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The sound of music

If the sweet sound of a musical instrument moves you, it's these people you've to thank

PHOTOS: M. PERIASAMY

A PASSION To keep every note in place.

They can identify the age of a veena by its sound.

Name any Indian musical instrument ... harmonium, mridangam, tabla, ganjira or violin, and their seasoned fingers can set the right notes to bring out the sweetness of the sound.

Theirs is a business driven by sheer passion and their ear for music is bringing them a steady flow of customers from across Coimbatore. "What we are trying to take forward is a tradition," says S. Muthukumar, proprietor of Kalyani Musical Centre (Ph: 0422-5584021/ 98430-25021), a 45-year-old shop that specialises in servicing Indian instruments.

What started off as a harmonium-manufacturing unit by his father C. R. Subramaniam, a harmonist, has now made a name in servicing and tuning of musical instruments.

"Now, the demand for the harmonium is limited to temple functions and bhajans programmes because beginners in music have shifted to the keyboard. The tradition of learning the veena and violin, however, still continues," he adds.

Though re-assembling broken instruments, polishing, setting the strings, inner and outer packaging, and filter servicing is part of their job, tuning the instruments is an inherited talent. " I learnt it from my father. For string instruments like the violin and veena, tuning is external and takes a few minutes. But for the harmonium, a lot of internal work goes into tuning individual reeds and it takes more than a day," he adds.

Appu Mridangam and Tabala Works (Ph: 0422-2477490) is another example of a continuing tradition.

Says A. Manikandan, who learnt the skill from his father, Appu: "We have customers who bring even a 100-year-old mridangam for servicing. My father learnt the art from his forefathers in Palakkad and we are keeping the tradition alive. Though I haven't learnt music, I can identify and tune a mridangam and tabla."

Their customers are spread across Madurai, Erode, Salem, the Nilgiris and Kerala. "The badaga community in the Nilgiris still uses manual instruments for their cultural performances and they continue to buy harmoniums from us," says Muthukumar (Ph: 0422-5584021/ 98430-25021), who also swears by the sweetness of sound produced in manual instruments.

In the case of a harmonium, it produces sound based on the principle of bellowing (sucks air from outside to produce sound), which cannot be replicated by an electronic chip on a keyboard. "In the veena and violin, the quality of sound improves with use," he adds.

That is because the hollow outer portion (`kudam') is carved of wood and with age, the wood gets seasoned.

J. Sivanandham, dean of the Well Wishers Academy, who teaches classical guitar, regular guitar (pop and rock music) and Indian style guitar (light music) says that tuning musical instruments is a tradition that is inherited by members of a family.

"It is not easy; even a simple thing like differentiating between two pitches comes only with expertise. These people have a ear for fine-tuning and are well informed on everything that goes into the making of the instrument, beginning with the choice of materials," he adds.

The leather for the parchment in a ganjira, tabla and mridangam is sourced from Hyderabad and Kerala, chakka (Jackfruit) wood is used for the mridangam to ensure durability and better tonality, the veenas are brought from Tanjore, the sitar from Kolkata and so on.

"They are into buying, selling and manufacturing; so the tuning knowledge comes naturally. The quality of instruments and tonality is what brings music lovers to them. The sweetness of sound from traditional musical instruments, is unmatched. Even now, some classical singers prefer playing the harmonium while singing because it helps them maintain their pitch and the comfort level helps them explore the raga better," he adds.

Joseph Kirubabalan of A Minor Music Zone that offers violin, keyboard and guitar lessons, says in-born talent matters in manual tuning.

"In some instruments, for one key there are three strings, and they have to be tuned in unison. Even in the veena, there are two strings for each key. Only a manual tuner with an ear for the correct tone and a sense of frequency will be able to get it right. Abroad, there are courses for technicians that cover subjects like tuning; but here, manual tuning is more like a family tradition," he adds.

K. JESHI

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