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Music sans unison
Musicians rendering the Pancharatna kirtanas at Tiruvaiyaru on February 2. — Pic. by R. M. Rajarathinam.
EVERY YEAR, the music fraternity pays its homage to saint Tyagaraja. The festival is conducted with grand fanfare under the aegis of the Thyaga Brahma Mahotsava Sabha. The mandatory Pancharatna kritis are sung followed by the rendition of the kriti "Chetulara" in Bhairavi raga on the flute. Thanks to telecommunication advancement every rasika of Carnatic music is treated to this musical feast at each one's drawing room. A few thoughts rush to the memory of this rasika, who has had the good fortune to listen to Pancharatna rendition of yesteryear sung by the great stalwarts Ariyakudi, Semmangudi, GNB, Madurai Mani Iyer, M. S. Subbulakshmi, D. K. Pattammal, M. L. Vasanthakumari, Brinda accompanied by T. N. Krishnan and others on the violin and the wizard Palghat Mani Iyer on the mridangam. One is transported to an ethereal world of soulful rendering of the Pancharatna kritis. Bhakti wells up in the heart and the rasikas pay their humble pranams at the feet of all the greats as sung by Thyaga Brahmam in his immortal Sri Raga piece, "Entharo Mahanu Bavulu Anthariki Vandhanamulu".
At the end of the soulful rendition, the listener is ennobled and also touched by the greatness of the composer.Unfortunately, the scenario has changed now. The same technology that brought the audio version through All India Radio now gives the visual presentation through television. Oh! What a fall from the yesteryear! The great stalwarts are not in our midst, for they are not immortal and now the mantle has fallen on the next generation. The rasikas feel shattered now.
One neither finds the so-called senior of this generation (except a few) nor the young trail blazing mandarins on the scene. Of course there were quite a few women singers, taking vantage positions to get into the frame of television cameras and one finds both men and women singers flashing their rings (in all their fingers) necklaces, chains and eardrops tantalisingly swinging. The picture is complete with their zari-filled saris, veshtis, angavastrams and brocaded shawls. Alas, the music they give out is never a well-coordinated effort, the Sruthi Matha, most of the time seeming to be in a slumber, ending up only in a cacophony.
To add to all this, a senior musician was seen holding a sruthi box in his hand as though requesting all to follow the sruthi, or was it an advertisement for Radel sruthi boxes?
In the midst of all this, there was the usual orchestra master, violin maestro Kunnakudi Vaidhyanathan making the whole scene a hilarious one. The supposed to be hallowed atmosphere is painfully missing. Why cannot the music fraternity choose some real good singers of both genders, make them practise well, stick to a single padantharam, put them in front of the mike and ask the others to follow suit. Though this needs a lot of cooperation from singers, I think it is still worth trying, because as the years pass by the rendition is getting from bad to worse. The less said about the Varali piece the better, as some of them do not know this piece and so less voices are heard. I think it is now a soul-searching time for Thyaga Brahma Mahotsava Sabha. I do not think it is impossible to strike unison. What they need is only a concerted focussed effort.
Their real homage to Tyagaraja would be a sruthi aligned, bhakti soaked rendition of Pancharatna. They are literally the gems, the ratnas in our musical compositions. For all these inadequacies, I think one of the culprits is television as the artistes get distracted by the focussing cameras. This rasika does not live in the past. But it is high time the musicians gave it a thought.
One must admit, though, that the pooja part of the Aradhana is being conducted well and I am sure that Tyagaraja will be pleased. Also there were a number of devotees with paper or book in hand who sang the kritis oblivious to the surroundings, including the television camera. May the bard bless them in abundance. In spite of the heavy rains, the rasikas remained to take part in the festival. Was the downpour a blessing to those present or was it a purificatory act of the Devas?
Perhaps Tyagaraja was singing "Teliyaleru Rama Bakthi Margamu" in the era of crass commercialisation and shedding tears at the present state of affairs.
KRIPA SUBRAMANIAM
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