Umayalpuram Sivaraman & Chennai Sangamam 2009

Sangeetha Sangamam, the name that was given to the programme by Umayalpuram Sivaraman and his ensemble. Chennai Sangamam 2009 had concerts of top musicians in the south Chennai parks, like Sudha Ragunathan, Bombay Jayshree, Ranjani Gayathri, Sanjay Subramanyan etc.

But this year's highlight was Umayalpuram Sivaraman and his ensemble. It had senior artistes on percussion and other instruments on one side and budding musician like Bharat Sunder and two more boys on vocal on the other side. Here is a report on this programme that took place at Nageswara Rao Park, Mylapore, on the 13th of January, 2009.

Umayalpuram's beat filled the ambiance and reverberated through the pathway around the chess square. Sri. M.A.Sundaresan gave excellent support in violin and the songs literally poured out in a pleasant stream from his bows.

The programme was titled Sangeetha Sangamam and so had both classical and folk songs.

The first two songs were pure folklore and rendered well by the boys. Then there was the fast number Raghuvamsa Sudha, in raga Kathanakuthuhalam. Then came a song which had pallavi 'Eru mayil yeru', on Muruga in Tamil, next was 'Uyyalalugaviah', by Saint Thyagaraja in Telugu, a lullaby for Rama and the final charanam was again in Tamil 'En kanne kannurangu', all in the raga Nilambari. The blend was very smooth. Similarly 'Ramanukku Mannan' and 'Karunalaya nidhuiye' both in raga Hindolam, were combined and given as one single rendation. 'Muladhara murthe' in Hamsadwani followed with swift phrases.



I take a paragraph break here to tell that at this point one VVIP visitor entered. Yes, your guess is right. Madam Kanimozhi, MP and one of the organisers of Chennai Sangamam came and took her seat on the lawn along with her friends. The main song 'Tamizhai Kalvimozhiyakku' in raga Hamsadwani was dealt in detail by all the three boys adding kalpana swaras. There was also a thaniavarthanam by all the accompaniments. Umayal Sir stole the show and the crowd applauded heartily.



'Vallikanavan Perai' Kavadichindu was enjoyable. Age old song 'Adupambe' was handled in violin by Sri.Sundaresan. The next was the English note and the boys were adept in humming in a soft low pitch for the same

The finale was the song 'Shanthi nilava Vendum' followed by "Vazhiya Senthamizh'.

The rasikas present that day were mostly people from the neighbourhood and not the regulars to music sabhas. But they sat through the entire show and enjoyed the performance in toto.

You may also enjoy the two small video clippings given below.

The artistes of Sangeetha Sangamam:
Mridangam :Sri. Umayalpuram K.Sivaraman
Violin : Sri. M.A. Sundaresan
Ghatam : Sri. Pudukkotai Ramesh
Kamjira : Sri. Sri Sundar Kumar
Morsingh : Sri. A.S.Krishnan
Special Effects : Sri. Murali
Vocal 1 : Sri. K.Bharat Sunder
Vocal 2 : Sri. Nanganallur Ravishankar
Vocal 3 : Sri. Parur Ananthakrishnan

Gomatha Illam

Gomatha Illam

Can you imagine a shed full of cattle, cows and buffaloes, being tended and bred at the heart of the metro Chennai? Yes, the couple Ramu and Bala does it at Mylapore, Chennai at Veerabadran Lane.

Gomatha in Tamil means, ‘Cow, the Mother’ and it is sacred for Hindus. In Gomatha Illam of Ramus there are 20 cows and 15 buffaloes. Breeding these animals is the family tradition of Ramus and they live upto that till date.

Smt. Bala, lady just–above-middle age, looks very pious and soft spoken with very tender, affectionate expression in her eyes as she takes care of all the cattle as her own children.

The couple with their only son runs the entire show. They supply around 75 litres of milk per day, morning and evening to Hotel Saravana Bhavan in North Mada Street, Mylapore and to Grand Snacks in Gandhi Nagar, Adyar on week ends.

This is their family business for generations, says Smt. Bala and hence they want to continue despite the hardships. They don’t realize much profit because the cattle feed and straw prices have gone up many folds. Also they do not have much human assistance to take care of 35 cattle in one place.

We visited them on the day of Mattuppongal, the day next to Pongal, when people show their gratitude to the cattle for providing them milk throughout the year. Previously it was the tradition to take the cattle out, decked up, for a walk on Mattuppongal day and people at their doorstep used to take harathi and offer fruits to the cow and thamboolam to the owner. These things have disappeared now and the puja is being performed indoors only.

I wish the couple a happy and prosperous New Year (Ugadi)

Lecture Demonstrations - December Music and Dance Season 2008

Hi again! This is a belated report on few of the Lec-dems during December 2008 season

Here is a word about Lec-dems in general. Except at Music Academy the Lec-dems at other Sabhas witness only scant crowd that too all 50+.

The resource persons delivering the lectures are stalwarts and they do extensive research before presenting them in the limited time allotted.

It is unfortunate that the youth, especially those in the music and dance circle, as students, do not encash the knowledge imparted and get benefited by them.

Our senior vidwans, musicologists and dance gurus have treasures with them which the younger generation should exploit for their real growth.

1. Telugu-The special status enjoyed by Telugu in Carnatic Music –
By Sri. T.R.Subrahmaniam - Indian Fine Arts Society at German Hall on 26.12.2008.

In British India, English language was regarded as a status symbol. In the same way Telugu language enjoyed the status symbol among composers of 16/17 century.
Tamilnad had great advantage in that illustrious people like Rama Mathiya, Annamacharya and Narayana Thirthar from Andhra Pradesh contributed a lot and made Telugu a status language.

The influence was so great that composers with their mother tongue other than Telugu composed only in Telugu during that era. Patnam Subramanya Iyer, Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar (Tamilians) , Mysore Vasudevachar (Kannadiga) preferred to compose in Telugu.

The King Krishna Devaraya, whose mother tongue was Tulu, did a kavya in Telugu by name ‘Amuktha Malyada’. In this he has the last line ‘Desa Bhashalandu Telugu Lessa’
meaning among the national languages Telugu is the best.

Sangeetha Sampradaya Pradarshini, which is considered as Bible in music circle was written in the year 1904, in Telugu by Subbarama Dikshithar, the grandson of Muthuswamy Dikshithar's family whose mother tongue was Tamil.

Finally, Saint Thyagaraja who was born and lived in Tamilnadu did his compositions in simple Telugu, which was his mother tongue. His disciples too composed only in Telugu, telling ‘Na guru ela chesaro ala chesanu’ meaning I did the way my guru did.
The beauty of Telugu lies in the fact that all nouns end in vowels like Ramudu ending with u. This gives very good scope in carnatic music to do neraval and is very pleasant to hear. Whereas in Tamil the vowels end in consonants, like in Raman, n is the ending and neraval with that is difficult. In Kannada the vowels are extended with aa at the endings, which will not sound very good and neraval with extended aa is again difficult.

Our great poet of Tamilnad Sri.Subrahmanya Bharathy hence rightly said ‘Sundara Telunginil Pattisaithu’ which means Telugu is very good to hear and people opt to sing in that language.

This trend slowly changed with Papanasam Sivan who made Tamil kirthanas with classical touch popular later.

2. Influence of Yoga in voice modulation by Sri T.Unnikrishnan – Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha at Vidya Bharathy on 28.12.08

Voice culture is the usage of right voice technique while singing. Yoga deals with breath control and hence the practice of Pranayama helps improve the tonal quality.

There are three registries in voice, head registry, chest registry and false registry. Head registry is for light singing and 90% modulation comes from chest registry. Breath voice (the false registry) is bad in classical music, but permitted in light singing. (In breathy voice 10% of breath is applied with singing which comes along with the song and it is a disqualified voice for classical music.) Classical singing requires majesty and hence, there chest registry is applied.

When we practice with akaram it is better to replace ‘a’ with ‘h’ and practice haharam. This will enable us to reach the lower shadjamam easily.
Initially sarali is to be practiced with haharam. H works in a tremendous way in voice production. When akaram is applied it presses the larynx in the vocal chord and the voice becomes artificial. It may reduce the range also later on. When the voice gets the position, then akaram can be applied.
The position of the head should be at normal level even while singing in tara sthayi. If lifted up the larynx gets pressed and enough air will not be supplied to the voice.
While practicing any swara it should be plain, in a tight string like pattern without vibrations. This will help, later in applying vibrations and landing smoothly in classical music.

Yoga is for general health, wherein the mechanism is very easy with respect to Pranayama, meaning control and organized movement of breath. The spoken voice and tonal quality in singing gets improved by regularly practicing yoga (pranayama)

Three types of pranayamas can be practiced for 1 to 1.5 hours daily as a special exercise for the improvement of voice.
The vocal chord is a delicate instrument and hence any exercise/yoga is to be done under the supervision of a guru.

Kapalapathi: Imagine a lamp is kept in front. From nabhi pressing the billow apply force and try to put off the lamp. Repeat this for a specific number of counts. This clears the lungs.
Nadi Shodana: This is alternate breathing. There are two nadis; one is Ida, the left (female) and the other Pingala, the right (male). Inhale with your left nostrils, retain that counting upto 6, and then exhale counting 12 from right nostril. Now inhale through right, retain till 6 counts and exhale through left counting 6. Repeat this until there is balance in the exhaling. The effect of this is the mind will be steady with no stress. Both nostrils will be cleared without block enabling the music to flow out smoothly.
Bhastika: This is abrupt blowing of air throw nostrils and repeated fastly. This clears nasal passage and sinus. The area around the nose is purified and the resonating system is kept activated. Anyone can practice without nasal sound or with 10% nasal or with 50% nasal. With ‘OM’ also this can be practiced. The voice starts from vocal chord passes through various resonating system and comes out with sweetness and melody.

For improvement of voice one sarali a day repeated, will be enough. The next day the next sarali to be practiced.
For a steady pitch one should practice from lower panchamam to the higher panchamam. If 5 is the normal pitch one should start from 4.5, go to 5, then to 5.5.
This way one can sing confidently at the 5 pitch.

3. Role of Varnam in Voice Training by Smt. Sumathi Krishnan – Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha at Vidya Bharathy on 30.12.08.

We get to know different patterns from singing varnams like the following: 1. Hamsadwani varnam Pagavari, 2.Kanada varnam ‘Nera nammithinaiah’- anupallavi‘maruni kanna sri’and 3. Suruti varnam ‘entha premathone’- the swarams ‘panthamela jesevu e vela’
These give different patterns and modulations. The regular practice trains the voice in these aspects.
In certain ragas the pattern is woven around one swaram like in Goula varnam ‘chelimi kori vachi’ is around Rishabam which is the prime note. Similarly in the Saveri varnam ‘sogasuga’ again rishabam is the important note, close to Shadjam, which has got not only range but combination of swaras too.
In Pallavi Gopala Iyer’s ata thala varnam ‘intha chalamu’ the karvai gets shifted from ‘pa’ to ‘dha’ and also to ‘sa’. Here ‘pa dha dha sa’, ‘sa pa dha dha sa’ ‘pa dhaa dha sa’are beautifully chiseled.
To get good range, it should be practiced from lower pa to higher pa wherein numerous combinations can be achieved.
Varnam Patterns work very beautifully on voice training and also lead to manodarma singing. These patterns when practiced with akaras will be good for voice training

Some varnams like ‘Swami’ in Hamsadwani and Kannada ragas give knowledge about swarasthanas and varjyaprayoham in ragas.

Varnams are combinations of Jhanta varisai and Dhattu varisai, so very useful for voice training.
There are two types of varnams, namely Pada varnam and Thana varnam. Pada varnams are mainly meant for dance performances, whileThana varnams improve the voice texture and pattern.

Shanmukhapriya Thana varnam is produced here as video clip (the image quality is not very good) which can be enjoyed as to how the practice of varnam helps in singing RTP.

Finally madam Sumathy concluded her lecture by a verse in Sanskrit which said ‘have unexhausted control over the voice which does not tire easily, explore mature and correct phrases of ragas and learn from great learned guru’.

Madam Sumathy with her clear and authentic voice demonstrated every single aspect, with the singing of that particular segment of the varnam.

I once again reiterate that these lectures are made available free by Sabhas during December season but it is not reaching the target audience who will carry forward these treasures.

I have given only a small piece of the lectures in the perspective of a rasika and not as a singer or student of music.

I wish one and all a very happy Ugadi.

Dance Ballet- December Music & Dance Season 2008

Hi friends! It is nice to be back meddling with my blog after a long gap.

I would like to give a very short, crisp note about the Dance Ballets, I happened to see during December Music and Dance season 2008.

Nowadays December season is witnessing Dance Ballets in the place of Solo dances by veterans.

The three of them which I have chosen are again choreographed by veterans and performed by their school students.

I start with Mrs. Chitra Visweswaran’s Chidambaram Academy of Performing Arts which presented ‘Nirantharaha’ meaning ‘the eternal cycle’.

It was told that old Tamil literature speaks of seven stages of woman. Nirantharaha depicts the seven stages of woman which go like this, the girl baby, the little girl, the sweet sixteen, the young woman, the mother, the widow and the released soul. As madam Chitra puts it ‘every moment that goes is a death; and every moment that is born is birth; thus the eternal cycle goes on’. Mrs. Chitra Visweswaran took the lead role and performed effortlessly, deftly accompanied by her students.

The first song of Tagore’s Gitanjali was translated into Tamil and there were many more of his compositions taken for research and formed the source, says Mrs.Chitra. Late Visweswaran had scored the music for the Ballet.

The Music, that had direct influence of Tagore’s Gitanjali , and scored by a santoor artiste, had the melody and softness which prevailed throughout the drama. Odissi style was very neatly adopted in Bharathanatyam, fitting to the melody of the songs. The costume of the dancers very much resembled that of odissi.

The next is ‘Pada Kavitha Pithamaha’ by Bharathanjali Trust headed by Mrs. Anitha Guha.
Around 25 students of all stature from 2’ to 5’ took part in the dance ballet, based on the compositions of Annamacharya, mostly on Lord Venkateswara and Goddess Alamelumanga. The resource person was Sri. Pappu Venugopala Rao and choreography, madam Anitha. She is adept in handling students of different age groups and the audience always remains spell bound by their performance.

Pada Kavitha Pithamaha was another treat that way, with a special mention to be made about the Bhramotsavam scenes, where the Lord with his two consorts parade in different Vahanas on all 10 days.

In dance circle when we speak about spectacular, the one name that flashes is Smt. Krishnakumari Narendran of Abhinaya Natyalaya. This year Smt Nrithya Jagannathan and other students of madam Krishnakumari presented ‘Siva Swaroopa Thandava Lahari’ a celebration of Shiva and his multiple facets. The verses were taken from Sanskrit and Tamil poems like Thiruvachagam, Thirumandiram, Sivanandalahari, Shivapanchakshara Stotram, Siva Thandava Stotram and Charana Sringarahita Nataraja Stotram.

The two special items were the story of Ravana who sings Siva Thandava Stotram to get himself released from the crush by Mount Kailash and that of Padanjali, who composes Charana Sringarahita Nataraja Stotram on seeing Lord Nataraja’s Ananda Thandavam at Chidambaram.

Mrs. Nrithya Jagannathan was versatile in presenting the different facets of the cosmic dancer Lord Shiva.
The settings and lightings play a vital role in Krishnakumari’s dance dramas and invariably steal the heart of audience. These two aspects were exceptionally displayed in this production.

Krishnakumari Narendran is always passionate about her students, and Nrithya, her pet student for the last 25 years, learns, teaches and renders nattuvangam under Krishnakumari. She is also proud that her students do well in their schools/collages with a few pursuing professional courses like engineering/IT/medicine. She was thankful to the artiste who played Ravana, a student from abroad (Sri Lanka, I believe) who air dashed to Chennai, learnt in few days and danced. Of course her performance was quite laudable.

I have given a small tribute to the three great dance gurus of current time, who have established themselves by mere hardwork and untiring effort. It requires lot of patience, understanding and adjustment to plan, do research, choreograph, coordinate, rehearse and finally present a production with heterogeneous artistes and cope with their other important commitments in social life. Women dance gurus of our time are doing it extremely well.

I am happy to release this article on the eve of ‘International Women’s Day’, i.e.,March 8 th and dedicate to the women population all over the world who are adept in multitasking.

I am proud to be a woman and wish all ladies a very happy Women’s Day.