Sikkil Gurucharn Concert and Jeyaraaj/Jaysri Veena Duet

“What have you done for me lately?” – A popular question, especially in America.

It is a question we ask and answer in our daily lives. If I am late in submitting a commentary for a concert, I am on the receiving end of the same question. No one is immune to it. Sure, it prevents grass from growing under our feet but the stress takes a toll on our lives. Different people have different ways of dealing with stress. My father, in spite of all the stress he faced had some simple formulas for stress management – be religious, have a sense of humor, keep good company, enjoy carnatic music and enjoy good food. “When you are angry eat one jangry” – he would say. Jangry is a beautiful looking South Indian sweet dish in a pleasing crimson color. It takes a lot of skill and care to make those intricate circular patterns by extruding dough directly onto boiling oil. The fried dough is taken out of the oil with precise timing and then soaked in sugar syrup. You would put on a couple of pounds just for looking.

My father was also full of surprises. One day he suddenly announced that he is planning to build a house in “Govindapuram” and eventually move there. It is a village near Kumbakonam in South India. We were up in arms, as we were worried about medical facilities in such a place for this ‘jangry’ eating diabetic. Being a stubborn man all his life, my father went ahead and made an investment in a group development project there. His attraction to Govindapuram was, of course, the environment of Bhajans and religious activities. But, he never made it there. After his lifetime, my mother gave the investment away to charities.

Let us stop and think a little deeper on this. It is actually visionary “reverse migration” move. Migration for opportunities is common among all ambitious youngsters. Our forefathers may have moved from villages to cities seeking opportunities. In subsequent generations, some of us have moved to different countries. Now the world has become one big village. Communications through e-mail, instant messaging, VOIP phones and telephone have become cheap or even free. Super long distance non-stop flights are common. May be it is time to do some reverse migration – not just to the place you grew up but all the way to the roots of your ancestry.

Some of us NRIs dream of going back to India for retirement. Let us face it, only a few of us will actually get there. If you are one of ones to get back to India, where will you go – Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai or Delhi? Good luck - more stress awaits you there such as endless set of activities, traffic, cost and pollution. With medical advances and communication facilities, Govindapuram may be a viable option. Reflect on it. Let us talk about the concerts.

Sikkil Gurucharan Concert: When the e-mail from Shiva Vishnu Temple Cultural Committee came about Sikkil Gurucharan’s concert, I quickly went online searching for some song samples by him. They were fantastic. I asked my cousins and friends in India about him and got glorious reviews.

But at the end of the concert, I had one question in my mind to Gurcharan and you guessed it – “What have you done for me lately”?

With Nagai Sriram was on the violin and Neyveli Skanda Subramanian on the Mridangam it was a great team with some brilliant moments but my overall impression was “out of focus”. The concert started well with Kanada varnam and at high speeds Gurucharan was brilliant. The first three or four songs were good and then the concert started to sag. The low point of the concert was the beginning of the main piece - Alapana in Kamas was shaky. Sure he tried to make up but the damage was done. The alapana part of the RTP in Hemavathi was a big yawn. I looked around the auditorium to find about 25% of the initial crowd had vanished. But when the mridangam joined in the Thanam part the mridangam the concert started to pick up some momentum. Violin by Nagai Sriram was solid not stellar. However, it was not good enough to resuscitate the concert. Mridangam was the saving grace. Sri Skanda Subramanian was consistent through the concert.

Carnatic music enthusiasts of South Florida deserve better from these visiting artists. They should give their full whether they are on the tail end of their tour or a Sunday concert. May be the Committee can find a gentle way of passing on the message to the visiting artists.

Jaysri-Jeyaraaj Veena Duet:

“Satisfying” – was the word that came to my mind after listening to a unique husband/wife veena duet with South Florida’s own Dr. Ramakrishnan providing the mridangam support. It was great to see such a wonderful coordination and understanding between a husband and wife pair, no kidding. Now, if only we can bring that same coordination and understanding in our homes – well dream on.

If you close your eyes and listen to them it is hard to tell the veena players apart. They were so close to each other in talent level and style. It is a whole different ball game if you opened your eyes. Jeyaraaj was very engaging with the artists, audience and the sound engineers while Jaysri was stoic. I remember seeing her smile only on two occasions during the entire evening.

At the end of the concert, the artists were gracious enough to describe the special veena and answer some questions. The frets and the strings in the electronic veena were identical to the Saraswathi Veena. The sound was amplified electronically making the instrument manageable in size and easy for the traveling musicians. The instrument also had a built in sruthi box. For the purists, the sound would not have been as rich as the traditional Saraswathi Veena.

Song and ragam selections were superb. Here is the list:

Ata thala varnam in Bhairavi

Gajananayutham Ganeshwaran by Muthuswamy Deekshitar in Vegavahini (Deekshitar nomenclature for Chakravaham) – effortlessly played, great coordination between the artists, excellent alapana. Dr. Ramakrishnan gave a great support

Raghu Vamsa Sutha by Patnam Subramania Iyer in Kathana Kuthoohalam – an all time favorite of all music lovers. Even to those occasional carnatic music listeners this toe-tapping joyous number with some western overtones is very enjoyable. The song was so joyous it even made the female artist crack a smile.

Sri Saraswathi Namosthuthe in Arabi – During the alapana the artist lost some focus, could have made it livelier.

Main piece, Ninne Nammi in ragam Simhandra Madhyamam and Mishra Chapu thalam – Alapana was very meditative which was broken by an unintended supporting artist, a cell phone, please. The hand-offs between the couple were well handled. Dr. Ramakrishnan worked hard and gave a good performance during the Thani.

Pandurithi Kollu – Hamsanadam - Very clean delivery

RTP in Sankarabharanam – very inspiring alapana. Ragamalika during the thanam part was very unique –Sahana, Brindavana Saranga and Hamsanandhi. Thalam was Thisra Triputai (Laghu part has three counts followed by two Dhrithams for a total of 7-beats).

Radha Sametha Krishna in Yamuna Kalyani – very enjoyable

Govardhana Giridhari in Darbari Kanada

Lalgudi Thillana in Rageshree – the ragam stumped the crowd including the South Florida expert Mrs. Anu Aji.

My only gripe is that I wish I heard the concert in a Saraswathi veena. I am sure I will catch these artists in concert in India one of these days (or years).

Madhuri Arangetram

Orchestra -Left to Right (Sri Sanjay Chandran - violinist, Smt. Preeti Sunderasan - Flautist/Veena player, Sri Murali Balachandar - Mridangist, Sri Madhu Chandrasekaran - Vocalist, Kumari Madhuri Nagaraj, Guru Smt. Harija Sivakumar and Sri Saheelan Sinnarajah - special percussion instrumentalist)

Arangetram by Madhuri Nagaraj

On April 19, 2008 at the Sunrise Civic Center, Madhuri Nagaraj successfully completed her Bharatha Natya Arangetram under the Kalakshetra style.

I was in a bit of a dilemma, if this program should be considered as a performance of a mature dancer or as an Arangetram. Madhuri has enthralled the entire audience with her grace, confidence, speed, footwork and show of emotions. She has a firm grasp of Bharatha Natyam precepts and presented herself very well. Right after the musicians ended the invocatory song Ganesh stuti, Madhuri came to the center of the stage to start her performance with Pushpanjali. We all instinctively knew this program is going to be superb. Let us look at the program as an Arangetram first and then I will give some feedback reviewing as a performance.

As an Arangetram - Let me make it short and sweet – as an Arangetram the program scores very high, no question about it. Overall, Madhuri is a graceful dancer, her entrances to and exits from the stage are very clean, her stance is firm and her sense of symmetry is noteworthy. Madhuri instinctively knows her position on stage and centers herself. Madhuri must have practiced hard for the program and it clearly shows in her confidence and the way she made it seem effortless. Madhuri had a very mature show of emotions or bhava, has good strokes with striking poses. Mr. Pampa Narsipur said after the program “those who missed the program really missed it and those who witnessed the program will talk about it for a long time”. Could not have said it better myself.

Here is the list of songs for the program:

Pushpanjali in ragam Meghavahini – created a divine atmosphere on stage and in the minds of the audience. A nice preview of what is to come.

Alarippu – This dance demonstrated that Madhuri has truly mastered the fundamentals of this great art form. It has hand-eye-foot coordination, delicate movements of the face and rhythmic dance movements.

Gajavadana Beduve in Hamsadhwani

Jathiswaram in Amrithavarshini – Madhuri clearly demonstrated that she can put together basic patterns into attractive dance sequences. Guru Harija showed her skills in vocalizing the Jathis.

Natana Sabhapathi Kauthvam – in the powerful Ragam Revathi.

Varnam in Kapi – Orchestra deserve mention here for their superb rendition of Kapi. This the longest piece in any dance program combining all the talents learned over the years and years of training – footwork, speed, show of emotions, grace combined with ability to tell stories. Madhuri chose to four episodes from Krishna’s life from His unusual child birth to the Bhagavad Geetha episode. Very nicely done as the stories offered scope for a wide variety of emotions . Varnam lasted 25 minutes and I am sure the dancer would have gone for another 20 minutes.

Jagadodharana – in Kapi (again?). A beautiful Purandaradasa krithi on the motherly love of Yashoda over Krishna (again?).

Sumanasa Vanditha – An ashtaragamalika, a garland of 8 ragas in one song, with each raga representing one form of Lakshmi. At the end of the song Madhuri covered the entire stage posing as the eight different forms of Goddess Lakshmi. Well done. I was looking at the back of the brochure depicting the poses of each of the Lakshmi, very nice touch.

Antahpura Geetegalu – An imagination by a Kannada poet D.V. Gundappa of Belur temple carvings coming to life. After the program, I heard Madhuri talking fluently in Kannada. May be some day she will explain the beauty of the words as well.

Oorthava Thandava – in ragam Rishabapriya. Very powerful depiction of Shiva’s cosmic dance

Thillana – in Kunthalavarali. Dancer was like this energizer bunny that keeps on going and going and going and going. I think Madhuri must have pumped adrenalin by the bucket that day. She could have gone on for another four hours and so could the audience.

It was a really thrilling experience to sit through an arangetram of this caliber. I am sure many dancers and parents of dancers in the audience thinking “oh my God, she has raised the bar so high”. In one sense it is good to raise the bar. Another view is to look at this as a performance than an arangetram.

As a Dance Performance: If I were to write this up as a dance performance, I would be a bit more critical. With your permission, let me use this section to provide some feedback.

The dance pieces could have been more complex and more challenging. Most of the songs were set in Adi thalam, a bit more variety in thalams could have been more refreshing. While I realize that this Varnam can only go so long, Madhuri had the capability to go well beyond the 25-minutes mark. Themes were a bit repetitive revolving around Krishna and Shiva. Also repeat of ragams could have been avoided. Thillana could have been packaged better, especially among the musicians.

Arangetram is nothing more than a milestone in the path to perfection. In the case of Madhuri, Guru Harija has moved the milestone further up the path. But it is going to take a lot more to reach higher levels. Madhuri needs to pay closer attention to the timing of her strokes so they land precisely.

Regarding the program flow – limit the costume changes and avoid dead space.

Music: It is becoming an all too familiar scene with Sri Madhu Chandrasekaran singing, Sri Murali Balachandran playing mridangam and Sri Sanjay Chandran on the violin. It was good to see Smt. Preeti Sundaresan on the flute and Veena. Sri Murali was brilliant as usual. This time he brought a device that produced the sounds of thunder, drums etc. Switching between Kanjira, Morsing, Mridangam and this special device kept us thrilled. Sri Madhu performed at his peak with an excellent rendition of Kapi. Sri Sanjay and Smt Preeti provided excellent support. The musicians were really listening to each other and coordinating well making the whole musical experience awesome.

Dear Madhuri, first of all, Jayanthi aunty and I want to relay our heartfelt congratulations on your achievement. Gurus are meant to be impartial. They give their knowledge to all equally. But some of their students grasp more than the others. You have been one of the fortunate ones to learn a lot more from Guru Harija, great job. At some point in your dance career you should go to the source of Bharatha Natyam – India to learn a lot more and experience performing in India. Your potential is enormous in this field. Wish you the very best in everything you plan to do in your life. I certainly hope you will keep Bharatha Natyam as one of your focus. Someday, we will pay to watch you perform.

Congratulations are in order to Guru Harija and the parents Geetha and Ben Nagaraj.

Karunya-Lavanya Arangetram

On April 5, 2008 at the Coral Springs High School Auditorium, the beautiful Krishnan sisters completed their Bharatha Nrithya Arangetram.

Dancers are generally taught to smile to enhance their performance. But how do you smile when you are enacting a character like Manthara, the evil house maid of Kaikeyi in the epic Ramayana. Karunya Krishnan did a superb abhinaya (acting out) as Manthara during the Varnam. Another excellent rendition was her depiction of the abandoned wife of the prince Siddhartha who renounced the family and became Buddha. Karunya had a lot of scope to show a variety of bhavas (emotions) like anger, haplessness, total despair and finally understanding of the immensity of her husband’s spiritual destiny. The concept was Karunya’s brainchild; her grandmother, Mrs. Kamu Ayyar, created the verses; and Karunya performed it as a solo number – talented family. This was a well orchestrated unique dance item – great job. We surely have not seen the last of this particular dance. With more performance experience Karunya can continuously improve and show a lot more depth in the display of emotions.

Karunya, the elder of the two, was mature in showing bhava and abhinaya and the sheer number of years of training was evident. The much younger Lavanya was energetic, fast and agile. Lavanya was a source of support to Karunya and also showed what she was made of during some of her solo items. What a phenomenal opportunity at such a young age to showcase her talent. Lavanya had a good sense of sense of thalam and rhythmic movements. The sisters were taught in the unique style created by the dance genius and living legend Dr. Padma Subramanyam. Their guru, Mrs. Sangeetha Sridhar, was one of Dr. Padma Subramanyam’s direct students and a South Florida resident.

A two-person dance performance also offered some unique opportunities to choreograph the dances. The Krishnan sisters and the dance teacher took full advantage of this. Varnam, within the Arangetram performance is a combination of all aspects of the dance along with an opportunity to enact a story. The Krishnan sisters enacted several episodes within Ramayana during the Varnam. In a dance Arangetram or performance, Varnam is also considered an endurance test for the dancers as it is usually around 40-minutes. During their next performance, the sisters should both go the full length on stage for the Varnam performance.

The following are the dance items during the Arangetram:

Thodaya Mangalam/Pushpanjali
Alarippu with Thiruppugazh
Kavuthuvam (solo number by Lavanya)
Jathiswaram (the orchestra came beautifully together on this Kamaas song performed solo by Karunya)
Varnam in Kalyani (great scope for footwork, show of emotions, graceful dancing along a story line)
Angayarkanni in Karaharapriya (beautiful dance about a beautiful Goddess Meenakshi)
Nyayama Swami (fantastic lyrics by Mrs. Kamu Ayyar performed solo by Karunya – Great job)
Kavadi Chindu (good show of energy by Lavanya performing solo)
Thillana in Sumanesa Ranjani (unique raagam, brisk performance by both) and
Mangalam

Live music always enhances dance performance. On the mridangam Sri Murali Balachandar was simply superb from the get go. The clarity of sound in his strokes and flawless rhythm was truly a treat. Our very own Sri Madhu Chandrasekaran, with his powerful voice and tireless training over the years has blossomed into an excellent singer to support dance performances. His voice modulations were fantastic and he can capitalize on it more. Madhu is blessed with an ability to bring out the emotions of specific passages in his voice. Professional flautist, Sri V.K. Raman was terrific and I especially enjoyed his rendition of Kamaas and Kalyani. Another well known South Florida talent, Sri Sanjay Chandran on the violin showed his mastery over Kalyani and his alapana in Hamsanandi in the Carnatic style was refreshing. The songs were set to a variety of thalams, keeping up the interest levels. Kavadi Chindu in Adi thalam in Thisra nadai was very energetic.

The arrangements for the performance were great including stage decorations by Mrs. Vijaya Para. Mrs. Kamu Ayyar was brimming with pride to see her beautiful granddaughters dance to her beautiful lyrics.

Our community in South Florida is blessed with talented students, dedicated teachers, involved parents and encouraging audience. This is a great combination for sustaining an art form such as Indian classical dance on American soil. In addition, we have professional grade supporting artists to take the art to a much higher plane. It takes a lot of courage for the dancers to even accept for an Arangetram performance. The pressure for performance is enormous from the family, friends and most of all from the Guru. Young dancers who come forward and take on a challenge like an Arangetram performance learn a tremendously valuable lesson that will follow their entire life. It takes a lot of practice, perseverance and patience to master this art form. Most of all, it takes a total dedication to their teacher or Guru Bhakthi.

Karunya and Lavanya – As I always say to all aspirants of this great art form – continue to learn, perform and teach. Keep the dance as an integral part of your life, as it is a unique blessing. Jayanthi aunty joins me in blessing you both to achieve everything your heart desires.

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