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