Food for thought
RANJANI GOVIND
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Lecture-demonstrations effectively combine education and entertainment.
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Saroja and Lalitha
The Music Season is not just an endless stream of concerts happening everywhere in a hurry, as several seem to feel. A close look would reveal that it is more like a Festival of Fine Arts which includes dance, music concerts, lecture demonstrations, drama, discussions and so on. ``There is much more to it than just a string of concerts. Take lecture demonstrations, for example," says N. Srinivasan, Secretary, Indian Fine Arts. ``Hundreds of music and dance lovers converge here from abroad and they take back recordings of the informative sessions to reflect upon. These lec-dems are attended by research scholars too," he adds.
Bombay Sisters enjoy their lec-dem assignments. "The excitement begins even in the stage of preparations," say Saroja and Lalitha. ``Did you know that there are 1008 namavalis on Rama in `Jagadhananda Kaaraka?'" they ask. ``The Ghana Raga Pancharatnas of Tyagaraja, our topic for Indian Fine Arts lec-dem, is also known for its beauty of swarakhsharas," they add.
Mandolin Srinivas
``Lec-dems create awareness and enrich one's knowledge as music is a non-stop learning process," says Mandolin Srinivas, who, even as a child, had heard Veena Balachander's theory and practical classes and enjoys several lectures of T. R. Subramaniam and grammar-authority R. Vedavalli.
The Music Academy has always had a big share in having lec-dems by senior musicians and musicologists in their academic sessions. Says Prof. V. V. Srivatsa, ``Music is like an ocean...vast, inspiring and formidable. There are thousands of rare kritis and ragas of saint composers that exist only in print but are never brought on concert platforms. Lec-dems are one of the best ways to help rasikas know more and make musicians package their presentations better."
M. V. Narasimhachari
M. V. Narasimhachari, Convenor, Natya Kala Conference, Krishna Gana Sabha, says, ``It is our Silver Jubilee Year, and our conference this year, `Pibare Natya Rasam' has some exciting fare coming from Karnataka, Andhra, Orissa, the U.S., and S. Africa, apart from our own people looking into Tamil Nadu folk dances.
The agenda has a session on Yakshagana by Shivananda Hegde from Karnataka. Anuradha Jonnalagadda from Andhra will unravel the intricacies of `Gollakalaapam' a take on the values of life as interpreted in the conversations between a learned man and a milkmaid, presented in a Veedhi Nataka form. Dance enthusiasts who teach Indian and foreign children abroad are ambassadors of our culture, and Padma Rani Rasiah Cantu is all set to demonstrate what it takes to promote our arts in the western milieu. South African dancers would also take part.
Great response
``The response to lec-dem is overwhelming," says N. Krishanmurthi, Secretary, Parthasarathy Swamy Sabha, which was originally part of their monthly programmes. Now the sabha arranges them every year during their seasonal cutcheris due to public demand. "We invite the departments of music in every college. The highlights this year will be S. R. Janakiraman's interpretation on the role of gamakas, Dr. V. V. Srivatsa's commentary on Rama Bhakthi of Muthuswamy Dikshitar, M. B. Vedavalli's lecture on Nava-vidha bhakthi of Purandaradasa, and Subhashini Parthasarathy's Nayaki and Nayaka bhava in Divyaprabhandham.
Indian Fine Arts is looking forward to the intellectual sessions. Dr. Srivatsa is taking up the 21 Dikshitar's compositions on Lord Krishna. Not only are the compositions rare, but some of them like ``Muraharena Mukundena" and ``Krishnananda" are couched in rare ragas too, says the professor.
Chitra Visweswaran will explain the nuances of `Koutvam in Bharatanatyam' at the Indian Fine Arts. "Koutvam was part of a ritual or worship in temples. There is no plea to the celestial beings in these short lyrics, but being celebrative in nature, the qualities of the deity are put forth in poetic form," says Chitra, who has herself researched and composed Koutvams on Nataraja and Ganga.
Chennai Fine Arts will highlight devotional composers in their lec-dem at R.K. Swamy Auditorium, Mylapore. Says P. N. Muralidharan of the sabha, "Amongst several compositions of vaggeyakaras to be discussed, Chitraveena N. Ravikiran would speak on Oothukadu Venkatakavi while B. M. Sundaram would bring to focus Dr. M. Balamurali Krishna's krithis.
Radha Bhaskar of Mudhra too conducts Music Appreciation Programmes with audio-visual support throughout the year. ``This year alone we have had 900 registrations and since the response was good, we went to Neyveli and Madurai also," she says.
Radha herself lectures and demonstrates with live accompaniments on how to appreciate the methodical progression of the Carnatic genre from the basics to the concert level. "The aesthetics and science of Carnatic when compared to folk, film and devotional music will also be discussed in our sessions this season," says Radha.
. Music Academy - Dec. 18-25, Dec 27-Jan 1.
. Krishna Gana Sabha - Dec. 14-20.
. Indian Fine Arts - Dec. 18-21.
. Mudhra - Dec. 24 & 25.
. Sri Ranjani Sabha - Dec.25.
. Chennai Fine Arts - Dec. 4-12.
. Parthasarathy Swami Sabha - Dec. 17-31.
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