Songbird's sturdy melody
MEGHA RUPA
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Seethalakshmi Venkateshan is all of 80 and yet, her memory sparkles. This veteran musician, who is disciple of the legendary Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, has a lot of hope about the future of Carnatic music
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PHOTO: V. SREENIVASA MURTHY
RIGOUROUS TRAINING Married at 13, it was never an impediment for Seethalakshmi Venkateshan to pursue her music
Accomplishment and humility is a rare combination. While on the one hand, there is a home beautifully embellished with almost all the prestigious awards of the State and the titles given to one of the senior-most musicians, Seethalakshmi Venkateshan, on the other is an aura of hospitality and warmth that envelops any person who encounters her. Such is the unperturbed and serene quality of Seethalakshmi Venkateshan, who, despite all her achievements and recognition seems just like a loving `maami'.
Born in Trivandrum in 1926, she moved to Bangalore after marriage at the age of 13, and has settled here for over 64 years now. While at Chennai during her early years, she was trained by Palghat Vaidyanath Iyer and Tanjore Shankara Iyer and by the great Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer. Learning from a guru of this stature for about four years was really a boon that came her way. She recollects those daylong classes like in the gurukula system and rigorous training that was given until a kriti was perfected. "Although he was strict and hard to please, he taught me with great interest and treated me like a daughter," she says fondly. A lot of compositions in the Semmangudi `Bani' is the fruit of this tutelage.
Marriage proved to be no barrier at all in pursuing her musical talent. Although it was a time when public performances by women was equated to prostitution, the constant support and encouragement she received from her husband is what makes her owe everything that she is today to him. "In fact, he married me for my music," she says. With Seethalakshmi Venkateshan in the lead, there was a group of seven ladies called "saptaswara", who presented concerts in the regular kutcheri pattern for over ten years during the seventies. Seetalakshmi Venkateshan has performed extensively in all the sabhas in India and abroad too. She is a recipient of many titles and awards from within and outside the State and is an `A' grade artiste of the AIR.
"An astounding memory is just something in me," she said in response to her breathtaking ability to remember the complete lyrics, ragas, talas and the composer of every single composition that she has ever learnt right from her childhood. A thirst for learning many more compositions only seems to increase this already vast repertoire. She is rightly popular as an "encyclopaedia of kritis". Gifted with a beautiful voice, her elaborate raga rendition, sarva laghu kalpana swaras devoid of mathematics and calculation, devotion and bhava in her singing makes her unique and well appreciated even by the great stalwarts like M.S. Subbulakshmi and her guru Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer.
She is a dedicated teacher and has trained many students who are performers today. As a token of their love and reverence, her disciples organised a grand celebration of her 80th birthday felicitation at the Ananya recently. Seethalakshmi Venkateshan is full of hope about the future of Carnatic music. But she also cautions the youth of succumbing to the pressure of quick fame and name by getting to the platform in a hurry, which unfortunately, she believes seems to be the rampant trend today. Nevertheless, she opines that with a present generation that is so intelligent and enterprising, there can never be a dip in the field. "It will only go higher and higher... ," she says with conviction.
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