Approach sets him apart
GOWRI RAMNARAYAN
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Music, for B. Krishnamurthy, is a happy blend of lakshya and lakshana.
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“Some great musicians have had vast appeal. I think luck too plays a role here!”
Photo: K.V. Srinivasan
Rich knowledge: B. Krishnamurthy.
“I’m happy to get concerts. But I’ve never yearned to perform. How happy I was when a younger artiste told me that I was his role model for my approach to music.”
This approach makes B. Krishnamurthy stand out as a musician and musicologist. His lec-dems are often inspiring, because he never forgets that every phrase, and every technique, has to be steeped in feeling to be meaningful. He knows that mere knowledge of lakshana is dry without a grasp of the fresh life infused into the lakshya tradition by individual genius.
His wide exposure to past masters lights his own journey. No wonder students from other courses flocked to his classes at the Central Music College of Carnatic Music where he served as lecturer and principal.
Wonderful music
The boy was taken by his childless uncle to live with him in Baganeri village. “I heard wonderful music from the great vidwans at his Ramanavami utsavam. Soon I could sing the entire bhajanai paddhati.” Before learning about swara and tala, the boy found himself singing the viruthams from the gramophone ‘plates.’
Back in Karaikkudi, he had first guru Ramaiyar to show the way. As he learnt the Tamil kritis of Kavi Kunjarabharati from the vidwans who came to consult his astrologer grandfather, little Krishna could not have known that one day, he would marry the composer’s great grand daughter!
Ask him how his speech is peppered with Sanskrit quotations and he will say that interest in the devabhasha and Vedanta began with the Panchakshara upadesam he received at age 18. This bent of mind was of immense help when he came to Madras and found a guru in his own brother Rajanna (B. Rajam Iyer) for the grand Dikshitar compositions. For a while, the brothers performed as a duo. “We were fortunate to have Papa Venkatramaiah accompanying us.”
Joining the Central Music College changed his life. Teachers such as Musiri Subrahmanya Iyer and Swaminatha Pillai practised a variety of styles, as individualistic as they were profound. A scholarship at the Music Academy’s Teachers’ College enabled him to learn from the titan Mudicondan Venkatrama Iyer. What better guide for pallavi research with a Sangeet Natak Akademi fellowship? “He trained me in the 108 talas. Some so difficult that once when I demonstrated them at the Academy, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer confessed that he sat worrying about my doing it right!”
Does virtuosity hamper the birth of bhava? “No,” says Krishnamurthy. “Only, you must not allow it to control you. After explicating the intricacies of a Samatalam or a Pratapatalam, Mudicondan was able to move you with the singing. I remember how I was awestruck by his incredible imagination in doing niraval to the line, ‘niluparani’ in the Kalyani varnam. He’d often say, “The Trinity’s kavihridaya outpourings were always perfect in grammar too.” The least infringement of rules upset him. I’m lucky to have been certified by him as a ‘full-fledged vidwan possessing a good voice.’
Sangitam and kutcheri
Association with such maestros made me realise that the pursuit of sangitam is different from the pursuit of kutcheri.
What about losing out on mass appeal? “Depends on your convictions. Some great musicians have had vast appeal. I think adrishtam (luck) too plays a role here!” He describes the melting quality of T. Jayammal’s singing in the special padam classes. “Her ‘Theruvil Vaarano’ made you gasp, beauty with so much depth! Her Khambodi was something else! The swaras would glow, glitter, glide and leap.” With such veneration for the mother, Krishnamurti was thrilled to be asked by daughter Balasaraswati to give a padavarnam (‘Dani Samajendra,’ Thodi) a sound setting for abhinaya. “Balamma’s own singing was exquisite, brought tears from the heart,” he recalls softly.
Another exciting memory is his musical setting for Venkatesa Suprabhatam being commended by Musiri and Ariyakkudi. “I had the good fortune to sing it before the Lord at the sanctum.” He enjoyed scoring for Dr.V.Raghavan’s “Samskrta Ranga” productions of Kalidasa’s plays.
Krishnamurti began to teach when he was still a student. He tells his pupils that they must know ten kritis in a raga before attempting its alapana. For kritis are not just treasure houses of raga and bhava, they are the foundation for manodharma sangitam. His own vast repertoire includes the Tamil kritis of Arunachalakavi, Mazhavai Chidambara Bharati and Marimutha Pillai. Music-loving scholar Venkatrama Sastri taught him rudram and chamakam in exchange for the navagraha kritis.
A most challenging task was gathering and notating 300 rare kritis of Tyagaraja from the authentic Umayalpuram patanthara for the Sangita Nataka Sangam. The massive work remains unpublished, perhaps lost. He had also put down scales for 2,500 ragas from the Umayalpuram manuscript. “Lost,” he shakes his head. The Sangam did publish “Nauka Charitram” (1947) edited by him.
Krishnamurti has tasted the joy of appreciation from artistes like Ramnad Krishnan, Veena Balachander and K.V.Narayanaswami. This ‘A’ Grade radio artist and composer ends his talk with a cherished vignette. “One day vidwan Lakshminarayana Iyer called out to me from across the street. I was talking to GNB in his house, when GNB interrupted me and said, ‘Listen to this! It was your radio concert,’ he said. What more can I want?"
(A fortnightly spotlight on music gurus, musicologists and representatives of different schools, who have enriched Carnatic music.)
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