Monday, October 27, 2008

Sangeetha Swaminathan Concert

“What do Carnatic music concert and gall bladder operation have in common?”

Ask the South Florida mridanga vidwan Dr. S. Ramakrishnan. During the alapana time he opened the guts of the mridangam, using some strange looking sharp tools took some parts out, then put some parts in, tapped around and finally sewed up the outer skin. Now it is good as new. Operation was a success and the patient did not die. Encouraged by this success, he took his second mridangam and did a similar operation during the alapana of the main piece in Karaharapriya. Dr. Ramakrishnan explained later that sometimes the instruments can get very finicky and not keep the pitch throughout the concert. Thanks to Dr. Ramakrishnan, those of us who enjoy the alapana portion of the concert got some opportunities to listen to a little more elaborate alapana sessions. He was kind enough to add a write up on the “operation” – please review the Addendum.

Most of the readers know that Dr. Ramakrishnan is not a medical doctor. He is a Mathematics professor at the University of Miami who is dedicated to the art form of mridangam. In addition to his full time professorship, he is a full time mridangam teacher and a serious concert player at professional level. He dedicates the entire proceeds from his mridangam classes to the Shiva Vishnu Temple of South Florida demonstrating his commendable dedication to the art form, the community and religion.

Mridangam, however, does not always get the respect it deserves. During concerts in India, people just walk out of the concert hall taking the start of the Thani Aavardhanaam as a signal to leave. In the recent days, there has been a decline in this trend which is encouraging. Stalwarts like Semmangudi used to make a plea to the crowd not to leave during the Thani. We have also seen the other extreme with mridanga vidwans losing it after seeing the disgusting habits of the masses.

But, South Florida rasikas should be very proud of themselves. I have not seen a single one leave during the thani in any of the concerts here. On the contrary, some of us look forward to it. The active participation of the South Florida rasikas keeping the thalam is noteworthy. Especially in this concert, the thalam for the RTP was Khanda Jathi Triputa in Khanda Nadai (a cycle of 9 beats in which each beat is a khanda chapu talam of 5 beats). As Mrs. Sangeetha Sridhar said in her closing remarks, the thalam gave quite a workout to the audience (not to mention the artists). To listen to a song snippet in this thalam – click on the link below, http://www.esnips.com/doc/8b1c6b2a-d161-4f83-910f-5ea28a870411/Lalgudi_KhandanadaiPallavi.

Over the years, I have developed a keener appreciation for Mridangam, one of the most difficult instruments to master. Thanks to the personal relationship I have developed with Dr. Ramakrishnan and my son, Prem, for taking up mridangam with him.

Can we come up with a powerful slogan rasikas to stay through the Thani? Something along the lines of “It is cool to stay in school”.

Mrs. Sangeetha Swaminathan Concert:

The concert was like a good wine – got better with time. Sangeetha is a very promising youngster and Carnatic music is safe in the hands of such artists. Being a disciple of Sudha Raghunathan, there was no shortage of “brigas” (micro notes) in her swaras, niravels and alapanas. Alapanas were crisp and song selection was simply superb. Violin by our local maestro Mr. Sanjay Chandran was fantastic. Every artist on stage gave their full by simply performing their hearts out. When this happens, it is guaranteed that the audience will have an enjoyable experience. With local artists as support and not enough practice as a team, the trio put out a memorable performance, hats off for a job well done. How I wish every artist troupe who come to South Florida to give their full like these artists have done? Here are the concert songs:

Navaragamalika Varnam
Jaya Jaya in Natai and Khanda Chapu thalam
– solid rendering of kalpana swarams. Sanjay did a terrific job in supporting
Naa Jeevadhara in Bilahari – it has been ages since I heard this on a live concert. What a refreshing, peppy song. Sangathis (variations) were excellent. Ramakrishnan seemed to enjoy playing mridangam for this song
Kavalai Ellam in Saraswathi – violin alapana here was noteworthy. The singer got derailed in a couple of places during the alapana. More bhavam (emotions) in the voice to go along with the sahityam (lyrics) would have helped. In some places the voice sounded a bit nasal.
Kanchadalaya Dakshi in Kamala Manohari – singer showed a lot of bhavam here and concert is starting to look up
Main piece – Chakka Ni Raja in Karaharapriya – Singer rose to her full height. All artists got to their full form. Both the singer and the violinist worked very hard to render an excellent alapana. Karaharapriya lovers (not I) got to enjoy some more alapana time because of Dr. Ramakrishnan’s on stage mridangam operation. Bhavam faculty is still a bit weak and the singer becomes a bit tentative at high pitches. Thani was very spirited. Dr. Ramakrishnan tried a few unique combinations that kept the audience and his mridangam students enthralled.
(U)Ma Ramanan in Hindolam – good demonstration of the brigas in this song. The ragam offers a lot of scope for briga.
RTP in Lalitha and Khanda Jathi Triputa in Khanda Nadai – Best song of the concert. The singer signaled to Ramakrishnan to join in with the mridangam during the thanam part offering a nice touch. More and more performers are adding mridangam during the thanam part of RTP. The voice had warmed up very well by this song. Violin had brought out some hindusthani patterns which was refreshing. In the ragamalika section of the RTP we had Revathi, Saramathi and Vaasanthi. For the novice the thalam may sound like Khanda Chapu – watch out.
Kanda Naal Muthalay in Madhuvanthi – singer was in a zone
Chidambaranai Digambaranai in Sindhu Bhairavi – excellent even at high pitch.
Concert ended with Kurai Onrum Illai, Nanda Nandana and finally with a Thillana in Revathi.

I may get some flak for this from the Karaharapriya lovers but it is not exactly my favorite ragam. It is a personal thing, nothing to do with the artists. Madhu, local singer, has promised to convert me into a lover of the ragam. I am all ears.

Navarathri season just finished. South Florida tradition continues and expands. Jayanthi joins me in wishing you all a happy, healthy and prosperous Deepavali.

See you all at the next concert

Addendum by Dr. Ramakrishnan –

To clarify what I did, let me "spill the guts". The mridangam that I "operated on" first, is a new mridangam that arrived less than two weeks prior to the concert at a shruthi of 5 (the pitch of the singer). Within four days, the pitch was down to 4, and the Saturday evening before the concert, the pitch had come down to 2! (Sorry, Deepa for using the exclamation mark; if you wish you may interpret it as the factorial sign.)

All this is not entirely uncommon, as the hide and straps of a new mridangam are extremely sensitive to temperature and light changes (like a newborn). In India, the mridangam's owner would take it to the mridangam pediatrician several times (as many visits as needed, sometimes spanning a period of months) before exposing it to the world of concerts. This being infeasible here, I performed an emergency insertion of dowel sticks (of a larger diameter than is usually desired) in the straps, to bring the pitch up to the desired level, at 12:30 am Sunday.

While the operation seemed successful, within seven hours, the patient showed further signs of decreasing pitch. I tried to fine tune the instrument with a minor adjustment of the dowel sticks. It seemed to work. However, as I started playing the first song, the patient pitch came down again. I had no choice but to do a more major adjustment of the dowel sticks. Anticipating the possibility of such difficulties, I kept as a backup, an older instrument that had settled between 4 and 4.5. I decided that I should increase its pitch to 5 so that I don't have to struggle with an unsettled mridangam throughout the concert.

Such situations can arise for professional players from Chennai too, but usually they would have a disciple or some other help take the mridangam away from public view to do the needful and bring it back to the artiste within a song or so. Unfortunately, I couldn't do that. By the way, what I ripped was the decorative wrap on the mridangam. The velcro at its ends perhaps heightened the drama. I was only working on the surface of the mridangam and was clumsily struggling to steer the noises emanating from the operation, away from the microphones. I wish I could have prevented all this distraction. I am reminded of what my mridangam friend Ramesh (AIR Chennai staff, disciple of Karaikudi Mani) used to say, " Cheh....Intha thozhulla vandu mattinduttomenna irukku." (“Heck - why did I get caught in this profession”).

Ramakrishnan