Kanyakumari, Embar duo mesmerise music lovers

Smt. Sulochana Pattabhiraman was a musician, Critic and a fine human being who is remembered by many for her help and guidance.

Ravi Iyer, a close associate of Sulochana wishes to continue the good work in an innovative way.  He is determined to lay the foundation of Karnatak music in the tribal minds of Karnataka. The work has begun quietly.

Students’ talent

The tribal students of Vivekanada Youth Movement and the children of Mysore district showcased their talents in this Utsava and received prizes. As a part of this Utsava these two organisations had arranged a Violin duet by Vid A Kanyakumari and Vid. Embar Kannan. They were accompanied by ArjunKumar(Mridanga)and Satish Pathakota(Kanjira). Both the artistes played in unison a number of popular Krithis to please the music lovers.

Embar Kannan is also a disciple of Kanyakumari and as a result, there was a striking similarities in their rendering. The opening ‘Vathapi Ganpathimbhajeham’ was  very vibrant with a neraval at ‘Karambhuja pasha...’followed by a platoon of Kalpana swaras.

Krithis enthrall

A swarajathi of Shyama Shastri in todi was perfect with all its splendour. As mentioned earlier, they presented many popular Krithis like ‘Endaro mahanubhavulu’ (Shree-Adi-Tyagaraja), Edayagathi (Chalanata-Adi-Kotishwara Iyer),’Ninuvina’(navarasa kannada-rupaka-Tyagaraja), ‘’Venkatashaila viharini’(Hameer kalyani-Adi-Shyama shastri),’Jagadoddharana’(Hindustani kapi-Adi-Purandara dasa)and so on.

Kanyakumari’s vast experience makes the Krithis shine brightly in her playing. Their commitment to music was evident in every composition they played. The alapana in Chalanata was a thing to be cherished for long.

 The rigorous sadhana behind it had a message for the learners. Arjunkumar and Satish gave a superb support to the violinists.

Music Conference

Western/ Solfa or staff notation is a musical term which refer to a method of teaching ‘sight singing’. It is used to teach both vocal and instrumental in Western music.
Herbert Long of Germany presented a unique lecture on ‘Indian rhythm on Western Notation’ (4-12-10).

He is working on this subject that is going to introduce the wonderful infinite world of Indian rhythm for the western drummers and percussionists and open up new vistas.
He explained clearly how Indian rhythmic patterns could be ‘written’ in staff notation in his power point presentation. He is an expert in both western and Indian systems of percussion which was evident through his talk.

He made a few clear  comparisons like the time signature in both the systems, the flow of time is rhythm or Laya, the ‘Thak’ in western music indicates the akshara kaala or pulse of the time. The legs giving the sound in Western music, helps in keeping the time just as the gesture or clasp of the hand is Taala in Indian music. The analytical part of his work was conveyed by demonstrating the different patterns of Chatusra, Tisra and sankeerna on the computer screen.

Vid Padma Gurudut of Bangalore spoke on the compositions of Haridasas in Karnatak music.

She opined that these compositions throw light on the names of the raga, pathakshara, life style, culture and instruments of that era.

 The Haridasas have composed in different forms like Keerthane, Suladi, Kanda, Vachana ,Gadya, Dandaka, sangatya, Churnike, Vrithanama, Ugabhoga etc.

She explained in detail the differences between these compositions and sang some of them. Her talk could have been more interesting if only she had trimmed a few unnecessary details.