KVN's concert at Cleveland (4/10/93)
Srini Pichumani
performance, and was remarkable in many many ways -- for the poise
with which he began and moved through the various pieces, for the
consistent sublimity of his renditions, for the purity of
shruti/gamaka/laya in his music, for his unflinching classicism,
and for the perfection with which he rendered the lyrics; I could
go on and on. All these elements were fused into one classic whole
and the result was glorious music. KVN's brilliance, in contrast
to other famous Carnatic artistes, is his overall aesthetic vision
and this concert was once again a perfect testament to that.
His accompaniments that afternoon were Vellore Ramabhadran(mrdangam)
and NAgai Muralidharan(violin) both of whom are maestros in their
own right. Here is the fare KVN presented that day, as I remember it :
1.viribONI(varNam) -- bhairavI -- Ata
2.endarO mahAnubhAvulu -- shrI -- Adi
3. ... mahA gaNapatim -- nATTai --
4.sogasugA mrdanga tAlamu -- shrIranjanI -- rUpakam
5.vAdErA daivamu manasA -- pantuvarALI -- Adi
6.O jagadambA -- AnandabhairavI -- Adi
7.manavi nAlakinca rAdaTE -- naLinakAnti -- Adi
8.nidhi cAla sukhamA -- kalyANI -- mishra cApu
9.Om nama shivAya -- hindOLam --
10.tatvameruga taramA -- garuDadhvani -- rUpakam
11.rA rA mA inTi dAka -- asAverI -- Adi
12.mahima deliya taramA (RTP)-- shankarAbharaNam -- tishra rUpakam(4 kaLai)
13.varugalAmO ayyA -- mAnji -- mishra cApu
14.krShNA nI beganE bAro -- yamunAkalyANI -- mishra cApu
15.tiruppugazh don't remember -- aruNagirinAdar
16.bhujagashAyinO(mangaLam) -- yadukulakAmbhOji --
Composers: tyAgarAjA -- 2,4,5,7,8,10,11
svarNa venkatesha dIkShitar -- 3,9
shyAmA shAstrI -- 6
gOpAlakrShNa bhArati -- 13
vyAsarAya -- 14
paccimiriam AdiappaiA -- 1
svAti tirunAL -- 16
As you can see, there were a lot of perennial KVN favourites; however,
contrary to what one would expect, they were very welcome since every
one of them was "organic"; never once does this seasoned veteran
listlessly render anything. There were also a couple of new items and
a rAgam-tAnam-pallavI (RTP) which caught many by surprise since it
came fairly late into the concert.
The alApanai of shrIranjanI, AnandabhairavI were crisp and to the
point; KVN's gamaka shuddham in these and other alApanais are always
an eye-opener. When he sang "sogasugA", tyAgarAjA's lyrics in that
kriti "sokkajEyu dhIrudu evvadO" seemed to acquire a fresh new meaning
since KVN was himself mesmerizing the entire audience with his own
purity of melody and rhythm. The classic "nidhi cAla sukhamA" was
rendered elaborately, followed by a mrdangam solo. His rendition of
the Hindolam piece, and "varugalAmO" were brilliant -- the latter one,
especially, for its poignancy. The RTP was done elaborately with all
formal aspects like trikAlam, tishram, stage-by-stage AlApana; Vellore
Ramabhadran's muted accompaniment to the tAnam was excellent. Nagai
Muralidharan is one of the front-ranking violin accompaniments these
days; his playing was marked by sensitivity throughout. KVN's vigor &
stamina have certainly decreased over the years; hence, the way in
which he sustained the flow of the concert with somewhat of a
"mute on" feature in his voice/tonal production, was all the more
interesting -- in this effort, he was very ably supported by his
accompanists; one can't thank them enough.
--Srini.
ps: If this was such a sublime experience, what followed KVN's
concert was the ridiculous. The jugalbandhi of Ramani/U.Srinivas
was RANK EXHIBITIONISM -- no other word for it. After hearing
shrImUShNam RAja Rao play mrdangam that day, I felt like changing
his prefix to "Washermanpet Raja Rao" or better still
"vaNNArapETTai Raja Rao" which has a better twang :-)
I am planning on starting SPCM -
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty towards Mrdangams
anyone interested???
pps: I don't know how this locale of Madras got the name vaNNArapettai
(Washermanpet in English); probably there were/are a lot of
laundrymen in that area.
P J Narayanan
>KVN's concert at the Cleveland Tyagaraja Aradhana was a masterly
>performance, and was remarkable in many many ways -- for the poise
>with which he began and moved through the various pieces, for the
>consistent sublimity of his renditions, for the purity of
>shruti/gamaka/laya in his music, for his unflinching classicism,
>and for the perfection with which he rendered the lyrics;
I agree completely with you. KVN is the cosummate musician. It is a
sheer pleasure to watch him sing too. The devotion/involvement with
which he brings out each note gives one the closest look at nAdOpAsana
that one can get. Let me take the liberty to say a few words about the
performance.
I thought KVN started off slowly (except for the Bhairavi varnam) and
got into form as the concert proceeded. Vadera in Panthuvarli was part
of the standard fare. Why don't they sing ragas like
Hemavati/Dharmavati/Vachaspati/Subhapantuvarali as the `customary'
prati madhyama ragam? He sang O Jagadamba in Ananda Bhairavi very
well, discounting the trouble he had to recollect some of its
sahityam. It was surprising to hear two compositions by Chidambaram
Swarna Venkatesha Deekshitar during the concert -- one in Natta and
another in Hindolam. "Om namassivaya" in Hindolam was very good, I
thought. In fact, any composition will sound very good if KVN renders
it. If I can compose even a quarter-baked kriti, I would try to get
KVN to sing it! He then sang a moderately long but effective alapana
of Kalyani and sang Nidhichalasukhama. Surprisingly, "mamatA
bandhanayuta" in this was the only niraval he sang in the kacheri,
given his usual flair for niravals. I, however, personally thought
that he did not give elaborate this kriti sufficiently.
The main piece of the performance was a Ragam-Tanam-Pallavi in
Sankarabharanam, in 4-kala chowkka tisra jAti rUpaka tALam. His
AlApana in 3 segments was excellent. tAnam was short and crisp. KVN
seemed to sculpt Sankarabharanam out of the void, both aurally and
visually! The pallavi "mahima teliya taramA? srI rAmA" was rendered
very well with the requisite anulOmam, pratilOmam and tisram. He also
rendered the pallavi in 2-kala and 1-kala chowkkams. The violinist and
KVN himself had some trouble with tALam during the fast 1-kala chowkka
rendition, but the points had already been scored as far as I am
concerned. He didn't sing elaborate swarams for it, or sing any
rAgamAlikA swarams. [In fact, does KVN fall prey to the rAgamAlika
trick at all ?] The post RTP phase was even more memorable, as he was
getting into form as time went by. Hindolam piece was well rendered.
One of its charanams contained "siddhArtha sankarAya.....Om
namassivAya." Wonder if KVN sang it because Siddhartha Sankar Ray, the
Indian Ambassador, was sitting in the front row! The best piece of the
performance, IMHO, was "VarukalAmo" in mAnji. That was rendered with
such purity and bhavam that it brought tears to my eyes. Though part
of his standard fare, kr~ShnA nI bEganE still was very soulful,
inspite of the trouble he was having with a minor feedback hum and all
that.
All in all, a wonderful performance by a real master! The old timers
were heard remarking that KVN had lost some of the power of his voice
with age. I felt it maintained a sharp edge on sruti, clarity and
bhAvam. Nagai Muralidharan was excellent in accompaniment and during
his solo parts. So was Vellore Ramabhadran. Overzealous accompanists
can spoil such a sublime performance easily. Due credit should be
given both to Nagai and Vellore for supporting the master adequately.
Vellore's tani at the end of the KalyAni piece lacked spirit, for some
reason, IMHO.
>ps: If this was such a sublime experience, what followed KVN's
>concert was the ridiculous. The jugalbandhi of Ramani/U.Srinivas
>was RANK EXHIBITIONISM -- no other word for it.
Can't disagree with this. They also had the misfortune of performing
after the sublime experience of KVN's kacheri. I don't think these
jugalbandis are any good. They can't but highlight the gimmicky and
exhibitionist aspects of music. They necessarily reduce to a show of
talam and fireworks. The jugalbandi, however, was better attended than
KVN's performance and the audience seemed to love it, if the applauses
were any indication. [As an aside: Someone ought to write a manual on
clapping in music performances. The audience in Cleveland seemed to
clap whenever anything changed. I couldn't believe they clapped in the
middle of the bEgada varNam that Hyderabad brothers sang.] The
response to any display of rhythmic fireworks (with shrImuShNam, K. V.
Prasad on mrdangams and VinAyakarAm on ghaTam) make me think that in
25 years, Carnatic music concerts will consist mostly of 4 or more
percussion instruments and elaborate rhythmic fireworks. They would
mention that the percussionists will be accompanied on the vocal by,
say, KVN!
Hyderabad brothers gave a memorable performance on Sunday, 11th,
accompanied by Delhi Sunderarajan on the violin, Trichy Sankaran on
the mrdangam and Vinayakram on the ghatam. Seshachary and Raghavachary
have crisp and `clean' voices. Their alapanams, kriti-rendering and --
especially -- kalpanaswara rendering were excellent. The highlight of
the performance, IMHO, was the slow and methodical development of
latAngi in the alapana by the brother-in-lesser-focus, Raghavachary.
Very impressive. Seshachary's alapana of nAyaki was also very good.
The tani by Sankaran and Vinayakram was long, but was the best of the
three heard over the weekend, IMHO.
The Cleveland aradhanas are getting to be big events. The array of
musicians brought from India is getting longer year by year. (Did
someone mention a number of 13 for this year ?) The hall was VERY nice
and had fantastic acoustics. The arrangements were very well done
also. That is impressive, considering the number of attendees.
PJN
--
---
Robotics Institute, CMU p...@cs.cmu.edu
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
---
Srini Pichumani
>after the sublime experience of KVN's kacheri. I don't think these
>jugalbandis are any good. They can't but highlight the gimmicky and
>exhibitionist aspects of music. They necessarily reduce to a show of
>talam and fireworks.
PJN, when Lalgudi/Ramani/R.Venkataraman played the violin/vENu/vINa
trio for a while in the late 60s/early 70s, their efforts weren't
entirely a waste. The couple of LPs that they released carry excellent
music and are indicative of what is possible.
>[As an aside: Someone ought to write a manual on
>clapping in music performances. The audience in Cleveland seemed to
>clap whenever anything changed. I couldn't believe they clapped in the
>middle of the bEgada varNam that Hyderabad brothers sang.]
Interestingly, KVN is one of those rare musicians who has publicly
mentioned that clapping is a totally unwelcome intrusion of modern
times. Audiences would be well-advised to consider this suggestion
seriously without dismissing it as being xenophobic or revisionist.
Granted that at the culmination of a rousing svara-kalpanA or tani
Avartanam, clapping is not entirely out of place; but after a serene
rendition of a viruttam/shloka or after a moving rendition of pieces
like VarugalAmO ayyA, clapping seems so superfluous that we might as
well do away with it; it mars the atmosphere created by the rendition.
The same is true when the artiste holds a note, long and pure.
[As they say, "the melodic correlate of silence is the pure note";
therefore, you can imagine the dismay when someone like
Pt.Jasraj or Shankaranarayanan holds a pure note, and the audience
breaks into "paDa paDa paDa paDa paT"].
-Srini.
P J Narayanan
>PJN, when Lalgudi/Ramani/R.Venkataraman played the violin/vENu/vINa
>trio for a while in the late 60s/early 70s, their efforts weren't
>entirely a waste. The couple of LPs that they released carry excellent
>music and are indicative of what is possible.
Yes, I did exaggerate for effects. I do enjoy the vIna-vEnu-violin
records. But, I think the taste of the current times tend to emphasize
the fast rhythmic aspects. That is more likely to come through in a
jugal-bandi setting than others. Just my opinion. On similar lines,
someone told me that Ramani and Lalgudi played a number of jugalbandis
in a US tour in the early eighties. They emphasized the melodic
aspects and were excellent. Does anyone know about it or have
recordings of any?
>Interestingly, KVN is one of those rare musicians who has publicly
>mentioned that clapping is a totally unwelcome intrusion of modern
>times.
>The same is true when the artiste holds a note, long and pure.
>[As they say, "the melodic correlate of silence is the pure note";
>therefore, you can imagine the dismay when someone like
>Pt.Jasraj or Shankaranarayanan holds a pure note, and the audience
>breaks into "paDa paDa paDa paDa paT"].
Couldn't agree more with this! The attittude of
clap-if-anything-pauses-or-changes mars the atmosphere. I remember a
concert by T. R. Subramaniam in NY in 1991 in which he sang the lines
"asatOmA saTgamaya, tamasOmA jyOtirgamaya, mrTyOrmA amrtam gamaya; Om
shAnti, shAnti, shAnti-hi" in place of a mangaLam. After he was done,
I hardly felt like lifting my head or opening my eyes, and felt most
irritated by the clapping! That is when I realized even a mangaLam can
move one.
>-Srini.
din...@charlie.usd.edu
>KVN's concert at the Cleveland Tyagaraja Aradhana was a masterly
>performance, and was remarkable in many many ways -- for the poise
>--Srini.
>
I thought it was yamankalyAN. or is it ? Experts, can you please enlighten
me.
- Dinesh Krishnajois.
Mohan Krishnamoorthy
> Yes, I did exaggerate for effects. I do enjoy the vIna-vEnu-violin
> records. But, I think the taste of the current times tend to emphasize
> the fast rhythmic aspects. That is more likely to come through in a
> jugal-bandi setting than others. Just my opinion. On similar lines,
> someone told me that Ramani and Lalgudi played a number of jugalbandis
> in a US tour in the early eighties. They emphasized the melodic
> aspects and were excellent. Does anyone know about it or have
> recordings of any?
Yes, I do have a recording of one of the concerts they gave on that
tour. It is one of the best concert recordings I have. Yes, you are
correct in that the emphasis is totally on pure melodic aspects -- not
quite like the jugalbandis of today, in which fireworks take precedence
over all else.
I don't have the cassette on me at the moment. However, from memory, the
recording I have starts off with a beautiful rendering of a rare varnam
in kOsalam. The vAtApi ganapathim in hamsadhwani that follows is quite
superb. A kriti in Ananda bhairavi is moving. It reminds me of KVN's
thyAgarAja yOga vaibhavam, but I rather suspect the kriti they play is
something else. The main piece they elaborate on is chakkani rAjA in
karaharapriya, followed by a rather long thaniAvartanam -- possibly
because they used a double mridangam for the concert (one of the
mridangists is Ramnad Raghavan; I can't quite remember the name of the
other off the top of my head). This is followed by a rendition of mA
mava sadA varadE in nAtakurunji. Of the `tukkudAs' that bring the
programme to a close, the kAvadi chindu, or the mAgudi (snake-charmer-
type tune) in punnAgavarAli is memorable.
The recording quality is acceptable. Having said that, the quality, the
purity and the elegance of the music is such that, I would listen to this
tape even if poor recording quality meant that I had to sit inside one of
the speakers to hear the music!
/Mohan
-------
Mohan Krishnamoorthy, CSIRO, Division of Maths and Stats,
(Off) Pvt Bag 10, Clayton, Melbourne, VIC 3168, Australia
(Res) 2/124, Wellington Road, Clayton, VIC 3168, Australia
Phone: (Off) +61 3 542 2263; (Res): +61 3 543 4248
Fax: +61 3 542 2474; email: mo...@mel.dms.CSIRO.AU
Srini Pichumani
I had commented briefly on the jugalbandhi that followed,
in my postscript.
My comment on mrdangam vidvAn Raja Rao was entirely satirical
in nature; and was solely in reference to the loudness with
which he played the mrdangam that day. There was no other
intention whatsoever. I regret any personal discourtesy
conveyed by my remark.
Sincerely,
-Srini.