Ending the year on a high note

A few days ago, my grandmother drew an interesting analogy while we were stuck in traffic en route a Kutcheri. As the end of the year also heralds the closure of the Music Season of sorts, she said that the city would soon seemingly be stripped naked of a certain colour and dimension that it acquires every December, much like the emptiness that the home of the bride is imbued with in the immediate aftermath of the wedding. A tad depressed about this self- evident truth myself, I dismissed it to the back of my mind because I had a tremendously promising day to look forward to on the 30th of December. The first program that I’d marked to attend for the day was a lecture demonstration at the Music Academy by Vidushis Ranjani and Gayatri titled ‘Leveraging the tukkuda’ 

Having reached the Music Academy at 8:15 for a lecture scheduled to begin at 9, I was rewarded with the added bonus of listening to a presentation on Marathi Natya Sangeet by musicians Shashi Vyas and Aditya Oke. In spite of my sparse familiarity with the subject, I thoroughly enjoyed listening to and watching clippings of the great exponent Bal Gandharva that were played and the many, many anecdotes narrated during the course of three quarters of an hour. I can definitely say that it was a wonderful introduction to a new art form for me and has certainly sparked a sense of curiosity to read up a little more about it. 

The lecture demonstration by Vidushis Ranjani and Gayatri was filled with insights into the tremendous scope that the ‘post tani avartanam section of the concert’ provides, with special regard to manodharma and Bhava (the latter of which they explained takes the forefront); to the extent that certain pieces have now come to be indelibly associated with certain artists. An audio clip of Vidwan K V Narayanaswamy’s Varugalamo ayya in the raga Maanji was played, much to my delight for it is one of those beautiful songs my mother and I love to listen together- she having 

been fortunate enough to have heard it live on several occasions while I have to make do with videos on YouTube owing to the fundamental aspect of my birth being less than two decades ago. 

A majority of the lectur subsequently dwelt on Viruttams (in Tamil, or Ugabhogas when sung in Kannada and Slokas in Sanskrit) which I learnt can be presented either as a stand alone piece in a concert or as a prelude to a composition- the second of which the sisters have truly made their own. Vidushi Gayatri made clear the do’s and don’t’s associated with Viruttam rendition with a demonstration of ‘what ought not to be done’ and explained the importance of throwing the spotlight on the lyrical aspect and singing in a relatively higher pitch to convey elevated emotional intensity. This was particularly interesting because it was followed by an explanation of the many factors they take into consideration while choosing appropriate Viruttams to suit select pieces; competently explained with references to and/or renditions of compositions Nambikettavar Ivar ayya, Idhu dhaano thillai sthalam, Manadirkugandhadhu, Krishna nee begane baro, etc. For someone like me who has listened to so much of their music and thoroughly enjoys every facet of the same, this was a wonderfully insightful segment. 

Unfortunately owing to a time constraint, the artists only briefly touched upon bhajans and aspects such as the Tukkudas providing scope for the entry of new languages, ragas and talas into the horizon of Carnatic Music not just from Hindustani music but also western influences such as Madura Mani Iyer’s rendition of the ‘English Note’. 

The concluding section was; no points for guessing, on abhangs where we were given a glimpse of the thought process that goes into tuning and presenting the piece. The demonstration ended with Vidushi Ranjani declaring the ‘tukkuda section’ ought to be renamed ‘Gateway to innovation’ much to the amusement and agreement of the audience. 

It was an absolutely refreshing and articulate lecture demonstration which has truly been the highlight for me this December and on a lighter vein, leave alone the fact that it made me tune out the rumbling thunder- like noises emanating from my stomach on account of not having had my breakfast that morning.