Varshikothsavam Festival

Nov 16-18, 2007 by
Shiva Vishnu Temple of South Florida

Have you ever wondered about how it would feel like to participate in a homam or yagam conducted by someone like the sage Bharadwaja? I used to.

In Shiva Vishnu Temple of South Florida our knowledgeable priests frequently conduct homams. During one of his visits here my father conducted a large scale Ganapathi Homam for Ganesh Chathurthi. As I sit through these homams or yagams I would imagine myself sitting alongside great sages. Would it be preposterous if I said the yagams from the mythological times matched close to those at our temple? Roll the clock back and go to Kumbabhishekam in Nov 2001. I will meet you there in a minute.

My grandmother was responsible for creating my interest in Hindu mythology. She likes to go and listen to 'upanyasams' in the evenings. She would want me or my brother to walk with her back home. Grudgingly we will comply. Some days I would go a bit early and listen to the ending part of the discourses. Slowly but surely, I was drawn to the upanyasam of Brahma Sri T.S. Balakrishna Sastrigal. His method of story telling was a very engaging “Hari Katha’ style with music accompaniment. When he rendered Mahabharatham in Sringeri Mandapam, Chennai for 45-days I did not miss a single day. He laid the foundation for whatever knowledge I have of Ramayanam, Bhagavatham and Mahabharatham. Also helped me formulate an image of how sages would have conducted the yagams and homams. Even now, I can close my eyes and listen to his powerful voice ringing in my ears.

Now, let me go to meet you on the Kumbabhishekam day at our temple which many of you will still remember like it was yesterday. The yaga shala was decorated like Kailasham on one side and Vaikhuntam on the other. Sri Savyasachi Swamigal, a diminutive priest, from Bangalore led the religious ceremonies at our function. Several of his disciples were at his side to help him with the yagam. The mantras were coming through in proper cadence and in unison from all of them. A few knowledgeable individuals in the audience also joined in the chant. We were all transported to a world beyond. Please tell me, how different would it have been at the Ashram of Bharadwaja Rishi? I think, not much.

As an interesting side note, “Savyasachi” is one of the names of Arjuna, the great archer in Mahabharatham. The name means ambidextrous – one who can use right hand and left hand equally well (“switch hitter” in baseball). How appropriate – symbolizing the followers of Shiva and Vishnu as two hands of the community?

I am not sure of the technical difference between yagam and homam, but I would venture to guess a yagam is done on a larger scale. Various items like ghee, cooked rice, dried fruits, nuts etc are offered through agni (fire) along with special mantras to propitiate particular deities. Even expensive silk sarees are placed in the agni for some special homams. The holy fire and the vibrations created by the mantras we chant form the medium for our offerings (ahuti) to reach the higher worlds. As I understood from Mr. Rangarajan, a long time resident of South Florida, the Gods and the Goddesses reside in the “chandas” which is the gap between the words in the mantra. Hence, it is important to say the mantras in proper cadence with accurate pronunciation and in tune. Homam is not a spectator sport or a concert. It can get very boring if you just watch. Try to chant the mantras in unison along with the priests and knowledgeable participants with a lot of concentration, involvement and precision. The joy it creates when we chant in unison the Gayathri mantras, Rudram, Chamakam, Purushasuktham, Sri Suktham etc is indescribable – experience it.

The sixth anniversary (varshikothsavam) of our Temple Kumbabhishekam function was celebrated from Nov 16-18, 2007. Special poojas to the Shiva Parivara deities and Vishnu Parivara deities were performed for one-and-a-half days each. This year happened to be very special because the last day of Kanda Sashti fell on the first day of the varshikothsavam. Festivities began with the Deepavali. It was heartening to see the kids enjoy the fireworks at the Temple. This was followed by 6-days of Kanda Sashti and three days of Varshikothsavam. On the final day we had the Kalyana Utsavam for Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu. Great job by the Temple Board members, Cultural Committee and volunteers.

Cultural Program: During the middle day of the Varshikothsavam celebrations the cultural committee brought to us activities including music and dance performances by local artists all day long. Let us talk about a few programs that I was able to attend and touched me in a special way. Please feel free to write back your comments on various performances for a compilation. Congratulations to all the participants.

The talent of our local community members is growing every year. The bhavam and grace of Bharatha Natyam dancers Shilpa Sridhar and Geetha Srinivasan were noteworthy. I have also been impressed by the musical talent of our community members. Madhu always delivers a soul stirring song and this time as no exception with his rendition of Kamalamba Bhajare. His 2-and-a-half year old daughter, Keerthana, was next to me and guessed the ragam correctly as Kalyani. The depth of music knowledge was evident in Dr. Ranjani Nagaswamy’s Varali krithi “Bangaru Kamatchi” popularized by the Maharajapuram family of musicians. I was reminded of my father singing the same krithi. The creativity of Sanjay Chandran was wonderful in his rendition of Panthuvarali. The maturity of Mrs. Vasumathy Vasudevan’s song in Neelambari was excellent. Mridangam thani avardhanam by Dr. Ramakrishnan would have been fitting, but no time. There were several wonderful performances by some new faces (to me).

The singing talent of Vandana & Supraja Murali (the Miami Sisters as Jayanthi would like to call them, pictured here accompanied on the mridangam by with Vikram Vasudevan) is worth noting. These two are showing a lot of promise. Their shruthi shuddham, show of emotions in their voices and pronunciation are impressive. They sang Saala Gallala in Arabhi. It is a very entertaining ragam with a lot of scope for gamakams. Vandana, the older of the two, has a mature voice and excellent control to lead the duet while Supraja provides great support and they sing like in one voice – great job. They will be competing at the Cleveland Aradhana in the children section next year – all the best. You will make South Florida community very proud. Their training in carnatic music comes from their mother, Mrs. Hema Murali, and it is very evident.

A couple of years ago, after one of the programs by Dr. Ramakrishnan, I wrote – “It is tough to find a woman mridangam player even in India and South Florida is no exception”. Sharda proved me wrong and I thank her for it. Dr. Ramakrishnan assembled a team of six mridangam players, Tejas Ramalingam, Tejas Rao, Sharda Ramakrishnan, Branavan Varadan, Nirushan Sivarasa and Prem Seetharaman, who are some of his advanced students to play to Madhu singing a lilting Kathana Kuthuhalam thillana written by Sri M.D. Ramanathan. Being a professor of mathematics Dr. Ramakrishnan always adds special counts requiring his students to perfectly time the strokes. The entry and exit of players into the sequence of playing is dramatic keeping the audience engaged. The mridangam program finished with a flourish as all the six players coming together to play in an energetic fashion. It certainly is a difficult task to ensure multiple mridangam artists are playing together since thalam is unforgiving. Dr. Ramakrishnan has done a great job. I would urge the students to have more group practice sessions. Out of these six students, my expectation is to hear six arangetrams and very soon.

I want to make a special mention of the graduates from Dr. Ramakrishnan’s school of mridangam – Vikram Vasudevan and Saheelan Sinnarajah. They accompanied many local artists with ease. It was also very heartening to see Vikram singing in Rithi Gowle with Saheelan playing to it – great show.

Next year, we will have a few NRI kids play violin as well. We will soon have a team of NRI kids ready to perform full length kutcheries. Then we will add a dancer to the mix, what do you think South Florida?

Discussions from previous commentaries:

Saptaswar Light Music Concert: My apologies to Keerthika. Her full name is Keerthika Ravikumar. The write up about the growth of Tamil Sangam must have touched a few hearts. As a community we should all be proud of our accomplishments. The singers, Sudha and Raghu, had some very nice words to describe the Tamil Sangam organizers and audience.

Music Season: Some of you wrote back about http://www.sangeethapriya.org/ as a great site. I listened to Maharajapuram Vishwanatha Iyer’s Mohanam from the 1956 Kutchery season in Music Academy, Chennai – it doesn’t get any better than this. For those of you who are going to India for the Kutcheri season, I am officially jealous. Are there any online sites for listening to kutcheries? Please let me know.

Jayanthi joins me in wishing you all a Happy Holiday season.
See you all at the next concert – when?
B. Seetharaman
Nov 24, 2007

Saptaswar Light Music

Nov 10, 2007
South Florida Tamil Sangam Banquet

Frankly I did not come to the program with the intention of writing a commentary like the ones I have done for the Carnatic music or Bharatha Natyam dance concerts. But after listening to the melodious program I was inspired to write. I was tossing between English and Tamil. Let me first write in English for my multi-lingual mailing list.

Before talking about the program, I felt it is important to give a preamble about the program sponsor, our South Florida Tamil Sangam (http://www.sfts.org/). It is an excellent organization with terrific people doing great service to Tamil language and the community at large. A Tamilian is supposed to live by the statement “Yádum úre yávarum kélir”, meaning “every town is my town and everyone is my relative” (the accent marks in the thanglish is to help with the pronunciation – my Spanish training finally pays off). South Florida Tamilians have lived up to and I am sure will continue to live up to this bold statement. For example, during the tragedies such as fire in a school in Kumbakonam, Tsunami and hurricane Wilma we came together to show our support to the affected families in several ways including financially, physically and morally. SFTS is also serving the local community by teaming with other non-profit organizations.

As a family we have been associated with SFTS for years as active members. Jayanthi and I have also served on the SFTS board. Both my children have participated in several programs and have been enriched by them. I would encourage the members to actively participate. I am sure there are activities that will suit your taste and talent. Choices include Tamil literary forums, Tamil class, variety programs, banquets, dramas, cultural programs, picnics, sports etc. In addition, SFTS publishes a magazine called Tamil Osai to bring out the poet in you. Let me tell you something folks – I wrote Tamil prose and poetry after a long time and surprised myself. Try it you will also surprise yourselves.

Our Sangam is now officially eight years young but unofficially a lot more. We have come a long way but we need to go much longer such as developing SFTS into a stage at the national and international levels. Working as a team, our future SFTS leaders and supporting members will surely take us there. Let us remember – “Onru pattál undu vázhvu nammil ottrumai neengidil anaivarkum tházhve” – “United we can achieve but divided we all go down”

The concert: The current SFTS board has brought to us yet another superb program and an enjoyable evening with friends. Saptaswar group (http://www.saptaswar.org/) from the Boston area performed at the annual SFTS banquet. I have heard one of the singers before, Sudha, when she visited us earlier. She has a mature voice and great control. But to be honest, I was a bit disappointed when I heard that the program is based on karaoke and not live orchestra. I realize it is expensive to bring a larger troupe of musicians and SFTS is still a relatively young organization with limited resources. But when Sudha started the evening with the song “Chinna Chinna Aasai” there was no turning back. The singers Sudha Rao and Raghu Saranathan carried the entire program on their voices. The quality of karaoke was also very good – powered by iPod, a computer, amp and speakers. Technology – you have come a long way baby.

It was a melodious evening. We were gently glided through the time dimension almost through the entire life of Tamil film industry. I am sure some of the “younger” fans would have preferred some “kuthu páttu” but most of the “young-at-hearts” were quite satisfied. The song selection, interaction with the audience, allowing the audience to participate and showing grace on stage were all excellent. I understand that they have a full orchestra back in Boston and they perform for several charity events in several Indian languages. Recently they raised $40,000 to fund Ekal Vidhyalaya (One teacher schools in Indian villages) – great work.

I always knew that the South Florida audience is knowledgeable when it comes to music of any kind. But I never expected one segment of our community to come out this strong. I am talking about children under the age of 8. Wow, their knowledge of recent Tamil songs is mind boggling. Should I thank or admonish SUN-TV and the DVD makers? Keerthika Masilamani was the leader of the pack. These kids can dance with grace, sing along, “name that tune” in one note and actually request songs.

The songs for the evening –
“Chinna Chinna Ásai (from Roja, you’ve got to fall in love with the lyrics)”,
“Panivizhum Malarvanam (Raghu even duplicated the patented laugh of SPB)”,
“Konja Néram (Chandramukhi – create the romantic mood)”,
“Káthal Óviyam (sorry - did nothing to me)”,
“Suttum Vizhi Chudaré (Gajini – ok if you like constant beats)”,
“Ithu Oru Pon Málai Pozhudu (sure is)”,
“Yen Enakku Mayakkam (from the remake of Naan Avanillai, packs a good punch)”,
“Kátrin Mozhi (my favorite song from my favorite movie Mozhi – a future classic?)”,
“Kokku Para para (Chandramukhi – kids had fun singing and dancing on the stage)”,
“Anru Vandadhum Adhé Nila (well, moon and this song will never go out of style)”,
“Pártha mudhal nále (from Vettai Aadu Vilaiyadu, peppy)”,
“Engéyum Eppódhum (Ninaiththaale Inikkum – limit on-stage audience participation)”,
“Másilla Unmai Kádhali (never dying classic)”,
“Áda varalám” “Palingunál Oru Máligai (classics by LR Eashwari)”,
“Unnai Kandu Nán (Deepavali song, could have been the first song of the evening)”,
“Vasantha Mullai (remix version from Pokkiri – Keerthika guessed it and I didn’t)”.
Closed the program with two Hindi numbers -
“Mera Nam Chin Chin Chin” and “Dum Maro Dum (in the Temple premises? Well, Hare Krishna Hare Ram will cleanse the sins)”.

When I asked for the list of songs they sang for the write-up, Sudha readily gave the list. But I think I read shorthand better – that handwriting is nowhere near their singing. I may have missed a few but most of the songs from the evening are in the list above.

Sudha has a very mature voice with lots of performance experience and it clearly showed. She led the duo in interacting with the audience. Raghu had a velvety voice. They both have solid foundation in music fundamentals. They sing the older film songs with a lot more ease. When it came to the newer songs voice gets subdued sometimes. It seemed like they specialize in melodious songs, at least for this evening. Choosing a few “kuthu páttu” like “Appadi Pódu Pódu” would have pleased one segment but no complaints here. I wish the group all the very best, they are doing a great service.

Discussions from previous commentaries:

Malladi Brothers Concert: I thank you all for taking the time to write back or let me know in person on how you feel about the commentaries. One comment stood out from Padmasri Adyar Lakshman Sir, a living legend. I quote his words of wisdom:

“It is very good to have music concerts in that area. People must get used to appreciate such good concerts. Actually it is good for dance students to develop musical knowledge. It is not that they only dance, any dance form. Especially for Bharata Natyam students it is very important to have musical knowledge and such concerts will help them build up the raga/thala understanding. What all can be done in music, in Bharata Natyam also one can bring. I wish and appreciate your effort to keep Florida develop listening to musical or instrumental concerts”.

Parents and Dance teachers – please pass this on to every dance student.
Dance students – attend classical music concerts and develop your ability to understand and appreciate the music you dance to. You can also go one step further by learning music as well.

Thanks to Ramakrishnan, Sekar and Madhu for clarifying that some duets who suggest that they are siblings in their names are in fact not. Examples are Alathur Brothers and Carnatica Brothers. I am glad my write-up on Navarathri brought back some nostalgic memories of Navarathri in your homes to some of you.

Music Primer: Visit http://www.sangeethapriya.org/ for online concerts including some rare collection from artists of yester years. The site allows free download of MP3 files.

Jayanthi joins me in wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving.

See you all at the next concert
Nov 16-18 Sixth Varshikotsavam Festival at our Temple
Nov 17, 9:00AM-5:00PM Cultural Program by local talent at the Community Hall
B. Seetharaman
Nov 15, 2007

Malladi Brothers & South FL Navarathri

Subha Madhu's Kolu

Jayanthi Seetharaman's Kolu

Bhagi Sahasranaman's Kolu

Oct 21, 2007
At Shiva Vishnu Temple

Navarathri formed a very nice back drop to the Malladi Brothers’ Vijaya Dasami day concert. I may be biased due to my upbringing but I think Hinduism got it right. The important portfolios of Power, Wealth and Education were governed by female Goddesses Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswathi. Hindus have been celebrating womanhood during Navarathri long before equal rights amendment. It is probably this kind of depth in our heritage which made the religion survive despite centuries of oppressive regimes.

Growing up in a household of two boys, my older brother Mani and myself, I do not remember Navarathri ever being a big deal. Without girls in the house, our parents probably were not motivated to externalize the holidays. Only special poojas that took longer than usual for our father. Vivid memories of Navarathri include standing around in street corners with friends to witness the parade of well dressed young maidens move in packs from house to house to practice singing. Shundal, not exactly my favorite dish, made out of a variety of grams was distributed freely. I am sure we all remember one of the neighborhood aunties dishing out handful of shundal of questionable quality.

When our daughter, Deepa, was about four we moved into our first single family home. Jayanthi started talking about having Kolu for the upcoming Navarathri according to how she was brought up. Oh boy, here comes the “Honey do” list (without the “honey”, of course). Can’t a man watch the Miami Dolphins lose in peace? Our neighbor, Matt, was incredulous – “Let me get this straight. You want to make steps, keep it inside the house, but no one is going to walk on it”. Anyhow, he gave me the idea and off to the Home Depot I went to get the support posts, planks, nails and most importantly the ready made stair case frame. After four hours of measuring, drilling and hammering on a hot Florida day, our Navarathri Kolu steps were born. Eighteen years later, we use the same Kolu steps. Every year we will add a little more to the festivities. I have also grown to like the holidays and it holds a whole different meaning for me now. Navarathi celebrations stayed with us as a tradition as we sailed through the years of ups and downs in our lives.

After Deepa went away to college we were thinking of pulling back. But out of the blue she calls and says “Can you book the tickets? I want to come home for Navarathri”. She said it was her favorite holiday and we had no idea that it had such a deep impact on her. Surely, there is more to Navarathri than well dressed young maidens.

It is well known that the Indians in South Florida know how to party, just ask the weekend visitors. We drag them through so many events like arangetrams, temple functions, association activities, parties, bhajans, concerts, picnics etc. The food we spread out at these functions will make a dietician crawl into the closet in utter shame. But Navarathri in South Florida tops this. Several families organize Navarathri celebrations in their homes and I am sure each family has a story to tell. This tradition supports the arts which our children are learning. Let us keep the tradition alive.

The Concert: Before we talk about the Malladi Brothers concert, I have a general question. It seems like many famous musician duets are siblings. Sometimes there are parent-child duets but it takes a few years before that team forms. Are there neighbors, cousins, students of same guru etc performing together on a consistent basis?

My overall impression of the concert: “Brilliant”. Malladi brothers blended so beautifully within themselves and with the accompaniments Sri Embar Kannan on the violin and Sri Neyveli Narayanan on the Mridangam. The last minute addition of Dr. Ramakrishnan on the Kanjira added color to the concert. Two things that stood out for me in the concert: main piece in Poorvi Kalyani and the highly spirited Thani avardhanam. Sri Embar Kannan was highly skillful in this piece and the entire concert. Another question here – when two or more percussionists play, do we still call it as Thani or is it Thala Vadhya Kutcheri?

When the brothers, Sri Ravikumar Prasad and Sri Sreeram Prasad, started in Kambodhi varnam the audience knew instinctively the concert is going to be a hit. It was a sampling of what is to come – perfect coordination between the singers and the supporting artists. First half of the concert was composed of Gajavadhana (Sri Ranjani – superb), Sadachaleshwaram (Bhoopalam – really?), Venu Gana Loluni (Kedara Gowla - sweet), Etula Brotuva (Chakravaham) and Pahi Parvatha Nandini (Arabhi – tempo is mounting) before the main piece of Meenakshi Me Mudam in Poorvi Kalyani (masterpiece). I put a question mark on Bhoopalam, even after the artists confirmed it, as many of us had difficulty identifying it. Sounded like a Hindustani raga rather than the easily identifiable Bhoopalam in Carnatic style. The concert tempo was established during the Arabhi song on Navarathri by Swathi Thirunal. Kalpana swarams were coming out as if someone set off the 1000-cracker serial during Diwali festivities in India.

The second half of the concert included a few elaborate songs and several thukkadas to please all. Rama Bhadra (Ananda Bhairavi), an Annammacharya krithi in a rare ragam called Vahulabharanam stumping the audience, Rama Namame Thudhi (Desh), a song on Sathya Sai Baba called Sundaravadana (Abheri – soul stirring), Sri Rama (Edukula Kambodhi – shall we dance), Marubari thala (Kamas), Hari Smarane Madu (Yamuna Kalyani – pleasing), a sloka followed by Chandrasekhara Easha (Sindu Bhairavi – any time ragam) and ended the concert with Rama Chandraya Mangalam in Kurinji. I confirmed the ragams with a few knowledgeable rasikas but please let me know if some are off. It would be nice if the artists announced them at the end of each song. As you can see the raga selection was excellent for the 4PM concert. The concert ended at 7:30PM and it seemed like the tireless artists could go on form another 4 or 5 hours.

I took an unofficial poll among the audience as to which brother they liked more. It was very strange that 50% picked Sri Ravikumar Prasad and the other 50% picked Sri. Sreeram Prasad – no kidding. This can only mean one thing – they were both superb artists. It is no wonder that Malladi brothers had brought Bhagwan Sri Sathya Sai Baba to tears through their singing. When they sang the Sundaravadana song on Baba, in Abheri, it was so meaningful that the singers lost themselves in the song and many in the audience were mesmerized.

The voice quality of both singers was rich. The Malladi brothers are so young and they have already achieved such greatness. As they mature with age they can surely achieve even greater heights. The troupe brought their own sound mixer and microphones making the job of our sound engineers easy. The sound was well balanced through the auditorium. Instead of the usual microphone for the violin, Sri Embar Kannan had a contraption that was attached to the violin to amplify the sound. During sound testing we were a bit worried that the violin would overpower the singers. But it worked out so beautifully. Sri Neyveli Narayanan on the Mridangam was highly gifted. He actually engaged the audience through his combinations of strokes and the nadam he produced from the instrument was simply superb. Our very own Dr. Ramakrishnan on the Kanjira was gifted as well.

Though the mridanga vidhwan did not offer up many playing opportunities to Kanjira during the songs, Dr. Ramakrishnan showed what he was made of during the highly spirited Thani avardhanam. They were matching each other beat for beat through the long passages followed by “kuraippu” the audience erupted in a loud applause in the end - great job. The students of Dr. Ramakrishnan, including my son Prem, in the audience were stunned by their mastery. It is a fantastic last minute decision to add him to the concert. Professional artists showed their generosity in including a local artist.

Talking about applause, when did we ever have such a loud applause for an alapana like the one for their rendering of the Poorvi Kalyani alapana. The knowledge of our South Florida audience in Carnatic music and their ability to appreciate the finer aspects of the concert need to be commended. They have proved once again that they don’t just go to a concert to wear fancy clothes, snack and socialize. When the audience appreciate better the performers get better as well as they get motivated. Those who have visited with us before certainly know about us but we should make it a point to inform the artists who visit us for the first time.

The song in Vahulabharanam was very interesting. We were all discussing among ourselves by guessing and eliminating ragams. I don’t think anyone in the audience got it – not even our “amazing” Mrs. Anu Aji. Finally the artists announced it. It sounded a bit Arabic in tune. It was refreshing to hear the use of swaras as well during the alapana – frequently done in Hindustani but rarely done in Carnatic alapanas.

One thing I would say for the singers is for them to improve their Tamil pronunciation as sometimes the words got mangled. They probably knew this as the number of Tamil songs in the concert was limited. The concert was set at a faster pace in general. Sprinkling a few slower, more melodious songs would have balanced the concert better.

Discussions from previous commentaries:

Mrs. Gayathri Venkataraghavan concert: I received a spectrum of comments about the whole concert experience and the individual artists – from excellent to lacking in tempo. It is great to have healthy and respectful disagreements which make us all grow. I also heard that Saturday concerts will be better than Sunday concerts and that our Cultural Committee should analyze the cost and benefits. My point is this – red-eye flight or not, the discriminating South Florida audience deserves the best from the visiting artists.

Exclamation point usage: Surprisingly, the paragraph on the use of exclamation point evoked a lot of emotions. Apparently I was not the only adult to use the exclamation points in writing. Deepa told me “Dad, believe in your sentences and let them stand on their own merit. There is no need to draw attention through exclamation points”. I am going to take that advice and denounce the use of exclamation points. In addition, I will also avoid underlining, capitalizing and italicizing.

Music Primer: Thank you for all the encouraging remarks on the music primer. I thank Mrs. Usha Polavarapu for her contribution below. The site is a compendium of information on Carnatic music. It is incredibly extensive – Enjoy.

http://www.ecse.rpi.edu/Homepages/shivkuma/personal/music/varnams/index.html#basics<>

My sincere thanks to all that took the time to write back.

Jayanthi joins me in wishing you all a Happy Deepavali.

See you all at the next concert
Nov 16-18 Sixth Varshikotsavam Festival at our Temple
Nov 17, 9:00AM-5:00PM Cultural Program by local talent at the Community Hall
B. Seetharaman
Oct 23, 2007

Gayathri Venkataraghavan

Sep 30, 2007
Shiva Vishnu Temple of South Florida

Navarathri season is to begin in less than two weeks. There will be music and divinity in the air. In South Florida, Navarathri is celebrated in a very grand manner. Jayanthi joins me in wishing you all a Joyous Navarathri season.

While growing up, I used to be amazed how our elders are able to identify ragams after listening for a short time. When you ask how, the answer is always you have to listen to a lot of Carnatic music. It is good advice for those who already have some music training but for most that is only a partial answer. If you do not have the basic knowledge you have nothing to build on. I thought a primer from an amateur will help.

Music can be viewed as a multi-dimensional space with each ragam following a specific path within this space. Be it Indian or Western the dimensions are Sa Ri Ga Ma Pa Da Ni or CDEFGAB plus 5-half notes to make a total of 12 notes to an octave. The half notes (the black keys on the piano keyboard) are called sharps/flats in the western system.

Similar to sharps/flats, in Carnatic, there are two representations each for Ri Ga Ma Da Ni in simplistic terms. For example, for Ma is represented by Shuddha Madhyamam and Prathi Madhyamam and there are special names for each note. Sa & Pa are pure notes without sharps/flats. Arohanam (ascend) and Avarohanam (descend) are how you go up and down the raga’s music scale with strict rules. Sankarabharanam is a sampoorna ragam with seven notes up and the same seven notes down. Hindolam has five notes with only Sa Ga Ma Da Ni. Bilahari has five notes up and seven down. Within a ragam Arohanam and Avarohanam can have same or different notes giving opportunities for some beautiful patterns as we travel through the musical space. For more theory on Carnatic music I leave it to the experts. In simple terms, pattern matching and some basic understanding of music scales will help us identify the ragams making a concert much more enjoyable. The blessed ones identify them heuristically, not I. Let us get practical:

Select one of your favorite artists, preferably vocalist, and a set of songs. Know the ragams of each song ahead of time, in other words “cheat” – it’s ok. Pay close attention to how the artist travels the music scale in the alapana and kalpana swarams. Memorize the songs and their ragams.
Repeat the above until you immerse yourselves in this set of songs. Use the “random” option in your CD player to pick songs randomly and be comfortable that you can identify all the ragams from the limited set.
Expand your horizon by listening to different ragams, preferably from the same artist. The reason being different artists sing in different pitch, shruthi or kattai and the same ragam will sound different to throw you off. This is especially true when you switch from male singers, who sing at a lower pitch, to female singers.
Expand further by adding more artists to your collection of songs you routinely listen to and pretty soon you will be able to talk intelligently about music.
It is very important that you listen to a lot of live concerts at every opportunity you get. The energy you get from a live concert, even with poor music system, you cannot get from even the best recording in the world.
When you listen to a song try to match the pattern to the songs that you already memorized.
Like everything else in life, a little organization will go a long way. Our Cultural Committee should organize a music/dance appreciation course. How about it?

Sometimes you will have an off-day with respect to identifying ragams. Even the popular ones may baffle you, like it happened to me in this concert. May be it is just me but I have difficulty in identifying ragams for female singers. Sri ragam sounded like Madhyamavathi to begin with, then I knew it was not, but could not figure out exact ragam. But as soon as an expert says what it is the light bulb goes on in your head and the bell rings. Don’t be discouraged, pick up and try again – we’ll get there.

Let us get to Smt. Gayathri Venkataraghavan’s (Mrs. GV) concert.

Overall my impression of the concert was “blah”. It was a type of concert that is thoroughly enjoyed by the musicians in the audience but not by the general public. To me the first half of the concert was more like music practice and the second half picked up quite a bit. However, the tempo was missing in the entire concert. In spite of the apparent rapport between the artists they took the entire first half to come together. The singer did not connect well with the audience. I hope our Cultural Committee will have worked the bugs out of the sound system before next concert by Malladi brothers. Let us take a bit more care in pronouncing the names and places during introduction.

There is no question on the technical abilities of Mrs. GV. Her voice was deep, well trained and rich. In some instances the voice became a bit flat but overall it was very pleasant. Let me quickly run down the songs – Sarasi Jana (Varnam in Natai), Thulasi Dala (Mayamalava Gowla), Vande Vasudevan (Sri), Hari hara putra (Vasanta), a murugan song in Suddha Saveri and a song in Ahiri. The main piece was the popular Etha Unaka in Kalyani followed by Yadava Ni Ba in Kapi. RTP was in Keeravani with a ragamalika section. Then a Nadanamakriya song followed by a signature Ragamalika song with names of ragams embedded. Finally a Bhageshwari song, a peppy “Aadum Chidambaram” in Behag followed by Thillana in Surutti and Mangalam.

The only fast numbers were Suddha Saveri, Behag and the Thillana. But the concert needed more resuscitation. Kalyani alapana was excellent to my ears but when Akkarai Subbalakshmi, the violinist, picked up the alapana we could not hear much. One listener – let’s call him Mr. Sarcasm – said that the violinist was playing “effortlessly” meaning sometimes there was “no effort”. When the violinist played the high pitch strings all we could hear was the loud electronic tambura. I have heard the violinist before and she certainly is more capable but this was not her day, I guess. There certainly were moments of glory and even the singer was intently listening to learn from the violinist. I must say that the singer had excellent training from a list of gurus and it showed especially her kalpana swarams, as the name implies, were highly imaginative.

Sri Manoj Siva was on the mridangam. The way he kept the mridangam squarely in front of him (not over his leg) was different. Dr. Ramakrishnan explained to me that it was Palghat Raghu’s style who was the guru of Sri Manoj. He provided adequate support. But mridangam accompaniment should be an inspiration to the musicians and it was lacking. I may be biased from a past bad experience with him.

Keeravani alapana in the RTP again was excellent. The “thaanam” part of the RTP was done with mridangam accompaniment. I have seen this done a long time ago by Smt. Sudha Raghunathan. It was refreshing. Thillana was another peppy song with a good raga selection, Surutti.

I received some feedback from my daughter on my writing. Deepa is a final year Journalism student from Northwestern so I guess she is qualified. She said I used a lot of exclamation marks in my writing and good writers use it only once in a lifetime. She also said that I should use verbs instead of adjectives. Deepa, you should be proud that I took the feedback and have not used a single exclamation mark in this article so far. I guess the use of exclamation marks in writing is like laughing for your own jokes when your children are looking at you with a stone face! So there! I could not resist! Being a rebellious parent I had to use it and get it out of my system!

Let me close with a discussion on my previous commentary.

Maharajapuram Ramachandran commentary (discussion continues): I received a strong push back from my cousins and friends from India for even referring to Sri Ramachandran and his father Sri Santhanam in the same sentence. These are high flying business executives during the week and carrom-playing music critiques by the weekend – called the Carrom-Club. I grant that they have a lot more experience in critiquing but none of them have listened to Sri Ramachandran in about 3-years. They have written him off – damn accountants. Let me make two points – 1) I heard Sri Ramachandran a couple of years ago and was less than impressed. But now he has changed his style of singing to match closer to that of his father. Also, his shruthi has dropped a notch or two making his voice match that of his father. 2) My father who was an ardent fan of Sri Vishwanatha Iyer refused to listen to Sri Santhanam for a long time and slowly transformed to become one of his best fans. History repeats itself.

I am glad that at least some of the Carrom-Club members agreed to listen to Sri Ramachandran in the upcoming season and let me know their thoughts. I will wait.
See you all at the next concert
MALLADI BROTHERS Sri. Ravikumar & Sri. Sreeram Prasad
Vocal
Sri. Embar Kannan
Violin
Sri. Neyveli Narayanan
Mridangam
On Sunday, October 21, 2007, at 4:00 PM
B. Seetharaman
Oct 1, 2007

Shivanjali Dance Program

Sep 23, 2007

During the time my daughter, Deepa, was growing up and learning Bharatha Natyam a few dance teachers visited from India and gave workshops. Some of them were truly inspiring that left a lasting impression on our kids. But unfortunately, I have also heard some harsh criticisms from some others such as “This level of dance is good enough for these kids growing up in America”, “That’s all you can expect from them”, “You cannot expect the same as the kids from India” etc. Some of these comments have reached the ears of these kids and they may have put up a glass ceiling to their performance levels. It is also quite possible that some of our very capable kids may have been discouraged and quit. But, NOT ANY MORE! Speaking for the NRI parents, I can say with our heads held high that our kids have proven the critics wrong! Shivanjali program is another example of the talent of our kids.

Our kids are termed as ABCD’s which has been redefined as American Born Cultured Desis. The “C” can also be for Confident. Let there be no confusion! Folks, let me make a strong statement here. These NRI kids growing up in America are in fact in a better position than their cousins growing up in India to maintain and spread the art. The reasons are several – dedicated teachers, eager students, co-operating parents, availability of resources and many more.

But one reason that stands out among the NRI kids growing up in America who are learning various Indian art forms – it is their Guru Bhakthi. The teacher-student relationship here is of mythological proportions, no doubts. I am speaking from the personal experiences Jayanthi and I are having as parents in bringing up two children in the US and having given them opportunities to learn Indian art forms. I am sure many parents out there will agree.

Sure, there are instances of arranging performances to pad resumes or to climb the social ladder. But, so what! This is America! We need to put our best foot forward. Please don’t tell me that this does not happen in India. Where else could those horrible dancers on SUN-TV come from! Any one of our kids, on their worst day, can take them on!

We are proud of our kids but we should also recognize the limitation as the training has been focused on dance and mridangam. While we are reaching a good level of maturity in these fields, we have a long way to go to produce a better class of musicians. I am anxious to see several groups of musicians and dancers form that are made up of only NRI kids. It is up to all of us to take them to even greater heights. Guru Bhakthi and the blessings they receive from their gurus will surely take them places, metaphorically and physically! Parents – let me close my long preamble with this. Surely, there is a Rukmini Devi Arundale or a Palghat Mani Iyer among our kids. Find them!

I will be right back after a short break…
===============================================================
Carnatic Music Vocal Concert
by

Smt. Gayathri Venkataraghavan
Vocal
Kum. Akkarai Subbalakshmi
Violin
Sri. Manoj Siva
Mridangam

On Sunday, September 30, 2007, at 4:00 PM

OK, I am back…

The singer is a DR. KVN student and I understand is very good. I have listened to the violinist and she is really good. Please come and support the concert.

Let us get back to the program. The Guru Bhakthi I talked about earlier was evident among the students of Smt. Sangeetha Sridhar in the dance program today. Sangeetha presented a fabulous thematic dance performance called Shivanjali with her senior students – ABCDs. Organizers should be commended for an on-time start.

I have witnessed a few programs of Sangeetha and clearly this performance was the best I have seen. Sangeetha was the main dancer with support provided by her senior students. Her sense of rhythm was perfect. Her chosen style of dance provides a lot of circular or symmetric motions and fluid body movements. She gracefully executed them and there were also several elements of surprise in the presentation. The group presentation with the students had some spectacular choreography and striking costumes. It is very clear a lot of thought had gone into this. I particularly enjoyed the churning of the ocean scene with one dancer posing as Mandara Mountain and the others pulling the serpent tied around the mountain. The timing of the pulling and the churning was well executed. Using several dancers to come together as the multi-headed Shiva with multiple hands was very innovative. Also, this is one of the few dance programs I have seen with a humorous act as well. Good job!

The guru bhakthi discussed before was demonstrated by Sangeetha herself towards her guru Padmabhushan Padma Subramanyam, a legend among the living. This program was a fundraiser for the Bharatha Muni Temple being built in Chennai. It will be a unique temple dedicated to dance and a research center promoting our culture. Please approach Sangeetha for any information or if you can contribute in any way.

The music accompaniment was excellent. Singer was Sri Sudev Warrier, a disciple of Sri Balamurali Krishna. I have heard him sing a couple of years ago but he has improved by leaps and bounds. The only qualm I have with the flautist, Sri Krishna Prasad, was his Kambodhi alapana was too short! I guess it is a dance concert not a music concert! What an energy displayed by the Mridangam player, Sri Sudhaman! I think I missed a few abhinayas while watching his hands play, head rock and hair fly! He was playing the instrument so hard I had to ask him during the intermission if he had a couple of spare ones in the back! Fortunately, he made it through the concert with the same mridangam! But God only knows why he needs two dozen throat lozenges to take him through the concert! Thanks to Ranga, the supplier.

Nattuvangam debut done by Vijayalakshmi showed promise. Sangeetha demonstrated her experience when she did the Nattuvangam. I noticed the style of Nattuvangam was different from what I have heard before. The lyrics were presented in the Nattuvangam style and then the singer took it over and sang the same lyrics in Ragam. I guess someone will tell me the technical term for this!

Though the program had a total of 13 songs it went through very quickly. Being a group presentation the costume changes were very efficient. It was a very traditional program with invocatory Thodaya Mangalam, Mallari, Shiva Sthuthi, Someshwaram Bhajema, Adi Kondar, Rupamu Joochi Varnam, Thalaye Nee Vanangai, Shambu Natanam, Bho Shambo, Aalandan, Chandra Chooda, Thillana and Mangalam. Bho Shambho song was sung in Darbari Kanada, different from M. Santhanam’s Revathi, it was very refreshing.

“Adi Kondar” song in Mayamalava Goula ragam performed by the mother-daughter team of Sangeetha and Shilpa was choreographed and presented well. Roopamu Joochi Varnam was long and was performed as a solo by Sangeetha was truly a treat to watch and listen. The song was in Thodi and was performed beautifully by the musicians. The song provided a lot of scope for sancharis, bhavam, nrithyam and footwork. Varnam, as many of you know, is the toughest piece in any dance performance testing the endurance of the dancer. A! The Thillana in ragam Kannada (not Kaanada) was spectacular in choreography. The speed, poses, formations and footwork were all brilliant and the song was very peppy.

I would be remiss if I did not provide some feedback on the program in general. For some of the students who have finished their Arangetram, the audience expectations have naturally increased. Arangetram is only a milestone in their long journey towards perfection. They need to pay more attention to the details like walking in and out of stage, show grace while standing to name a few. Stage management could have been better in terms of spacing the dancers especially when all the dancers were on stage at one time. More dress rehearsals will help. The dancers also need to be meticulous in their alankarams without needing to adjust them on stage.

Some of the senior students like Geetha Srinivasan and Sathvika Ramaji whom we have watched over the years have grown. Keep it up! I can’t wait to witness your Arangetrams! The MC for the program was Karunya Krishnan and her Tamil pronunciation was excellent and descriptions of dances were precise.
See you all at the next concert, Sep 30 at 4:00PM!

B. Seetharaman
Sep 26, 2007

Maharajapuram Ramachandran

Sep 9, 2007
Shiva Vishnu Temple of South Florida

We all grow up to become our parents. This was a scary thought when we were young and it is even scarier for our kids! There are three stages to becoming our parents. First stage is, NEVER! The second stage is one of SHOCK – oh my God, I am becoming more like my parents. It creeps up on you and the realization is sudden. The final stage is to ENJOY or ACCEPT becoming our parents. Personally, I am somewhere between the “shock” and “enjoy” stages of becoming my father.

Sitting in Sri Maharajapuram Ramachandran’s concert, my thoughts drifted to the many car rides I have taken with my father whenever he would visit us. We would always play Carnatic music and over 80% of the time it would be the songs of Sri Maharajapuram Santhanam, who is Sri Ramachandran’s father. Every time, after listening for a long time my father would let out a sigh followed by an inevitable lament, “I wish we had such excellent recordings of Sri Maharajapuram Vishwanatha Iyer”, who is Santhanam’s father! He would share stories from the times when he was a boy scout in Thiruvaiyar during the Thayagaraja Aradahana working as crowd control (and crowd!). He would describe how he enjoyed those concerts and especially one of the Pancha Rathna Krithis in Varali “Kana kana ruchira” rendered by Sri Vishwanatha Iyer. Here I am, talking to my daughter, Deepa, about how I enjoyed the few times I have listened to Sri Santhanam live in concert. I lament that I should have listened to a lot more of Sri Santhanam’s live concerts. The most striking qualities of Sri Santhanam are his shruthi suddham (perfect pitch), ability to bring out the emotions of the song through his voice and his extraordinary musical talent.

It seems like Sri Ramachandran is finding himself in the same ‘predicament’ of becoming his father. WOW! What a blessing! Some places during the concert, I closed my eyes and actually listened to Sri Santhanam! This experience was shared by many who were privileged to attend the concert. The voice, intonation, the bhavam in those songs were exactly the same as his father. Even the body language and hand gestures shown were getting close to Sri Santhanam. The songs selected for the concert were also the ones that were made popular by his father.

“Mahaganapathim Manasa Smarami” in the uplifting ragam of Nattai set the stage for the entire concert to follow. He then sang the song on Adithya, the Sun God, as it was a Sunday concert in the ragam Hamsadhwani. It was one of the songs from the Navagraha CD that was released on the same day.

At the beginning of the next song, I joined the long line of Carnatic music rasikas who have difficulty differentiating between Purvi Kalyani and Panthuvarali. I was corrected by Madhu, the resident singer of South Florida, who was sitting behind me that the Kannada song was in fact in Panthuvarali. It was later confirmed by Dr. Ramakrishnan, the resident Mridanga vidhwan of South Florida.

Dr. Iyengar, one of our South Florida patrons, must have been in seventh heaven at this point. Usually, he would wait for the thukkada section and request a Kannada song from the singers. But Sri Ramachandran probably knew this and preempted the request and sang a series of “Iyengar Specials” (Kannada songs!) like “Ksheerabdi Kannigai”.

The main piece was O Rangasayee in Kambodhi. The alapana was simply superb. The songs, niravals, kalpana swarams were fantastic. The singer was taking some risks in the high pitch and trying some very difficult gamakams. Some of them paid off and some did not. On the low pitch side he was flawless. Well, he needs a little more time to become his father! Who doesn’t?

The RTP was in the beautiful ragam of Brindavana Saranga. During the raga maligai section of the RTP he gave quite a work out to the audience. He sang in Vaasanthi (not Vasantha) and Sumanasa Ranjani. CLEAN BOWLED! Sri Ramachandran saw the “deer in the headlight” look on our faces and took pity on us to announce ragam name.

He sang a wide variety of ragams either in a song or as part of ragamalika including Rithi Gowle, Yamuna Kalyani, Kanada, Sindhu Bhairavi, Madhyamavathi, Shanmugapriya, Shivaranjani etc. The Sai Baba song, another one from the CD that was released, in ragam Dwijavanthi touched many hearts. He sang his father’s favorite Nalina Kanthi Mathi with the names of several ragams in each line and those lines will be sung in that specific ragam! In other words, the ragams chosen did not put us to sleep but made us sit up in the chair wanting even more! Sri Ramachandran also demonstrated his extensive range on the musical scale from low Madhayamam to the high Panchamam.

Folks, let me tell you something – today, even in India you cannot attend a kutcheri like this which is more than three-and-a-half hours long. The December season kutcheris end in two to two-and-a-half hours. The sabhas have to pack so many concerts in so few calendar days and so they schedule two kutcheris in the same evening. To hear very traditional concert like this one with complete with varnam, invocatory songs, two elaborate songs full with alapana and kalpana swarams, an extensive main piece with thani avardhanam, a complete RTP with Raga malika section, viruttham, thukkada songs and thillana – it is a rare treat. It is like paying for one and getting two concerts! These are the good old days!

The veteran player, Sri Nagai Muralidharan was on the violin. He was excellent but for this concert he sounded somewhat sterile. He did not seem to put his full being into the playing during this concert. He had talent but lacked some spark or luster on this day. Surely, there were many bright spots and he offered a great support for the main artist – but we want more! Sri Thanjavur Ramadoss on the mridangam was brilliant, but in patches. First half of his thani was average but the second half was brilliant. The final hand off to the singer after the thani was poorly orchestrated. It looked and sounded clumsy. The singer and the violinist dropped the ball. The naadam that came out of the mridangam was divine and his training from Palghat Mani Iyer was very evident throughout the concert.

Let me close with how the evening opened – the CD release ceremony.

Sri Ramachandran had set to music songs written by our very own Dr. Venkataraman Balu of South Florida. The songs were written in Tamil on the Navagrahas and Sathya Sai Baba and published on a beautiful CD along with a detailed booklet. As mentioned above, he sang a couple of songs from that CD and mesmerized the audience. Sri Ramachandran was “a chip off the old block” when he mentioned that the navagrahas placed a lot of obstacles during the production of the CD! Do musicians learn to have a sense of humor as part of the music training?!

Mrs (Dr.) Daya Balu, may have started a new trend. It may be the first time I heard a woman publicly acknowledge the talent of her husband! I hope more women follow this trend. There will be fewer wars! Hmmm, I can dream, can’t I? But seriously folks, it is fascinating to hear from her how Dr. Balu’s poetry was transformed into this beautiful garland of songs on a CD. Hearing a set of songs on the Navagrahas is a rarity. The raga selection, arrangement of the instruments, vocal talent of Sri Ramachandran, recording quality and the lyrics were all excellent. I highly recommend the purchase of this CD with the proceeds going to a worthy institution, our very own Shiva Vishnu Temple of South Florida. Please approach the board members of the Shiva Vishnu Temple or Dr. Balu himself for the CD. Hats off to the Balus! Great job!

Congratulations to our Cultural committee. Another great job! Sound system set up was excellent! Crowd is getting bigger! I tasted the vada, bonda and the milk sweet – super job by our Food committee! What is a carnatic concert without some cholesterol medication?! Keep up the great work!

See you all at the next concert on Sep 30 at 4:00PM!

B. Seetharaman
Sep 10, 2007

Saheelan Sinnarajah

Mridangam Arangetram

On Saturday Jun 16, 2007, Mridangam Arangetram by Saheelan Sinnarajah took place on a grand scale at the Performing Cultural Arts Theater in BCC, Florida.

Before talking about the Arangetram, I first want to thank, from the bottom of my heart, the singer for the evening Smt. Geetha Rajasekhar for composing and a singing a beautiful song the Shiva Vishnu Temple of South Florida. This is commendable and she should continue to spread the glory of the South Florida Shiva Vishnu Temple all over the world through her music. I wish many more professional artists would do the same.

It is difficult to do full justice in describing the Arangetram and the elaborate arrangements surrounding it. I have made an attempt by breaking it into three parts.

Prelude

Centrally situated large statue of Lord Ganesha greeted us as we approached the theater. In the waiting room there were several banners and portraits of the star of the evening, Saheelan, tastefully placed. The decoration theme was appropriately chosen to be Nandi since Nandi is the mythological exponent of Thala. The kolam (floor decoration) made out of colored rice in the form of the Mridangam instrument was simply fantastic.

While we waited to be seated I browsed through the program booklet detailing the event and congratulatory messages from the gurus and many famous well-wishers. As usual, I avoided glancing at the page about the songs and ragas to be played in the program. This gives me a chance to try my ears at identifying the ragas during the actual program. I was fortunate to have my cousin Babu and Mr. Narayanan at my side, both being experienced rasikas of carnatic music, I can verify the ragams with them. Actor Kamal Hasan was to be one of the special guests for the evening and but could not make it. This disappointed the 40 something women to no end, including my wife Jayanthi!

As we entered the auditorium, more and more surprises awaited us. Sweet music floating from the Mangala Vadhyam (auspicious instrument) called Nadaswaram invited us into the auditorium. Expert Nadaswaram duo came along with a Thavil (a hearty percussion instrument) vidwan from Canada especially for this occasion. The popular “Singara Velane Vela” in Abheri and the song in Kalyana Vasantham are still ringing in my ears. It is a rare treat for the South Floridians to listen to Nadaswaram.

When the Nadaswaram prelude ended the curtains lift and GASP!!! Wait, did we get transported to the Chamundi Hills or Rameshwaram? The backdrop to the stage was a huge Nandi superimposed over the precise pillars of the Rameshwaram temple. The main artists were majestically seated on the center stage ready to begin the main event.

Out came the master of ceremony, Mr. P.H. Abdul Hameed, the famous radio and television announcer from back home. He had a fantastic voice and superb mastery over Tamil language. His explanation of how Thalam was created during Shiva’s cosmic dance. When his anklet landed on his shoulders the sound “Tha” was created and when it landed on the ground the sound “Lam” was created. The time difference between the two is the Layam. Sharing the podium with him as the madam of ceremony was our very own Mrs. Vasumathi Vasudevan who ably conducted the evening in English for all.

One cannot but wonder how Mr. Sivakumar would have topped this if he had a daughter of his own and it was her dance Arangetram! Miss. Vithya Balasubramanian said it right – Sivakumar Uncle would have erected a sign on I-95 ‘ARANGETRAM THIS EXIT’!!!

Arangetram

So far I have been to only two Mridangam Arangetrams. The experience is different from a regular concert mainly because of the wider array of Thalams are played in an Arangetram. In addition, the Mridangam artist gets more opportunities to showcase his training than regular concerts by way of two Thani avardhanams, Konnakkol etc.

Saheelan demonstrated that he has a complete repertoire of Thalams by playing Adi (both plain and Rettai Kilai or double branched), Misra Chapu, Kandajathi Truputai, Kanda Chapu and Rupakam. He proved that he has mastered these over the years under the tutelage of two great masters, Dr. Ramakrishnan in the US and Kalaimamani Sri Bhakthavatsalam in India. In addition, he also displayed his talent in Konnakkol, which is the art of vocally demonstrating the Mridangam notations in the exact pace as how one would play. I was straining my ears to follow along Saheelan’s playing to compare with his Konnakkol and I must say he passed with flying colors. This was actually the highlight of the concert with Saheelan pulling up to his full height. For those of you who know how tall Saheelan is, that is pretty high! At this moment, he was a pro!

Saheelan played his first Thani Avardhanam in Rettai Kilai Adi Thalam, 16-count thalam or a slower version of 8-count Adi thalam. The song was “Kamalambam Bhajare”, beautifully sung in the ragam Kalyani. From alapana to keerthana to niravels to kalpana swarams to the Thani it was simply fantastic. The coordination between Saheelan, Adambakkam Shankar on the Ghatam and our very own Dr. Ramakrishnan on the Kanjira was excellent. It was refreshing to witness a three-way “kuraippu”. The magnanimity of both experienced percussionists in letting Saheelan take the lead was noteworthy. Dr. Ramakrishnan who was sitting right next to him on stage encouraged him throughout the concert. Sri Bhakthavatsalam, sitting in the front row was giving pointers to Saheelan, much like an orchestra conductor.

The concert reached the peak during the RTP (Ragam Thanam Pallavi) which was in Shanmuga Priya ragam. Saheelan did another Thani to the RTP in Kandajathi Truputai Thalam (9 or 18 count Thalam depending how it is counted). The Alapana kicked the concert up a few notches. Mrs. Geetha Rajasekhar is an experienced vocalist who normally sings during prime time every Dec season in the Music Academy in Chennai, India. It is an honor for Saheelan to have played with such a senior artist. On the violin, Sri Srikanth provided good support.

By way of feedback, Saheelan should focus on settling down quicker through the concert and improve on showing creativity. It will come with more performance experience.

The Mridangam scene in South Florida is still in its infancy among the students of this fine art. Every time a student performs, he carries an awesome responsibility on his shoulders to inspire the rest of the students. Saheelan – you have inspired Prem (my son) and many more I am sure! Great job! Keep it up!

You have been to the Carnegie Hall already. You must now work on getting to Music Academy! Practice, Practice and Practice! Perform, Perform and Perform!

Post Script

Mr. V.V. Sundaram, the founder of the Cleveland Carnatic Music Festival, spoke very eloquently as the chief guest for the evening. He said to Saheelan there are three stages in playing the Mridangam. Play to the Thalam first, move on to play for the song and finally play to the underlying emotion of the song. What a power-packed sentence! Every musician should truly understand on the inside. The first two stages come relatively easy with training and innate talent. But achieving the third part of playing for the emotions of the song takes greater understanding and training in music. Mr. V.V. Sundaram’s talk was very inspirational to the students of Indian music and also to the parents. He offered a challenge to Saheelan to prepare himself to play in the next Cleveland Festival.

Dr. Ramakrishnan and Sri Bhakthavatsalam offered their blessings to Saheelan. Words of wisdom were offered by the connoisseur of all art forms Mrs. Bhavani Nirmal and encouraging words were offered by Mrs. Ranga Parasuraman. Vithya, being from the same generation as Saheelan, spoke beautifully about him. Shayanth stole the hearts of the crowd with his eloquent speech about his older brother Saheelan. The evening concluded with a sincere and heartfelt speech from Saheelan thanking his teachers, their spouses, parents and the friends and relatives. Excellent food and the socializing that followed created a relaxed atmosphere for all.

Jayanthi aunty joins me in blessing you, Saheelan, for continued success in any field you choose. No matter what field you choose to make a living, stay connected with the art. In addition to performing for music think about performing for dance as well. As I always say, youngsters like you are the ambassadors of our heritage, art forms and culture. At some point, you should start teaching the art as well. Our hearty congratulations to the parents, Harija and Sivakumar, for a job well done!

God bless you.
B. Seetharaman
Jun 19, 2007

Ganga-Kaveri Fusion Concert

Ganga Kaveri Instrumental Fusion Concert
South Florida – May 2007

One of my favorite foods is “Aviyal”. It is a South Indian dish which is a blend of vegetables cooked in rich coconut sauce with very mild spices. When eaten with rice items or “adai” (spicy pancake made from lentil paste) it is heavenly. Likewise in art forms, there has always been and will always be a great desire among the artists to blend the various art forms to create tasteful presentations. Fusion of art forms done in an uncompromising manner can produce fantastic results. Selection of art forms to fuse is an art by itself. If it is done carelessly, “Aviyal” can become “Avishal” (rotten) borrowing one of the pungent statements my father would make who was an excellent connoisseur of food and music.

Carnatic music and Hindusthani style music has always blended together extremely well. Many of you will recall the classic Jugal Bandi concert between Balamurali Krishna and Bhimsen Joshi. Fusion of Indian and Western style music can also be very tasteful, for example when Pandit Ravi Shankar played with Yehudi Menuhin it was another classic. Recently South Florida music fans heard how carnatic music could blend well with Jazz.

Ganga-Kaveri is a fusion of two extremely talented flautists, Vidwan Pranesh in the carnatic style and Suramani Pravin Gokhindi in the Hindusthani style. The team was led by the senior mridangam artist, Vidwan Anoor Anantha Krishna Sharma. He was accompanied by Vidwan S. Madhusudhana on the tabla and Vidwan Arun Kumar a multi-talented percussionist on the Rhythm pads and drums.

The main peace of the concert was a blend of the ragam Mohanam in Carnatic style and Bhoop in the Hindusthani style. I have a special place in my heart for the five note ragams like Mohanam, Hindolam, Suddha Dhanyasi etc. Mohanam can be heard at any time of the day, but it sounds especially great in the evening time. What a great choice! The flautists played without compromising their style of training. Sri Gokhindi on the Hindusthani bansuri, a basal flute, had better control of the microphone by moving closer and farther away from it to create phenomenal effects that kept the audience highly engrossed while Sri Pranesh on the carnatic style shriller flute had an impeccable grasp of the ragam and rendered a superb performance. During the alapana the musicians will hand off to each other after both of them staying in the same note for a little bit. In some places the hand-off could have been a bit cleaner. When the Carnatic flautist stayed on one note for a long time we could not figure out if it was feedback from the sound system or flute was just loud. Controlling the volume of the carnatic flute would have made the concert even more enjoyable.

Sri Sharma on the Mridangam, who was also the leader of the group, was phenomenally gifted with his clean and clear strokes. The Thala Vadhya Kucheri during the main piece was excellent. Frankly though, the drums did not do a thing for me. I guess I need to get more used to drums in an Indian classical music concert. However, when Sri Arun Kumar played the morsing and synthesized thavil on the pads it blended very well with the rest of the orchestra. The blending of Sri Madhusudhana’s Tabla with the Mridangam felt seamless.

The folksy “pahadi” ragam was very catchy. Sri Gokhindi he took out the littlest flute I have seen and played in a very high pitch. True to the name of the ragam it brought out the images of a cowherd playing by the mountains. However, I am not a very big fan of high shruti instruments or singers for that matter. Solo renditions of Marwa ragam in the Hindusthani style and Vachaspathe in the Carnatic style were very enjoyable. The popular thukkada songs Krishna Nee Begane Baro and Payoji Maine towards the end of the concert were very pleasing.

Hollywood Center of Performing Arts provided a fantastic ambience for the evening and the event was well attended by a multi-national audience. Overall it was an enjoyable evening complete with dinner and socializing.

Great job by the organizers of Kannada Koota!

B. Seetharaman
Jun 7, 2007

Music Season - First Half 2007

Octogenarians and septuagenarians clearly stole the show during the first half of our music season in South Florida.

Sangeetha Kalanidhi Sri. M. Chandresekar gave yet another scintillating performance in front of our knowledgeable audience. Magic happens when he puts his bow to the violin. The violin he uses is certainly a global treasure. Sri M. Chandrasekar interacts with the audience with a child like smile and an outward expression of his love for the music. He was listening intently during the introduction speeches and showed a profound reverence when names of stalwarts were uttered with whom he has shared stage over the past several decades. His rendition of “Thaaye Yashoda” in Thodi was fantastic and our very own Dr. Ramakrishnan on the Mridangam was excellent. The ragams he chose were apt for the time of the concert and his delivery was flawless. We all have seen the audience requesting specific songs, but rarely would have seen the main artist requesting a song from the supporting violinist, his own daughter Smt. Bharathi!

Visit from Sri Unnikrishnan was his first to South Florida. He demonstrated his superb training in the field and his command over the Ragas. His voice continues to be his main asset. It was a bit strange to see a Carnatic musician having wearing a feedback earpiece during the entire concert. Later, I understood that it is possibly because he has done considerable amount of work in the movie industry. Sri Unnikrishnan chooses some rare ragams in his concerts and this time he chose to sing his RTP in Sarasaangi. After listening intently for several minutes I gave up. This ragam stumped even the resident experts Mrs. Anu Aji and Mr. Narayanan. In the discussions that ensued I found out that the singer was apparently moving between Charukesi and Sarasangi. Why do some singers resort to slow ragams like Bhairavi for a 4PM concert as the main piece? I was fighting several big yawns and so were many in the audience. Was the singer mixing a little Mukhari with Bhairavi or was it just me thinking that or was it my sleepy head? But when the song started there was no mistake. In my humble opinion while his training and delivery were excellent Unnikrishnan lacks a bit in the “bhavam” department.

My son Prem, who is a cello player and an avid listener of the western classical music, really enjoyed the concert from the violin brothers Ganesh and Kumaresh. Harmonizing between the violins is a rare treat among carnatic musicians. It takes enormous talent for them to play a few notes apart without making a mistake. You distinctly hear both the instruments. Their signature rendition of Raga Pravaham was excellent where the importance is given to the violin playing and the ragam but it is not based on lyrics. After about the three-quarters of the way through the concert, I was wondering is he going to play a main piece or is the whole concert a sequence of “thukkada”? He finally played a short version of an RTP. The songs and even the alapana were faster than a traditional concert. Dr. Ramakrishnan during his vote of thanks called the concert “a nice entertainment” and I could call it a “Light Classical Concert”.

Mrs. Seetha Doraiswami was nothing short of phenomenal on the Jala Tharangam. Until now I have only heard the instrument on the radio. It is a rare treat to watch the instrument being set up and played and that too from a player who is 80-years young! It takes a lot of energy and precision to play the instrument. She played Vathapi Ganapathim in Hamsadhwani which seems like made for Jala Tharangam. It is very educational to watch her set up the dishes in front of her and adjusts the water levels in each based on the notes in the arohanam and avarohanam. The set up needs to be changed for every song. The mridangam player, Abhishek Raja, and harmonium player, Ganavya Doraiswamy, were both her grand children! She played Sudhamahi in Amritha Varshini and true to the myth the very next day it rained in several parts of parched Florida! Other ragams selected were excellent like Swagatham Krishna in Mohanam. Mrs. Doraiswamy, hats off to you! Abhishek gave a spirited thani and our very own multi-talented South Florida student Ganavya has so far demonstrated her skills in singing and Harmonium playing. We await her dance performance next!

A request for the South Florida audience – it is great to see our little fans coming to these concerts, but parents please, take off those cute little anklets during the concert. When these girls run around the auditorium, it makes me wonder – is it a dance concert or a music concert!

B. Seetharaman
May 27, 2007