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Innovator: T. Chowdiah

When Chowdiah used it for accompanying Ariyakkudi, the maestro asked the violinist as to how many more strings he had in his violin-case.

Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer derisively remarked that singing to the seven-stringed violin accompaniment was like singing in a smithy. The violin was so loud that it was only Chembai who was not bothered about it. After all, had he not once sung with the nagaswaram as his accompaniment? Madurai Mani Iyer too, did not have a problem, for in his concerts there was only one mike and so the violin was rather muted.

GNB simply called him ‘Sound-iah’. The Dhanammal family, with their sardonic humour, punned on his name and called him ‘Sevu’diah, hinting that the sound would make ears deaf. But Chowdiah chose to fight on and such was his loveable nature and mastery over the instrument that musicians and audiences were soon won over.

A few die-hards were not, and the chief among them was C.S.Iyer, brother of Nobel laureate Sir C.V.Raman and a former Accountant General. Iyer, an expert violinist, wrote a book titled, ‘The Art and Technique of Violin Play and Other Essays on Music’ in 1941. In this, he argued that the cramped position in which the South Indian violinist holds his instrument has ensured that he does not use more than half the length of the string, with the “mediocres” using only “2/5ths of the string from the neck.”

Also, he said, since violinists are largely accompanists playing to a male voice, they play at low pitches leading to further loss of tone. It is this handicap, said Iyer, which had “forced an artiste to devise the seven-stringed violin with Banjo strings so that he may not have to play above a third of the violin from its neck. As if all his attempts to damp the full violin tone are not sufficient, the violinist occasionally rubs fine oil on his left finger tips while playing, to secure easy movement or slipping of fingers! What a mockery of violin play!”

The write-up was not taken kindly to by Chowdiah and the two clashed bitterly during the Academy Conference of 1942 leading to the adjournment of a day’s proceedings. They were to meet again in 1947 when Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer presided over the conference.

The report of the proceedings of December 28 in The Hindu, makes for interesting reading. The meeting began with Parthasarathi Iyengar demonstrating music on a gottuvadyam with 12 sympathetic strings.

Chowdiah then gave a demonstration on “the advisability of additional strings on the violin.” He traced his efforts in adding extra strings, having first begun with two and later adding the third. Stating that vidwans such as Ariyakkudi Ramanuja Iyengar and G.N. Balasubramaniam “had welcomed his accompanying them in the concerts on his seven-stringed violin,” he added that “additional strings had to be resorted to for giving full tone and audibility when the vocalist sang to a low sruti.” The report noted that the vidwan played “Manavyalaginchi” in Nalinakanti and “Ikanaina” in Pushpalatika accompanied by his disciple R.K.Venkatarama Sastri, who incidentally performed with a four-stringed violin.

C.S.Iyer then “read out from his book on violin to show that he had realised the reasons which led the vidwan to add the additional strings.” But he maintained “that the pure violin tone suffered because of the additional strings.” In response, Chowdiah extracted from his case a violin which had 12 additional strings! He wanted to perform on it and demonstrate his prowess.

It could have led to a repeat of 1942 had it not been for the diplomacy of Semmangudi. He immediately intervened and appealed for “adopting the golden mean between purity and orthodoxy on the one hand and innovation and progress on the other. While he said he had his own regard for the good work which C.S.Aiyar was doing on the academic side, he would add his own testimony to the fact of the excellence of the accompaniment of vidwan T. Chowdiah on his seven-stringed violin.” That diffused matters and the presentation ended.

Chowdiah continued experimenting with his instrument and even produced a behemoth with nineteen strings.

However, all these innovations needed a Chowdiah to present them. After his time, except for a couple of disciples such as Sethuramiah, everyone else reverted to the four-stringed violin. C.S.Iyer would have heaved a sigh of relief, but Chowdiah too, must be given full marks for innovation.

(The author can be contacted at srirambts@gmail.com)

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