His master's voice and his own
M.V.RAMAKRISHNAN
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TVS has made constant effort to balance the gentle quality of his inherited singing style and his own aggressive potential.
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T. V. Sankaranarayanan.
Elderly lovers of Carnatic music sometimes find it difficult to believe that many decades have passed since the good old days when the scene had been dominated by venerable vocalists such as Ariyakkudi, Chembai, Semmangudi, GNB and Madurai Mani. This is so because the old maestros' styles of singing still continue to influence many of today's popular vocalists indirectly through a succession of teachers and disciples. Among those past masters, Madurai Mani alone is still represented by a direct disciple, T.V. Sankaranarayanan, one of the doyens of Carnatic music today.
The progress made by TVS during the past 40 years as the sole custodian of his guru's glorious art has been marked by a constant effort to reconcile the striking disparity between the extremely gentle quality of his inherited singing style with his own aggressive potential.
In the physical sense it was a matter of personality, of the frail uncle and the forceful nephew, and in musical terms it was essentially a question of voice. Madurai Mani's extremely delicate voice was the obvious reason for his very soft way of singing, which was not compatible with his disciple's robust voice. Having served for several years as a young supporting singer in his master's concerts as required by his apprenticeship, TVS had to suppress his own natural voice so as not to overshadow his uncle's. The inevitable consequence was that when he started his career in 1968 as an independent singer, after the demise of Madurai Mani Iyer, his voice had a very artificial and unreal quality, attracting much adverse criticism.
What sustains his image as a worthy successor to his great and immensely popular guru at this crucial stage of his professional life was the fact that he had sensitively inherited the latter's unique and universally acclaimed manner of rendering the swaraprastara in a relentless and torrential flow of colourfully imaginative patterns.
It took some time for TVS to extricate himself from the bondage of his master's voice. But when he eventually succeeded in doing so and started using his powerful natural voice, he achieved his authentic style without sacrificing the overall musical vision of Madurai Mani.
It was difficult to imagine what further progress TVS could make beyond this point, except expanding his repertoire. His swaraprastaras seem to become more compact and restrained progressively, but one wishes they would go on flowing as profusely as they used to. Perhaps that depends on many factors including the given audience and ambience. Moreover, even in a condensed form his improvisations never lack their characteristic colours and fluency.
Mysterious blend
But one has been noticing of late that the evolution of his music seems to be still going on, and once again it is essentially a question of voice. Although TVS still sings in his own powerful voice, there is a certain delicacy in its texture now, which makes you hear clear echoes of Madurai Mani's soulful voice.
This impression was strongly reinforced in a recent recital at Hamsadhwani, where the highlights included the Dikshitar song `Maragathavalleem' in Kambhodi and a ragam-tanam-pallavi in the rarely heard raga Priyadarshini.
There was a time long ago when TVS had consciously restored its natural power to his robust and suppressed voice, but this new phenomenon is not the the result of any deliberate efforts on his part. Rather, it seems to be the subtle and gradual transformation of some deeply-buried subconscious wish into reality. Hearing TVS sing on this occasion, one could not help marvelling at this mysterious and fascinating blend of his master's voice and his own.
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