Musical mission
NAVEEN NAMBOODIRI
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A.D. Madhavan's aim is to popularise Carnatic music.
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His maiden book, `Karnataka Sangeetamritam' (Core of Carnatic Music), was a runaway success. Musicologist A.D. Madhavan is all set for an encore with `Sangeeta Shastramritam,' an in-depth treatise on the ABC of Carnatic music.
`Core of Carnatic Music' was a monumental achievement. An anthology of 404 popular Carnatic kritis - written by 33 well-known composers in seven languages - with their essence in English, Devanagari and Malayalam, it won rare reviews
Books on classical music
For Madhavan, life has come a full circle. An avid music lover since childhood, he has found in music an answer to post-retirement blues. A former general manger of Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation, Madhavan is on a mission to propagate Carnatic music among the masses.
"Sangeeta Shastramritham, published by Purna Publications, is user-friendly. Everything is there on print in alphabetical order. Besides, the book has something for everyone.
The content is embellished with illustrations by noted musician and artist Dr S. Rajam." The book, Madhavan says, will also make up for a dearth of books on classical music in Malayalam.
"After `Sangeeta Kalpadryumam' (Muthayya Bhagavatar), `Sangeeta Shastra Praveshika' (Venkata Subbayyar) and `Dakshinenthyan Sangeetam' (A.K. Raveendranath) we haven't seen any good books in Malayalam, dealing with the science of Carnatic music. My second book would fill that void," he says.
Musicians looking forward to widening their repertoire can check out the book for krithis composed by M.D. Ramanathan, Annamacharya, Shadkala Govinda Marar and Puthukkode Krishnamurthi. "Govinda Marar had composed many varnams, popularly known once as Govinda Swami varnams.
Unfortunately, we don't have them now. MDR, too, was a prolific composer, who had composed songs in Sanskrit, Telugu and Tamil," says Madhavan.
Noted musician Mavelikkara Prabhakara Varma lauds Madhavan in his preface for the book: "Most musicians sing kritis in Telugu and Kannada without knowing the meaning. Madhavan's book is relevant in this context."
An inspired Madhavan is now working on his third book. A book on ghazals, featuring timeless melodies of 20 great composers such as Mirza Ghalib, Bahadur Shah Zafar, Hazrat Mohani, Mir Takimir, Iqbal and Amir Minay, and sung by the likes of Ghulam Ali, Jagjit Singh, Begum Akhtar and Mehdi Hussain is on the cards.
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