Unruled Notebooknotes & stuff of Arunn

2009 Madras Music Season: RTPs of Pantula Rama and Sowmya

I have earlier listened to Ragam Thanam Pallavis set in two or three ragams in “live” live and “recorded” live concerts from masters of this genre like Balamuralikrishna and Seshagopalan. Similarly, I look forward to be treated with RTPs in rare or not commonly heard ragams and generously offer my patience and praise even if such attempts falls short of expectations. As a listener, if we can’t have patience and support artists when they try something different, we will be provided with what we deserve – the drab standard fare of a ten-song-safety-first-sangeetham-next concerts.

This music season 2009 I listened to RTPs in both the above genres – the one set in multiple ragams and the one set in a rare ragam.

First, the multiple raga pallavi by Pantula Rama.

With vocal range sweeping three octaves with ease, vocal training flashing breathtaking brikkas when necessary, sahithya sensitivity originating from her telugu nativity and vidwat also succeeding inside ivory towers, Dr. Pantula Rama is definitely a promising star of the present generation of female carnatic music performers. I have listened to her once earlier this year and was dissatisfied. But the concert I attended now was much better.

Before the RTP, I listened to her kEdAra gowlai, bhairavi (main item) and few pace makers. The bhairavi AlApanai started off very well and explored the manthra sthayis with amazing felicity of vocals. Until now I was convinced that only M. S. Subbulakshmi could reach down to such manthra sthayi panchamams and remain audible and sensible. Pantula Rama could traverse there too and revel. Particularly in bhairavi, where such manthra sthayi vocal sancharams evoke the feeling of the rAgam and sets one nicely for what is to follow – the moving, lilting swarajathi. However one was convinced Pantula Rama didn’t explore her vocals in full range, at least in Bhairavi alapanai. May be an off-color day.

Her violin accompaniment, M.S.N. Murthy also rendered a good bhairavi alapanai.

The kAmAkshi swarajathi was rendered with poise and sahithya sensitivity. There was a neraval on the syAmakrishnasahOdari line.

After one pace maker filler came the RTP, identified as the grahabeda pallavi by Pantula Rama. It was set in three ragams, mOhanam, hindhOlam and brindAvanasArangA.

A short explanation for the curious. MOhanam is a pentatonic (5 note) rAgam with swarams sa, ri, ga, pa, da, SA and is identified as a janya (child or derivative) rAgam of shankarAbharanam with notes almost equal to the Western major scale (although the way it is sung, shankarabharanam is completely different from the well tempered major scale). When one traverses mOhanam from ga to ga, one gets hindhOlam, another pentatonic rAgam although a janya of the natural minor scale. hindhOlam has the notes sa, ga, ma, dha, ni SA. Setting mOhanam ga as sa and singing the notes of mOhanam scale would sound as hindhOlam due to the similarity in the gaps between the respective notes of these rAgAs. This can be easily shown if while singing mOhanam, the reference sa of the accompanying shruthi box is suddenly shifted up to ga (henceforth as sa) or raised 3 more kattais. Similarly, if one were to sing mOhanam from ri to ri one ends up with brindAvana sArangA, another pentatonic rAgam. Enough polemics.

What is clever of Pantula Rama is to choose brindAvanasAranga instead of madhyamAvathi, which has almost same swaras – notes – as that of b.sArangA but requires more gamakam in singing, which is not present in the original swaras of mOhanam.

The AlApanai for mOhanam, with amazing brikkAs and swarA swoops, was my best. I doubt any local (Chennai based) contemporary female artist of comparable age group could sing mOhanam in such spree. Yes, a Sudha Raghunathan could do it in her prime. The least appealing of Pantula Rama’s AlApanai effort was that of brindAvanasArangA, nevertheless blemish free. M. S. N. Murthy on the violin, scored in this rAgam and in hindhOlam too. Even the vocalist appreciated.

The pallavi was set in chathushra jAthi ata tAlam. Since it is ata tAlam, the beats are structured as X, X, 2, 2, and since it is chathushra jAthi (four beat split), X = 4. So the tAlam goes 4, 4, 2, 2, which when the 2s are added provided equal duration for singing parts of the pallavi in each rAgam. The pallavi line, again cleverly crafted for ready mass appeal and recognition, is: nanupAlimpa vamma, sAmagAna vinOdhini, rangapuravihArini each phrase separated by a comma sung in mOhanam, hindhOlam and brindavanasArangA respectively.

Here is a short audio clip of the pallavi I could manage.

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Here is another short audio clip of the swarams at the end of the pallavi. Listen to the three rAgams starting with mOhanam and also the well thought out kOrvai at the end mingling the three rAgams intelligently. Also, special mention to the moharsing player malaikOttai Dheenadayalu who gave good rhythmic support (hear him at the back, in the above clip during the violin parts) and was proficient on the thani Avarthanam.

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[Disclaimer: These short audio clips are provided here only in the hope of enticing more audience for Carnatic music. No personal commercial gain is sought or thought.]

Pantula Rama’s (Ph. D.?) Thesis is titled Shaping of an Ideal Carnatic Musician through Sadhana, published by Gyan Publishing house and is available for Rs. 750 in music stores. I was surprised to see a Thesis could be ‘sold’ and curiosity got the better of me. Browsing through a copy I purchased, the objective of her thesis is to understand and explain what constitutes an ideal musician. She has interviewed around 20 carnatic music stalwarts, performers and teachers of the last century including Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, T. R. Subramanyam and N. Ramani. The work offers interesting perspectives, but that is for a separate essay and discussion.

Hope to listen to her concerts more in the coming years.

***

The next RTP I listened to that was different was by Sowmya. The RTP was set in a not often heard rAgam vardhani or vardhini. I am hearing this rAgam sung and exposited for this long for the first time. Even before I write more, I say it: if you happen to wear one, hats off to Sowmya. Good show.

Before the RTP, the concert of Sowmya had several nice moments and few bearable non-aesthetics. For the initial phase of the concert I was at the canteen and so didn’t get to listen properly to her karaharapriyA AlApanai. From the snatches I could overhear over the din, I thought I have heard better efforts (more classical, with good punch – all subjective, of course) starting from Vedavalli down to even Sowmya, elsewhere.

When I entered the hall, Sowmya was singing a film song, if I remember right. Yes, gnAna sabhayil in sArangA ragam set to misra chApu, composed by pApanAsam sivan originally for the Tamil movie sivakAmi. The movie was shelved, I gather.

She then began suruti rAga AlApanai. I liked the reasonably off-beat rAga selection and the AlApanai. A nice effort barring brief ßoaring into the sublime accompanied by plummeting into the ridiculous” moments. But I don’t mind. Who is treating me with a competent surutti AlApanai these days. Overall, I liked the AlApanai.

The kirthanai AngArakam ashrayAmi, was obvious for the day, even as the rAga AlApanai began. In the charanam somewhere around the phrase beginning with dhinarakshaka I thought she unnecessarily raised the swarams which sounded un-surutti like. She kept doing it thrice, so it stuck. May be the swarams are still surutti but such phrases could be avoided. She would know better.

The pace maker filler was in kApi rAgam followed by the RTP. Two music seasons ago, I have criticized Sowmya for providing the standard fare (in a Tamil essay) and not venturing into uncharted waters that she is very much capable of. Of course, only out of well meant angst, if such a juxtaposition is possible. In this concert Sowmya provided her RTP in a rare rAgam called vardhani or vardhini.

As I mentioned earlier, I am hearing this rAgam for a long duration for the first time. So no (pseudo-) expert opinions from me. It first sounded like sudhadhanyAsi in the ArOhanam (ascend) and had shades of goWrimanOhari. Kept hearing these two rAgams for a while before it blended into vardhani. Sowmya also announced the rAgam midway in the AlApanai and sang the scale for rasikAs appreciation.

Vardhani is structured as sa, ga, ma, pa, dha, ni, SA in the ascend and SA, nI, dhA, pa, ma, ga, sa in the descend, all in the melodic minor scale (No wonder it sounded sudhadhanyasi-ish at times).

Here is the audio clip of the vardhani rAgam AlApanai by Sowmya.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

R. K. Shriramkumar on the violin also had a good grip of the ragam and played well.

The thAnam section by Sowmya needs special mention. Commendable with good earnest open throated akaram singing, it was enriched with several swara pattern ideas. The vocalist should have put good effort in practice.

The pallavi line is pAhimAm sadA dharma samvardhani, paramAnandha vivardhini with the rAgam word embedded. it is set in kandA jAthi triputai tAlam, a standard tAlam for RTP pallavis.

For the curious: Since it is triputai tAlam, it is X, 2, 2 and since it is kanda jAthi, X = 5, (tisra is 3, 4 chathushra is 4, kanda is 5, misra is 7, sankeerna is 9. No 8 as it is 2 x 4, which is already chathusram; similarly, no 6, which is 2 x 3, which is tisram or trisram). So, kanda jAthi triputai tAlam is structured as 5, 2, 2, over which the pallavi line would be sung. Other tAlams and more pallavi intricacies like 4 kalai or 2 kalai and eduppu, I leave out for now. More on anulOmam, prathilOmam and vilOmam at an introductory level is available in my Tamil essay. Back to Sowmya’s RTP.

Here is the minute and few seconds long audio clip of the pallavi

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

[Disclaimer: The short audio clips in this note are provided only in the hope of enticing more audience for Carnatic music. No personal commercial gain is sought or thought.]

At the end of trikalam singing of the pallavi and vardhini swara kalpanai for the RTP, Sowmya provided a rAgamAlika swara section in ragams with vardhani in their names: kAmavardhini, rAgavardhini, vivardhini and dhAtuvardhini. Of which, my 300 year old friend could spot all but dhAtuvardhini. Sowmya rescued my composure with her announcements of the rAgA names.

On the mridangam, pUngulam subramanian seemed to imitate Trichy Shankaran’s style of playing. For most parts of the concert – in particular, while playing for surutti kirthanai – it clicked. But a major drawback is his repeated intrusion into upapakavAdhyam (moharsing) territory. Prof. Shankaran is known for his generosity during concerts, a necessary trait for concert mridangist to be imbibed along with his vidwat. Payyanur Govindaprasad on the mOharsing raised brows – including that of Sowmya – with his play.

Definitely one of the better concerts of Sowmya that I listened to in recent years. Good show Sowmya.

Related posts:

1. 2009 Madras Music Season: Mukharis of Sikkil Gurucharan and Prasanna Venkatraman
2. 2009 Madras Music Season: rAgam nIlamani in nagaswaram and veena
3. 2009 Madras Music Season: Concert List
4. 2009 Madras Music Season: Parassala Ponnammal at Music Academy
5. 2008 Music Season – Bests from my Concert List

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