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An interesting exercise

Informative lessons for aspiring musicians

Suguna Purushothaman is a multi faceted artist who has established her prowess as a concert performer, besides being a much sought after teacher and a talented composer. Her natural flair for laya helped her to hone her skills as a pallavi specialist under Tinniyam Venkatarama Iyer. She has benefited from her training under stalwarts such as Musiri Subramania Iyer and Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer.

Suguna and her disciples have been featured in the recently released DVD of Amutham Music P Ltd titled ‘Abhyas’ which essentially gives many tips and guidelines to achieve proficiency in the art of Pallavi singing. “The acid test for a Carnatic musician is in the genre of ragam, tanam and pallavi,” says Suguna and rightfully so during the introduction. It would be interesting for students to note that many past vidwans had the apellation of ‘Pallavi’ to their names due their expertise in the rendition of pallavi. Steps to be taken to attain proficiency in this form are explained in a simple and lucid fashion by Suguna. “Being well versed in singing varnams, kritis of various composers and in manodharma aspects like ragam, niraval and kalpanaswaram singing will help one to render pallavis with ease,” says the vidushi. Sufficient practice should also be put in laya aspects to get a good grip of rhythm for which interesting preliminary exercises are recommended. Suguna suggests that the basic Sarali varisais are to be practised by singing them apart from sama eduppu, they should also be practised after one akshara, two aksharas and three aksharas from samam. The same exercise should be carried out with Jantai and Alankarams as well as with Thaattu varisais. The teacher and her students sing and demonstrate in different speeds the varisais with varying commencement points.

The Rupaka tala alankaram is sung with Suguna emphasising that the tala should be displayed by the hand as having six beats commencing with a Drutham followed by a Laghu. It is to be noted when the vidushi says that rupaka is the only tala to commence with a Drutham. Vilomam singing of the rupaka tala alankaram is demonstrated which is followed by the Tisra Triputa tala alankaram also rendered in vilomam while maintaining the tala by the hand in the third speedTisram is the next aspect explained by the vocalist. She also mentions that Pallavis are rendered in Tisra nadai also apart from trikalam in concerts. Varnams should be practised in Tisra jathi which will help while rendering pallavis in the same jathi. A vocal demonstration of Kothavasal Venkatarama Iyer’s Saveri (Adi Tala) varnam follows. A brief and clear explanation is given on the sapta talas. A rare varnam of Rudrapatnam Venkataramaiah, ‘Viriboni’ in Kedaragowla raga set to Misra Jampa talam is rendered by Suguna and Gayatri. A few traditional pallavis are sung which will benefit many students as well as performers. An important advice which Suguna conveys to her students is that the placement of the sahitya should not be changed during niraval singing. The trikalam exercise is gone through with the senior vidushi singing different varieties in the third kalam. The pallavi is also rendered in tisra nadai. A pallavi in Kharaharapriya set to Khanda jati Triputa tala is demonstrated.

Basic details such as the tala having 36 aksharas of which the pallavi taken up is split with the purvangam of 18 aksharas, karvai of six aksharas and utharangam of 12 aksharas are explained. While dealing with thanam, Suguna authoritatively says that traditionally only the words ‘Anantham’ and ‘Anandam’ are employed vocally. Thanam is normally sung in madhyama kalam. An interesting piece of information which Suguna mentions is that Maha Vaidyanatha Sivan used to sing thanam vocalising the name of his ishta deivam which was ‘Sankara.’ “Start at the mandara stayi and stop at the nyasa swarams before gradually going up and coming down during thanam singing,” says the seasoned vocalist.

This extremely useful recording has Suguna summing up with what she had earlier said while introducing the aspect of pallavi singing, “Listen to the performances of other artists and put in good practice which alone will help one to attain perfection and proficiency.” Amutham Music has to be congratulated on bringing out this DVD.

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