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Music & Dance
Unique in several ways
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Delicate delineation of the raga and exquisite swara volleys are some of the attributes that have made the music of Sikkil Sisters, chosen for Sangita Kalanidhi this year, enjoyable, says LAKSHMI DEVNATH.
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"Pleasing the audience is our prime aim" ... Sikkil sisters.
"IKKANAINA NA MORALEEDA..." the song's lilting melody pervaded the auditorium and bound the audience to their seats. Kunjumani and Neela blew into the orifice of the flute and the effect. The audience heard not just melodious music but also the lyrics of the song. Indeed, the Sikkil sisters, as they are popularly known in the music fraternity, have perfected the `gayaki' style of playing on their musical instrument-the flute-certainly no mean achievement for, in Carnatic music unlike in the West, there are no separate scores for musical instruments. ``To us the audience is of prime importance. We sincerely try to please them. That is the aim of our music," declares the elder of the sisters, Kunjumani. An unassuming artiste, she talks, on their music, in a manner totally devoid of any frills and artifices. Her sister Neela seemed content to allow her sister to narrate their story. As Kunjumani began her narration, we travelled back in time just sixty years to the place of their birth - Sikkil, a small village in Thanjavur district. ``Oodhu di kutti oodhu" (Blow, little girl, blow), Azhiyur Narayanaswamy Iyer goaded his `little' student of eight. Kunjumani mustered up all her lungpower and blew into the instrument that rested in her tiny hands. She was a `natural' in music. Narayanaswamy Iyer, her periappa was a flautist of repute. In fact, says Kunjumani, ``he was a violinist, he could play the harmonium too, maybe, we can call him a sakala kala vallavan (adept at all arts). When I heard periappa play, I was drawn to his musicNoticing their child's involvement in music, Azhiyur Natesa Iyer, her father and a reputed mridanga vidwan, had a After all, no woman from a respectable family had so far taken to this instrument, (flute)." Azhiyur Natesa Iyer sharply silenced all the dissident voices. That was the beginning. Azhiyur Narayanaswamy Iyer was a good teacher. It was evident in the progress of the student. Her first concert took place at Nagoor near Nagapattinam. After that, there was no stopping her victory trail. At the age of fifteen, she got married and settled with her husband in Bombay. Initially, his parents were opposed to their daughter-in-law playing on public platforms. But later her husband Venkatraman, influenced by the liberal atmosphere at Bombay allowed his wife to perform. The hurdle had been overcome. ``Baby (Neela) was born ten years after me. You see, in the meantime, my husband got transferred to Madras. I shifted back to Sikkil and pursued my learning. This time my father was my guru." In the meantime, Natesa Iyer, in Kunjumani's absence, sorely missed the strains of music in his house. Neela was taught to play the flute. Her principal mentor and guide was her elder sister Kunjumani.
Back home at Sikkil, the sisters plunged heart and soul into their chosen field. They gave many concerts together. They were guided in their every move, not only in their career but also in their music by their father. With careful monitoring was shaped the `style' of the Sikkil sisters. A slow and gradual revelation of the colours of the raga, well within the rules of grammar, delicate swara volleys, a firm eschewal of populist trends in classical music and with several other attributes in their music, the Sikkil sisters firmly entrenched themselves both in the hearts of the listening lay public and the discerning connoisseur. Recognition came in the form of several concert assignments both in different parts of India and abroad. As a natural corollary to their music also came awards aplenty. The earliest was the Venugana Praveena awarded to them as early as 1942, by the Mysore samasthanam. The latest is the ultimate aspiration of any musician, `Sangeeta Kalanidhi,' to be conferred on January 1, 2003.
The intermediary decades saw them being honoured with several awards — the President's award by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, the Sangeetha Choodamani by Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, awards from the other sabhas of Chennai like Mylapore Fine Arts, The Indian Fine Arts and many more.
The Sangeeta Kalanidhi comes attached with several `firsts' to the credit of the Sikkil sisters. In the history of the Academy, it is the first time that women flautists are being honoured thus. Another noteworthy fact is that, in view of the platinum jubilee celebrations in the Academy, for the first time there are going to be two artists to be honoured simultaneously. This has never happened so far, not even in the case of the famed Alathur Brothers and others. Asked to comment on their significant success, Kunjumani and Neela as usual, sing a common refrain, ``Ellam Deiva Chittam." (It's all divine will)
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