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CHAT CORNER

‘Each branch of music has got its unique quality’

T.K. Govinda Rao

T.K. Govinda Rao, disciple of the legendary Musiri Subramania Iyer, is an authority on Carnatic music and a teacher par excellence. What matters most to him in music is the sahitya bhava in kritis. He feels that together with gamaka prayogas and sangatis, the musician should know the meaning of the lines. Towards this end, he took to publishing books on Carnatic music. Even at the age of 80, Govinda Rao is busy compiling 600 compositions of Purandara Dasa with meanings in English. The master talks about his work as a writer and musician.

I went to Madras [Chennai] in 1948 in the hope of making tunes for films. It was a friend of mine who recommended my name to the producer of the Malayalam film ‘Nirmala.’ I gave them all the tunes. The recording was at Modern Theatres, Salem. I was then 16. They gave me Rs. 75. Later, I heard them ask why they should pay me. That, I was only learning from the main music director. At that time I took a decision not to associate in films.

Not let down, I went to meet Rukmini Devi at Kalakshetra. Prof. Srinivasan who was present there took a special interest in me. On his advice, I approached Tiger Varadachari. He asked me to sing and I sang a Kalyani of GNB. After listening to my rendition, he permitted me to complete the five-year-course in three years. Those days I used to travel eight miles to study under the guidance of Tiruppampuram N.Swaminatha Pillay and T.Brindamma. At that time he told me that a music college was going to be started in Thiruvananthapuram. He asked me if I was interested in working there. He gave me a letter addressed to Musiri and that was how I reached Thiruvananthapuram.

A commemorative meeting was held in October 1942. It was then that a decision was taken to start a music college in Thiruvananthapuram. And Muthiah Bhagavathar was the first principal. But due to ill health, he could hold the post only for a year. The next choice was Musiri Subramania Iyer, who was then the Samsthanavidwan. He collected a lot of books on music from different places and it contained all of Swati’s compositions.

Musiri Subramania Iyer was a master of musicians. I underwent 15 years of gurukulavasam, till his death. That is how I imbibed his style of bhava-laden rendering. His vilamba kala exposition and bhava sangita are two qualities that I have observed in wonder. I firmly believe the slow tempo in raga alapana brings forth the depth and worth of Carnatic music. Laya and kalapramana are equally important.

I had the rare privilege of listening to almost all the great musicians of Carnatic music when they came to Akashavani for audition sessions. I had served as chief producer of music programmes AIR (New Delhi). Earlier, I was producer at the Madras station. After listening to the musicians, especially the vocalists, for many years, I observed that they were not paying much attention to the sahitya bhava of the compositions. At the most, they may pronounce the words correctly. The greatness of South Indian music lies in both the sahityam and the sangitam. So, when you sing Tyagaraja’s ‘Oreju jujithi nyayamo,’ you should know the meaning of the sahitya as well. It says ‘Your eyes are beautiful/You are looking at me.’ I wanted to convey the meaning and expression contained in the lines to the listeners. So, I decided to publish books.

I have published six books on the compositions of the Trinity and Swati Tirunal. My books are different from the Sanskrit texts; I have used the diacritical Roman script. Say, if you write the word melam in Sanskrit, it does not convey the right pronunciation. In the diacritical system, it is written melam with a stress mark above the ‘e.’ After giving notations to the lines, I give all the charanams too. All my books are like an encyclopaedia. Complete in all respects, with meanings and notations. The sahitya is given in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. Though musicians have been able to identify only 222 compositions of Swati Tirunal, in my book there are 393 compositions. I was able to get them because of my guru, Musiri Subramania Iyer.

In Hindustani too, they have swara sthanams, long notes. In Carnatic music it is limited. Sound is important in Hindustani. For us it is monotone. I am not averse to Hindustani. But what I dislike is the tendency to imitate their style. We should understand both are essentially different. That is why I say each branch of music has got its own unique quality. We have to keep it intact.

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