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Nadhaswaram and present day music scene

Nadaswaram, the magnificient instrument, is slowly disappearing from the concert stage

THE SAXOPHONE and clarinet are recent entrants to the stable of woodwinds in Indian music. A minuscule number of music students take them up. Fewer still are opting for the nadaswaram, giving rise to apprehensions that the ancient instrument could soon go the sarangi way.

The nadaswaram has never been a mainstream concert instrument, and many see it only as an appendage to temple and marriage rituals. Most nadaswaram exponents hail from the barber community, and a hierarchy-conscious society has turned a blind eye to their artistry, and its possibilities. The slow but steady neglect of this magnificent instrument could mean that it will no longer produce, as it did in the last century, greats of the stature of Rajarathnam Pillai.

Recent name


Nadaswaram is the most recent name given to the long pipe earlier known as nagaswaram and olaga (or valaga). In Kannada, olaga means an august assembly, and S. Krishna Murthy, music director and keen observer of the classical music scene, feels the instrument could have acquired that name because it was played regularly at palace gatherings.

The nadaswaram's sound is best heard in open spaces, which is why it has evolved into a procession instrument. No temple procession is complete without a nadaswaram ensemble. The traditional ensemble comprises two nadaswaram players, two dolu (thavil) players, and two shruti accompanists (one on a nadaswaram and the other on what is called a shruti pettige, a harmonium-like instrument that is used to provide the drone).

The nadaswaram's loud sound has worked to its disadvantage in modern times where open space is a luxury. Students cannot learn the instrument in privacy: the instrument announces itself to a radius of at least half a dozen streets.

The nadaswaram came on to the concert stage in the middle of the 20th century, but sabha encouragement has not beenconsistent. It is not an easy instrument to play. It calls for a good deal of lung power, and even those brave odds and pursue it are unhappy about the wall of neglect they come up against. At weddings, they play to a noisy crowd rather than a appreciative, music-aware audience. While wedding assignments bring in much needed money, they are no substitute for the real concert experience. And lavish wedding spenders are not necessarily good paymasters when it comes to dealing with musicians.

Many upper caste vidwans in Mysore, says Krishna Murthy, would secretly walk in temple processions just to hear the nadaswaram. "They thought it was beneath their dignity to listen to music being played by lower caste musicians," says Krishna Murthy, "but their hearts knew the value of what they were hearing."

Using the mute

B. Ramadasappa and Kodandaramaiah are Bangalore's best-known nadaswaram artistes. Ramadasappa has attempted to recast the instrument: he uses a mute to lower his instrument's volume, and plays with tambura and violin accompaniment. Kodandaramaiah has remained true to tradition.

Musicologists say some of the greatest Carnatic musicians of our times — GNB, Semmangudi and Lalgudi — have consciously absorbed the best elements of nadaswaram playing. Although its influence on vocal and instrumental music is undeniable, the nadaswaram is still struggling to win the respect it truly deserves.

http://www.hindu.com/fr/2005/03/11/s...1102210300.htm

Odissi music: a third form of classical music after Carnatic and hindustani ?

http://www.hindu.com/fr/2005/03/11/s...1101190200.htm

Chidambaram Natyanjali festival has also started at Chidambaram.

On Bismillah Khan: http://www.hindu.com/fr/2005/03/18/s...1801940300.htm

Not mere clay

ANJANA RAJAN


The ghatam is one of India’s most unique musical instruments and exemplifies human ingenuity. A simple earthenware pot, it is one of the major percussion instruments of Carnatic music after the mridangam. And although the musically inclined cou ld draw rhythmic patterns out of everyday objects, it is also true that the ghatam used as an instrument is not the same clay pot used to store and carry water in traditional India.

This is because the walls of the ghatam must be of even thickness. Some ghatams have brass flakes mixed with the clay. The brass particles add weight to the ghatam and help give it a metallic sound.

Played using the ten fingers, palms and wrists or heels of the hands, the ghatam is held against the player’s body with the player seated cross-legged, the mouth of the pot facing upwards. Tonal variations are created by varying the method of striking the pot’s sides and its open mouth.
Difficult patterns

Since Carnatic music accompaniment requires the percussionist to produce complicated rhythmic patterns, at times individually and at others in a complementary, ‘retorting’ manner, the ghatam player has to have the ability to manipulate the hands and fingers at high speed across the body of the ghatam. In a traditional concert of Carnatic music, the ghatam is not used as the main percussion instrument. Its place is thus secondary to the mridangam. With the popularity of tala vadya ensembles featuring drums of India and the world, however, the ghatam has come into its own. Perhaps the most recognisable name associated with the ghatam is that of T.H. ‘Vikku’ Vinayakram. Besides being an accompanist of repute, he was arguably the first ghatam player to take a major role in percussion ensembles where his was the only drum from South India, with the tabla representing the leather-topped Indian drum and no mridangam at all.

In the jet setting world of today’s musicians, the ghatam poses some unique problems, including its fragile body and the fact that it cannot be tuned to different pitches like the tabla and other drums. Thus a different ghatam is required for different scales. The pitch can be slightly altered, however, by applying a coating to the inside of the pot.

Like all Indian instruments, the ghatam has its spiritual associations. Among these are the five elements that make up the universe - earth, air, fire, water and space - all of which are contained in the instrument. Made of mud, or earth mixed with water, the ghatam is baked in fire and air, and its hollow shape contains space.
Ghatam

Type Percussion

Made of brass flakes mixed with clay

Mainstream Carnatic music

Exponents Vikku Vinayakram, T.H.Subash Chandran, T.V.Vasan, Karthick, Suresh…

http://www.hindu.com/fr/2007/10/26/s...2651340700.htm

Balamuralikrishna - He defines ‘style’ as tradition

CHITRA SWAMINATHAN

Versatile and fearless, Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna speaks of the Season, artists and his passion.

Everything I did was deprecated by the media and others. I think I derived my strength from it.

A rich baritone, loads of charisma… He walks tall in the raga-sphere. Meet the Big B of Carnatic Music, Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna. He has enriched the classical repertoire with his inimitable compositions. A child prodigy, he has sustained his talent even in his grey years.

The only Carnatic musician to be conferred the “Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres” by the French Government, the youngest Sangita Kalanidhi besides doctorates from several universities (“though I never finished schooling”...) Walk into the first floor drawing room of his modest house on Cathedral Road and you are surrounded by the awards he has won.

For a long time, he has not been a part of the Madras Season yet you see and hear him enough. He is a sought-after name for chief guest at music and dance programmes. Where there’s art, Balamuralikrishna is.

“If people want to hear me, sabhas would have invited me to sing,” he says when asked about not participating in the Music Season. Not the one to sugar coat his comments or be diplomatic, he adds, “I am not desperate. I have done almost 20,000 concerts. It’s strange that artists have to apply like one does for a job to get an opportunity to go up on the stage. Many of them pay and perform. It never happened in our times. The deserving always got a chance. Where’s Carnatic music heading?”

Put off by the chaotic growth of sabhas and cutcheris, the veteran vocalist is optimistic though that it is a passing cloud.

“Anything too much is not good. Sadly, artists think more the concerts, more the popularity. There’s no point doing 20 ordinary concerts. They owe it to the art to improve the standard of listening.”

Music is not as simple as learning and performing. Values and ethics enhance its aesthetic quality, stresses Balamuralikrishna. “For instance, when I was awarded Sangita Kalanidhi and presided over the Music Academy conference, that year I did not perform in any other sabha. We need to honour the prestigious title. Also, once you start making compromises for seeking kutcheris, you will be caught in a rut. Rasikas should have the urge to see and hear you.”

Immense confidence

But to follow the mind one needs to be fearless and have immense confidence, quite like this versatile performer (he can play the viola, veena, mridangam and kanjira). “Everything I did was deprecated by the media and others. I think I derived my strength from it. There was brouhaha over my singing my own compositions. I wondered why I cannot choose words to express myself. That’s what Tyagaraja did. He described Rama the way he saw him. Ironically many of my works are now being used by musicians and dancers. It’s heartening though. I never expected to reach where I am today. I learnt music without knowing it will one day become my calling.”

From a small village (Sankaraguptam) in Andhra Pradesh to criss-crossing the globe, his music is not constricted by language, genres and geographical borders. “We are getting carried away by the on-the-move musicians. Most of the Carnatic concerts abroad are being organised by NRIs. The defining moment is when an artist is invited to a foreign land and applauded by the foreign nationals. They should forge artistic alliances and find new audiences by introducing people of other nationalities to our arts.”

Unlike many of the veterans, he is open to creative experiments, particularly fusion. “I have performed with British musicians. I have sung Rabindra Sangeet and French numbers too. Most often I include local flavour in my concerts to connect with people.”

Balamuralikrishna has a different take on tradition. He strongly feels in the name of tradition we let stagnation to set in. And those who talk constantly about it are not sticking to it either. “If you are a true traditionalist don’t accept money for concerts.”

So what’s his definition of tradition? “Style. It varies from person to person. Without it music will be monotonous,” smiles Balamuralikrishna even as he tells one of his admirers on the cell phone in Telugu, “No, no I am not singing. I am only a guest of honour at the function.”

And the maestro says people don’t want to hear him!


http://www.hindu.com/fr/2008/01/04/s...0451130100.htm

Who is leading vocalist? Poll reslts

Vocalists Sanjiv Subramaniam and Sudha Ranganathan has been rated as the best male and female singers respectively by carnatic music aficionados during the famous annual music festival held Chennai.

According to a survey conducted by IRC-Wide Vision Market Intelligence and Future Studies between 15 December 2007 and 1 January 2008, 37 per cent of the audience said Sanjiv Subramaniam was the best male singer, followed by T N Seshagopalan with 23 per cent.
.

Sudha Ranganathan was rated by 30 per cent as the best female singer while 21 per cent cast their vote for Bombay Jayashree, the survey was conducted among 750 people spread over around 100 ‘music sabhas’ (stages).

Music lovers also felt that instruments like violin, veena and nadaswaram would ‘die’ if reditions on these were not given prime time slots during the music festival, it said.

The practice of music sabhas announcing names of artistes who would perform seven months in advance has created ‘pressure’ on them.

Meanwhile, those who were left out or not given prime time, were ignored by other sabhas, the survey said.

This would create mental tension among the budding artistes, it added.

The survey said 41 per cent of the audience preferred Music Academy as the best managed auditorium for its ambience and sound system.

It was also preferred by 33 per cent of audience for ‘judicious selection’ of artistes.

Newstoday

http://www.hindu.com/fr/2008/03/07/stories/2008030751040100.htm

The Music Academy is honouring Lalgudi Jayaraman with the ‘Special Lifetime Achievement Award’ on Sunday.

The ‘Lalgudi Story,’ evolved as it did, because his ‘inherited blessings’ did not lull him into complacency; rather they were catalysts that spurred him on. And so, as a novice, he executed the 128-beat Simhanandana tala, as a seasoned artiste, he was adjudged the best violinist at an international competition that had 77 entries from 17 countries and as a veteran, his maiden effort in composing the music for the film ‘Shringaaram’ won him a national award.