Burnished music
MEENA MENON
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K. Ramachandran’s latest film, “Saamam”, reveals the man behind the musical genius of M.D. Ramanathan.
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For the filmmaker, the main inspiration was the quality of MDR’s voice.
Photo: The Hindu Photo Library
A colossus of music: M.D. Ramanathan with students at Kalakshetra, Chennai.
For a person who has never met the legendary Manjapara Devesa Ramanathan, simply known as MDR, documentary maker K. Ramachandran draws a moving and evocative portrait through his third film “Saamam”. The singer’s genius is revealed through interviews with his family, disciples and, most importantly, his listeners.
“Saamam” means music, joy, consolation and companionship. “We have heard many musicians but rarely do we contemplate on musicians much after their death. MDR died in 1984 and, after that there is a book, a collection of poems and a film on him. People are still researching him,” says Ramachandran. “I have never seen him or heard him live but I used interviews, small sketches and pictures to indicate his presence and it is my interpretation of his music,” he says.
MDR has 300 compositions to his credit but never tried to popularise them.
Inspirational
MDR, who died at 61 in 1984, was a colossus of music and the film shows you the man through his music. His wife tells you that he was a sensitive, short-tempered and humorous person. Singer Sanjay Subramanian explains the aesthetics of MDR’s music and illustrates what is bhava and what the great man brought to compositions. His disciple Shriram Vishwanath is incredulous when he finds out that MDR was inspired by clock chimes for one composition. “I was stunned by his improvisation,” exclaims an excited Vishwanath in the film. With his unusually deep and resonant voice and its tremendous gift for improvisation, MDR held captive not just his disciples but also a vast fan following.
One of those mesmerised was Ramachandran, also a founder-member of KELI, an organisation established in Mumbai in 1992 for the preservation, development and propagation of traditional art forms. The 42-minute film produced by artist Riyaz Komu, as no government funds were made available, took two years to make. “When I started, I felt it was all easy and, in any case, all his recordings were available. But as I went along I felt I had to learn much more about him. I have only used his music in the film,” he says.
After graduating in Physics, MDR came to Kalakshetra where he was the disciple of the redoubtable singer and composer Tiger Varadachariar for five years. For the filmmaker, the main inspiration was the quality of MDR’s voice. “You don’t break the composition but he breaks the lyrics in such a way that it intensifies the emotion and the meaning. He never sang a composition the same way twice, which is unusual. His understanding of how music should be placed was unique. That’s what is so special,” Ramachandran points out.
Aesthetic elements
MDR listened to all sorts of music — Western, folk, Hindustani and Kathakali music — and he improvised using the best aesthetic elements. Some of his compositions infuse Hindustani music into Carnatic singing as singer Sreevalsan Menon demonstrates in the film. For Ramachandran, the aesthetic elements in MDR’s music, his languorous pace and low pitch set him part. MDR set his own pace, “The tala should follow like a dog,” he is known to have said, much to the dismay of his accompanists. Violin virtuoso T N Krishnan, who has accompanied him, says that MDR would never sing a preset piece.
Listeners too played an important role. “All the music I got was from personal collections of fans like Krishnamurthy (who is featured in the film) who have collected MDR’s recordings over the years. I approached Doordarshan in Chennai; they had a complicated procedure to access recordings but no visual clips,” he complains.
If there are any worries about MDR’s popularity with the young, Ramachandran says that one source was Jayakumar, a Bangalore-based software engineer in his 20s. Like others, Jayakumar not only collects MDR’s music; but also all the variations of each composition sung by the master.
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