veenajj

A HUMBLING PRIVILEGE

2011-11-06T21:51:00.006+05:30

Do excuse our temerity to put this picture up here….but we could not help share this rare privilege that the author of this book has given us. “Let’s Know Music and Musical Instruments of India” is a book authored by Madhumita Dutta. It is a nice book giving an account of musical instruments used in India. This page is featured in the chapter “String Instruments”.

Just to tell you a small story, on a visit to London, we went to watch a play. An Englishman sitting beside Jeyaraaj noticed the deep cuts on his index and middle fingers and asked if he played the sitar. He told him we both played an instrument similar to the sitar called the Veena. He said he enjoyed Indian Classical Music and enquired if we had heard Pandit Ravi Shankar live. When we answered in the affirmative, he replied “What a privilege!” We would now like to tell him that the most humbling privilege in our life is THIS…. “To be on the same page” with one of the greatest ambassadors of Indian Classical Music that our country has ever produced and ever will!!

TRIBUTE

2011-08-12T20:14:00.002+05:30

Carnatic Music became a hugely poorer and sadder world with the utimely demise of Chingleput Ranganathan Sir on July 12, 2011. Our association with him began in 1994 when at the suggestion of our Guru Anantharama Iyer, we met him and started learning pallavis from him. A very conscientious teacher and a perfectionist to the core, Ranganathan Sir's classes would go on for nearly two hours, especially when 8-kalai and 4-kalai pallavis would be taught. He was one of those who believed that neraval was a very important constituent of carnatic music concert presentation, particularly in pallavis, and his methodical approach towards the art of singing neraval in three speeds in all its expansivity was mindboggling. He was a complete musician and a musician's musician. The richness of pathantara can be experienced from the sangati oriented kritis like Nee daya kalgute (Reetigoula), Nee daya ravale (thodi), Kalinerula (Kuntalavarali), Mari mari ninne (Kambhoji), Ye papamu (Atana) and many more, which he taught us with utmost passion. He composed tillanas in all the 35 talas. It goes without saying that we were very fortunate to have learnt from him, and blessed and privileged to have been associated with him and the family for almost two decades. A mahavidwan, a legendary teacher and a great person.

Gurus are equal to, or even greater than, God himself; and this fact is best described in this Doha of Sant Kabir:

Guru gobind dou khade, kaake laagoon paaye
Balihaari guru aapne jin Gobind diyo bataaye

Pranams to his lotus feet. May his soul rest in peace.

VEENA TAPASVINI NO MORE

2011-04-07T06:01:00.003+05:30

It is a sad day for carnatic music today, as Kalpakam Swaminathan, a true veena tapasvini, has left this world. Eight decades of veena playing and teaching has now become a memory. She was the first student of our guru's father Brahmasri Ananthakrishna Iyer, and the last link between him and our generation, after the passing of our Gurus A Anantharama Iyer and A Champakavalli. Not only did she have a vast repertoire of Dikshitar Kritis, she had also mastered the compositions of many other composers.

Humble, endearing, and always smiling. We shall forever hold very close to our heart the fond memories of our interactions with her (she would always introduce us to her students saying, "iva ellam ennoda school"). She would talk nothing else but music. We have had the proud privilege of hosting her concerts. Her gracious presence for some of our veena concerts and those of our disciples will always remain our most cherised blessing.

VIEWPOINT - MERA BHARAT MAHAN?

2011-04-04T12:02:00.001+05:30

India has won the World Cup in Cricket. There is euphoria all around. The entire nation is unable to think of any other matter of interest.

People have been talking about Dhoni's leadership qualities. I think there is something there for all of us to be inspired about in our profession. His graciousness, his ability to move away fom limelight, his ability to bring the best in people, his mental strength in doing what he believes in despite public pressure (the whole world wanted Ashwin - he brings in Nehra and Sreeesanth. Dhoni went public saying he misread the pitch - I dont believe it one bit! He was just fooling us! He wanted the discussion to die down! That is clever!) In the corporate world where leadership is a big factor - we can surely use Dhoni-like qualities.

Now for the obnoxious part! I understand winning the World Cup is something special. But why is so much of National Wealth going to only a handful of people? This is national property - our wealth damn it! This is not correct!

Why not give something to Leander Paes and Bhupathy - they are the World No.1 doubles tennis pair you know! Why not our sportspeople who got us Olympic medals? They need it and need it badly!

Lifelong AC 1st class pass for the cricketers from Indian Railways! Why not for our musicians?Do we know how difficult it is to be a full time musician? When it comes to giving a petrol pump to late Ustad Bismillah Khan (Bharat Ratna - a real jewel in India's crown) it is turned down! Now cores of rupees are given as bonus to cricketers! This is just politics! Are all professions encouraged by the Indian Government? Do our poliicians know what it is to be a good musician or a good architect or a good painter or a good writer who can fashion a million minds? Is there a place under the sun for achievers in other spheres? I seriously doubt it! Ah! this attitude! This hurts! Is this a governmernt that wants to take the nation forward.... We have no means to look at the problem in the eye and resolve them -we want cricket diplomacy to solve indo-pak issue! Juvinile! Pathetic!

Why do we go to such ludicrous extent of going to living rooms of circketers and talking to mothers, sisters and relatives? See how the Sri Lankan crowd has handled its disappointment! See how Japanese people have handled tragedy! That is called maturity! When will get there? Will we ever have a sense of equanimity in handling good and not-so-good situations?

Can we do something about this? Can we contribute in a small way to see how We as Indians move to a more matured world?

PADMANABHA SASTRY AWARD FOR ARTS

2011-03-25T17:51:00.005+05:30

The family of HR Padmanabha Sastry confers the Padmanabha Sastry Award for Arts every year on musicians. This year we were chosen for the award.
HR Padmanabha Sastry was a renowned music director of Telugu and Kannada movies. He was the first Telugu films music director and composed the music for the first ever Telugu talkie film "Bhakta Prahlada" released in 1931. Our thanks to Smt and Sri HP Ramamurthy (eminent tabla player and son of Late HR Padmanabha Sastry) and their family for this gesture. The function was held on February 27,2011 at Dakshinamurthy Auditorium, Mylapore and the chief guest was senior flute Vidwan Prapancham Sitaraman (disciple of the great Flute Mali).

THE DESERT SAFARI

2011-02-22T08:18:00.004+05:30

Back from a refreshing concert-cum-sightseeing 5-day trip to Dubai.

First things first. We played a concert for Indian Fine Arts, Dubai on February 18th. The organizers took great care of us, and the event itself was very well put together. Full house crowd. The concert went for three hours. We were accompanied by senior local mridanga vidwan Sri Govindarajan and Sriraam Subbaraman, seasoned Kanjira player also residing in Dubai. As such wherever we do play, we like to present music that is completely classical, and it must be said that in Dubai the crowd was quite knowledgeable, and we did not need to dilute the contents of our presentation. Thank you Indian Fine Arts, Dubai for having us, and of course for the lovely flowers which stayed fresh for the rest of our trip in our room.

About the sightseeing, it was the usual stuff...Dubai Mall, Gold Souk, Museum, Burj Khalifa (the world's tallest building), Burj Al Arab (where Federer and Agassi played a game on the helipad), the desert safari etc. The tremendously impressive landscaping throughout the city....green grass everywhere, flowers.....how do they do it in a desert? Mind boggling. And such clean roads. Also learned that the Dubai branch of a South Indian hotel had to shut down for sometime after the Dubai Municipality guys found a cockroach somewhere in the premises, and this was grossly below their hygiene standards.

What made the trip truly special was the fact that we were able to connect with old friends from music class and school, people we had not met for the last 15-20 years. Most of us reconnected over Facebook. And it was amazing, reliving old memories, chatting about the good old days. It was fantastic!

Posting some concert pictures here. Courtesy, again, a wonderful friend!

About "ANANDAM ANANTAM" - A Journey Into Tanam

2010-07-09T20:04:00.012+05:30

JOY ALL THE WAY, says THE HINDU. Click Here for the entire review.

Manodharma Sangeetham or improvised Music is the touchstone of Carnatic Classical Music. Tanam is one of the most important, lively and bewitching aspects of Manodharma Sangeetham. In the genre of Ragam Tanam Pallavi, Tanam is sung after the Raga Alapana and before entering into the Pallavi. It is also called Madhyamakalam or Ghanam. Though there is no specific time measure (Tala), a perceptible rhythm prevails. Traditionally while singing Tanam, the words ANANDAM and ANANTAM are skillfully interwoven into rhythmic patterns. Tanam is a specialized field in the Veena tradition. It has an extraordinary charm and appeal when played on the Veena.

This product features Tanam played by us in 18 exquisite Ragas, some common, some uncommon and some very uncommon. Not only is this product a ready reference for Tanam singing or playing, its appeal is intended to be universal and could be a wonderful gift to a loved one for any special day.

We would be failing in our duty if we did not thank Sri Pradeep Chakravarty, whose idea it was that we record tanams in various ragas. In fact most of the ragams have been chosen by him. Thanks also to Vedanth Bharadwaj for being the perfect sound engineer. And last but not the least Smt Mala Mohan and others at Swati Soft Solutions for putting this together.

"ANANDAM ANANTAM" was released by Smt Veena Kichlu, Managing Trustee of Pandit Ravi Kichlu Foundation on 27th June at Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata. The event was organized by Guruguha Sangeeth Sammelan of Kolkata. Vidushi Veena Kichlu's presence as Chief Guest for the CD release was memorable for a very significant reason. Her husband, a highly respected and noted Hindustani Classical Singer, Late Pandit Ravi Kichlu was instrumental in bringing out our very first audio release with HMV, titled VEENA DUET, in the year 1992. It was wonderful that she could come and stay back to listen to our concert that day.

Anandam Anantam is a 2ACD pack, available now in leading music stores and also can be bought online through Swati's website - Click Here. We sincerely hope you will add it to your collection. Please do write to us and let us know your thoughts. The list of ragas on each CD is given below.

Disc - 1
1. Hindolam
2. Keeravani
3. Mandari
4. Kedaram
5. Huseni
6. Atana
7. Bahudari
8. Chitrambari
9. Navroj

Disc - 2
1. Bhairavi
2. Yagapriya
3. Balahamsa
4. Dhanyasi
5. Arabhi
6. Vegavahini
7. Mohanam
8. Nadanamakriya
9. Bageshri

BACK TO THE PAST

2010-06-15T10:12:00.008+05:30

Was rummaging through some old papers and found this! An invite for our CD release function in the year 2000, as well as copy of Mudhra Newsletter featuring us. This CD called "Subramanya" comprises of some select compositions of Muthuswamy Dikshitar on Lord Muruga. This CD probably is not available in the stores any more. We have put up some of the tracks on our website www.veenajj.com. The music from the entire CD is available for download through the link given below.

PS: Of course, we have subsequently changed the way we spell our names!! Everything else remains the same!

Click here to download "Subramanya"

THE NEWSLETTER PUBLISHED IN OCTOBER 2000

RECOGNITION FOR EX-CALCUTTANS

2010-04-23T13:09:00.006+05:30

We all respect our elders, and our admiration for them increases when they achieve such feats as to make themselves shining examples for generations to follow………… the happiness is manifold when they are people who you have known closely. It gave us great pleasure and a tremendous sense of pride to see the front page articles in The Hindu Friday Review, on two people who we have known since our Calcutta days. First up, Smt Bhuvana Natarajan, Bhuvana mami to us, who has been honoured with the Sahitya Academy award for Tamil translations of Bengali works, in particular of Asha Purna Devi. Amazing! And just today The Hindu Friday Review carried an article on Sri N Gopala Sundaram, who has translated the entire Tiruppugazh in English, and this has been brought out in the form of a book titled “The Glory of Lord Muruga.” We are sure to get Gopal Mama’s autograph on our copy.

Please see below the links to the respective articles:
Grand Culmination
Stupendous Work

THEMATIC CHAMBER CONCERT

2010-03-15T11:11:00.007+05:30

A Thematic Chamber Concert was presented under the auspices of our organization Veenavaadhini, based on the Bhooloka Panchalinga Krithis of Muthuswamy Dikshitar. All the Kritis, representing the five elements i.e. space, air, fire, water and earth were sung and played by us on the veena. Sri Trichur Narendran accompanied us on the mridangam. Rajani Arjun Shankar provided word-by-word meaning and narration to each of the krithis. The background comprising of paintings of the great genius Late S Rajam, pictorially depicting each of the kritis, were made by Aparna Shankar. The two-hour programme consisted of the following kritis:

1. Ananda Natana Prakasam – Kedaram – Akasha Kshetra (SPACE)
2. Sri Kalahastisha – Huseni – Vayu Kshetra (AIR)
3. Arunachalanatham Smarami – Saranga – Agni Kshetra (FIRE)
4. Jambupathe –Yamuna Kalyani – Appu Kshetra(WATER)
5. Chintayamakandamula – Bhairavi – Prithvi Kshetra(EARTH)

The Hindu, Mylapore Times and Kutcheribuzz carried a byte about the programme. It was well attended and well received, and we are enthused to present more of such programmes in the near future. We thank all the rasikas for having attended the concert and making it a big success. And thanks Arjun for the pictures, and Parameswaran and Latha for video recording the event!

Given below are reactions from some rasikas who had attended the programme:

"I attended the chamber concert and it was really memorable. A dedicated presentation by the vainika-s. Special mention must be made of Smt Rajani's commentary which gave lot of insight into the supreme compositions of Dikshitar. It was a n excellent idea to have veteran S Rajam's paintings (of Panchalinga) in the background.

The efforts put in by JJ to internalise the kritis and presenting them authentically in Veena, was quite evident in their rendering.
Trichur Narendran's Mridanga support was something special and enhanced the aesthetic appeal.

I rate this among the best thematic concerts of the season!"

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"The narration, AlApanA-s, tani, and, above all, kRti renditions that adhered to MD sampradAya, were all excellent. It was especially pleasing to listen to chintayamAkandamUlakandam in grand chowkam, with the first line ending on M rather than the usually-encountered version."
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"It was a very nice concert. In fact, with narration and posters about each piece, it was a whole project rather than just a concert. Everyone had put in a lot of work for the benefit of the listeners.

Each piece was in a slow speed, making a contemplative atmosphere for the entire performance. Trichur Narendran never made any effort to hurry things along, but contributed to the mood perfectly.

The program was well attended, with the room being full, but not uncomfortably so; just right.

As a note of curiosity: not one song was in Adi Talam, which must be a very rare event. Misra, Khanda and Rupaka talams were represented."

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"A wonderful evening wherein everything fell in place. Jaysri's Yaman Kalyani alapanai was superb and was within the framework of Jambupathe. Jeyaraj played a lovely Bhairavi preceding chintayamAkandamUlakandam and also a brief tanam. Smt Rajani Arjun Shankar's narratives were well researched and crisp. Trichur Narendren is a class apart. His accompaniment was apt for the occasion and considering the fact that all the kritis were slow paced, he controlled the pace admirably."

ARTICLE IN "AMUDASURABHI" MAGAZINE

2010-02-27T09:13:00.004+05:30

Anuradha Kannan of Podhigai TV fame recently authored an article for the reputed Tamil Magazine AMUDASURABHI titled "Karuviyum Kalaingargalum," featuring various carnatic artists and their relationship with the instrument they played. We were asked to write about our bonding (more appropriately, obsession!) with our veenas. Given below is our writeup in English from which has Anuradha interpreted the piece for the article.

VEENA AND US

Ever since we remember, music has been a part and parcel of our lives. During the impressionable stage of our lives, we had been exposed to music steeped in aesthetics and classicism.

Veena has had a revered place in our families and hence it was no surprise that we decided to take up the instrument as a vehicle for our musical expression.

Due credit should go to our revered teachers who have given us a completely unique perspective of the mother of all instruments – the Veena.

To us this instrument has ceased being an inanimate object for long. It is our best friend and it actually “talks” to us every day. It seeks constant pampering. If we fail to practice for a day, there is a sense of discomfort when we play on the instrument the next day. It feels as if the instrument seeks not to respond to our touch!! It needs coaxing and cajoling before it starts responding.

However when we are stressed or troubled, it is our Veena that we turn to. During such times of distress, playing the Veena gives us a lot of comfort and restores equanimity and peace. Surprisingly, under such stressful conditions, it is our friend that sympathizes with us; it needs no coaxing at that point. Playing the Veena becomes a completely de-stressing activity and the environment is filled with positive energy.

When you have such a friend, one would like to increase its tribe. Not surprisingly we have acquired a number of Veenas over the years, and many of these acquisitions can be aptly described as “impulsive”. But we have no regrets in indulging in such an impulsive act!!

Each instrument that we have is very, very special. Our music room is filled with a variety of Veenas, mostly the Tanjore variety. We have indeed built a family of Veenas.

There is one particular Veena that was presented by a music connoisseur for a token amount of Re 1. It is a Tanjore Veena and is more than a century old. It is embedded with ivory strips and the Veena has a unique tonal quality of its own. We are very partial towards this instrument and do not encourage anyone to touch the same. It is only available as a visual treat. Such is our attachment to Veenas that our possessiveness leaves our kith and kin, often, a trifle embarrassed!!

The need for enhanced sound and portability made us look to avenues whereby we could use electronics in a more purposeful manner. In this endeavor, we found great enterprise in Radel Electronics, who have created the Sunadavinodini, an electronic and portable version of the Saraswathi Veena. We have been using this instrument for our concerts in India and abroad. The public response has been very positive and we have had a number of impromptu Q&A sessions on this with members of the audience, particularly from the overseas communities.

However, when we play in solitude in our prayer room we use the original acoustic veena(without the contact mike) but for a concert, as professionals it is our duty to ensure that the clarity and volume of sound reaches every nook and corner of the auditorium and for us the electronic veena has been a boon.

Though we keep indulging in our hobby of collecting veena there are some identified ones which are handled specifically by one of us. They are more a personal possession and are seldom used by the other - not even during practice. This brings more familiarity to the instrument. We are not comfortable with outsiders touching or playing our instruments but we do make an exception for our own students and allow them to play on some of our Veenas especially during concert engagements.

Our Veenas are our treasure. There is an inextricable bond. Veenas, by design, are very fragile and one needs to spend a lot of time and care in keeping them clean and in perfect tune. They demand a unique sense of responsibility from you. Not a single day goes by without our realizing how much our veena has enriched our life, right from bringing us together as life partners, to giving us the opportunity to serve the cause of Carnatic music in our own small way. It thus goes without saying that our Veenas are and will always remain our best friends forever.

Jeyaraaj and Jaysri

OBITUARY

2010-01-13T21:53:00.003+05:30

January 5, 2010 was one of the saddest days for the carnatic community. Veena Vidwan Trivandrum Venkataraman died in a car accident. He was one of the all-time great vainikas. For a man of such great vidwath and capabilities, he was a very humble and unassuming person indeed. Everytime we met, he would treat us with a lot of warmth and a personal touch that was very unique to him. We will definitely miss him. Even as we write this, we are still to come to terms with this cruel act of fate. He received the Sangeetha Kala Acharya this year from the Music Academy just a few days before his death. May his soul rest in peace. Our deepest condolences to his family and his sishyas.

VEENA FASHIONISTAS?

2009-11-13T10:45:00.006+05:30

We consider ourselves lucky for having got an opportunity, 15 years ago, to settle down in Chennai. Understandably so, since purely from the Carnatic Music performer's perspective, this has always been the place to be. And, we have come a long way, from those times of fighting our disillusionment on the veena scene in the then Chennai concert circuit, to now, where almost everyday a veena concert is happening somewhere in the city. What we need now is to gather more momentum and keep it going. There should be more people coming to listen to veena concerts not because "they feel the need to do their bit to encourage veena players" but purely because they feel this is what they would like to hear on a particular evening. The onus is very much on us to take it to that level. Aural pleasure is important. In the days of yore, veena was the only instrument known, so it might have enjoyed great monopoly. But now, there are so many more, which with their volume advantage are capable of instantaneously connecting with the average rasika. The veena losing out to the violin as an accompanying instrument is a case in point here. As vainikas, we also have another humungous responsibility....to preserve the gamaka-laden purity of carnatic music for which veena is the singular point of reference, particularly when it comes to Dikshitar Kritis. Over and above is the size of the Saraswathi veena, which itself daunts the organizer (who may be laden with the responsibility of transporting the artist and his/her veena from the airport, etc). He is probably thinking whether getting a van/truck to carry the instrument is worth the effort, or should he settle down to arrange some other concert which requires less paraphernalia. We have heard mridangam vidwans telling us that they have had real tough times lifting huge veena boxes while on overseas trips with lady veena artists!

In the past few years we have found a reasonable solution to these issues. We have been using the electronic veena. We are happy. We have not had to sacrifice the "vadya dharma." We have not felt the need to play something that we do not want to, just because it "sounds good" and instantly makes the average rasika connect. People in the audience do not have to guess what we are playing. They can hear. The mridangist does not have to tone down his volume to inaudible levels so as not to drown the music of the veena. We can carry/transport our instruments to anywhere in the world without much ado. All this ....... not because it is "modern" or we are some "veena fashionistas"..... but only because we want more people to be able to comfortably hear what is being played, not having the necessity to compromise on what is deemed classical, with the hope that not just "veena rasikas" but "all rasikas" of Carnatic Music can identify with music produced on the veena and connect with it. Clearly, we are using the option because it is available now, and it wasn't earlier.

Reproduced below is our letter published in The Hindu Friday Review as a rejoinder to a few lines published in a recent review of a young veena artist's concert. Also is given the link to our interview for Radel's Newsletter on our thoughts on the electronic veena and other related topics.

THE LETTER

Veena’s tonal quality

This is with reference to the review of Bhavani Prasad’s veena recital (Friday Review, September 4). We refer to a section where the writer has expressed the desire to see the traditional Saraswathi Veena being used increasin gly on the concert stage. The sound produced by a Saraswathi Veena is undoubtedly unparalleled in terms of melody. However, this is true only if the veena is used in its pristine form (i.e. no contact mike). The moment one uses a contact mike, the sound is no longer a result of its resonance from the hollow of the ‘kodam.’ It may be interesting to note that two veenas using the same microphone may produce a sound that may be as different as chalk and cheese. We are yet to see a perfect contact microphone that highlights the right tonal qualities of a Saraswathi Veena, with the exception of perhaps the instrument used by the great Vidwan S. Balachander. To reach out to a large audience, we have turned to the electronic veena as sufficient amplification is possible without much ado; tonal quality can be fine-tuned to suit the artist’s need; in case of a duet, the tonal representation of the two veenas is similar; and, the instrument can be easily transported.

Jaysri and Jeyaraaj

Chennai

The Radel Newsletter Interview - Click Here

AN INTERVIEW AND A CONCERT

2009-07-06T20:10:00.005+05:30

June 28, 2009 was eventful. We were called to participate in an interview in the morning, and had a concert to perform in the evening.

We reached Nageswara Rao Park, Mylapore at 7:30 in the morning for an outdoor video interview by Mr D Murali of The Hindu Business Line for his YouTube Channel Pitstop4performers. The topics on which we were interviewed ranged from music, archiving, corporate sponsorship, banking, economic recovery, medical transcription, etc. The session lasted almost 2 hours. The ambience of the Park was fantastic, helped by lovely weather that day. Come to think of it, we have been visiting various cities lately, some of those actually known for their wonderful weather, but this summer Chennai has actually been more liveable than most of the others! An excerpt from the interview is embedded above. For the entire interview please click below.

Interview for YouTube Channel - Pitstop4performers

About the concert in the evening, the mridangam accompaniment of Shri Mannargudi Easwaran and upapakkavadyam of Shri N Govindarajan was special. Playing for Naada Inbam at Raga Sudha Hall is always great, and we were really looking forward to this one because of who the accompanying artists were. Before the concert, we got a call the same day in the afternoon from someone requesting us to play Jambupathe Mampahi of Muthuswamy Dikshitar in Yamunakalyani. We were only happy to oblige. It is one of our own personal favourites too!

REMEMBERING THE ONE AND ONLY "GNB"

2009-05-09T15:29:00.005+05:30

A couple of months back there was an article in the Times Of India Chennai edition describing GNB Sir as the first poster-boy of Carnatic Music. We would like to go ahead one more step and say that he is Carnatic Music's only poster-boy. Even for people like us who were very not fortunate to have even a glimpse of him, let alone be able to attend his live concert, the very mention of his name is an inspiration. We would like to thank The Indian Fine Arts Society and Shri M subramanian for having given us the opportunity to perform in the Centenary Celebrations of Sri GN Balasubramanian.

After our concert senior vidwan Shri Trichur Ramachandran sang. His ritigaula alapana was one to be cherished for a long time to come.

It was an occasion where we could meet members of GNB Sir's family and Prof MS Swaminathan, himself a true legend, who had been invited to be the chief guest.

Below is the link to the report that appeared in the Friday Review of The Hindu Chennai Edition.

Genius Remembered - Click Here

ALL FOR A GOOD CAUSE

2009-05-08T10:19:00.006+05:30

Sanatana Dharma Foundation, based in Dallas, USA, sponsored an All Women Instrumental Ensemble to tour 14 cities in the USA for raising funds; their noble objective being Vidya Daanam - Empowerment Through Education. The team was led by Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi on the violin, followed by Mala Chandrasekhar on the flute, myself on the Veena, Rajna Swaminathan on the Mridangam and Bhagyalakshmi on the Morsing. The concerts were all very well received. A huge word of appreciation for the sponsors who left no stone unturned to make the tour a success. Hospitality for us artists was overwhelming. We had a wonderful time. Here are some pictures taken during the trip from Bhagya's camera.... and my favorites include the one with the three of us in a jewelry store, New York City by night, and a stunning view of the snow-capped Iranian mountain ranges from the Air India flight on our trip back home.

A PROUD PRIVILEGE

2009-01-31T14:00:00.009+05:30

Nadha Kala Vipanchee Award and Nalli Felicitation

It was a proud privilege for us to receive the award "Nada Kala Vipanchee" from the hitherto unparalleled giant of a musician Dr.M.Balamuralikrishnaji, and a double honour to have played a concert in front of him. Shri TN Seshan, the ex-Chief Election Commissioner of India was also present as guest of honour on the occasion. The event was organized by the Vipanchee Trust, whose founder is Dr. Balamuralikrishna and director is Dr. Saraswathi. Dr. Sudharani Raghupathy was awarded the Acharya Kala Vipanchee. Senior vidwan Shri Anayampatti Ganesan (Gana Kala Vipanchee) and Sri Injikudi Subramanyam (Vadya Kala Vipanchee) were amongst the other awardees for this year. A felicitation function was held by Sri Nalli Kuppuswamy to honour all musicians who had received titles from various sabhas this year.

Featured in this blog post below is an excerpt from an interview of Dr. BMK by the news channel NDTV, expressing his views on "tradition".

THRIMOORTHY SANGEETHA SABHA, POZHICHALUR

2008-12-20T18:30:00.006+05:30

A very relevant report in the Kutcheribuzz website titled "Season in the Suburbs" prompted us to write this post. Thrimoorthy Sangeetha Sabha in Pozhichalur, Chennai, hosts its music season in the middle of November every year. The Secretary of the Sabha Sri R Krishnamurthy and most of the members of the audience have about 40-50 years of Carnatic Music concert listening experience. They do not stir out until the concert is over. We played our concert for them on November 12th with Mannarkoil Balaji on the Mridangam and Adambakkam Shankar on the Ghatam. The RTP that we chose to play was in Bhairavi with the words "Thyagarajaya Guruguhaya Syamakrishnaya Namaste, Sangeetha Trimoorthyai Namaste," the theme in keeping with the name of the sabha. The members of the audience know their music, are involved with the proceedings and are very appreciative.

It is one of those venues which has an old world charm of its own. Sri Thanjavur Ramadoss who had played mridangam for us here on a previous occasion, remarked "enga vadyarukku intha madri kottagai potta edam-na romba pudikkum," indicating that the great Palghat Mani Iyer used to enjoy playing in surroundings like this. The rasikas here connect like long lost friends; after the concert is over, you can overhear comments like "antha kalathile namma ellam GNB-na appdiye surrender, illaya?" It is a great feeling to be in the midst of such a crowd.

VEENA NAVARATHRI 2008

2008-09-28T07:47:00.008+05:30

The Veena Foundation and Indira Gandhi National Council for the Arts came together once again this year to celebrate the Veena Navarathri in Chennai with a series of Veena concerts for nine consecutive days. Shri Raghurama Ayyar is the person behind this veena movement so to speak, and his enthusiasm is driven by his passion for the instrument. Karthik Fine Arts, Narada Gana Sabha and Parthasarathy Swami Sabha supported this endeavour.

The theme of the festival was Guru-Shishya Parampara and gave us the opportunity to showcase our disciples. The link to the review of our concert that appeared in The Hindu is given below. One factual error in the report is that Revathy is mentioned as our disciple but she has not actually learnt from us; she is an alumnus of our alma mater Sri Guru Guha Gana Vidyalaya, Kolkata.

Link to the Review:
Showcase of Dikshitar - Click Here

JANA GANA MANA IN NEW YORK

2008-08-21T17:35:00.003+05:30

Around mid-afternoon on the day of our concert in New York, a tornado alert was sounded. It was pouring heavily as we were making our way through the Lincoln tunnel to The Arch, an auditorium in busy Manhattan. We barely managed to survive the traffic and reached the venue just 5 minutes before the scheduled start. Rain stopped soon after that and the skies cleared. There were very few Indian faces in the audience; one of the Americans surprised us with his chaste Malayalam which we ended up answering in English as we did not know the language!! It was August 15th and we had planned to play Jana Gana Mana. The moment we announced that we would be playing the National Anthem of our country, everyone in the audience stood up with hands on their chest. It was wonderful. AR Balaskandan, local mridangam artist of the NYC area, and his wife Sonali, are doing excellent service to Carnatic Music by arranging Carnatic concerts in these parts. Our compliments to them.

THE SUNSHINE STATE BECKONS

2008-08-10T18:18:00.004+05:30

Starting with a teaching camp in Tampa, the visit to the Sunshine State of Florida culminated in a concert at the Shiva Vishnu temple of South Florida in Miami. Dr. S. Ramakrishnan, the face of mridangam in Miami accompanied us. It was a sizeable crowd, almost full to capacity, and the arrangements perfect. Local carnatic artists, teachers, jazz musicians and a cello artist were amongst the audience. After the concert there was an impromptu interactive session where questions were asked about the electronic veena and we were happy to provide the answers.

GETTING MUS(EUM)ICAL IN MANHATTAN

2008-08-05T17:43:00.006+05:30

A lovely weekend in New York, starting with a visit to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, walking around Central Park, watching an open-air Shakesparean play in Riverside Park, watching a French Vintage car rally and listening to a live music band in the Union Square Park. A perfectly happy and no blahs summery weekend, as they say in these parts!! About the live music and the play... the element of perfection in whatever was executed was noteworthy. And in the Museum, we wanted to see if the Veena had a place in the Musical Instruments section. Sure enough it did, and this warmed our hearts. There were two veenas, one from the 1940s with ivory inlay work, and the other a more recent one. There were also some miniature Tamburas with intricate painting on them, a Kinnari veena and a Rudra Veena, and a Mayuri Veena which had the kodam shaped like a peacock. A big thanks to our dear friend Vasudha for helping with taking the pictures.

IN SILICON VALLEY

2008-07-03T18:08:00.004+05:30

We were in California last week for a concert for "Lotus" in Sunnyvale on June 21st, and a five-day workshop on Dikshitar kritis in Fremont from June 23rd through 27th. The response, warmth of the people and the enthusiasm was quite overwhelming. It was a pleasure to play with Sri Sriram Brahmanandam, a member of the illustrious Lalgudi family, and a senior mridangam artist in the Bay Area, . It was nice to interact with learned rasikas and some veena players of the area after the concert.

HINDUSTANI RAGAS ON THE CARNATIC VEENA

2008-06-04T13:31:00.005+05:30

Quite sometime back we recorded on the veena short alapanas of 18 Hindustani Ragas for a company called Sofia Softwares Limited. They wanted us to make it as brief as we could, and "as leisurely and slow paced as possible." Whether they had in mind some music to go with sipping chamomile tea while reflecting the events of the day, we are not sure. But we thought we could upload it on our podcast (the pink box above) for web listeners. The entire recording has been uploaded in the three parts, titled Hindustani Ragas - 1, 2 and 3. The list of ragas is given below:

1. Darbari Kanada

2. Puriya Dhanasri

3. Kalavati

4. Malkauns

5. Bhatiyar

6. Bhimpalas

7. Bairagi Bhairav

8. Behag

9. Shivaranjani

10.Desh

11.Bhairav

12.Abhogi Kanada

13.Suddha Sarang

14.Durga

15.Gavathi

16.Madhuvanti

17.Bagesri

18.Bhairavi

RAMA NAVAMI CONCERT

2008-04-15T09:36:00.005+05:30

On April 13, 2008, Chitrai Thirunal and First Day of the Sarvadhari Tamil New Year, we played a concert for the Rama Navami Series organized by Alwarpet Anjaneya Temple, Chennai. The Chandanam Alankaram for Lord Anjaneya on that day was quite a delight, and the stage was so set that we could see the Lord as we played. We were also happy to play with our childhood friend Calcutta Sundar on the mridangam after a very long time.

MAHASHIVARATHRI AKHANDAM

2008-03-31T07:43:00.003+05:30

Naadabrahmam Music Journal conducted Mahashivarathri Akhandam at Sri Karpaga Vinayakar Temple in RA Puram, Chennai. Performing in the this temple is always special for us because when we migrated to Chennai from Kolkata, our first place of stay was the house adjacent to this Temple. It is a quaint, beautiful, well maintained temple in a quiet residential locality.

Naadabrahmam must be congratulated for putting together this Special Akhandam from 6 PM to 6 AM through the Mahashivarathri night of March 6th. Their monthly magazine called Naadabrahmam is very informative, carrying useful articles pertaining to Carnatic Music with both literary and philosophical import. Their official website is http://www.naadhabrahmam.com/.

OUR GURU'S 80TH BIRTH ANNIVERSARY

2008-01-14T18:45:00.001+05:30

Our concert on December 16, 2007 for the Margazhi fest of the Chennai Sabha Naada Inbam was of special importance since it happened to be the 80th Birth Anniversary of our Guru Late A. Anantharama Iyer. We reproduce below in part, the speech that we delivered before we concluded the concert.

"Today happens to be the 80th Birth anniversary of our Guru Vainika Vidwan Late Anantharama Iyer. Our Guru belonged to the unbroken lineage of the sishya parampara of Nadajyoti Muthuswamy Dikshitar. Our guru's father, Brahmasri Ananthakrishna Iyer who learnt directly from Ambi Dikshitar, the great grand nephew of Muthuswamy Dikshitar, founded the school Sri Guruguha Gana Vidyalaya in Calcutta to which we belong. Though it goes without saying that our Guru had a great repertoire of Dikshitar krithis, he was extremely catholic. I remember he used to say, if you want to play Sahana elaborately, Giripai would be the most appropriate krithi. He also believed that if the duration of a concert was more than 2 hours, be it vocal or instrumental, one should include a pallavi. in fact when we moved to Chennai, he was quick to suggest that we should go to the great Vidvan Chingleput Ranganathan sir to learn about the scientific approach to pallavis. We are extremely thankful to Ranganathan sir for having taken us in his fold.

If we are able to move our fingers on the veena fretboard today, it is only due to the painstaking efforts of our beloved Gurus Anantharama Iyer and his sister Smt Champakavalli, both of whom are not with us today. Our heartfelt gratitude to Sangeetha Kalanidhi Shri Vellore Ramabhadran sir for having agreed to accompany us today. We are a complete mismatch to him both in terms of vidwath and stature, yet it is indeed very gracious of him to accept to play for us. Last but not the least, we would like to thank Smt Jaya of Naada Inbam for having given us this opportunity, and all the rasikas for having come all the way to listen to us."

Given below is the link to the review of the concert that appeared in The Hindu:
Click Here

Smt Kalpakam Swaminathan's Concert In Our House

2007-11-23T09:34:00.001+05:30

VEENAVAADHINI Chamber Concerts

On November 3, 2007 we hosted a veena concert by senior Vidushi Smt Kalpakam Swaminathan. It was a special occasion for us as Kalpakam Mami is a disciple of our Parama Guru Brahmasri A Ananthakrishna Iyer. The focus of the concert was on Dikshitar Krithis.

We thank the internet forum rasikas.org for organizing and coordinating the event and having us as hosts for the same. For all rasikas who happened to be present, it was definitely a concert that they would cherish in their minds and hearts for a long time to come.

Mami's accompanists for the evening were Shri L Ramakrishnan for Veena Support and Shri Tanjavur Kumar on the Mridangam.

Given below is the link to the concert on the rasikas.org forum:
Click Here

VEENA NAVARATHRI FESTIVAL

2007-10-31T09:35:00.001+05:30

Words are not enough to describe the enthusiasm with which septuagenarian Shri Raghurama Ayyar organizes these veena-centric events one after the other. The first ‘Veena Navaratri’ festival was held in Chennai, from September 11-19. The festival was jointly organised by the Veena Foundation, New Delhi, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, Narada Gana Sabha, Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha, Kartik Fine Arts and Sri Tyagaraja Vidwat Samajam, Chennai.

We performed on the 16th of September. It was heartening to see the glint of happiness in Shri Raghurama Ayyar's eyes, when he remarked in his speech that he was particularly happy about the crowd attendance. As vainikas it gives us a lot of pleasure to place on record the fact that the invaluable support of rasikas is definitely one of the things that keeps us going.

VEENAVAADHINI Chamber Concerts

2007-09-10T10:34:00.001+05:30

Celebrating the festivals of Varalakshmi Vrata and Gokulashtami, we hosted two chamber concerts on 26th August, 2007, with the following themes:

1. Varalakshmi Namosthuthe

Artists:
Kamakshi and Meenakshi - Vocal
Kolkata K. Harish - Violin
Manikantan - Mridangam

2. Om Namo Narayana

Artists:
Bharathi Ramasubban - Vocal
K.P. Nandhini - Violin
B. Srivatsan - Mridangam

The first concert comprised of a comprehensive list of compositions on Goddess Varalakshmi, including Sri Varalakshmi (Sriragam), Varalakshmi Neeye (Salakabhairavi), Kamakshi Varalakshmi (Bilahari), Varalakshmi Namosthuthe (Gowrimanohari), Varalakshmim Bhajare (Sourashtram). All the compositions were rendered to perfection by Kum Meenakshi and Kum Kamakshi. The Gowrimanohari Krithi was preceded by a short alapana by Meenakshi and ended with a round of swarams. Kolkata K. Harish excelled in his raga alapana of Gowrimanohari and gave fitting replies when his turn for kalpanaswaras arrived. Manikantan on the mridangam played his role with enthusiasm.

Kum Bharathi Ramasubban was given the theme of Krishna/Narayana. Starting with a brilliant rendition in two speeds of the Saveri Varnam Sarasuda Ninne, she went on to present a chaste version of Venugana Loluni, a Thyagaraja Krithi in Kedaragowlai. Her main piece of the evening was Balagopala in Bhairavi and Pankaja Lochana in Kalyani was the submain. Her biggest asset is her pliable voice combined with a full throated rendition, with an ability to traverse the higher octave with ease. Her raga alapanas of Kedaragowlai, Kalyani and Bhairavi were characterized with Sampradaya sudhham, and furthermore, bore the stamp of her own originality. It was heartening to see the artist implore her imagination to coax out lightning phrases with a lot of ease, and her singing also had a lot of punches, reminiscent of some of the golden greats of carnatic music. K. P. Nandini on the violin was very professional in her approach. B. Srivatsan on the mridangam presented an enjoyable thani avarthanam.

After the programme, Prasadam, and Manjal Kumkum for all the ladies present was distributed. We would also like to acknowledge here the assistance provided by Sri Krishna Sweets for printing the invitation cards for the programme.

Concert At Krishna Gana Sabha

2007-08-20T08:43:00.001+05:30

We met Late Shri Yagnaraman, the then secretary of Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, sometime in February 2007 when he had asked us to come in to his office, and he confirmed our concert at the Gokulashtami Series for 10th August, 2007. We consider this as a huge blessing coming from a person who had seen them all and served the cause of carnatic music for a lifetime. Little did we know that this was to be our last meeting with him before his demise earlier this year. It is indeed difficult to believe that the cruel hands of fate has snatched him away from all of us. He was one of the most widely respected music promoters and administrators, having been at the helm of affairs of the prestigious Sri Krishna Gana Sabha in T. Nagar for 5 decades. Shri Prabhu Yagnaraman, his son, has assumed the Office after the demise of Shri Yagnaraman, and we thank Shri Prabhu for all the support extended to us.

Related link:

http://skgs.wordpress.com/2007/08/12/friday-10th-aug-2007-630-pm/

Concert For Manoranjitham, Coimbatore

2007-07-09T18:48:00.001+05:30

We were happy to play a concert on June 30, 2007, Guru Purnima Day. As a tribute to our Gurus, we played amongst other things a Ragam Thanam Pallavi in the raga Naattaikurinji, wherein the words of the Pallavi were, "Maata Pita Guru Deivam. Anudinamu Namaskara." The concert was under the auspices of Manoranjitham Sabha of Coimbatore. It was a valuable experience playing in front of very knowledgable rasikas, distinguished veena players in particular who had turned out in large numbers, and it was a full house despite the inclement weather. The review link to this concert is given below:

The Hindu Friday Review Link

VEENAVAADHINI Chamber Concert

2007-05-15T13:51:00.001+05:30

We invited Shri Poorna Pragna Rao to present a chamber concert on May 14, 2007 with emphasis on Syama Sastri Compositions. His accompanying artists were, Shri Madurai Balasubramanian (Violin), Shri Manikantan (Mridangam), and Shri Papanasam Sethuraman (Ganjira).

The Song List:

1. Sree Ganapathini - Sourashtram - Thyagarajaswamy

2. Shankari Neeve - Begada - Subbaraya Sastri

3. Shankari Shankuru - Saveri - Syama Sastri

4. Marivere - Anandabhairavi - Syama Sastri

5. Kamakshi - Yadukulakambhoji - Syama Sastri

6. MeenaLochana - Dhanyasi - Syama Sastri

7. Sarojadala Netri - Shankarabharanam - Syama Sastri

8. Kanakasaila - Punnagavarali - Syama Sastri

9. Mayamma - Ahiri - Syama Sastri

What made the concert very special was that each and every song,
save the opening piece, was prefixed with expansive and pristine
raga alapanas (including those of Punnagavarali and Ahiri),
demonstrating the artist's vidhwath in ample measure. The violinist
was equally sophisticated in his replies. Shri Manikantan, standing in
for his guru Kumbakonam Saravanan, who could not participate as he was
not well, acquitted himself very creditably. He accompanied
beautifully for all the songs and played a commendable thani for the
main piece Sarojadala netri, with competent support from Shri
Sethuraman.

Concerts in New Delhi

2007-05-10T20:28:00.001+05:30

Last month we were invited to present concerts in New Delhi. One of them was organized by The Veena Foundation jointly with the Indira Gandhi National Centre For The Arts. The IGNCA videographed the concert for their archives and also took a formal video interview for their record.

The second concert was under the auspices of Veenalaya, New Delhi, in conjunction with Veena Sangeetha Sangha of Trivandrum. The venue for the event was Tamil Nadu House in Chanakyapuri.

Given below are the relevant Review Links:
World Music Central Review
The Hindu Friday Review

2007-05-06T20:05:00.001+05:30

श्री गुरुभ्यो नमः

Our Guru Sri A. Anantharama Iyer performing Arati to Muthuswamy Dikshitar. Also seen are photos of Lord Ganesha, Lord Karthikeya, Srividya Mandalam worshipped by Sri Dikshitar and, a photograph of our Guru's father Sri Ananthakrishna Iyer.