Mozart and mohan veena
GOWRI RAMNARAYAN
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The Hindu Friday Review November Fest is back, this time with more exciting variety.
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MELODIOUS MIX: It is fiesta time for music lovers.
Chennai's December music season, now spilling into November and January, is world famous for its festivals in halls big and small, from suburb to city centre.
The past five years have seen the launch of several exclusively Hindustani music festivals in the city as well. The Hindu Friday Review November Fest makes an unusual contribution to this teeming richness. By opting to be eclectic and inclusive, it has evolved a character of its own.
With so many round-the-year cultural events on its calendar, does Chennai need another music festival at all? "Yes," says a music buff. "If it has a different focus, like The Hindu Friday Review November Fest."
Another explains, "I enjoy its variety. Last year had traditional dhrupad from the Gundecha Brothers, along with fusion music by a Swedish band, and a rare jugalbandi of voice (Bombay Jayashree) and flute (Ronu Majumdar)."
It was sheer excitement for the crowds thronging the Bangladeshi singer, Runa Laila's recital. A young musician believes that the November Fest "gave me fantastic exposure to diverse genres, and made me think of the many choices and possibilities I had."
This year's November Fest ( seven days of music between 10th - 19th at the Madras Music Academy), is even more adventurous in its choice. Not only does the second edition of the Fest feature artistes new to Chennai, but it gives an opportunity to well known ones to do something wholly different.
From Pakistan comes Malika-e-ghazal Farida Khanum, the elegant lady with the exquisite voice. Trained by her sister Muqhtar Begum and the Patiala ustad Ashiq Ali Khan, Khanum returned to the stage after years of silence and she took listeners once again by storm. On the festival's opening day, her plaintive ghazals and lilting thumris will haunt Chennai for the first time.
The next day brings the Signum Quartett from Germany, to conjure the magic of Mozart. Awarded the top prize at a national youth competition, the group continues to play and study with many masters, winning more awards along the way.
Kerstin Dill (violin), Annette Walther (violin), Valentin Eichler (viola) and Thomas Schmitz (cello), celebrate the 250th anniversary of the illustrious composer in Chennai, with a special selection from his work. This concert has been arranged with the help of the German Consulate, Max Mueller Bhavan and Lufthansa.
Then it's welcome to Kandisa, as the five-member Indian Ocean band, which attained fame and identity with this Syrian hymn in Aramaic, gets into live action.
Little did Rahul Ram, Susmit Sen, Asheem Chakravarthy and Amit Kilam imagine when they first jammed together that they would blaze novel trails, and win international recognition as with the "Pick of the Fringe Festival" nomination at Edinburgh.
It's world music time with an array of experts. Fusion has long been welcome in Chennai. This time Kala Ramnath (violin), George Brooks (saxophone), Kai Eckhart (bass), Satyajit Talwalkar (tabla), Harmeet Mansetta (keyboards) and Mukul Dongre (drums) improvise on melodies and rhythms, where jazz influences raga, and raga inflects jazz.
Kala Ramnath's training with T. N. Krishnan, N. Rajam and Pandit Jasraj is an advantage, as she can draw from both traditions in tone, structure and filigree work.
Dr. Balamuralikrishna enjoys a cult status as vocalist, viola player and composer. Pt. Ajoy Chakrabarty has been welcomed frequently in this metro. Both artistes are waiting to spring surprises on those who are blasι about jugalbandis of Carnatic and Hindustani music. Instead of two vocalists, each trained in a single style, singing alternately and contrastively, this duo will also sing together.
Apart from side-stream adventures, The Hindu Friday Review November Fest affords opportunities to mainstream traditional musicians to go off the beaten track.
Aruna Sairam, long known for her reverberant abhang singing as tailpieces in Carnatic music concerts, will present a full length abhang recital with a complete orchestra of accompanists from Maharashtra and Chennai. Her "Wisdom of Vittala" features the verses of saint poets like Tukaram, Gnandev and Janabai.
The finale has Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman (mridangam) and Ramkumar Mishra (tabla) enhancing a duet on strings. An ancient fretless veena (gottuvadyam renamed chitra veena) played by Ravi Kiran joins the modern mohan veena, a slide guitar developed to play Indian classical music by Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, no newcomer to Chennai, or to playing with Carnatic musicians. Masterminded by maestro Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman, the team will balance swara and laya with precision and liveliness. Welcome to the feast!
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