Friday, January 6, 2012

Carnatic Bliss!!

The youthful exuberance of an under-30 vocalist with a pure pedigree & pleasant vocals, blended with the excellence of an experienced 75+ ferociously talented percussionist who has seen it all - came together last evening.
And sheer, classical Carnatic magic resulted in the extended Madras Music season in Karnataka Sangha in Nungambakkam - right from the Navaraga-Malike-varnam opener thru the penultimate Thillana & the eventual Mangalam..

If Sikkil Gurucharan has earned a rare reputation of being able to appeal to the puritan's cultivated patience (witnessed in Abhogi's alapanai), the youth's instinctive thirst for instant appeal ('Dikku Teriyadu Kattil'  drew spontaneous applause among the younger lot) or those with spiritual leanings (amply catered to in the 'Shiva Chidabaram' niraval) - it is not without reason.

Umayalpuram Sivaraman is a living legend - of course, a bit of a la-Zakir-Hussain (or maybe more a la-Ustad Allah Rakha) of the Mridangam world. It is said that there are fans, who attend concerts just to watch & enjoy his Taniyavartanam and then quitely walk away a few minutes after.

U Sivaraman's display last evening was an example of conserving audience interest, right thru the end even while conserving his own energy & creativity  - serving quantum bursts of rhythmically melodious delight continually.
Speaks volumes about the senior vidwan's regimen as he sat upright performing with fresh vigour, exhibiting neither staleness of ideas nor weariness in physique.
All in all, the evening could not have been spent better. There is reason to  hope yet, for Carnatic rasikas of the genuinely classical kind.



Thursday, January 5, 2012

Remembering the Chotte Nawab - Why did RD Burman lose touch..

Jan 4th, this year, marks RD's  17th anniversary of leaving us behind. Of course, long before 1994, had the prodigy lost his electrifying touch that permeated magic much thru the late 60s and the 70s.How such an enormously talented musician could lose touch - with the masses and the classes- to the extent that RD did, is a bit of mystery.
Probably, had to do with changing audience tastes, probably the Jeetendra-Sridevi-Bappi-Thaa-thayaa music mode.Or maybe, he did not get the  right scrpts/films on whose successes his songs could have piggy-backed. Or was it that elements of the ecosystem in which RD thrived vanished one after the other - a faded Rajesh Khanna, a jaded Hrishi da or Shakti Samanta, maybe even a fading Ambitabh, departure of Kishore and Sanjeev Kumars from the scenes, and Gulzar's hibernation.
The popularity of the disco themes, the increasing usage of the synthetic electronic instruments may have been the last nails in the coffin.
Still, even when he was down -  no one ever doubted the musical genius of the man who began his independent musical career with Mehmood's Chotte Nawab comprising the endearing 'Ghar Aaja, Ghir Aaye Badra Sanwariya'. Arguably, the best film song in raag Malgunji (Anand's na jiya age na  by Salil C or Adalat's Unko ye shikaayat hai ke hum kuch naheen kehte by Madan Mohan compete closely) - a raga with conflicting emotions but made to appear deceptively simple by Pancham.
Liken this to a batsman scoring a double century on debut on a swinging green unprepared pitch facing the 4 Windies pacers of the '70s - and making it look easy.
Truly, Chotte Nawab!

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Gandhi Museum

Museums - in general, and Gandhi Museums - in particular, are not necessarily the most exciting or happening places to visit, esp, on a vacation trip with the present hyper-charged-up generation. So, came as bit of a surprise to find out first hand that Madurai's Gandhi Museum - http://www.gandhimmm.org - was anything but dull.
The front part of the museum portrays British, French, Portugese etc entry into India in its different parts - Goa, TamilNad, Karnataka, Punjab, Bengal etc. Nothing dramatically new - except that this portrayal was evocative in its rendering, covered a lot of historical ground succinctly, touched a chord and elicited futile what-if questions in the mind.
What-if, Siraj-Ud-Dualah could have sensed Mir Jafar's treachery before hand. What-if, Tipu had had a better sense of building alliances and partnerships? What-if, Veerapandian Kattabomman had managed his relationships with Ettapa or/& the King of Pudukottai better? And more such..
What also stood out was that the British usually lost the initial battles only to regroup, replan, reconspire to win the bigger war. For e.g., the first two Mysore wars, The First Anglo-Maratha war.
There are lessons to learn.