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Music Season
Of style and stalwarts
V. SUBRAHMANIAM
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The 20th century pioneers had direct links with the composers of the earlier two centuries. A scrutiny would reveal what made the period golden.
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MASTERS: The formidable trio of MLV,MS and DKP
It would be absolutely no exaggeration to designate the 20th century as the golden age of Carnatic music, as this was the time when the concert arena was studded with great gems in the field. The great composers of the previous centuries had their own sishya parampara and the 20th century stalwarts had all direct links with these. And it was this factor that made the period golden.
The stalwarts of yesteryear concert platform were Ariyakkudi Ramanuja Iyengar, Musiri Subramania Iyer, Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, G.N.Balasubramaniam, Alathur Brothers, Brinda and Muktha, M.S.Subbalakshmi, D.K.Pattammal, M.L.Vasanthakumari and so on. The imaginative renditions left by them have been so exhaustive that the later generation artistes are unable to bring out anything new other than what the stalwarts had culled out. Every sangati phrasing of the present day musicians can be easily connected to as from Ariyakkudi, Maharajapuram, Semmangudi, GNB, and so on.
Ariyakkudi Ramanuja Iyengar was a pioneer of the concert pattern that is in vogue today. Prior to this, the Carnatic music concerts would start with a fairly lengthy alapana of invariably Hamsadhwani followed by ‘Vathapi Ganapathim’ with niraval and kalpanaswara embellishments.
The first piece itself would lengthen to an hour-and-a-half, and this would be followed by a percussion interlude, thani avartanam, possibly the same pattern as the Hindusthani style concert.
Musiri Subramania Iyer
Ariyakkudi made bold steps to change the format. He commenced with a medium-paced varnam, followed by an equally-paced kirtana, which had short, crisp niraval and kalpanaswara. Then a short raga alapana with the slower tempo piece and the kutcheri was built up to the piece de resistance, the Ragam Tanam Pallavi and javali and other lighter pieces. This style of the kutcheri presentation caught on and is well set, prevailing to this day.
The style of Ramanuja Iyengar’s music can be termed as madhyama kala, medium-paced. The innate gait of the kutcheris would be of that tempo. His raga alapanas were comparatively short. He adapted the vainika style. His patterns of singing were well defined. He packed his kutcheris with more number of compositions. When his three-hour concerts contained about 20 pieces, other concerts contained only about 12, as the raga essays were lengthier. His style of singing swaras or ragas is still liked by rasikas and adopted by this generation musicians.
Generally speaking, a style of singing in Carnatic music is determined by the capabilities of the voice of the artiste. Musiri Subramania Iyer had a voice, which would suit a leisurely pace and he naturally exploited this trait. In his voice, this style was quite enjoyable and it clicked well with the rasikas. He chose only vilamba kala compositions in his concerts or he chose a vilamba pace even for medium-pace kritis. Musiri was a past master in niraval singing. He made his mark on so many compositions —‘Tiruvadicharanam’ (Khambodi), ‘Nagumomu’ (Abheri), ‘Entavedukontu Raghava’ (Saraswati Manohari) and so on. His music is still in our midst.
Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer had a husky, fast-paced (brigha-oriented) voice, which was quite captivating. At concerts, his voice was often troublesome and it took a while to warm up. Viswanatha Iyer’s style was a highly imaginative one and his manodharma flowed fluently when his voice was cooperating. He was a maestro, whose singing was driven, almost always, by Lakshya. The grammar or Lakshana aspect was secondary to him. His brighas were brilliant expositions.
Immortal sancharas
His Arabhi, Khamas, Atana, and Mohanam were full of immortal sancharas. Kirtana renditions, niraval, and swaraprastaras were loose, but had their own brilliance.
Ariyakkudi Ramanuja Iyengar
Viswanatha Iyer had a great liking for the Hindusthani style and his handling of certain ragas revealed this attachment.
Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, who was with us until four years ago, was a concert maestro in whom all the virtues of a great singer were found in the right proportions. Only he did not have a comfortable, facile voice in the beginning. He tamed it to such a great extent that it did in no way mar his outstanding expositions. He was a past master in concert craft. He was equally brilliant in every aspect of music. He had a correct blend of Lakshana grammar and Lakshya imagination. Little wonder his style is widely emulated by present-day artistes.
G.N.Balasubramaniam’s ascendancy to the concert platform in the 1930s swept the rasikas and the music fraternity off their feet. He had a powerful voice, which was totally speed- brigha-oriented and his presentations were packed with supersonic brigas and therefore, appeared fresh and different from the conventional style. Almost every aspiring young musician of the time followed his style. GNB’s music was well anchored in grammar and rhythmically sound. His exposition of ragas were brilliant and haunting.
Semmangudi and GNB adopted the nagaswaram bhani of raga alapanas. GNB took up for alapana, ragas which were hitherto not attempted, and this gave an additional attraction to his music, especially to youngsters. It is surprising that GNB and Semmangudi were the two stalwarts of the time, who had their separate territories of rasikas.
G.N.Balasubramaniam.
An artiste who had a honey sweet voice was Madurai Mani Iyer. He was the nephew of Madurai Pushpavanam, a singer of the previous generation, who thrilled the audiences with his briga-rich music. Madurai Mani Iyer had a voice, which naturally aligned with the sruti so perfectly, but also with every swara he touched while singing. He offered such sedate music that it touched every rasika. His kalpanaswara renditions were very unique and pleasing. He handled often, certain kritis at kutcheris, as the rasikas invariably waited for these songs. ‘Eppo Varuvaro,’ and the English note are a couple of them. It is just impossible to imitate or emulate this style.
Alathur Brothers Srinivasa Iyer and Sivasubramania Iyer, though not related to each other, were disciples of Alathur Venkatesa Iyer, father of the latter. While Sivasubramania Iyer had a powerful voice, Srinivasa Iyer’s was slender. As a duo their voices blended well and their rendition of kritis were in perfect unison. Their forte was the rhythmic aspect of Carnatic music.
The kalpanaswaras rendered by the duo alternatively would be packed with intricate rhythmic patterns of numbers. This exchange used to be an enjoyable experience. Their expertise in handling intricate and difficult pallavis was highly commendable.
All these stalwarts have left behind sishyas to continue their tradition. Their exploration has been so thorough that they have not left anything untouched with their manodharma. When an apparently new sangati is heard from a youngster of today, it happens to be old wine in a new bottle and the present rasika has not heard the old stalwarts.
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