Explorer of uncharted terrain
GOWRI RAMNARAYAN
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He does not believe in patanthara and has a penchant for approaching ragas in ‘other’ ways. Meet Madurai G.S.Mani.
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Photo: K.N. Muralidharan
Bold: G.S.Mani.
Emperor Krishnadevaraya laughed when minister Sankara Avadhani foretold the disaster of the Talikota battle. So the minister left the kingdom with his entire clan in 16 goodu bandis. Madurai chieftain Nagama Naickan met the veteran and begged him to
be his minister. “That is how my ancestor settled in Madurai. This history is recorded in a copper plate,” says Madurai G.S.Mani, his reverberant voice extracting all the drama out of the tale.
With this background, how did young GS take to music? “A bolt from the blue,” he laughs. “I was the most eager student for the pattu vadyar, Jalatarangam Babu Iyengar, who taught my sisters. So father sent me at 14, to daily morning classes in the vadyar’s home. Iyengar was a consummate vidwan who did not surface as a performer.”
Holidaying in maternal grandparents’ home in Ayyampettai was to hear concerts at the local temple, as also at nearby Tillaisthanam and Tiruvaiyaru. Little GS would gulp his coffee and run to hear nagaswaram Venu’s dawn practice at the local Ram shrineevery morning. “I’ve heard all the greats –— from Rajaratnam Pillai to Kottur Rajaratnam Pillai, and tavil from Needamangalam Minakshisundaram Pillai to Valangaiman Shanmugasundaram. What a loss to music that this great instrument is on the wane!”
The boy won every competition in school and college. The first was at a Tyagaraja utsavam for his ‘Dhyaname varamayya’ with Chowdaiah and Bangalore Nagaratnammal as judges. “I still treasure it,” he beams.
Soul of Carnatic music
Babu Iyengar had his own ways of teaching. Every sishya had to tune the tambura perfectly and demonstrate the varisais in three speeds with sruti fidelity, in madhyama sruti, before anything further was taught. Says GS, “We learnt that the soul of Carnatic music lies in mandara sthayi and vilamba kala, not in spanking speed in tara sthayi.”
Graduating in Economics, GS worked for four years at the American Trade Cell, New Delhi. He stayed in his brother-in-law’s home. A guest in the apartment above them, came down the stairs when he heard GS practicing. “You sang?” he asked in a rich voice. “Come up and sing for me.” After a week of singing Todi, Kalyani and Pantuvarali, GS learnt that the old man was Omkarnath Thakur.
The doyen introduced him to the inner circles. “I could interact with and listen to so many greats of Hindustani music. I’ve sat on the stage with Begum Akhtar and heard her voice gliding over those remarkable phrases that drew ‘wah-wahs’ from the packed hall. The ghazal of the Mughal world is gone with her. What we have left is light, filmy.”
Qawwali fan
He became a qawwali fan. The impact of Hindustani music led to soul searching and practical experiments to improve voice and sruti alignment. “I I don’t agree with the view that the predominance of gamakas makes it difficult, even impossible to achieve the same sruti fidelity in Carnatic music as in Hindustani.”
He has other strong views on the genre. “No need to shake all the swaras either,” he says. “The problem with Carnatic music is that so much nonsense has been established as irrevocable tradition. This affects our artistic freedom.”
Surprising to hear such vehemence in one who counts himself the disciple of veteran Mazhavarayanendal Subbarama Bhagavatar. “His brigas were almost as good as GNB’s. His alapana was peerless in imagination! He didn’t have to sing, he could teach you the ripest music by saying just how the rishabha distinguished Sankarabharanam from Khambodi.” When did he start giving concerts? “A long time ago. There was no village in Thanjavur-Madurai-Tirunelveli where I did not sing, with Sikkil Bhaskaran and T.V.Balu, mostly for events organised by melakkara artistes. All for free,” he laughs. He has been performing on AIR since 1950.
Payments began when he “turned professional” in 1972 in his Chennai debut with M.S.Gopalakrishnan and Umayalpuram Sivaraman. GS got seriously involved in films when he met M.S.Viswanathan, “the year I married my cousin Lalita.” He had no qualms about entering the new arena. “With kritis you follow a set plan, little scope for innovation. Film music allows you to be meaningfully creative.” The official MSV-GS association ended in the 1970s when film music shifted to rhythm tracks. But the connection continues, as does the friendship.
GS has produced telefilms on Carnatic composers for Doordarshan and composed music for many more. Here, as well as in the 300 songs he has composed in the classical genre, GS has followed his own mind. “I’m a rebel, I’m anti-sampradaya. I haven’t mutilated any raga, or introduced new notes, just found new ways of patterning them. I don’t like going up and down the ladder, or stick to beaten tracks. Let people see that there are other ways of approaching ragas.” He stops to demonstrate familiar Abhogi, followed by his innovative shaping of the raga. “Yes, Ariyakkudi and Semmangudi and Alathur have sung Kalyani and Kambodi. Have they exhausted the possibilities of that raga? I dare to explore and chart the uncharted areas.”
GS is happiest with his Tamil compositions though he has composed in mother tongue Telugu, and Sanskrit.
He is not afraid of expressing unconventional ideas. “Bhakti is important but not the only rasa.” Mention sringara and GS will say that few, if any, have evoked real sringara. “Take Brinda-Mukta. Fabulous music, great tradition, authentic pathantara. But listen to their ‘Vani pondu’ and tell me if it evokes sringara rasa.”
Ask GS about his adventures in vivadi melas and he will agree that he and vidwan S.Rajam were pioneers in their extensive use. Limited in scope? No, he says, adding that each and every raga has its beauty waiting to be discovered by each and every musician. As a resonant singer and bold composer, that is what Madurai G.S.Mani has been doing through his life in music.
(A fortnightly spotlight on music gurus, musicologists and representatives of different schools, who have enriched Carnatic music.)
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