Rendezvous with a legend - Shrimati Vani Jairam - 2

The Dinner - Orignally written on 20 Jun 2014

We arrived at the restaurant ( Kamadhenu ) and VJ asked me to join her at the dinner table but I was already full with both food and adrenaline.  However, her insistence won and I agreed to have a morsel to keep the conversation going.  However, quickly realizing that there were many others who were interested in talking to her I excused myself and went around the table to greet the rest of the team which included Sathyaprakash and Madhumita - two talented youngsters.  Sathya was very calm, measured in conversation, but polite and came across as easily approachable gentlemanly artist.  There were some discussions about Satyaprakash's interests in gazals and his eagerness to learn hindi and urdu.   After the dinner, we were off to the hotel.

On the way, I asked VJ:

MS:  "Amma..I am a composer and there are a few tamil compositions which have been done over these years with your voice in mind in hindustani/ gazal style.  If your time and interest permit, I would like to have a discussion with you about them"

VJ : "Surely.  The morning of the day after the show (Sunday), I will be free and you are most welcome to the hotel to discuss them.  I will be glad to hear them."

I could not have asked for more, although I was not very sure this meeting would happen since celebrities like her were always sought after for multiple reasons by many people.  But then came another question:

VJ : "BTW, is there any place we can go near by on Sunday ?"

MS:  "There is a Westfield  mall near to your hotel.  Would you like to go to the mall on Sunday morning? Please remember that the mall opens only at 11 AM and you have to start towards the airport around 5 pm."

VJ : "Malls all over the world are the same.  I am not particularly interested in them.  Is there anything else that you could suggest ?"

MS:  "Well..there are many attractions in and around Sydney since this is a huge city.  If you are happy to go along with me and my wife, I am more than glad to take you around."

VJ :  "Plese understand that I do not intend to inconvenience you.  I could ask the organizers as well.  What I am looking forward is just a drive through some nice scenic area.  However if you are free and promise me that it ain't a burden on your schedule only then, I will agree"

MS:  "It certainly is not a burden, but a pleasure.  You may please confirm after you discuss with the organizers."

==============

The concert

The concert was simply wonderful.  Some songs were rendered at a reduced pace but at the original scale !  Please remember that she is 70 ("I am pushing 70 and people say it is hard to believe" - True indeed )  and at that age even to hold a sustained note without vacillating is so very difficult.
But her range and adherence to shruti was perfect throughout the concert.  Among her co-singers Satyaprakash excelled and matched her for note-by-note in the rare song of Vijayabaskar - "maamadurai naatinil vaigaik karai kaatrinil".  His own rendition of "paattum naane" was superlative with his ornamentations (Sangathis) cascading naturally out of his soft but sonorous voice.  VJ vividly recalled that she has sung innumerable kannada numbers for Vijayabaskar who she termed - 'a gentleman composer' who was always soft in his choice of words, articulation and tunes.  Harish Raghavendra was good in his originals and understandably VJ's ornamentation in her original duet songs (like "ilakkaNam maarudho") stood out.

She recounted how her entry to the film music has been one of "all good omens".  She entered the film music as a 'guddi' (little girl) - the hindi film, then returned to tamilnadu through "Veetukku Vandha Marumagal" (daughter-in-law who had come home) and then her break happened in 'dheerga sumangali' ( a lady blessed with a long blissful marriage ) through the song "malligai en".  And among the songs, while she sang most of the popular numbers including "ezu swarangaLukuL" the surprise element was her inclusion of "yaar adhu sollaamal" instead of "meghamE mEghame" which found a shrunken place in her medley.

At the end she rounded it off with a beautiful medley of many songs with just the shruti (drone) in the background.  I was hoping somebody would play the piano / keyboard - but nope - just the shruti.  Later when I asked if she preferred it that way, she replied : "the keyboardists are in their early twenties and do not know many of my songs.  So, I thought this was a better arrangement".  I woudl ideally have liked them to play the chords at least.

The concert was well attended by close to 800 people.  People were really appreciative of her singing and cheered her when familiar songs hit the stage.Throughout the concert she spoke in chaste tamil.  I met her backstage during the interval and asked her if she planned ot sing any malayalam song on stage and reminded her of "Karuna cheyvaan".  She immediately said "Swami's composition" and to my surprise she immediately sang it backstage ! Once she finished she said : "There is no malayalam number in the original list of stage-songs, but now that is done too" with an affectionate smile.

    karuna cheyvaan (malayalam) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhFWUkox7HY

She also presented signed copies of her "tamil-poem" collection to me and Dr. Gowribalan on her own volition.  We were really surprised by her gesture, since we were probably the only ones, or may be among the handful of people, who were accorded that gesture !

(Final part describing our musical interaction will follow soon..)

Rendezvous with a legend - Shrimati Vani Jairam -1

The arrival in Sydney (Originally written on 17 Jun 2014)

 Murali Sankar (MS) : ”அம்மா : நீங்கள் வர மிகவும் தாமதாகிவிட்டதால், நானும் கெளரிபாலன் அவர்களும் உங்கள் பாடல்களைப் பற்றி விமான நிலையத்திலேயே பேசும்படி ஆகி விட்டது.  எங்களின் அயர்ச்சி வேலை செய்ய ஆரம்பித்துவிட்டது.  ஆனால் எல்லா சோதனைகளும் முடிந்து நீங்கள் வெளியே வரும்போது எங்களுக்கு மிக்க மலர்ச்சி ! மகிழ்ச்சி ! அப்போது உங்களின் பாடலான ”விழியோ உறங்கவில்லை” தான் ஞாபகத்திற்கு வந்தது !”

("Amma : The long delay in the flight's arrival, gave me and Dr. Gowibalan a chance to discuss your songs and more as we waited for you at the airport.  Although it was a long and weary day, seeing you emerge out of immigration, we lost our tireness and I got reminded me of your number 'Vizhiyo uRangavillai’ (means eyes could not sleep) that you have sung in one of the movies.")

Vani: ”ஓ ! அதுவா ! அது ரொம்ப நல்ல பாட்டாச்சே !  MSV சார் போட்ட பாட்டு” (பாடிக்காட்டுகிறார்)

("Oh ! that is a really nice song." Breaks into singing at the airport we wait on the instrumentalists who were yet to clear their instruments at quarantine and join us)

It was indeed amazing how a legendary artist sings spontaneously without any inhibition regardless of the venue at the slightest of impetus.  This is a lesson to those who, when asked to sing, almost always offer a standard excuse of a "bad / sore throat" for sub-par renditions since they are uncomfortable with the truth of their limited-talents being exposed.

Vizhiyo urangavillai : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0s45aAnkQgVizhiyo

And so began a conversation late in the night, in the car headed towards the restaurant / hotel which was an hour away from the airport.  Thanks to Dr. Gowribalan (GB) who offered to drive us all, I got chatty with Mrs. Vani Jayaram (VJ) as we hit the road.

MS: "Amma :  First I would like to ask if you remember Mr. Saravanan Natarajan who met you quite a while back ?"

VJ : "Saravanan From Dubai ?  Yes of course.  He was the one who revealed to me how much research has gone into my songs and I was really surprised ! Is he still in Dubai ? I remember him moving to Dubai from some other country.  Was it Canada ? I never knew that I had a fan-club who remembered almost each and every aspect of some of my long-last songs.  Neel - is another aficionado of mine who I had interacted with.  I sang close to 60 songs for at Chennai"

 

MS: "Yes.  Saravanan works in Dubai.  But I am not sure where he immigrated from from.  And regarding Neel - He is probably your greatest fan ever.  I remember the interview he did quite a while back ( http://tfmpage.com/forum/2034.13882.09.10.17.html ).  The interview was done when tamil film music was discussed to shreds in a website called tfmpage.com.  Later Saravanan, Balaji and I teamed up to produce a web-site http://dhool.com  - to collect all rare songs of TFM.  In that we had quite a few numbers of yours thanks to various sources. Between Balaji, Saravanan and I we had different interests in music.  Balaji was interested in a lot of old songs and also helped with the running of the portal.  Saravanan was a walking encyclopaedia of information on songs and films and he wrote very detailed articles on long-lost songs, films and lesser known artists.  I, on the other hand was more interested in the musical aspects"

VJ :  "Is the web-site still up and running ?  Are you guys still contributing"

MS : "I very much think it is up.  But honestly, all the three of us have moved on in our lives.  I have moved into composing and performing primarily.  Saravanan is probably looking to collect all his articles and publish as a book"

VJ :  "You should not lose that information because it would be really a reference for the generations to come"

MS : " We hope to not lose it either"

Now that I had established a comfortable platform to chat (thanks to Saravanan ! ), slowly the conversation started veering towards music.

MS : "Amma..in terms of songs which have a hindustani style of rendition, I wonder if anybody has equaled your contribution except for say thEdum kaNpaarvai.  But I believe there are many songs of yours which have got much less recognition than they are really due.  "mEghame meghame" is a fantastic song, but my biggest favorite of your songs is "yaar adhu sollamal".  And I believe it did not achieve the fame it should have got"

thEdum kaNpaarvai : https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=jgPVn81e6CM
mEghame meghame : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CBlDFmDnac&feature=kp
yaar adhu sollaamal : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHF0x7H5TaU

VJ : "Yaar adhu is a very beautiful song (she sang this in the concert as well).  But mEghamE was the first song that Vairamuthu wrote for me. Both the songs are special"

MS:  "Most of my introduction to ragas were through film songs.  Whenever I hear ranjani family of ragas, only your face flashes in mind.  The reason is simply that the first ranjani I ever heard was when my entire family including 80+year old grandpa was taken to watch Mrudanga chakravarti and your "sugamaana raagangaLE" which was a ragamalika and had the phrase "ranjaniyai azaiththen" which introduced me to it.  Of course the ranjani portion of"Ezhu swarangaLukkuL" is another.  And then I heard "naadhamenum kOvilile" ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9d5Ifa1O9S8 ) which gave me a reference to sriranjani.   Your earlier renditions for the movie Shankarabharanam like "Brochevarevarura" were heard at such a young age that I could not associate them with any raga at that time, but when I grew up to decipher them, those ragams were also automatically associated with an image of your face."

sugamaana raagangaLE : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRZmQREVnz8
naadhamenum kOvilile : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9d5Ifa1O9S8

MS : "Another very difficult song that you have sung which involved multiple styles, high pitched singing and some really tough sangathis is "kalaimagaL kaiveeNai muzangudhamma".  This song too, in my humble opinion, shoudl have received more exposure than it received."

kalaimagaL kaiveeNai : http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xfozux_kalaimagal-kai-veenai-muzhanguthamma_fun

VJ : (acknowledging with a smile) :"Many compositions of M.S. Viswanathan, kunnakkudi Vaidyanathan and K.V. Mahadevan were tough.  But I am fortunate to have been offered those and to have been able to sing them to the extent that you could remember them today".

MS: "I would probably need to get Alzheimer's to forget them.  Those songs have gone into my DNA now"

In my entire interaction over 3 days, three qualities of VJ stood out - the poise, confidence and practical humility.  There was absolutely no air of celebrity, but her assuredness in her talent was refreshing and inspiring and sweetness of her personality with an eagerness to erupt into some beautiful songs at any juncture made the interaction asolutely cherish-worthy.  More on this and on her wonderful singing of a bengali song (captured in video), her inputs to my composing, singing and and her works in other languages / genres..soon...

Nandakumar Nagarajan

 

I entered CECRI in 1994. Till then I had no clue about any music composer. I just used to hear many songs (hindi / tamil / malayalam) and occasionally sang them without really putting much thought into who composed them or what were the different aspects of a song.

But since I could sing, my ragging was predominantly musical. When I entered the CECRI hostel Iw as told that three names were synonymous with music : Bvs Maruthi (final year), Vidhyashankar Kannan (final year) and Nanda (third year).

Maruthi was largely into classical music (averred by his habit of eternal betel chewing) with an occasional indulgence in light music. My classmate Deepa Srinivasan was a classical singer par excellence and together they were instrumental in keeping the carnatic segment alive in CECRI which featured unnikrishnan and later Kadri gopalnath concerts.

The "music room" of cecri was a room with water constantly trickling down the walls on to the floor from an embedded but cracked pipeline giving an eerie damp smell. Located on the first floor and at a dark corner overlooking the casuarina plantation it appeared to invite many venomous visitors (snakes/ scorpions) which were no rare sights in CECRI.

Unlike Maruthi, Buchi (Vidhyashankar Kannan) and Nanda were fully into light music. With a yamaha keyboard which was only a tad better than a kid's, a battered kettle drum and a worn out maracas, Nanda was the lead singer and Buchi was the keyboard player of the "music troupe".

Nanda was an embodiment of inspiration. A soft-spoken fellow with a gentlemanly singing voice and an introverted romantic, he struck a chord with me instantly. He and Buchi would meet many times in a "music room" and tirelessly practice the songs of their interest (including "Zoom zoom zoom baba"). He made me join the "troupe" and later along with others set the scene for some modest "concerts" at CECRI.

Nanda was the one (without him realizing) who taught me the biggest fundamental of harmony: Three notes make a chord.

He introduced me to :

1. The augmented chorded in the pallavi of "en iniya pon nilave"

2. The surreal chord progression in the pallavi of "kodai kaala kaatre"

3. The major, minor and suspended chords by just "playing" them as he would hum a song along

In many ways Nanda was my first guru in light music. While he himself was a decent player of chords, he preferred to sing. He left CECRI in 1996 and we discovered each other only day before yesterday - after 25 years. And coincidentally we both are married to bengalis

And today you are hearing his wonderful tribute to SPB : the name which we both cherish as the light of our musical souls.

A ghazal evening with Singer Srinivas : கனவா இல்லை காற்றா ?

"Relax Boss. I am just coming to see you"-

-popped a message in my whatsapp from Singer Srinivas ( Srinivasan Doraiswamy )as a reply to my nervous question about what arrangements he would like for his visit to my home in Nov 2017. As his message churned and echoed in my mind, its characteristic coolth seeded a spectrum of feelings ranging from excitement to anxiety. It finally enshrined the possibility of meeting the only musician who I have identified my renditions with, all my life, in my own modest musical journey. That should however not be misconstrued as a cheap self-certification effort to elevate my mortal status to the lovable legend that Srinivas is. Nor should it be interpreted tangentially as blind-love for him which risks truncating the list of the legendary singers ( Yesudas, S.P.B, Manna Dey, Ghulam Ali, Hariharan to name a few) I deify. Then how do I substantiate ‘identifying’ with him?

Circa 1997. The A. R. Rahman song "Kanava illai Kaatraa" from the movie “Rakashagan” hit the TV-screens picturized on a gorgeous Sushmita Sen being carried away in the arms of an imposing Nagarjuna like the surface-foam drifting on the sea-waves. I woke up to Srinivas's beautiful voice that delivered the melody with an endearing enunciation of Vairamuthu's poetry which waxed eloquent on the beauty of the feminine form where the poetic license, unusually but uncompromisingly, embraced and expounded the physical principles of buoyancy and gravity in unheard metaphors (“nilavil poruLgaL edai izakkum”). While I had always admired and deified SPB and Yesudas growing up, there was some unexplainable connection that I felt listening to Srinivas - possibly an alter-ego whose songs induced a vicarious pleasure of rendition in me.

 In full flow

In my early twenties, my search was for “complex” music which led me to discovering the maverick genius of Sharath (more on Sharath in the links at the end). While at CECRI Karaikudi, my immediate junior Vivek once informed me that he was being called by a film-director to play the on-screen tablist for a Malayalam song “Sudha Mantram” ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-n92pCquqE ) picturized in a nearby palatial home. While the details of the song skipped his mind then, when the song hit the TV screens we cheered for him. “Sudha Mantram” , rendered by P. Unnikrishnan, has achieved a cult-status in Kerala given the extremely complicated passages that Sharath had constructed and has become a popular object of attempt by reality show singers. Intrigued by this song then, I dug more only to find the Malayalam album “Chaitra GeethangaL” which had more “superhuman” compositions rendered by Chitra and Srinivas. While Chitra’s rendition of “Madhuram Gayati” was fully reflective of the convoluted composing skills of Sharath capable of intimidating the mortals, Srinivas’s renditions ("Bandura Vaasandhya Sandhye", “gopike nin maaRil” and "niLaiyude maaRil" ) in contrast, pleasantly presented the complex compositions like a meticulously made sculpture completely devoid of sharp edges and thus incapable of splintering a mortal listener’s mind. That ability to present complexity without moving away from the central thread of melody, defined Srinivas to me and my respect has only grown since then.

 Sharing a Light moment 

As I explored more, I started finding an uncanny similarity in our backgrounds. We hailed from Ambasamudram area of Tirunelveli district, were brought up in a mallu-tamil atmosphere with a keen emphasis on 3 languages (malayalam, tamil and hindi), were academically trained in chemical engineering and nurtured a deep love for ghazals, urdu and songs steeped in melody although growing up in households filled with Carnatic music. I realized in his voice and songs that I had found the qualities that endear me the most: adherence to predominantly soft numbers, language-sensitive vocal-volume dynamics and chaste diction. Songs like "mouname unnidam" and "azage sugama" finally convinced me that it is but natural for me to feel connected due to these qualities.

Our facebook interactions started largely through my good friend Raja Govindarajan’s posts on music and politics. While in many instances I have found myself sporting an opinion diametrically opposite to Srinivas’s, neither that nor the age-difference has bothered our conversations about music. My most memorable interaction with him was after he read an article I wrote about the four ghazal maestros earlier this year and had a very different take on them. Once again his opinions were vastly different from mine but very well-expressed and substantiated – a clear consequence of dedicated listening to different ghazal artists over many decades. I had already heard his “Tribute to Mehdi Hassan” where he had in his mellifluous and unique way captured the essence of Mehdi Hassan’s popular ghazals. The conversations triggered in me a thought : would he like to do a ghazal concert sometime ?

 "Sir, can you be enthused to give a ghazal concert (a home concert strictly for ghazal aficionados) when you visit Sydney next time ? In fact, if you like, we can have a concert of your melodies of choice which could also include some "ghazal-ish" songs from different languages along with a harmonium / keyboard and tabla. I will be more than glad to arrange it for you. Please let me know"

 And then came the reply after a pause:

"I would love to sing the ghazals that I have enjoyed"

His no-frills acceptance surprised me honestly. I have been running 2 home mehfils a year where I have joined hands with visiting artists like Biplab Mukherjee to entertain the local ghazal lovers of both Pakistani and Indian origin. But in here, I had the opportunity to do it better: have Srinivas – the self-confessed Mehdi Hassan fanatic – sing to the ghazal-lovers group ! What needs to be emphasized here is that I have neither been known to him as a friend nor related to him in anyway (there was a query from one of my friends). The way I felt about his songs and how I connected to them have never been expressed to him or anybody prior to this article. So, in a nut-shell, he accepted a fan’s request to visit and sing some ghazals with minimal accompaniments at his fan’s home just for the love of the art. Not only did he accept the invitation, he was also always in touch with me to ensure the program would happen smoothly, simultaneously ensuring that the interests of the sponsors flying him to Sydney, were not compromised in any way (Thanks to Mr. Senthil Rajan Sinnarajah of Sydney). I have heard about his gentlemanliness from other cine-industry people and that was fully on display at every step.

 On the day of the ghazal night, he seemed pleasantly surprised that we had arranged for a decent sound system (courtesy : Ranjith Kumar). His initial conception, I understood then, was a jam session, which turned out a bit better. He started the program with the iconic “Ranjish Hi sahi” and captured the audience’s attention right away. After finishing the aalaap preceding Ranjish Hi sahi, he said : “I presented only a fraction of Mehdi Saheb’s version which I would have heard say probably 200 times”. Given his wide melody spectrum, he effortlessly transitioned from ranjish hi sahi to the Malayalam song “innale mayangumbol” with a preludial introduction to the compositional skill of M.S. Baburaj.

“To me M.S.Baburaj’s songs occupy the same pedestal as ghazals”,

 he added as he streamlined into “Ehsaan tera hoga” – the Rafi classic - after that. The audience who were from mixed lingual backgrounds but united in love for melody, were clearly enthused and engaged hearing their favorite numbers across different languages blending seamlessly with chaste pronunciation. After an approving applause at end of Ehsaan Tera, he wondered: “What next ?” My dad whose musical familiarity is limited to Tamil and Carnatic requested for a Tamil song and he immediately obliged with a beautiful rendition of “Chithiram Pesudhadi”. And then came a long list of Mehdi Hassan ghazals including “Rafta Rafta”, “patta patta” and “abke ham bichde” which received an outstanding treatment in his malleable voice. His grasp of Mehdi Hassan Saheb’s ghazals was so strong that at some point in one of the melismatic passages, I could “hear” the great Saheb’s voice. In fact, his renditions that evening opened my ears more for Saheb's ghazals and clarified many of the intricate details which my ears had struggled to discern all these days. It was truly an educative, evocative and entertaining experience.

As I accompanied him on the harmonium, I found it difficult to keep up with all his delectable improvisations (especially the one which had some weird scale changes) and at many instances was content to give him just the Shruti drone sans tabla (Tablist : Stephan Kantharajah) without confounding him or the audience. The audience requests kept pouring in and Srinivas obliged without a hint of resistance. When it came to the popular numbers segment, the Kishore Kumar classics “chingaari koyi” and “mere naina sawan” received an elegant treatment. He explained how “Kuch to log kahenge” and two more songs from the movie Amar Prem were tuned in Mishra Khamaj. “Nilave Ennidam” originally sung by P.B.Srinivas, got an ad-lib treatment. Finally at my request, he sang a few lines of “muzumadhi” – the Tamil version of Jashn-E-Bahara in scale A which reminded him of the M.S.Viswanathan-Yesudas-Susheela classic – “Viziye Kadhai Ezudhu”. As he unfurled the first “Viziye” line, I could no longer contain my excitement to join him and we both ended singing it as a duet.

 The entire singing session with him went for almost 2 hours. I had to mitigate my selfish desire of hearing more to ensure that this jet-lagged man who had not eaten for a few hours, would be healthy enough with his golden voice, preserved for the bigger stage he had to perform on the next day. With much reluctance, I had to remind him and the thirsty audience of this predicament and we ended the evening there as we moved to the dinner table.

Summarily put, his conduct was just as melodious as his songs. For a celebrity singer to accept an obscure fan’s invitation to present an informal concert at the fan’s home, speaks volumes about his piety toward the melody regardless of the pedigree of the host. For that magnanimous gesture, Sir, I am grateful to you. You have filled our home with the ghazals of the greats and have left an indelible impression on us that we will cherish forever.

 A memento 

 Audience : Lalita Venkatraman, Vijendra Prasad, Shiri Dass, Umaa Arun, Uma Ramu Ayyar, Bharathi Madadi Reddy, Aparna Nagashayana, Nagashayana Bellave, Namita Gupta-Kantharajah, Sri Shyamalangan, Ajay Bajaj, Mustafa Vasi, Santhoshi Chander, Sudhir Das, Sharmila Das, Manjul Sharma Videography and Photography : Sridhar Chander Articles on Sharath:

http://swara.blogspot.com/2008/04/sharath-musical-enigma-part-1.html  http://swara.blogspot.com/2008/07/idol-7-sharath-musical-enigma-part-2.html httptp://swara.blogspot.com/2008/08/sharath-musical-enigma-part-3.html http://swara.blogspot.com/2008/09/sharath-musical-enigma-part-4-final.html

The 4 ghazal Maestros and their styles – My Perspective

One of my good friends had jocularly initiated a discussion in facebook about a Ghazal rendered differently by multiple stalwarts and how a particular version did not appeal to him. I started replying which expanded beyond the norm of a “comment” and decided to write it as a separate note. An aspect that unfailingly creeps into composing or performing is the character or personality of the artist. In here I try to present my perspective of the 4 great ghazal maestros whose songs I have been most familiar with.

Mehdi Hasan

My interpretation is that for Mehdi Hasan ghazal was "serious" business. Many ghazals like "koobakoo phail" (Apologies but I actually like Rajkumar Rizvi’s version of the same tune more than the Mehdi’s original itself !) and "abke ham" extol the seriousness of contemplation. Ideal for a ruminating listener with a glass of his favorite spirit in the solitude of the night, the intent of the delivery was to ensure that while the traditional raag system would be respected, delicious deviations lightening the scope would be an integral part of the embellishments. Thus this usually meant a certain level of “preparedness” was expected off the listener before he could indulge in the fine-wine world of Mehdi Hasan sahib. Not surprisingly, I have found most ghazal aficionados beginning with the rivulets that the other artists are, gradually upping their ability to savor more expansive idioms and nuances thus enriching their preparedness before they finally ensconce themselves in the sea of Mehdi Hasan’s complex melodies. And this is a confession.

• Koo-ba-koo phail gayi by Mehdi Hasan

• Abke Ham bichde by Mehdi Hasan


Ghulam Ali

For Ghulam Ali it is all story-telling peppered with a lot of smiles. He has the uncanny knack of engaging the listener in a fictitious conversation where he makes the listener feel that the artist is presenting his art with all humility but constantly gently reminding him that the artist is always the more important contributor to that conversation. This is a beautiful balancing act which if goes wrong would generate revulsion from the listener. But he perfected it to such an extent that it resembles a guided tour into the world of the poet's lyrics supported by just-enough vocal gimmicks to ensure that any listener - trained in music or otherwise - discerning or not- would feel the richness. One could liken his repertoire to a university where melodies of varying degree of difficulty are available depending on the seeker. One good example is " faasile" where he says "main use mehsoos kar sakta tha...(pregnant pause) choo sakta na tha". Another one is "main tera kuch bhi nahin hoon..magar itna to bata. Dekhkar mujkhko tere zehan mein aata kkyaa hai ?" . That "kyaa hai" is probably the most incisive question to the beloved rendered with the precision and smoothness of a surgical cut. In many ways I have felt listening to a new ghazal from Ghulam Ali Saheb is like enjoying a multi-layer cake. He reveals the poetry - usually unheard – so meticulously layer by layer that finally arriving at the central core of chocolate goodness the listener attains salvation. Very measured in studio-recorded versions, he is mischievously adventurous when live, thus making him, in my humble opinion, the epitome of Ghazal singing.

• Faasile Aise bhi by Ghulam Ali :  (Note 5:35)

• Apni Tasveer by Ghulam Ali :  (Note 5:44)


Jagjit singh

Jagjit singh abhorred that technical expertise which would compromise and sometimes even corrupt the intended meaning of the poetry being rendered. To him, every ghazal was a meditative and -safe to say - a spiritual experience where he imbibed each word of the poet and enunciated it as if he were the poet himself! The primary difference between Ghulam Ali and Jagjit Singh- i feel - is that with every Jagjit ghazal the listener felt that the listener was central to the conversation. Given some tunes were eminently hummable for everybody (" honthon se") irrespective of the pedigree, it offered even a musically-challenged listener to "own up" the song and helped him in his contemplation. In other words, Jagjit's renditions just became the listener's where the latter's "mind-voice" could traverse the relatively nuance-free passages and allowed him to vicariously be the singer himself. (Mostly) simple tunes elegantly composed within an octave and delivered in a laid-back manner with no vocal gimmicks or high-octane singing ensured no distraction to the listener from the central theme of the song. What, as a performer/composer, I found was that this simplicity was a facade. The emotive renditions of these relatively "simple" tunes are quite challenging when actually attempted because Jagjit had actually perfected the art of vocal-dynamics and enunciation and enshrined them in each of these songs. Portrayal of emptiness in "Aakash ka soonaapan" - the contemplative "let go" in "sochta hoon ki kahoon tujhse se magar..(pause) jaane de" (apni aankhon), or the beautiful advice given in “baat niklegi” to weather all criticism (“log zaalim har ik baat ka taana denge”) and hold on to the central thread of life (“unki baton ka zara saa bhi asar mat lena”) without ever giving away your state of mind (“varna chehre ke taasur se samajh jaayenge”) to the lumpen and sundry. Of course, there is this general criticism that he over-simplified the ghazal tunes, but what the detractors must remember is that it is through him that Ghazal as an art form came to be known to many in India. Thus his service in popularizing this artform is unrivalled.

• Honthon se by Jagjit Singh

• Apni aankhon ke by Jagjit Singh   (Note 5:03)

• Baat niklegi by Jagjit Singh   (Note 2:23)


Hariharan

While Jagjit Singh and Ghulam Ali are the “gentlemanly” singers whose renditions resembled sophisticated conversations, many of Hariharan’s renditions portray the teasing romantic. In many ways, Hariharan is to Ghazals what S.P. Balasubramaniam is to playback especially in the romantic genre. There is always this “Hey baby..Look at me..Will ya” kind of youthful exuberance that is distilled and delivered in the songs like “Mujhe phir wahi yaad”. His subtle smile at “sunaa hai hamein wo bhulaane lage hain..to kyaa hum unhein yaad aane lage hain” is more a youth’s tease than a “matured” gentleman’s mellowed reflection. With youthfulness at heart comes the brash audacity to experiment and this is best encapsulated in his penchant for vivaadi swaras in most of his ghazals – the epitome being “dard ke rishte”. I have personally noted he favors the peppering of “teevra madhyam” in many of his ghazals. His ghazal “log kehte hain” and its associated sargam phrases, his delectable detour in the “jinhein bhoolne mein zamaane lage hain” to caress the teevra madhyam note and revert to the soul of the preceding line, his tantalizing riddle to the listener who looks lost finding the shadjam in “kyaa khabar thi ke main is darja badal jaaoonga” – all embody that restless experimental spirit. The album “Kaash” with its title track was sort of a revelation. If Jagjit was the first artist to understand and accord the weight of modern orchestration to back up the ghazals (Jagjit Singh’s violinist-arranger Deepak Pandit deserves a special mention here), Hariharan can be safely claimed to take it to the more experimental level (“Urdu Blues” as he called once) ably supported by his long-time arranger friend Jolly Mukherjee. Of course, with experiments come some results which are not entirely pleasing to the ears traditionally trained towards savoring a melody in a particular fashion. For example “patta patta buta buta” delivered by Hariharan while showcases his extreme capacity for “murkis”, does not offer as much justice to the lyrical aspect as does Ghulam Ali’s. The ghazal – a reflection by a forlorn lover – must ideally be delivered with pathos whereas Hariharan’s rendition is bouncy and appears to be simply a display of singing talent. It is indeed surprising to note that it comes from the same artist who has displayed beautiful sensibility to lyrics in another ghazal which has a similar mood : “Hamne kaati hai”

• Mujhe phir wahi yaad :  (Note 2:30)

• Kyaa khabar thi 

• Kaash aisa

• Hamne kaati hai

And for a comparison of the same ghazal rendered by all the three. Patta Patta Buta Buta by :

• Hariharan : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-GrASvLpOU

• Ghulam Ali : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58__ilxoUIc

• Mehdi Hasan : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDi7q7e93Ng

Digression: One general criticism on Hariharan is that his pronunciation is not “good”. I consider this a slander by all those who throw this comment without understanding some of the most subtle points in pronunciation. Anybody who is familiar only with Bollywood Hindi has absolutely no standing to cast any aspersions on Hariharan’s pronunciation simply because the diluted Urdu of Bollywood is far from the original pronunciation. The gold standard of Urdu (and Hindi) pronunciation is Jagjit Singh. The many aspirated consonants that are part of Urdu are best heard in Jagjit’s renditions where he makes the subtle distinctions between क and क़ or ग and ग़ crystal clear. For example - hayā yak-laḳht aa.ī aur shabāb āhista āhista. These distinctions are important since they could paint a totally different meaning. For example सागर is sea whereas साग़र is wineglass. Hariharan correctly sings साग़र है मेरा खाली which means the wineglass (and not sea) is empty. However, I do agree there is some inconsistency in his pronunciation. For example in “mujhe phir wahi yaad”, there is an occasional destressing at the “jhe” of “mujhe” which makes it sound like “muje”. There is also this issue of musical inflections and language intonations being misconstrued as issues in pronunciation. While in these globalized times with the advent of artists like Shankar Mahadevan and Hariharan, the strict boundaries between Carnatic and Hindustani inflections are beginning to loosen up in popular hindi songs, a heavy Carnatic inflection in hindi / urdu song or an intonation which is characteristically South-Indian still reminds a listener of sambar even if he cannot really “smell” it – as in even if the pronunciation is correct he feels it is not.

• Saagar hai mEra :

The attempt here portrays some general characteristics of the Maestros. This in no way means they have cocooned themselves into a particular style to the extent of becoming predictable – especially Hariharan who is synonymous with surprises. All were capable of stretching beyond their norm comfortably. For example Jagjit Singh’s rendition of “Tum Nahin Gham Nahin” could easily be mistaken in style for Ghulam Ali’s. Similarly the style of composing in “Dil mein ik lehar” of Ghulam Ali – I have felt always – is similar to a Jagjit Singh’s simpler tunes like “Honthon se”. Hariharan’s “Dar-o-Deewar” rouses in me the same sadness that Mehdi Hasan’s “Ab ke Ham Bichde”. “Rafta rafta wo mere” of Mehdi Hasan and “aks chehre pe” of Hariharan open the same vistas in my mind where a measured “gentlemanly” romantic expression in the praise of beloved is delivered.

• Tum Nahin

• Dil mein ik

• Dar-o-deewar

• Rafta rafta

• Aks chehre

Thus while the personality of the artist largely looms over their works, it is in no way an “objective” criterion to classify them since most of these eminent artists have also done songs that defy the popular perception. What I however insist is that while the spectrum of their contributions may be wide, the weightage over the entire spectrum is not uniform. Of course, this depends on the listener’s perspective as well. For example one may wish to associate Salil Chaudhary with a penchant for carefully structured jumps between successive lines of a song without compromising on the continuity as a signature. However he was also capable of “aajaa re aa..nindiya tu aa”. Yodelling and fun songs – the signature of Kishore Kumar ? How about the pensive “Wo sham kuch ajeeb thi ?” Only classical / comedy songs by Manna Dey ? How about “Hasne ki chaah ne” or “kasme vaade” ? Thus this caveat is important while trying to analyze artists.

And then there are other stalwarts like Pankaj Udhas, Anup Jalota who I have not mentioned anything about. Nor have I attempted to mention anything about the female singers like Farida Khanum whose contributions are just as valuable. The above passages derive strictly from the list who I dote on – almost on a daily basis.. if not every moment of my life.

Balamurali Krishna - A Tribute

1998. படிக்க அமேரிக்கா சென்று இருந்த நேரம். எனக்கென்று வாய்த்த சக அறைவாசிகள் (அதாங்க room-mates) ஒவ்வொருத்தரும் ஒவ்வொரு தினுசு. ஒருவன் கூட்டி வைத்த குப்பைக்கூளங்களைக் கூடையில் போடாமல் அப்படியே வைத்து விட்டு தன்னிலை மறந்து பொழிகின்ற பனியோடு பேசுபவன். மற்றொருவன் இளையராஜா இசையை அக்குவேறு ஆணி வேறாகப் பிரித்து அலசி இணையத்தில் போய்க் கதைத்து சண்டையும் போடுபவன். 

 மற்றொருவன் மிகவும் வித்தியாசமானவன். அவன் சமையலை குழந்தை சாப்பிட்டால் கூட “ரொம்ப சப்புன்னு இருக்கே” என்று முகம் சுழிக்கும் அளவுக்கு சுமாராக சமைப்பவன். அதோடு காகிதச்சுருள்களை மிகுதியாக இட்டு பாதாள கங்கையை ”சிரம பரிகாரம்” செய்யும் வேளையில் பல தடவை பெருக்கெடுக்க வைத்து அது வீடு முழுக்க விரிக்கப் பட்டு இருக்கும் தரைவிரிப்புகளை நனைத்து 1 வாரம் நிற்க நடக்க முடியாமல் செய்ய வைத்த புண்ணியவான்.

ஆனால் அவனிடம் ஒரு விசித்திர வழக்கம் இருந்தது. அவனிடம் ஒரு மிகப் பிரபல தமிழ் நாட்டு கர்னாடக சங்கீத வித்துவானுடைய பஞ்ச இரத்தின கீர்த்தனைகள் “கோஷ்டி கோவிந்தம்” முறையில் பாடப்பட்டு இருந்தது. எனக்கு அந்த வித்துவான் மேலே அவ்வளவு பெரிய ஈடுபாடு இல்லை. அந்த ஒலிநாடாவை தினமும் திரும்பத் திரும்ப போட்டு கேட்டு என்னையும் மற்றவரையும் எரிச்சலடைய வைத்தான். ஆனாலும் திரும்பத் திரும்பக் கேட்டதால் எனக்கு பஞ்சரத்தின கீர்த்தனைகள் மீது ஈர்ப்பு அதிகமாகியது. அதிலே முதலாவதான

“எந்தரோமா……….ஹானுபாவுலு”

வின் மெட்டு மிகவும் பிடித்துப் போயிருந்து. அதிலே ஒரு வரி:

“பா.. கவதரா…மாயண…..கீதா”

என்று வரும். மிகவும் கம்பீரமான ஒரு மெட்டு அது. தெலுங்கு மொழியில் சுத்தமாகப் பயிற்சி இல்லாததால் அதைப் புரிந்து கொள்ள முடியவில்லை. அப்போதெல்லாம் கூகுள் கூட இல்லை. எனவே பாடல் வரிகள் எல்லாம் வேறு எங்கேயாவது தான் தேடிப்பிடிக்க வேண்டியதாக இருந்தது. இது கிடைக்கவே இல்லை. எனவே நெட்டுருப் போட்டு அங்கே இங்கே பாடிக் கொண்டு இருந்தேன்.. ஒரு நாள் இன்னொரு நண்பரின் வண்டியில் பயணப் பட நேர்ந்த போது அதே 5 கிருதிகளை திரு பாலமுரளிகிருஷ்ணா அவர்களின் குரலில் கேட்டேன்.

“பாகவத ராமாயண கீதா”

என்று பாடினார். அப்போதுதான் புரிந்தது என் முட்டாள்தனம். ”எந்த ரோமா” இல்லை “எந்தரோ மஹானுபாவுலு” என்று தியாகைய்யர் பாடிப் பெரியவர்களைக் கவுரவித்து இருக்கிறார் என்று புரிந்தது. தெலுங்கு அறியாமல் தவறாகப் பாடிய ஒருவர் மூலமாக பிழைபட்ட வரிகளைக் கற்று வைத்திருந்தேன். அன்று தான் ஒரு கர்நாடக சங்கீதப் பாடலுக்கு வரிகள் தெளிவாக இருத்தல் எவ்வளவு அவசியம் என்று புரிந்தது. அன்று முதல் பாலமுரளி அவர்களின் பாடல்கள் எனக்கு பல வகுப்புகள் எடுத்துக் கொண்டு இருக்கின்றன..அந்தக் குருவிற்கு இச்சிறியோனின் வந்தனங்கள்.

My composition : ஏனடா கண்ணா ஏனடா - Enadaa kaNNA Enadaa - rendered at Sydney Murugan Temple

 Song : ஏனடா கண்ணா ஏனடா - Enadaa kaNNA Enadaa
Composed, Written and Sung by : Murali Venkatraman

Veena : Lakshmi Narendra
Ghatam : Jeiram Jegatheesan
Tabla : Stephan Kantharaja  
Venue : Sydney Murugan Temple

In English for those who are unable to read tamil:

A poor peasant sees baby Krishna sleeping under the hood of the venemous serpent Adi Sesha.  The peasant gets concerned that the venom may affect Krishna  by making him dark, hot and thirsty.  He wonders if Krishna, after giving away all his wealth is unable to buy a bed for himself.  With kindness he offers Krishna :" Oh Krishna ! Come to me ! I will make yuo a bed of flowers and cotton".  (Here I have used the reference to Sudhama which is  poetic license since Krishna donates wealth to Sudhama, not as a baby, but as an adult).  When I composed this song, I had the image of Shri. PithukuLi murugadas singing to baby Krishna in mind.

 

ஒரு ஏழைக் குடியானவன் (விவசாயி) குழந்தை கண்ணன் பாம்புப் படுக்கையில் படுத்திருப்பதைப் பார்க்கிறான்.  அவன் மனம் பதறுகிறது.

"அடடா..குழந்தை கண்ணன் இப்படி பாம்பின் படத்துக்கடியில் படுத்துக் கொண்டு இருக்கிறானே ! அந்த பிஞ்சு உடம்பு அந்த நெஞ்சின் சூட்டை எப்படித் தாங்கும் ?" என்று எண்ணுகிறான். 

"ஒரு வேளை கையில் இருக்கும் பணத்தை எல்லாம் நண்பனுக்கு தானம் கொடுத்துவிட்டானே ! அதனால் கையில் மெத்தை வாங்கப் பணம் இல்லாமல் பாம்புப் படுக்கையில் படுத்துக்கொண்டு இருக்கிறானோ ?" என்று எண்ணி:

"கண்ணா ..ஏனப்பா இந்தப் பாம்புப் படுக்கை ?  என்னிடம் வா..நான் பஞ்சும் பூவும் வைத்த மெத்தையைத் தருகிறேன்" என்று அன்போடு அழைப்பதாக இந்தப் பாடலை அமைத்து இருக்கிறேன்.  (இங்கே சுதாமனுக்கு தானம் கொடுத்தது என்பது மிகுதியாகச் சேர்க்கப்பட்ட விஷயம். ஏனெனில், கண்ணன் குழந்தையாக அல்ல, நாடாளும் மன்னனாக ஒரு முழு ஆண் மகனாக வளர்ந்த பின் தான் சுதாமனுக்கு தானம் செய்கிறான்.)



இந்தப் பாடலை இயற்றும்போது திரு பித்துக்குளி முருகதாஸ் அவர்கள் குழந்தைக் கண்ணனை நோக்கிப் பாடுவதாக நான் மனதில் உருவகப் படுத்திக் கொண்டேன்.  நீங்களும் செய்து பாருங்களேன் !


பல்லவி:
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ஏனடா கண்ணா ஏனடா ஒரு மெத்தை கிடைக்கலியா ?
ஒரு பாம்புமே உன் படுக்கையா ஒரு மெத்தை கிடைக்கலியா ?

அனுபல்லவி:
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பஞ்சுமே நல்ல பூவுமே உள்ள மெத்தையை நான் தரவா ?
நஞ்சினைக் கக்கும் நாகத்தை நீயும் விட்டு வர வேண்டுமே !

சரணம் 1:
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நாகத்தின் கீழே தூங்கியே நெஞ்சில் மேனி கருத்ததடா ! - சூட்டில்
தாகமும் வரும் தேவையா இது விட்டு வர வேண்டுமே !

சரணம் 2:
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கையிலே பணம் இல்லையா எல்லாம் தானம் கொடுத்து விட்டாய் ! - நண்பனுக்கு
தானம் கொடுத்து விட்டாய்- சுதாமனுக்கு
தானம் கொடுத்து விட்டாய் - பணம்
இல்லையேல் ஒரு மெத்தை நான் தர வந்து உறங்கிடடா !

My composition : சிட்னி முருகன் துதி - A hymn on Sydney Murugan

Song : Sydney Murugan thudhi - சிட்னி முருகன் துதி 

Written, Composed and Rendered by : Murali Venkatraman

I wrote and sang the following stuti on Sydney Murugan Temple at Westmead as part of my concert "Paattum Bharathamum".

1)
பட்டினி அண்டுமோ ? பஞ்சமும் அண்டுமோ?
மட்டினி உண்டுமோ ? மண்ணுல கின்பமே !
விட்டினி போவனோ வேறிடம் நானுமே
சிட்டினி குமரனின் பொற்பதம் கண்டபின் !

Meaning :

மட்டினி = மட்டு + இனி
விட்டினி = விட்டு + இனி

Sydney Murugan Temple – The abode of Lord Murugan ! In this city where Lord Murugan resides, Will starvation dare to hit ? No !  Will famine dare to strike ?  No ! Will there be a limit to the joys of the world ? No ! Now that I have seen the golden feet of Lord Murugan, will I ever want to go to another place ? No !

2)
ஈடில் குகனே ! ஈசன் மகனே !
வீடில் ; பீடில் ; ஆசியில் புலம்பெயர்ந்
தீடும்  பலரை மாண்பாய் மேற்கு
மீடில் நின்றே மீட்கும் குமரா !

Meaning:

ஈடில் = ஈடு இல்லாத,
வீடில் = வீடு இல்லாத ,
பீடில் = பீடு (பெருமை) இல்லாத,
ஆசியில் = அவுஸ்த்ரேலியாவில்
புலம்பெயர்ந்தீடும் = immigrating, மேற்கு மீடில் = West mead ல்

Oh incomparable Lord Guha ! The son of Shiva ! Many poor people and refugees immigrate to Australia without any comforts ! They do not even have a home to stay ! From the temple at Westmead, you shower your grace and rescue them from the vagaries of life !

3)
பலமும் இன்றிப் பணமும் இன்றி
புலமும் பெயர ரணமும் தாங்கி
கலமும் ஏறிக்  கடலில் வருவோர்
நலமும் பெறவே நாடுவ துனையே !

 Meaning :
The refugees who try to immigrate by boats lack strength, money and take an arduous journey in the quest of a life  of peace and comfort in Australia. Throughout their travel they keep chanting your holy  name !

4)
ஆசிக் கண்டச் சைவர்  உந்தன்
ஆசிக் கன்றோ இரைவர் ? நீறு
பூசிக்கொள்வார் ! பூசை செய்வார் !
மாசில் முருகா ! மாயோன் மருகா !

Meaning:

Oh Lord Muruga ! Nephew of Vishnu! You are impeccable ! The Shaivaites of Australia yearn for your blessings ! They smear their foreheads with the holy ash ! They perform the holy rituals !

 

A musical evening with the legendary singer - Haimanti Shukla ( of Kahaan Se aaye badra fame)

If practicing an art-form is a pleasure, meeting the legendary inspirations behind the practice is joy beyond description for an amateur.  Such luck has been tasted by yours truly in the past with Kadri Gopalnath, Violin Kanyakumari,  Aruna Sariram, Bombay Jayashree, S. P. Balasubramaniam, Yesudas, Ilaiyaraja and Susheela.  Off them, SPB and IR are my idols and Susheelamma is the most special.  Notably they are all connected to Tamil music and it may be considered natural to interact with.

SooraavaLiyil - சூறாவளியில் - A semi-classical

Song : SooraavaLiyil -  சூறாவளியில்

Singers : Unnikrishnan KB, Murali Venkatraman

Lyrics : Murali Venkatraman

Composed By : Murali Venkatraman

Orchestration and Mixing : Sibu Sukumaran 
Special thanks : Rahul Soman

Inspiration
======== 

சலதி உலகத்தில் சராசரங்களை ஈன்ற தாய் ஆகில்,
     எனக்குத் தாய் அல்லவோ? யான் உன் மைந்தன் அன்றோ?
     எனது சஞ்சலம் தீர்த்து, நின்றன்
முலை சுரந்து ஒழுகு பால் ஊட்டி, என் முகத்தை உன்
     முந்தானையால் துடைத்து, மொழிகின்ற மழலைக்கு
     உகந்துகொண்டு, இள நிலா முறுவல் இன்புற்று, அருகில் யான்
குலவி விளையாடல் கொண்டு, அருள் மழை பொழிந்து,
     அங்கை கொட்டி, வா என்று அழைத்துக்,
     குஞ்சர முகன், கந்தனுக்கு இளையன் என்று எனைக்
     கூறினால், ஈனம் உண்டோ?

-அபிராமி பட்டர் அருளிய "அபிராமி அம்மைப் பதிகம்" 

Meaning 

கடல் சூழ்ந்த உலகினை ஈன்ற தாய் நீ தான் என்றால் , எனக்கும் நீ தாய் அல்லவோ ?  நான் உன் மகன் அல்லவோ ?  எனது மனதின் இடர்களை நீக்கி, உன் அன்பெனும்தாய்ப்பாலைச் சுரந்து, வேலன் மற்றும் வினாயகனுக்கு நான் இளையவன் என்று என்னைக் கருதி விளையாட்டுக் காட்டக் கூடாதா ?  அதில் என்ன குறைந்துவிடப் போகிறது ?

 If you are the great mother who created this world with seas all around, are you not my my mother as well ?  Am I not your son ?  Why would you not feed me your love? Would considering me as a younger sibling of both Karthik and Ganesh and playing with me belittle your reputation ? 

Abirami Bhattar was a poet and devi upasaka.  His unshakable bhakti towards Devi can be compared with Meera's towards Krishna although unlike Meera Abirami Bhattar considered himself to be a child of Devi.  In that state of mind he composed many devotional hymns many of which have been tuned and sung by carnatic experts.

My inspiration for the song comes mainly from the imaginary dialogue he had with Devi.  I usually like to write songs as a dialogue with certain deep emotion rather than calling the God by a bunch of names.  In fact, that is how a prayer generally is - highly personalized.  Thus I have conceived a situation similar to that imagined by Abhirami Bhattar and have composed the song which I present today.  This was written by me in a language much simpler than Abirami Bhattar's language.


While Abhirami may be referring to an invisible Mother, the undercurrent of love expressed in poem can easily invoke the thoughts of our own mothers and their affection thus enabling a strong connection with the poem.  Similarly all gopika-radha-krishna themed songs have wonderful undercurrent of love and flirting that they can be enjoyed even by non-religious people.


This song was composed in Sep 2005. Orchestration started in Dec 2010 by Sibu who was introduced to me by Rahul Soman to whom I owe a special thanks.  Sibu has been wonderful in helping me arrange some of my songs which will otherwise never see the light of the day since the pace of my orchestration is severely hampered by my professional commitments.


Unni has really taken pains to learn this song well and has rendered it with utmost sincerity. As we were making the song, he also got married and he sill found some clever way to continue his music :) Wishing him a bright singing future and a happy married life.


A translation of the lyrics is available in the youtube video above.  Please feel free to comment and let us know how you liked it.

பல்லவி:

=======

சூறாவளியில்  சுற்றும்  இலைபோல்

மனமே  கலங்கின்  வருவாய்  நீயே

அனுபல்லவி:

============

குன்றின்  வேலனை  ஈன்றவள்  நீயே

குழந்தை வேழனை  தந்தவள்  நீயே

அன்னார்க்கு  மட்டும்  தான் அம்மா நீ தாயோ ?

என்னைப் போன்றவர்க்கும் கருணை தாராயோ ?

சரணம் :

=======

வெள்ளி  மலையில்  நாத  வேதம்  பல  முழங்க

அமர்கின்றாய் அருள்  தருகின்றாய்

கண்ணிலே நீர் வடியும் காண்கையிலே - மனப்

புண்ணின் வலி குறையும் உன் சொல்லிலே

என் தாயாகி நின்ற பெருந்தேவி

எனை எடு நீ அம்மா

எனை எடு நீ ஒரு குழந்தையைப் போலே

என் அறியாமையை நீ அன்பாலே மாற்று

Rest in Peace - Dear Malaysia Vasudevan

"என் வானிலே ஒரு 'தேவ' மின்னல் வந்தது
என் நெஞ்சினை அது கிள்ளிவிட்டுச் சென்றது" -

One may write a long obituary for a dear artist like Malaysia Vasudevan but as Vairamuththu says:

" கோடி கீர்த்தனமும் கவி கோர்ர்த்த வார்த்தைகளும்
ஒரு கண்ணீர் போல் அர்த்தம் தருமோ ?"

Celebrating shankarabharaNam - 1 - E teeruga nanu

Song : E teeruga
Composer / Lyricist : Bhadrachala Ramadas
Originally sung by : Vani Jeyaram
Orignally Arranged By : K. V. Mahadevan
Movie : shankaraBharaNam

Singers: Meera Manohar, Murali Venkatraman
Karaoke/ Arrangement : Murali Venkatraman
Mixing : Meera Manohar




Celebrating ShankarabharaNam - 1 - E teeruga - With Meera Manohar

Sabhaku Namaskaaram.

It may not be wrong to call the movie shankarabharaNam as the crowning jewel among the works of composer Shri K. V. Mahadevan. It was a movie that simply established that in the midst of light music, one could really be left captivated by classical music if presented appropriately with a good story-line (by director K Vishwanath) . Although KVM had worked magic all through his telugu and tamil movies (e.g SwatikiraNam, thiruviLaiyaadal ), he made a remarkable choice of a singer in this movie. In all his earlier movies, he went for singers who were either partially trained (Susheela) or at the level of vidwan (Ghantasala, T. M. Soundararajan). In this movie, he picked S. P . Balasubramaniyam (who calls him that ? It is either SPB, SP or Balu) who was completely untrained and established that a committed effort to train him would provide rich dividends. SPB just grew from strength to strength and was associated with so many other films where he breezed through many classical and semi-classical compositions and both telugu and tamil music were never the same.

Science and Art cross barriers. An obscure researcher working quietly in a remote place like port of Madras, was recognized by the great mathematician Hardy only to unveil the genius that was Ramanujan. Ramanujan knew nothing but math. But Hardy ensured that his work was recognized beyond doubt. Similarly for our country that has had many regional problems because of languages, music has often provided the much needed fabric of harmony. How would one explain KVM and SPB's success then ? SPB - a native telugu speaker - is loved by tamils all over and KVM - a tamilian- whose reputation as a composer in Telugu is unmistakable. Other greats like MSV, IR, Susheela, Janaki, Chitra, and Yesudas and now Rehman have similar reputations. The beauty of Telugu seems to be locked in the fact that it is heavily derived from sanskrit but slanted in a delivery which is southern. In a way it ideally represents a good blend of the North and South Indian elements in sync. Malayalam is another language which has a similar blend although it is softer on most syllables than Telugu.

In an effort to recall and celebrate 30 years since the release of the movie, I team up with my friends ( Meera, Narayanan, Vidya, Adithi and may be some more) to re-do some of the songs in the movie as a tribute. Some songs will be rendered as they were in the movie and some with slight modifications in arrangements. Some of us are not native telugu speakers but have sincerely tried for dictional accuracy by consulting with telugu speaking friends. Despite our best efforts, if there be errors we sincerely apologize.

The first song in this series is "E teeruga nanu" - a classical composition of Bhadrachala Ramadas who may be called the telugu equivalent of Manikkavaasagar. Both were state-servants who out of their devotion towards their deities,, used up the state money for charity and religious causes. Both were great poets and singers and have left a wealth of literature for us to indulge. This song appeared in a truncated form in the movie. Hence when I created the Karaoke track, I took the liberty of expanding the song to include the last paragraph of the original. In the movie, the song was delivered by the inimitable Vani Jeyaram. In here, we present this as a duet with some extra (hopefully) un-infringing phrases. I find that the raga of the song is either Nadanamakriya or Mayamalawagowla. I am not very sure about the differences between these two. The lyrics of the song were obtained from :

http://www.engr.mun.ca/~adluri/telugu/classical/musical/rit/ramadasu.html

They are provided here for your reference:

E teeruga nanu daya jUcedavO ina vaMSOttama rAmA
nA taramA Bhava sAgara meedanu naLinadaLEkshaNa rAmA |E teeruga...|

Sree raghu naMdana seetA ramaNA Sritajana pOShaka rAmA
kAruNyAlaya Bhakta varada ninu kan&nadi kAnupu rAmA |E teeruga...|

krUra karmamulu nEraka cEsiti nEramuleMcaku rAmA
dAridryamu parihAramu sEyave daiva SikhAmaNi rAmA |E teeruga...|

vAsavanuta rAmadAsa pOShaka vaMdanamayOdhya rAmA
dAsArcita mAkaBhayamosaMgave dASarathee raghu rAmA |E teeruga...|

Please let us know how you feel about this song and also about the rest of the series to come.

My interview at Musicblogsindia

Jo is conducting a series of interviews about the blogger-musicians. My interview is here:

http://musicblogsindia.com/2009/07/interview-murali-venkatraman/

Sharath - The Musical Enigma - Part 4 (Final)

Idol 7 - Sharath - The Musical Enigma - Part 4

Impressions of an Amateur Musician
- Murali Venkatraman (dhool.com)

(The complete article can be downloaded here)

6. Classical

After all the talk about being the disciple of Shri. Balamuralikrishna where is the classical composition ? He has given us the song “praNathosmi” which is in the raga reethi gowLai. However, I do not attach much significance to the pallavi of that song because reethi gowLai is a ragam that has been used repetitively by Ilaiyaraja and others with all the pallavis sounding the same. And invariably the pallavis use the aarohanam of the ragam as it is.

Aarohanam : s g r g m n d m n n s

Songs which employ this aarohanam in their pallavis are :

1. chinnak kaNNan azaikkiRaan
2. raama kanavemira (raman kadhai kELungaL) by SPB from Swati mutyam or chippikkuL muththu
3. praNAthosmi Guruvayupureesam
4. maamava maadhava – from the movie five star hospital

In fact, the best reethi gowLai in my opinion also comes from IR – thalayaik kuniyum thaamaraiye and to a good extent azagaana raakshasiye from Rehman – both savored by SPB as he sang them.

Pranathosmi apart from the pallavi is a beautiful song rendered in the aged voice of Yesudas. I also found a version of Venugopal which I thought did more justice and have included for the readers here.

Listen to Pranathosmi here:

Pranathosmi - Yesudas Version

Pranathosmi - Venugopal Version

It is a popular practice in some of the semi-classical songs to include some established classical phrases in the middle. For example, Raveendran’s classic “Gopaangane” includes in an interlude the swarams of “Jagada nanda karaka” in the instrumental format. However, Sharath chooses to let K. J. Yesudas deliver the Karaharapriya swara phrases for the Kirtanam “Pakala” as an interlude for the uncharacteristically sweet melody – Shree Ragamo.

Listen to Shree Ragamo

In one of my conversations with rajaG, he remarked that composing a classical or a semi-classical number for film is easy. Once you choose the ragam, and play with it a bit you can come up with a pallavi and charanam. I strongly disagreed. In my opinion, coming up with a trite pallavi and a banal charanam is something anybody with some basic classical knowledge can do. However I believe, when we say composing we also innately imply impressing. If impressing is taken into account, Raveendran, Devarajan and Dhakshinamurthy swamigaL’s compositions stand out whereas many other lesser composers’ songs pale in comparison. Pramadhavanam and Gopaangane are severely semi-classical but compellingly expressive and deeply endearing. Apart from these stellar numbers, malayalam films are replete with namesake semi-classical numbers rendered by Yesudas and Chitra which hardly impress the listener. But when composers like Sharath attempt classicals or semi-classicals, they bring in an energy unseen.

7. To learn and not to learn

So what should an amateur musician like me look to learn from Sharath ? The first thing that Sharath’s songs tell me is to “think out of the box”. rajaG says:

“This kind of a rebellious attitude is the trademark of BMK. BMK got bored with what was present in carnatic system and came up with innovations himself and Sharath is doing that in film music. It is this out of the box approach that I really adore Sharath for”

I recall a discussion with Murali Rangarajan (an excellent singer and friend) who once quipped that BMK would stick to the grammar of ragas, but would explore those combinations which nobody has attempted before. That is, there are many ragams which have popular “prayogams” (phrases) and most of the carnatic singers resort to the “traditional” delivery (negatively speaking, this would be synonymous with unimaginative renditions) and BMK on the other hand would pretty much venture into that territory and come up unheard prayogams in the same ragams.

I agree with Murali and rajaG in that Sharath, in many songs, uses the same old canvass but employs a combination of colours which are unseen and hence unnerving to people who are used to a particular type of paintings. The result, as I emphasized before, is that it could be incomprehensible and sometimes deemed unpleasant too. For example, “niLaiyude maaRil” is the song I would least appreciate in the Chaithra GeethangaL album for the simple reason that its scale changes do not produce a focused output in my limited perception. SL once said in jest :

“If you meet Sharath, could you please request him not to change the Shadjam in every note ?”

I really wish I could meet Sharath someday which would certainly be a day to cherish for me. But I agree with SL that for a listener it does get difficult when the composer changes too many things too fast. The best parallel that I can think of is shooting with a camcorder. During a shoot, if one keeps moving the camcorder at a speed that is much higher than a “normal” eye can bear or discern, during playback on TV, the viewer ends up with a headache. However, if the motion is captured slowly at a lesser speed, people get the “full picture”. But too slow can be too dull. To me Sharath’s songs appear more like well-scripted action movies where things happen too fast for some people to understand the finer details.

When I was discussing this aggressive quality of Sharath in his compositions, Bhavadharini added:

“This is probably because of the ‘asura saadhakam’ (rigorous vocal practice) that he does everyday. He sleeps probably for 3 hours rest of the day / night it is all music for him – either practice or composing/arranging”.

8. Conclusion

A rigorous practitioner will certainly find new combinations. Add to the rigor, some exceptional talent, the practitioner ideally becomes the father of a range of musical forms that finally becomes christened as his school or style. Sharath is that extraordinary combination who is creating a school of his own. There are three things that I would like to learn from him :

1. Think out of the box
2. Use old elements to create new combinations
3. Practice and work hard

Well, the last one is a common feature of all my idols. It is indeed the most important quality however, to discuss that would be to belabour over the adage : “99% perspiration and 1% inspiration”. The first two are Sharath’s characteristics which I would certainly like to imbibe. When I composed, Barse Badariya, I certainly tried my hand to think out of the box by employing some raga changes. Many liked it but some did not, dismissing it as a gimmick. Fair enough I believe. In songs like these the composer needs the support of an excellent singer and Swati Kanitkar went beyond what I could conceive. Thank you Swati.

However, in terms of the progress of the melody I certainly have my reservations following Sharath. Quoting SL about his experience with some of Sharath’s songs:

“In 2 songs (Sudha Mantram and niLaiyude maaril) the 'Sa' shift happened too often that before the melody could be savoured, it assumed a different flavour altogether. Raavil veeNa naadham started off in Hamsanadham and kept taking a detour which was not at all aesthetically pleasing to my ears, it was almost at the expense of sounding discordant. Maybe he is trying to break the 'melody conditioning' a lot of us have. But I sincerely feel in these cases the tune has not been allowed to blossom fully...thinna pazham thanthu thinnAthE endru kayyai thatti vittu thittuvathu sariya thappA :)”

SL nailed it. “Melody conditioning” – is the new phrase that I learnt from SL and probably the most perfect way to describe the incomprehensibility that we display while hearing a Sharath’s composition. Melody conditioning is the apparent disparity between how we expect a song to be and the way Sharath’s song is. In my opinion, we certainly need to improve in being able to understand difficult musical forms (See what MSV says about Sharath here ). MSV says:

“Songs like these were composed in olden days. These days, there are few compositions of such class. However such songs must be composed so that the younger generation gets to learn”

When it comes to film music, it would be foolish to sport an opinion different from MSV, but it is my request that Sharath must also keep in mind that he is composing for us – the audience – who sometimes are not expecting to be educated but only entertained. And with the magic wand of melody that he has, he can certainly do it like he did in Ende sindoora rekha or Shree Ragamo.

With that, I take bow before this great composer who has successfully jolted some of the neurons which are responsible for understanding, appreciating and creating music. Together with Ramesh Narayanan and M. Jayachandran, Sharath has changed the way Malayalees listen to film music.

On a final note as Bhavadhaarini puts it : “It is only by a stroke of luck that such a great composer has come to be with us and we need to learn as much as possible from him. A gem of a person he always says SanthOsham, Samaadhaanam and Sowkyam”.

Dear Sharath, I would say add your “Sangeetham” to it. Thanks - for making contemporary music, a twisted and intelligent transformation of the old.

9. Appendix A : Songs featured in this article

1. Sudhamantram
2. Diva swapnam
3. Madhuram gayathi
4. Bandhura vaasandhya
5. Gopike nin maaril
6. niLaiyude maaril
7. ende sindoora rekha
8. Yamuna nadhi
9. Mazaiye Mazaiye
10. Pranathosmi - K. J. Yesudas
11. Pranathosmi - G. Venugopal
12. Shree Ragamo

10. Appendix B : ShruthibhEdam and GruhaBhedam

An interesting point is the distinction between SruthiBhedam and GruhaBhedam in the words of Sindhuja :

“I had a discussion about this with Kumaresh (of Ganesh-Kumaresh) about a month back. From him I learnt that what I had been referring to as shruthibhedam was actually 'gruhabhedam'. The latter is a more accurate term he said. All these days I thought the two terms meant the same and could be used interchangeably, but apparently there is a subtle difference. Shruthibhedam is just change (bhedam) of shruthi (for eg- u are not able to reach the highs in a shruthi, u lower it for convenience- that is an instance of shruthibhedam) But the shift of Sa (called 'gruham' as it 'houses' the rest of the swaras) is actually primarily a gruhabhedam, a by-product of which is shruthibhedam since when u shift the gruham, the the shruthi changes automatically. At a glance the distinction may seem redundant but if you think about it there is a subtle difference.”

So while Gruhabhedam implies ShruthibhEdam, the reverse is not true and semantically, they are different.

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Part 1 : http://swara.blogspot.com/2008/04/sharath-musical-enigma-part-1.html

Part 2 : http://swara.blogspot.com/2008/07/idol-7-sharath-musical-enigma-part-2.html

Part 3 : http://swara.blogspot.com/2008/08/sharath-musical-enigma-part-3.html

Part 4 : http://swara.blogspot.com/2008/09/sharath-musical-enigma-part-4-final.html