Pride of place for Pallavi

Semmangudi insists that raga bhava and musical abundance should not be sacrificed for rhythmic exuberance in Pallavi rendition, V. SUBRAHMANIAM says in the fourth part of the series.

ACCORDING TO our system, singing Tanam is rendering raga alapana in madhyama kala (medium tempo) couched in the words ``Anantam Anandam''. In the early part of the 19th century, listeners used to request musicians to render madhyama kala for ragas and this got established as Tanam by 1920s. Maestros of the immediate post-Trinity period such as Maha Vaidyanatha Sivan and Patnam Subramanya Iyer were experts in Tanam singing.

In concerts, Tanam is rendered after a lengthy raga alapana before the Pallavi or the main piece. Tanam, played on the veena, is highly pleasing and thus is regarded the most suitable instrument for Tanam. In veena concerts, artistes normally render tanams not only as a prelude to the main piece, but also for other raga renditions.

Tanam singing is very dear to Sri Semmangudi and he is easily one of the best in this aspect. His tanams are highly musical, pleasant and devoid of monotony. He follows the veena method closely. He has indicated that while he was at Tiruvananthapuram as the head of the Swati Tirunal Music College, he had the occasion to closely associate himself with veena vidwan Venkatadri Bhagavatar (who belonged to Palghat Anantarama Bhagavatar's family), and that through this he was able to embellish and polish his tanam singing very well. Sri Srinivasa Iyer renders tanam only in the middle tempo, madhyamakala. Right through, the same tempo would be maintained. There have been many instances where he has started concerts with a few flashy phrases of the raga and a short crisp tanam, the whole prelude lasting just a couple of minutes and then rendering the first keertana. There is no doubt that this style of tanam singing is worth emulating by every student of music.

Rendering a Pallavi as the main piece in a concert is an established practice of the Carnatic music system. A Pallavi is conceived with a set of words meaningfully linked to a rhythmic pattern and running normally to one or two tala sequences. Artistes with a flair for rhythmic juggleries adopt Pallavis intricately woven into tough tala patterns. Needless to say, Pallavis are always preceded by a raga alapana and tanam. After rendering neraval in the Pallavi, kalpanaswaras are rendered proportionately. Earlier, the opening words of a kriti were taken as Pallavi.

Sri Srinivasa Iyer has indicated to us, students, that he used to handle intricate Pallavis in the early years of his career and that as his sangeetha gnana matured, he has settled for simpler, musically rich Pallavis. He is always of the view that raga bhava and musical abundance should never be subjugated to rhythmic exuberance in Pallavi renditions. The Pallavis should not be packed with words with no elbow-room for Bhava-rich neraval. Too much of sahitya (lyrics) in a Pallavi would make it seem like a recitation. Sri Srinivasa Iyer would always say that the choice of the tala for the Pallavi should be a comfortable one as otherwise it would demand all the attention and concentration of the artiste, leaving very little for manodharma and the musical aspect of the whole exercise.

He would only select ragas which have ample scope for alapana for rendering Pallavis. Among the ragas which he would choose for Pallavi are Sankarabharanam, Kalyani, Todi, Kharaharapriya, Keeravani, Shanmukhapriya, Varali, Saveri, Natakurinji and Poorvikalyani. His Pallavi-singing would never make the rasika move to the edge of the seat, tense as if watching a tight rope walk. In most of today's concerts the Pallavi is either absent or is pushed to the end without being given the pride of place and is finished off as a short rhythmic ritual.

In a this aspect also Semmangudi's handling of the Pallavi is well-worth emulating so that this rich tradition gets handed down to the next generation.

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