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Australia- New Zealand Tour 2013

Here is the itinerary of our Australia-New Zealand concert tour. We are accompanied by Sri.H.N.Bhaskar on the violin and Sri. Delhi Sairam on Mridangam.

Friday, 22 February 2013, 7 PM: Concert at Werribee, Melbourne.

Saturday, 23 February 2013,7 PM - Concert at Forest Hill, Melbourne.

Sunday, 24 February 2013 - Concert in Perth.

Saturday, 2 March 2013 - Concert in Brisbane.

Saturday, 9 March 2013 - Concert at Wellington.

Sunday, 10 March 2013 - Concert at Auckland. 

Alapana

Recently, we wrote a piece on Alapana for the first edition of Alap, a performing arts magazine. We reproduce the article below.


Alap or Alapana means to speak, discourse and communicate. The fabric of Indian music is made up of thousands of melodies, called ragas. A raga literally is a melodic framework sans rhythm, consisting of a given combination of notes or swaras arranged in a particular fashion. The swaras and their arrangement determine the outline and form of the raga. It is from the concept of raga that Indian classical music gets its melodic identity. When a musician develops and interprets a raga, it is called alapana.

At first glance it may appear that when one knows the notes and the way they combine in a raga, one can delineate an alapana. However, knowing the swaras is only the first step, very much like learning the alphabet and knowing a few basic words in the language. Just as a writer uses the building blocks of words to make phrases, sentences, sparkling prose and lyrical poetry, a musician has to master much more than the basic tenets of classical music to be able to conceive a raga alapana.

A raga cannot be merely understood or expressed through the syntax of swaras. To truly experience the beauty of a raga, one must get under its skin. Gamaka or the way a note is oscillated is one of the most important indicators of a raga’s unique beauty. To intimately know a raga, one has to understand the subtle relationship between the swaras, their shades, tones and characteristic phrases that makes the raga distinct. Great compositions are spotlights which throw light on the beautiful facets of the raga and make the process of understanding a raga simpler. Can one try to understand Kambhoji without knowing a O Ranga Sayee or a Subramanyaaya Namaste?

Raga alapana is generally acknowledged to be one of the most difficult and challenging aspects of the classical art form. For it is here that the threads of discipline, training, and the creative mind all come together. There are no props- of words, composition or tala (rhythm). It takes years of assimilating, learning, applying and meditating to conceive and deliver a raga alapana that breathes life into the notes and lifts it to an exalted plane. As the colloquial Tamil saying goes “Paada Paada Ragam!”

Generally speaking, there are two techniques of raga elaboration. One is the veena technique, where the raga is explored using short, beautiful phrases and building up the picture of the raga with little, telling sangathis. As the sound is produced in the veena using the meetu or pluck, the picture of the raga is painted using shorter phrases. The other style of rendering a raga is the Nadhaswaram style, where the artiste blows into the pipe to produce sound. Here, long kaarvais (long resting periods on the same note), and continuous flow of phrases make up the raga. The two styles represent the opposite ends of the spectrum- one is deliberate and spaced out, giving the raga a sedate and disciplined feel, while the other is eloquent and flowing, like a torrential river in spate!

There are some memorable raga alapanas that stand out in our memory. One is a Thodi by the great Nadhaswaram Vidwan Sri.T.N.Rajarathnam Pillai. Oh, what breathtaking leaps of imagination, what majesty in its sweep! Thodi remains incomplete without listening to this maestro’s conception of it! Another unforgettable raga alapana is the Karaharapriya of the grand doyen of music Semmangudi Srinivasaiyer. The Kambhoji and Kalyani of Sri.G.N.Balasubramaniam is the stuff that legends are made of! The elusive charm of the Sahana, Begada and Bahudari of Ramnad Krishnan, and the adventurous yet timelessly beautiful Shanmukhapriya of S.Kalyanaraman - all of this are rapturous examples of raga alapana. A brilliant alapana of Nattakurinji that our guru Sri.P.S.Narayanaswamy sang in a chamber concert forever changed the way we looked at that raga.

What is magical about the alapanas of these great maestros and many other great artistes is that they extended and redefined the scope of a raga. A raga was not a static thing in their hands, something to be merely diligently learnt and conscientiously delivered. The raga flowered under their treatment, the boundaries extended. They raised the bar; widened horizons and their creative genius have influenced and inspired several future generations of students and musicians.

Rendering a raga well is the true test of the musicianship and maturity of the musician; it cannot be taught. Like poetry, raga alapana lives and breathes in the inspiration of a gifted artiste. Grammar and technique, as important and vital as they are, have to be so deeply internalized that they must operate at the sub-conscious level. For when one sings a raga, one has to soar with it. This is possible only when being grounded in tradition and opening one’s mind happens simultaneously. To us, a raga alapana is the ultimate music of freedom, and the most beautiful metaphor of life. It is the ultimate proof that pure music, without the aid of words or rhythm can touch you in a way that nothing else can.

A raga alapana can be the most intimate statement of an artiste’s musical perspective. It lays bare his or her values and clarity of thought. Moods, emotions, thoughts - it expresses them all, and reflects the personal and musical journey of an artiste. Can one measure the joy that comes when one explores a raga with utter abandonment and when the artiste and the raga become one? Little wonder that it is said, music is a way of giving voice to the inexpressible. And an inspired alapana is the ultimate experience of that magic.

Our Brahma Gana Sabha Concert

Our concert at Brahma Gana Sabha had a joyful feel to it; a very strong positive energy was certainly in the air! Sometimes it is difficult to pick one piece from a concert as a highlight, when every note in the concert has a special bloom! While we enjoyed singing Bahudari and Madhyamavati (Rama Katha Sudha- the main composition of the day), the Ragam Tanam Pallavi suite in Raga Kantamani, (the 61st melakarta raga) was certainly a high point in the concert. Kantamani is not the easiest of ragas to handle, with the suddha dhaivata and the suddha nishadha juxtaposed closely. The Pallavi line was “mani ramani suramani bhoosuramani / brovave bhuvanathraya kanthaa”. The purvaanga (first part before the arudhi or median”) was set in a gradually increasing pattern which is called “srotovaha yati".

While the pallavi seemed great at the concept level, we were not too sure if it would score on the melody and “enjoyment” quotient! But as the Ragam, Tanam and Pallavi unfolded, the charm of Kantamani impacted us, and it was so exciting to navigate the pallavi through the various rhythmic complexities. The pallavi was set in Chatusra jaati Triputa Tala, Khanda nadai which is a cycle of 40 aksharas. Midway through the swara session, we transposed the pallavi line onto Misra Jaati Jampa tala, Chatusra Nadai, which also has a total count of 40 aksharas. This device of changing the tala but keeping the pallavi line exactly the same is an old technique which can be applied to a Pallavi rendition with great effect.The thunderous response from the audience was as sweet as it was unexpected, especially for such a long and serious piece.

It has been a tradition now for us to present a new abhang at our concert at Brahma Gana Sabha for Margazhi for the past five years! So this time it was Janmo Janmi in Raga Deshkaar with an interesting raga change in the middle.

December 2012 Concert Schedule

Sunday, Dec 2 2012, 6.30 PM - Jaya TV Margazhi Maha Utsavam, Chettinad Vidyashram.
Theme: "Ambujam" - Compositions of Ambujam Krishna

Violin: H.N.Bhaskar
Mridangam: K.Arun Prakash
Ghatam: N.Guruprasad

Saturday, Dec 8 2012, 6 PM - Brahma Gana Sabha, Sivagami Pethachi Auditorium.

Violin: B.U.Ganesh Prasad
Mridangam: Delhi Sairam
Kanjira: K.V.Gopalakrishnan

Saturday, Dec 15 2012, 6.30 PM - Thyaga Brahma Gana Sabha, Vani Mahal.

Violin: H.N.Bhaskar
Mridangam: Manoj Siva
Kanjira: B.S.Purushottam


Wednesday, Dec 19 2012, 4.45 PM - Chennayil Thiruvayyaru, Kamarajar Arangam

Violin: B.U.Ganesh Prasad
Mridangam: Delhi Sairam
Kanjira: Anirudh Athreya


Saturday, Dec 22 2012, 4.15 PM - The Music Academy.

Violin: Charumathi Raghuraman
Mridangam: K.Arun Prakash
Kanjira: B.S.Purushottam

Sunday, Dec 23 2012, 4.30 PM - Narada Gana Sabha

Violin: H.N.Bhaskar
Mridangam: N.Manoj Siva
Ghatam: N.Guruprasad


Wednesday, Dec 26 2012, 7 PM - The Indian Fine Arts Society, German Hall.

Violin: Charumathi Raghuraman
Mridangam: Sai Giridhar
Ghatam: N.Guruprasad


Friday, Dec 28 2012, 6.30 PM - Mylapore Fine Arts Club

Violin: H.N.Bhaskar
Mridangam: H.S.Sudhindra
Ghatam: Sivaramakrishnan


Sunday, Dec 30 2012, 5 PM - Kalarasana, Chinmaya Heritage Centre
Four Hour Concert

Violin: H.N.Bhaskar
Mridangam: K.Arun Prakash
Kanjira: K.V.Gopalakrishnan

Our Music Season 2010

From the aspiring musician to the senior veteran, the December margazhi festival in Chennai evokes feelings of anticipation, heightened expectation and a throbbing excitement. All the sabha venues are abuzz with the busy hum of the Season activity - from concert to canteen, discussions of the latest concerts, lec-dems, who is in form or out, abound. We have been part of this wonderful Margazhi from the year 1988, and the joy and thrill that the music season brings is still as fresh as it was for us when we were young girls.

Starting with our concert for Kartik Fine arts on 4th December 2010, and ending with two very special concerts, December season 2010 has been full of exciting and fulfilling concerts.

A few memorable concerts were our concerts at Brahma Gana Sabha, Tyaga Brahma Gana Sabha at Vani Mahal, Narada Gana Sabha, The Music Academy and our four hour concert for Kalarasana at Rani Seethai Hall. In Brahma Gana Sabha, the lovely vivadhi raga Manoranjani was the highlight, as also the Ragam-Tanam-Pallavi in Raga Abhogi. Like last year, we presented Ragam-Tanam-Pallavi-s in not-so-familiar ragas. In Season 2009, it was Tri-raga Pallavi in Saraswati, Lalita and Durga, and RTP-s in Saramathi, Sarasangi, Khamas, Kamalamanohari to name a few of the Pallavis that we handled. This year, we sang Ragam-Tanam-Pallavis in Ritigowlai at Narada Gana sabha, Dwijavanti at The Music Academy, Dvi-raga pallavi in Mohanam/Ranjani at Kalarasana. The Ritigowlai pallavi was a Thirukkural. It was a joy to sing the RTP in Dwijavanti, which seems an unlikely choice, given the seemingly limited scope of it in the Carnatic context! However, the raga has immense possibilities, and we tried to weave in both the Carnatic and Hindustani styles of rendering it. Kambhoji, Bhairavi, Thodi, Karaharapriya, Saveri, Kalyani - the infinite possibilities and the richness of these ragas leave us with a sense of wonder and reverence. These familiar, oft-repeated ragas sometimes bless you with a vision so fresh and new, yet timeless in its charm and beauty...

What was perhaps most satisfying to us were our violin duet concerts at the Krishna Gana Sabha and Kalarasana. To come back to the violin after a gap, was a trip down memory lane, kindling nostalgia of our earlier years when we were violinists. It was a joy to go back to the instrument and discover that the old skills still linger! Our violin concert at Kalarasana was dedicated to the memory of our guru Late Sri T.S.Krishnaswami. Another memorable concert was the four hour concert for Kalarasana, where the audience not only were there before we arrived in the hall, but stayed back till the end of the concert which lasted for well over four hours.

We owe a huge debt of gratitude to our accompanists who were instrumental (pun intended!) in lifting our concerts to greater heights. H.N.Bhaskar, Manoj Siva and Arun Prakash have been performing with us for so long, that they are virtually third voices and not accompanists! Charumathi Raghuraman, who accompanied us in Narada Gana Sabha and The Music Academy was in fine fettle - incidentally, it was her maiden evening concert at the Academy and she did a fantastic job. The nadam and aesthetics of K.V.Prasad stand out, his playing for our Indian Fine Arts concert was a joy to hear. Each and every accompanist - Poongulam Subramaniam(Mridangam), Delhi Sairam (Mridangam), Neyveli Skandasubramaniam(Mridangam), Karthik(Ghatam), Trichy Murali (Ghatam), Ravi Balasubramaniam(Ghatam), B.S.Purushottam(Kanjira), B.U.Ganesh Prasad(Violin), Mysore Srikanth (Violin)Guruprasad(Ghatam), K.V.Gopalakrishnan(Kanjira) have contributed immensely to the success of our concerts.

But as a fitting finale to the Season, there was a surprise in store for us. For our vocal concert at the Anjaneya temple at Nanganallur, the violinist could not accompany us due to ill health. We could not find a violinist to take his place at the last minute, and we ended up accompanying ourselves! Though many of our rasikas have asked us to simultaneously do both vocal and violin on the same platform, we have never tried doing this! Perhaps it was the will of Lord Hanuman that we had to do it here! It was quite a challenge, and an exciting one! To be honest, we had a few misgivings about doing both and wondered if there would be a missing link in the concert. But surprisingly, we felt quite at ease handling the dual roles of vocalists and violin accompanists and the concert was a tremendous success.. A nice way to end a memorable season!

Our upcoming concert at Rutgers, NJ on 29 Oct 2010

Our concert on 29th October in Rutgers University will be in a format different from the usual carnatic concert format. We will be presenting an eclectic selection of songs of various saints and composers from the kirtanas of Tyagaraja and Purandaradasa, Tamil Viruthams to the bhajans of Meera, Tulsidas and Kabir and Marathi abhangs.

In a typical carnatic music concert spanning three hours, starting with a varnam, two to three major compositions with detailed alapana, nerval and swaram are presented. To rasikas who are relatively new to the Kutcheri experience, sitting through the entire concert may be a little difficult. We have had people frequently come up to us and ask us to come up with a concert format that would be a kind of bridge that would help people get familiar with our music, while retaining the sanctity and values of this great system.

This concert is an effort to reach out to people from a wider spectrum, and to give them a taste of classical music. The so-called “thukkadas” which generally appear at the end of a carnatic concert will be woven into the concert from the beginning itself. For the classical music lovers, there is going to be a jugalbandi piece - a Hindustani/Carnatic exploration of a raga which is common to both systems- with all the manodharma aspects like Alapana, Neraval and kalpana swaram.

This concert is also going to be a relatively new experience for us, as we have not sung classical Hindustani music much on stage. Much of our knowledge of Hindustani music is through listening- we grew up in Bombay listening to greats such as Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Smt Kishori Amonkar, Pandit Mallikarjun Mansoor, Gangubai Hangal….An unforgettable experience is a concert that happened in the early hours of the morning and the artiste was the great Mallikarjun Mansoor. Our father actually made us stand and listen so that we wouldn’t fall asleep during the concert! We also learnt briefly from the veteran Hindustani vocalist Pandit K.G.Ginde.

We will be accompanied for this concert on the violin by Sri.H.N.Bhaskar, Delhi Sri Sairam on mridangam and Sri Sai Shyam on tabla.