Music in his poetry, dance in his songs
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Moving to Delhi provided an outlet for Ponnapalli Durga Prasad's creativity, says ANJANA RAJAN, continuing the series on accompanying artistes.
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Photo: V.V. Krishnan.
Ponnapalli Durga Prasad...A collection of rare qualities.
HE HAS the dignity of a university professor, and well he might. Guiding students at institutes of higher education for the major part of career in his native Andhra Pradesh, it was after a long innings that Carnatic violinist Ponnapalli Durga Prasad decided to shift base to the Capital, in 1997.
"For quite a long time I had worked at institutions, and I wanted to be free. Also, there was no work to suit my capacity. I was simply going to college and coming home. I thought Delhi would be the suitable place for my creativity," he says.
As to whether the move has lived up to his expectations, he says, "To some extent, yes. I have participated in national orchestras for Doordarshan and All India Radio, which I could not have earlier. Also, I take classes and compose music for dance productions."
Though he had earlier accompanied musical stalwarts like Rajam Iyer, T.N. Seshagopalan, U. Srinivas and others on the violin, it was only after coming to Delhi that Durga Prasad began to play in orchestras of classical dancers. Besides Yamini Krishnamurti, he has accompanied Radha and Raja Reddy, Saroja Vaidyanathan, Swapnasundari, Jayalakshmi Easwar among others.
Composing for dance
But it is in the composing realm that Prasad shows his mettle. One of his memorable scores is for `Natya Vibharati', a production combining six dance styles. He also composes dance numbers, like pada varnams, tillanas, jatiswarams and kirtanams. "Geeta Chandran, Leela Samson, Jayalakshmi Easwar are performing my pada varnams," he recounts.
"I feel Tyagaraja is the ideal composer. Both music and lyrics come together with emotion," says the musicologist, who goes deep into the import of lyrics. "Annamacharya kirtanams have influenced me a lot. I used to analyse the meanings of all the kirtanams I learnt." In his own compositions too, he says, "If I see a lyric, I go into the meaning. Then the tune comes to me. When I compose for dance, I see in my imagination the abhinaya, and then the lyrics come, set in the music." While this helps him compose "in minutes", dancers say the songs contain readymade dance patterns.
Too tough
Some compositions are so precious he hasn't found a dancer to do them justice, or the vocalist who could handle their musical demands, so he refuses to part with them despite requests. Like his pada varnam in ragas Shuddha Dhanyasi and Amritavarshini, where each line begins with one raga and ends with the other.
"My guru is Annavarapu Ramaswamy, who has performed over 25,000 concerts and at age 80 is still performing. I learnt in the gurukula tradition. He never took a single paisa from me. Many have trained under him and become A-grade artistes," says a grateful Prasad, who earlier trained under Viraraghavaiya of Vijayawada. "My mother had learnt music, and inspired by her my sister and I both learnt. My sister Rajeshwari Srinivas now runs a music school in Hyderabad."
Ultimately, he feels, his work in Delhi satisfies the needs of his soul. But financial benefits and fame are goals that require a different personality from his. "Artistes who earn in lakhs, don't want to pay me in thousands," he smiles ruefully. And while not wanting to ruffle feelings, he adds that Leela Samson is one person who always makes it a point to compensate musicians adequately. As for being invited to perform as a soloist, he is not the self-marketing type, so programmes for this artiste, who is one of the performers of viola as a solo instrument, are few and far between.
"In the old days there was great respect for music. Nowadays, I should not say it, but artistes should not expect that."
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