MY FESTIVAL
Of listening and singing
SANJAY SUBRAMANIAM
"If you play the Mohana Raga Varnam 100 times on the violin, I'll let you go to M.S.Subbulakshmi's concert" — so my mother told me when I was a boy. I obeyed her but couldn't get a ticket for the Music Academy concert that day. However, I heard M.S. perform a few days later at the Vani Mahal for Indian Fine Arts. My great grandfather, V.Subramanian Iyer, worked with Hoe & Co and always got two tickets for the Indian Fine Arts programmes. This is my earliest memory of a music season concert.
The first ever concert I heard at the Music Academy was that of M.D.Ramanathan (1976 or '77, I'm not sure) accompanied by Lalgudi Jayaraman and Palghat Mani Iyer. MDR's mannerisms were amusing, though later the depth of his music captivated me. I can even recall that MDR began with the Kalyani Ata Tala Varnam.
I was a regular at the Academy's afternoon concerts in the '80s, and managed to sneak in during the evenings too. Justice K.S.Venkataraman was a distant relative and on one occasion I even used his name with great effect to gain entry.
It was only my second afternoon concert at the Academy in 1990, as the curtain went up, I found Semmangudi, Nedunoori and DKJ seated in the first row. I had butterflies in my stomach in the first 15 minutes. The following year, I received Bharat Kalachar's Yuva Kala Bharati and Semmangudi who spoke at the function said, "... he sang a very good Begada last year at the Academy." It was a proud moment for me.
I vividly remember the concert of Madurai Somu, accompanied by L. Sankar on the violin and Murugabhoopathy on the Mridangam. Somu sang the alapana of Swarnangi for the RTP; when Sankar played the Alapana and moved to the Tharasthayi, Somu commented, "Why, you could have played a little longer on the panchama... " (Innum konja neram panchamathile vasikkalame).
(As told to Lakshmi Venkatraman.)
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