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Some lighter moments...
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Those days, cutcheris by stalwarts were not just about music. There was a lot of camaraderie and interaction between musicians and rasikas.
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The cutcheri season is upon us and the inevitable sabha hopping has begun. In times past, when Chennai did not have so many sabhas, it was so much easier to plan one's programme for the day. Since we lived in Purusawalkam, the Jagannatha Bhaktha Sabha was the one that was closest to our house.
From 1944, the Egmore Dramatic Society, which had been started by people with an abiding interest in dramatics, also started a music division that began to organise cutcheris at the Museum Theatre. In order to encourage youngsters, they even arranged for several performances by up-and-coming singers.
At the Jagannatha Bhaktha Sabha, the audience usually assembled at least 15 minutes before a performance began. The pre-cutcheri gossip was as interesting as the cutcheri itself. Everything was grist to these discussions. For years afterwards, the members of the sabha would talk of a faux pas committed by the secretary of the sabha before a flute concert by Mali.
The hall was packed to capacity and the secretary began his welcome speech by saying, "Just as the cows gathered to listen to Lord Krishna's flute playing, so also you have all gathered here to listen to Mali". The audience didn't take kindly to this comparison with the bovine species. The secretary who could sense the mood of the audience, sought to make amends but only made matters worse by saying, "Of course, I am not saying you are cows." Anyway, the concert was a huge success even if the secretary's speech was not.
My father, who was a die-hard Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar fan, and a frequent visitor to his house in Mylapore, told us of how a rasika once came to Ariyakudi with a request for a song written on a paper. It read "Please sing the `chada bada' song". Anyone else would have ignored the request as being meaningless and would have lost a fan in the process. Not Ariyakudi. He immediately began to sing "Manavyala kim chara bade". The beatific smile on the rasika's face showed that Ariyakudi had made a shrewd guess. His "Idu enna kesari?" "Idu unakke sari" is one which my father recalled whenever he had kesari.
M.D. Ramanathan too had a great sense of humour. In one of his concerts, he sang his composition "Ramanai paada maravaade". The accompanists happened to be Umayalpuram Sivaraman and Lalgudi Jayaraman. To the surprise of the accompanists and the delight of the audience, he altered the sahitya and suddenly sang, "Jayaramanai paada maravaade, Sivaramanai paada maravaade".
No one could have had a greater sense of humour than Chembai. His concerts were lively with his interjections, "Vasidaa Vilvaadri" etc. Once, when he sang a Tamil song in Hamsanandi, he pointed to Chowdiah, who was accompanying him, and sang "Unnai maravaadirukka".
His rendering of Tamil songs had traces of a Malayalam accent. There was a Tamil number in Mohanam he used to sing often. It went "Idhiname Shuba dinam" and Chembai sang it as "Ee diname Shuba dinam". Once, one of his disciples, keen on the right pronunciation, sang "Idhiname..." almost chewing and spitting out the first few letters, hoping his guru would notice and render the song with the right pronunciation.
Chembai must have noticed, for he decided to have some fun. The more the sishya emphasised the first few letters, the more Chembai drew out his "Eee diname". The Malayalam versus Tamil match continued for almost three minutes much to the delight of the audience.
At a concert at Shanmugananda Hall in Bombay, a member of the audience asked Chembai if he could sing a song on Bombay. Chembai, with a mischievous twinkle in his eye, said he could. He went on to sing "Aadu paambae, vilayadu paambae".
Jokes apart, even the Corporation of Madras once recognised that good cutcheris were money-spinners. In 1945, the Corporation of Madras organised a series of cutcheris during the music season, the proceeds of which went to setting up a fund to help the poor and needy.
These concerts took place at the Suguna Vilas Sabha. Why should the present Corporation not set up a fund for the poor and the needy viz. for itself? It could perhaps organise cutcheris and even light music performances, the proceeds of which could be used to repair Chennai's roads.
Surely, musicians and light music troupes would be willing to lend their services free. Corporation of Madras, are you listening?
SUGANTHY KRISHNAMACHARI
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