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Accolade for trailblazer
V. BALASUBRAMANIAN
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He chose the clarionet to stand out. And A.K.C. Natarajan has succeeded in no small measure.
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I practised almost 10 hours a day using the knowledge I had acquired and evolved a style of my own.
Photo: M.Moorthy
Stirring notes: A.K.C. Natarajan.
The picturesque beauty of the Cauvery and Coleroon, the tall Rajagopuram that welcomes you to Lord Ranganatha’s temple on the West, the beautifully sculptured tiers of Sri Akilandeswari Temple silhouetting the East, the imposing Rock Fort with
the abodes of Uchchi Pillaiyar and Sri Mathrubhootheswarar as you go South, the huge Teppakulam and St. Joseph’s College Church are a few of the images Tiruchi invokes.
The ancient town is also known as a seat of art and culture, Carnatic music in particular. The hundred-pillar mandapam at the Rock Fort temple and the Vannimarathadi, Nandrudayan Temple, have witnessed concerts of illustrious vidwans. Many chose to move in search of greener pastures but some stayed back, held back by the strong roots. Clarionet vidwan A.K.C. Natarajan, 78, is one among them. Simplicity and contentment are the striking features of The Music Academy’s Sangita Kalanidi designate, whom this writer met at his Thillai Nagar home.
Irreparable loss
“My connection with The Music Academy dates back to 1956, the year in which Tiruveezhimizhalai Subramania Pillai was awarded Sangita Kalanidhi. My guru Alathur Venkatesa Iyer helped me get a 3 p.m. slot that year. Tiruvavaduthurai T.N. Rajaratnam Pillai, who was to play in the 9 p.m. slot at the Academy on December 25 and at Tamil Isai Sangam, the next day, passed away on December 12. Though there were many senior nagaswaram vidwans, the Academy asked me to shift to the slot allotted for TNR. Karukurichi Arunachalam played at Tamil Isai Sangam the next day.”
Natarajan’s concert that went live on AIR earned him accolades. Both he and Arunachalam were hailed as the torchbearers of the legacy left behind by TNR. About two years earlier, AKC had played his maiden sabha concert for Jagannatha Bhakta Sabha, at Egmore, Chennai, when Ariyakkudi Ramanuja Iyengar was its president. He recalls with reverence the affection Ariyakkudi showered on him and paid him one hundred and fifty rupees as sambavanai.
“TNR gave me the title ‘Clarionet Everest’ after listening to my night concert for Sri Neelayadakshi Amman Temple, Nagapattinam and generously blessed me,” reminisces AKC. “Kalaivanar NSK invited me to play at a wedding at Kallidaikurichi. Many leading vidwans were also part of the wedding party. TNR was slated to play at the specially erected platforms at various spots in the streets through which the marriage procession was to proceed, while I was assigned to play while the procession was on. After playing for about an hour, TNR called me to perform in front of a huge crowd. Such large heartedness is rare among vidwans,” AKC recalls emotionally.
AKC played at the Academy for almost 20 years without a break since his debut. He has performed in almost all the sabhas in Chennai and all over India, has had his share of foreign tours and has collaborated with Jazz groups abroad.
How did he improve his repertoire? “While performing for music festivals at Mumbai and Kolkata, vidwans normally stayed together. They would advise me on raga treatises. I also learnt many kritis from Maharajapuram, GNB, Semmangudi, MS and others on such occasions.”
AKC does not forget to acknowledge the training he received under Alathur Venkatesa Iyer (father of Alathur Subba Iyer of the Alathur Brothers duo). He learnt the nagaswaram from Illuppur Natesa Pillai, elder brother of Malaikottai Panchami Thavilkar, and played alongside him in many concerts including marriages.
The shift to clarionet? “It was the presence of stars such as TNR, Tiruvidaimarudur Veerusamy Pillai, Kulikarai Pichaiyappa Pillai, Kulikarai Ramadas and Injikkudi Pichaikannu. I wondered whether I would be visible amidst a galaxy of such nature. Clarionet commanded a status next to nagaswaram and not many were into it. My father A.K. Chinnikrishna Naidu, himself an accomplished nagaswara vidwan, did not hesitate to present me with a clarionet. I practised almost 10 hours a day using all the knowledge that I had acquired as a vocal and nagaswaram student and evolved a style of my own.” In those days clarionet was part of sadir and Thevaram groups in temples. AIR too had clarionet vidwans on its rolls.
His stint at AIR
AKC was with All India Radio for about three years, where he worked under Pt. Ravishankar in his vadya vrinda. After resigning from AIR he started performing on his own. Kanchi and Sringeri Mutts and Adeenams of Tiruvavaduthurai, Tiruppanandal and Dharmapuram encouraged him. He was assigned the puja melam status at Tiruvavaduthurai matam for about 20 years after TNR and his nephew Kakkai Natarajasundaram Pillai.
It was not, however, a cake walk. He had to brave insults at some temples and also at Tiruvaiyaru Tyaga Brahmam festival where he was not allowed to play, as the instrument was considered western. AKC believes that it was Divine grace that helped him overcome odds and establish himself. That later he was made in charge of convening concerts at Tiruvaiyaru festival for several years is another story.
Puttaparthi Sathya Sai Baba gracing the Grahapravesam of his house in Tiruchi in 1964 and the concerts of Ariyakudi-TNK-Palghat Mani Iyer on that occasion are unforgettable moments of his life, AKC adds.
AKC is training students in nagaswaram as there are no takers for the clarionet. Of the 100-odd disciples of his, many are now graded vidwans of AIR. Brushing off philosophically when asked about the recognition at the National level, AKC winds up affirming his faith in Destiny, with a smile.
On titles
“I am elated,” he smiles on being chosen for Sangita Kalanidi. “There are many sabhas and titles. But Sangita Kalanidhi, awarded by the Sangita Vidwat Sabhai of the Music Academy, Chennai, is the most treasured for any vidwan, and I am no exception. Natarajan will be conferred the title at the Sadas during the music festival.
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Western connection
Carnatic music like all other art forms has evolved continuously thanks to various influences. The era of the British Raj saw composers such as Tyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar and Patnam Subramania Iyer experimenting with western tunes. A Western ins
trument that was assimilated into Carnatic music, thanks to the efforts of Muthuswami Dikshitar, his younger brother Baluswami Dikshitar and disciple Vadivelu of the Tanjavur Quartet was the violin. So successfully was this done that today it is hard to imagine Carnatic music sans the violin. Indeed latter day violinists such as T. Chowdiah went so far as to say that the violin was an ancient Indian instrument called the Dhanur Veena.
An instrument that appeared on the scene at around the same time as the violin is the clarionet. It was brought to India during the reign of King Serfoji II of Thanjavur. The ruler, who had voluntarily become a pensioner of the British in 1799 after reigning for a year, devoted himself to the arts. Having had his education under Father Schwartz and later at St. George’s School, Madras, he had an ear for Western classical music and imported several instruments for daily use by an orchestra in his employment in Thanjavur.
Thanks to the monumental work of Dr. S. Seetha, former Head of the Department of Music, Madras University, compiled in the treatise, “Tanjore as a Seat of Music,” we know of Serfoji’s correspondence regarding his musical instruments. A letter dated December 26, 1802, and others of the same period from Silvester de Costa to Serfoji state that the palace had four clarionets among other musical instruments. The clarionet was part of the Western music ensemble put together by the king.
According to Dr. Seetha, it was Mahadeva Nattuvanar who first used the clarionet for performing Carnatic music. Even during Serfoji’s reign it was being used as an accompaniment for the chinna melam (the lesser ensemble) which accompanied the dance performances of the Devadasis. In an era when a prudish Victorian morality categorised the dancing girl as being the root cause of all social evils, perhaps the clarionet also suffered, for it took the instrument an inordinately long time to be accepted as a Carnatic music instrument. One has to only compare the relative ease with which the violin came to be accepted. Several of the Trinity’s disciples were violinists while not even one attempted the clarionet.
Long sweeping curves
The clarionet was also considered to fare poorly in comparison to the nagaswaram. It was felt that like many other Western instruments it could not produce gamakas — oscillations and karvais — the long sweeping curves. It however found a ready place in Carnatic music orchestras that began doing the rounds in the last years of the 19th and early years of the 20th century.
The Mysore Palace Band, the Corporation Band of Madras and the Nathamuni Band, all had clarionettists. In a radio interview given in the 1940s, Tiger Varadachariar spoke warmly in praise of Clarionet Abbayi and his rendition of the raga Balahamsa followed by the kriti, ‘Ninu Basi.’ Veena Dhanammal, notoriously conservative in matters musical, was however all for the clarionet and appreciated Abbayi and Balaraman of the Nathamuni Band. Records also speak of a Balakrishna Naidu who was a well-known performer on the instrument. T. Balasaraswathi regularly featured Radhakrishna Naidu, an AIR artist on the clarionet in her dance performances.
SRIRAM VENKATAKRISHNAN
(The author can be contacted at srirambts@gmail.com
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Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
|
