A BIRTHDAY REMEMBERANCE TO THE TRAIL BLAZER

Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar was, in the words of a contemporary, the "architect and maker of modern Carnatic music. He was the torchbearer of one of the many styles that were emerging then. It is a pity that our generation never got to watch his concerts live and interact with him. But technology has facilitated us in our quest to listen and learn by getting us numerous recordings and accounts of his lifestyle which are indeed a very valuable source to learn about the Sangeeta Upasaka.

His life and music followed the movement of the oonjal, the swing. In fact it is a well known fact that he spent all his time singing and swinging! In the 1920s he introduced the shortened kutcheri as we know it today, with the varnam, a few short krtis, the mid-section consisting of a main raga and krtis followed by a ragam-tanam-pallavi, and the tukkadas towards the end. With intense discipline and practice he developed an enviable repertoire: it is rumoured that he knew the most number of songs, almost a hundred, in the Raga Todi alone. His hallmark was the madhyamakala or medium tempo. Tricky and very difficult to emulate, he maintained this unique tempo throughout the concert and held the audience in complete attention.
It was his belief that the essence of Carnatic music was to convey raga bhava, and the alapana would reflect the embodiment of the krti to follow. So while his raga alapana was brief, the perception was that people could actually guess which song he was going to sing by listening to the alapana. This is enough proof that every time he sang a particular Raga, it would always sound refreshingly new.

Humility as a pose and artifice, stood self - indicted and self exposed. He always attributed his "humble" success to the great masters like his Guru Poochi Iyengar, Thirukodikaval Krishna Iyer and others. How he would spend the time on a performance day, avoiding sleep in the afternoon and doing musical dhyanam all the time, indicate what reverence he had for the Art.

Ariyakudi mama’s music is the touch-stone on which we can judge the standard of the music of others, probably because, it is in the truest and basic traditions of our classical music. In the words of Shri G N Balasubramaniam, a contemporary who considered Ariyakudi his guru, ‘his is probably the one instance of a unique wedlock of seeming incompatibles, "sastra" and "sravya" and tradition and modernity’. He believed that music was a divine gift that God in His manifestation as Nada Brahman gave to the world. He was a true believer in using the Tambura shruti and was noted saying that, of the instruments of shruti, there is none to excel the Tambura. Upholding the  tradition and classicism of Carnatic Music were the sole meaning of his music filled life. He felt that it is quite possible to please the hearers without transgressing the bounds of tradition after seeing many musicians caught in the desire to cater to the taste of the audience. He gave a lot of importance to Sahitya bhava and considered any performance soulless if a musician did not have the knowledge of the Sahityam.

It is my good fortune that under a scholarship scheme, I am able to learn from one of his foremost disciples and one who has observed him from a very close range, Shri Alepey Venkatesan. Even if Ariyakudi mama left us long time back, his music lived and will live. Well, history will never change…

PS : Ideas and certain points courtesy Ariyakudi’s presidential address at The Music Academy and ‘Voices Within’.

SINGING FOR A LEGEND…

Dr. Vyjayantimala Bali. The name shall never stop ringing a bell in the ears of the billions of people on this planet. The epitome of perfect beauty, grace, hard work and perfection. Sometimes it is said that the eyes can deceive and that is how the popular saying ‘looks can be deceptive’ came up. But here neither have my eyes deceived me nor her looks. .

Singing for her dance is the most uplifting experience of my life. I feel I am truly blessed to even see her beautiful feet take one step forward. The way she immerses herself in the dance, gets into the shoes or much better, the soul of the character she is portraying, be it the ‘nayika’ who is waiting for her lord as in many varnams, the most memorable being the Tanjore Quartrets’ Kambodhi pada varnam, my first ever for her and Suma Saayaka, the effervescent master piece of Swati Tirunal that she performed in Delhi; the ‘gopi’ who is exasperated by Lord Krshna’s pranks on her and decides to see tongue in cheek with him and intelligently replies to all of Krshna’s statements in the Shloka extract from Krshna Karnaamrtam that she did in Calcutta, or the farmer who is generally complaining about the society which held the Mylapore audiences’ attention so much so that even a pin dropped could be heard, or Shri Andal, who sings beautiful verses on her Lord, that she performs before every concert.. I can go on and on about every single role and movement of hers. Words are just not enough to express the beauty of this peerless sculpture that has taken a human form.

The practice sessions that are innumerable in number for every program of hers are a joy in themselves. A true perfectionist, she does not stop with correcting just me and the accompanists but even with herself, she is never lenient. Her irritation when something goes slightly wrong will never result in a scream drama but in more and more of practice and just sheer practice by all of us. By saying ‘slightly wrong’, the extent can be compared to what will happen to the food if one prepared it with just one grain of salt less!

Vyjayantimala ma is one truly multifaceted person, juggling the roles of a legendary dancer, yesteryear film star, former MP and not many would know, a reigning champion of golf and table tennis, though she does not indulge herself in playing them now. With so many feathers in her cap, she is so humble and childlike, and takes so much pleasure in even small things like treating herself on a box of her favorite sweets. I think most sweet shop owners would give a whole shop of them to her! With so much, she is very religious and God fearing and attributes all her success to Shri Andal.

I have no words to explain what I feel at this moment, even thinking of her. As joyous tears well up in my eyes, reminiscing on the hard work that goes into every performance, the dancing feet, the expressive eyes and not to forget the charming smile, my happiness knows no bounds. She is a true artiste and I say this not without a proof. In one of her performances that was a tribute to the great composer Oottukkadu Venkata Kavi, I remember she was dancing for a song in praise of Lord Hanuman, Bhakta bhagadheya. The last scene depicted the story where Hanuman proves his devotion to Lord Rama by tearing open his chest. She was so moved that she was in tears, as there was a thundering applause for yet another of her divine and mesmerizing dance. She completely immersed herself in playing the role of Hanuman or else such an unconscious reaction would not have been the result.

Though I can write volumes about her, I am restricting myself to these pages. I feel extremely lucky to observe her from such a close range. It is a dream come true for millions of people on Earth but to have it fulfilled when I am just a teenager is nothing but The Lord’s and my Guru’s choicest blessings on me. I shall always look forward to every meeting with her and quench my thirst to learn more and more…