Pioneering notes
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Narasimhalu Vadavatti was born into a musical family all right. But playing Hindustani classical music on the clarinet is no easy task even for him.
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Narasimhalu Vadavatti has experimented with the clarinet without altering the structure of the instrument.-- Photo: Murali Kumar K.
UNLESS Narasimhalu Vadavatti explains how could one produce from the clarinet the dirdirdirdirdir... sound — the crucial aspect of taranas — one will have to invest a lifetime figuring it out.
Pt. Vadavatti, who has experimented with the instrument for the last 40 years, spent months, probably years, trying to perfect this. And when he did succeed, he had met just one challenge in his pioneering attempts to adapt the Western instrument to Hindustani music. Mesmerised by the instrument when he heard it over radio as a young boy, Pt. Vadavatti was to later adapt it to the gayaki ang, in which instrumental music is brought closest to vocal music (as opposed to gatkari ang, where the flow of music is staccato).
Rare technique
Pt. Vadavatti produces the dirdir... sound by pressing his tongue to the clarinet's mouth in a typical way. "Only I know how to do it," he says, not sounding egoistic. He produces the meend from the instrument, which, according to the Western musicians was not possible. Admirably, he did it without altering the instrument. "I cannot help feeling reverential towards the creator, Atal Clario, of this beautiful instrument," he says.
He dedicated everything of his to the clarinet: time, energy and creativity. In return, "music has given me everything I wanted." He has climbed a great height from the days when he created a stir by outsmarting all other participants at an All-India level music festival at Mumbai at the age of 25. Recently, he got an entry for his name in the "Who's Who of Music" published by The International Biographical Centre in Cambridge, England.
The clarinet maestro was born in 1942 in the village of Vadavatti in Raichur district. His father, Budappa, played the tabla; his mother, Rangamma, sang bhajans; his grandfather, Hobalappa, played the shahanai. Pt. Vadavatti, was first initiated into Hindustani vocal music, by the renowned Pandit Siddarama Jambaladinni, under whom he mastered the styles of Gwalior and Jaipur gharanas. Using his knowledge of vocal music, he learnt and mastered the instrument on his own.
How did he excel without a guru? He drew lessons from every quarter. Vadavatti discussed the nuances of music with critics and practitioners and took their suggestions. He particularly recalls how Padmavathi Saligram of Mumbai made a marked difference to his music, particularly the manner in which he played his favourite raga, Jaijaivanthi. So did Siddaramswami Kotwal of Bhopal and Satish Thankasali of Pune's Music Circle. He has adapted certain improvements introduced by Ustad Bismillah Khan in playing the shahanai to the clarinet. Singers such as Prabha Atre, Pt. Bhimsen Joshi, the late Mallikarjun Mansur, Rajan and Sajan Mishra brothers and bansuri-player, Pannalal Ghosh, several of them have been his manasik gurus, a great source of inspiration.
The latest in the series is Vidwan Kadri Gopalnath, the renowed Carnatic saxophone player, his regular jugalbandi partner. "I have learnt the intricacies of gamaka of Carnatic music from Vidwan Kadri," he says.
Successful partnership
He owes the success of their jugalbandi performances to the total absence of ego between them. "If you have ego, listeners find out easily," he says. There is nothing wrong in artistes compromising on their traditional styles in order to offer something new to the listener. "If you look deeply, you are not compromising at all. Both the artistes are elaborating the same swaras you see," he says.
He has performed jugalbandi with violin maestro Utpal Chakravarthi from Kolkata also. Pt. Vadavatti and Vidwan Kadri have brought out cassettes and CDs of their jugalbandi. On his own, Pt. Vadavatti has brought out a few audiocassettes, including Mangala Dhwani released a year ago.
The clarinet player runs a music academy in Bangalore and a free music school at Raichur. He has built the school investing Rs. 6.5 lakh our of his pocket. His wife Shivamma, who sings devotional songs. His daughter Sharada is an emerging vocalist, and son Venkatesh, is learning the clarinet from him.
Pandit Vadavatti has won many an award, but what the great Bismillah Khan said when he listened to him is what he treasures most: "Bahut surili bajaate ho (you play very well)."
He served twice as the visiting professor of World Music Centre, California, and has composed music for the award-winning French documentary Haathi. He has performed in Britain, France, and the U.S. and all over India.
He continues to experiment with the clarinet. Lately, he has mastered the technique of producing bansuri-like sound from the clarinet in the mandra sapthak and shahanai-like sound in the madhya sapthak.
GOVIND BELGAUMKAR
High Note is a fortnightly column that features reputed musicians of the State. You can send in responses to Friday Review, The Hindu, 19&21, Bhagwan Mahaveer Road, Bangalore 560001
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