Music Festival - then and now...
Professor of Music and Asian Studies at Amherst College, U.S.A., Prof. David Reck, is a regular visitor to the December Season in Chennai.
In 1991, under a grant from the American Institute of Indian Studies, Prof. Reck studied veena under Ranganayaki Rajagopalan. And he has transcribed more than a hundred varnams, kritis, and tillanas as played by the Karaikudi Sambasiva Iyer tradition. He plans to publish a series of these transcriptions in sargam notation with commentary in the near future.
In this column, Prof. Reck shares his impressions on the music Season - then and now...
In 1968 my wife and I first experienced the Madras Festival of Music and Dance. I was an American novice studying veena at Central College of Carnatic Music, yet to meet my principle guru Ranganayaki Rajagopalan.
What days those were! Excitement was in the air though Chennai was a sleepy town in those days, really just a great big village. Then, many legends were alive and performing. Who could forget Chembai sitting shirtless as his tummy shook with kalpana svaras, M.D. Ramanathan, performing 'abhinaya' with his hands for each alapana phrase, or M.S. Subbulakshmi who sat like a regal goddess on the stage? Palghat Mani Iyer's face lost in concentration as he calculated a rhythmic structure, or Mysore Doraisamy's smile as he glided through Saraswati Manohari on the veena are burned in my memory.
Dance too was all over the place, with a packed house for Balasaraswati and Kamala and Padma at every public appearance. We students stood in the back craning our necks, or if we were lucky, on the stage near enough to hear the musicians breathe.
How are things different today? First of all, there was no KutcheriBuzz to guide one through the day's schedule or yesterday's events. In the 1960's, word of mouth, or advice from our gurus, would send us scampering to the right sabha. Without autos, we would have to travel by foot or cycle rickshaw.
But the excitement is still here! The eyes eat up page 3 of The Hindu newspaper. So much is happening now all over the city, a new generation of stars are at the forefront with many others emerging on the horizon, each with a unique voice.
Who would have thought that besides the Carnatic music and Bharatanatyam which dominate cultural life here in the south, we would also be treated to Mohiniattam, Odissi, Manipuri and Chau, and so many other styles and trends.
As a veena player I am delighted to see so many veena concerts now, though violinists and flautists also thrill my heart, while today's drummers are truly wizards of rhythm!
If only each day was 60 hours long, one could see it all!
One thing though has not changed. Many sabhas still employ the old style technicians who disguise beautiful sound with a sea of distortion and then maneuver a screeching feedback at the most sublime moment of an alapana!
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You can write to Prof. Reck at e-mail: veenadbreck@hotmail.com
