to the seat next to Mr.Z, gave him
an oily smile and began to question him about the performance.
Meanwhile, the artiste had started out on the next piece.
As expected, Mr.X was totally foxed and naturally turned to Mr.Z
for explanations. Of course, he could not openly ask Mr.Z to
identify the raga or tala of the song. The conversation that took
place was as follows:
Mr.X : Z, aahaa! What an excellent beginning. The alapana
has touched me deeply. He has captured the essence of
the raga in his opening phrase itself.
Mr.Y : Yes Anna. You are quite right. No doubt that he is
the most sought after artiste this season.
Mr.X : ... Hmmm, the name of this raga, it just seems to
have stuck in my throat. I can remember every aspect
of its lakshana but its name just eludes me for now,
maybe I am getting old ...
Mr.Y : You must be joking Anna, what can a novice like me
say to you that you don't know already. Anyway, the
raga is of course "Kaashaya Bhushini".
Mr.X : Of course, how silly of me to have forgotten it. And
its arohana and avarohana ... mmmm ...
Mr.Y : Yes, it is a janya of the 46th melakarta raga. And
its most ranjaka aspect is that the Chatursruti
Dhaivata appears as the Bhashanga note.
Mr.X : Wonderful, yes, yes, how beautifully he has brought
out the Bhashanga swara at the very start of his
alapana.
Mr.Y : And I don't need to add that the arohana is Anthara
Gandhara varja.
Mr.X : Indeed, I seem to remember that Koteeswara Iyer had
composed a soulful kriti in this raga. Oh well, are
you attending the concert at the Music Academy
tomorrow evening, I will be there you know and it
will be a good experience for you ....
Well, well, well. Mr.X's joy knew no bounds. "What a
moron", he tought about Mr.Z, "simply gave me the everything I
wanted without suspecting anything", and proceeded to write up a
great review as was his custom.
The next day he proudly stepped out of his house on his
way to the newspaper office, when he ran into Mrs.Y. And as
expected, he proceeded to describe to her the concert review in
great detail.
Mr.X : "Aha Mrs.Y. How are you? You certainly missed a
great performance yesterday. What bhava and poise.
And the best part of the concert was his piece in
Kaashaaya Bhushini."
Mrs.Y : Kaashaaya Bhushini ?? !!
Mr.X : Yes, of course. It is not a very popular raga and so
I don't expect you to be familiar with it. But it is
a janya of the 46th melakarta raga. And in the
composition, he brought out the Charursruti Dhaivata
as the Bhashanga note so beautifully -- at the right
time, without any excess. And the glide from the
Rishaba to the Madhyama without touching the varja
Anthara Gandhara note, aha, I just cannot describe
the feeling ...."
Mrs.Y by now had realised what had gone on and explained
to Mr.X that he was about to make a colossal fool of himself.
Mr.X sobered up and turned back home, a sadder and wiser man.
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That's about it. I hope I didn't mutilate the story too
much. BTW, "Kaashaayam" in Tamil means a bitter medicinal drink.
A good choice of a name of the raga which taught Mr.X a bitter
lesson.
-- Krishna
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| Krishna Kunchithapadam kri...@cs.wisc.edu |
| Department of Computer Sciences |
| University of Wisconsin, Madison |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
Srini Pichumani
mixture of svaras (solfa), jatis (rhythmic syllables or "sollu" or "bol" like
ta-ka-dhi-mi, ta-dhin-gina-thom etc), and words.
However, there are many kritis/tillanaas/pada-varnams etc that might fit this
bill. So, the nomeclature is a little confusing.
In the dance arena, where it most likely originated, a svarajati can be
distinguished clearly from a padam or a javali;
Anyway, the name svarajati is also used to refer to the compositions
Kaamaakshi Ambaa! Anudinamu MaravaganE in Bhairavi
Raave Himagiri Kumaari in Todi
Kaamaakshi in Yadhukulakaamboji
which do not have any "jatis" at all; Syaama Sastri probably patterned these
compositions after existing svarajatis, hence the name has stuck on to these
compositions as well.
Except for a lack of anupallavi, these svarajatis seem very similar to
the Pancharatna kritis of Tyaagaraja; the svaraas of every charanam are
rendered followed by the saahityam for the charanam.
----------------------------
In article <11...@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu> ra...@sundrops.cs.ucdavis.edu (ramamurthy Suryanarayan) writes:
> Does any one know Subbudu's background. His reviews are
>full of technicalities which i hardly follow. He was recently
>honoured on his 70th birthday by semmangudi
Subbudu (talk of coincidences! I was reading his review of Mandolin Srinivas'
concert only yesterday) whose real name is P.V.Subrahmanyam, has been writing
music reviews since the late 30s in various Tamil magazines. He is known to
be a very caustic/forthright/sparkling/extremist critic; sometimes he places
an artiste in cloud nine or sometimes he trashes him totally.
Nevertheless, he commends talent wherever he finds it.
He got into a lot of trouble with Semmangudi early on; around 1955 or so, he
suggested that Semmangudi retire, in his review of Semmangudi's concert at
Delhi. For that, he, a clerical official in the Finance(?) Ministry, is
supposed to have been reprimanded by TTK, the then Finance Minister, and
a great backer of Semmangudi.
Anyway, nowadays, he restricts himself to calling Semmangudi's fans as a
cult. And, he made his peace with Semmangudi a year or two back.
These days, he reviews the December music season concerts in Madras, in the
Tamil daily Dinamani, and in Indian Express; and in other weekly magazines
too.
[Dinamani even had a newsitem on the front page when Subbudu arrived in Madras
for the 91-92 music season. The newsitem said that he had reached Madras by
the morning train; and lots of hot/hot reviews (paraparappaana vimarsanam)
are in store for the expectant readers]
Subbudu's Tamil reviews are usually in very idiomatic language; and are written
in an intensely personal style; and usually has "screaming" subtitles.
For example, in a section where he talks about
U.Srinivas' svara korvais, the title is "karanam tappinaal maranam" to refer
to the razor's edge that U.Srinivas was walking as he belted out the korvais.
(the literal meaning is, "karanam if missed (results in) death";
karanam/adavu etc are terms to refer to the dance postures and footwork which
are supposed to be rendered with precision and accurate timing).
Elsewhere, where he is reviewing Alarmelvalli's dance, the title is
"valli maan, pulli maan" tulli tulli ....
"valli deer, spotted deer" ...
to refer to the sprightly way in which she danced.
Let me hasten to mention that he understands the Carnatic/BharataNaatya idiom
very well; and is quite strong on the lakshana and lakshya aspects -- the
grammatical and the aesthetic aspects -- of music/dance. He is also a
competent harmonium player; and has crusaded quite a bit for the adoption of
that instrument, in its own right.
--Srini.