Amrithavarshini & Anandabhairavi RTP - Sankirna gati - 1963 concert of BMK with MSG and TVG (3/3)
5.3 هزار بار بازدید -
6 سال پیش
-
“In character, in manner, in
“In character, in manner, in style, in all the things, the supreme excellence is simplicity,” said H W Longfellow and one of the aspects that never ceases to amaze in Dr. M Balamuralikrishna’s (BMK) music is his extraordinary ability to transform some of the most complex aspects of music into seemingly simple, aesthetically balanced and most importantly, something pleasant and joyful to listen.
In the repertoire of Muraligānam, one can find several examples to study his ingenious ability to illustrate how the most complicated aspect turns to simplicity in his hands and how it is always the simple that produces the marvellous.
To witness aurally such an extraordinary feat of Muraligānam, here is an offering, some excerpts of a vintage live concert of 1963. In this BMK, together with legends like M S Gopalakrishnan and T V Gopalakrishnan, presents a short rendition of Saint Tyāgarāja’s composition in the rāga Nāyaki followed by a detailed rendition of a dual rāga RTP in the rāgas Anandabhairavi and Amritavarshni set in a complex tāla. The former, though a short piece, sung only as a composition (without rāgālāpana or svara-vinyāsam) gives the effect of comprehensiveness in music and depth in emotion; the latter, much like a detailed treatise, a dual rāga RTP sung in two distinctively different rāgās and set in Sankeerna jāti tāla still makes the listener to relax and enjoy without the need to fully understand much of the complexities that it contains. The presentation here very much reminds of da Vinci’s observation “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”
Last year, the audio recording of this vintage concert was restored and digitally remastered. Since then, we have been searching for someone who could tell more about this concert and explain some of the nuances, especially about the dual rāga RTP in Sankeerna-gati for better appreciation of its seeming simplicity and profoundness of scholarship. We are fortunate to find one such distinguished person, who was also a student of BMK, who was in the audience in that very same concert of 1963. He came forward wholeheartedly to share his thoughts, observations and reflections of the concert for our humble endeavour of music for posterity. That charitable gentleman is none other than the violin maestro Sri. Purnachander.
Despite his advanced age, his engagements and travel, Sri Purnachander’s zeal to listen, reflect and recover the facts hidden in his memory is something we admired profoundly during this project. His eye for details, his details of the facts recalled from memory, depth of knowledge, and his art of communication only go to demonstrate the admirable and desirable qualities of an ideal student of music live in him.
We offer our respectful and sincere salutations for his contribution (An audio introduction which is a part of this upload) in curating the corpus of BMK’s music for posterity and for being an eyewitness while the beautiful dual RTP was in the making.
The awe-inspiring universal appeal of BMK’s wisdom in singing the complexities of music has been one of the greatest aspects admired by many connoisseurs of art and music, and writers and poets alike.
Dr. Prabha Atre once said, “I like his Tillānās. Despite their complexities they stand out for the lilting rhythm, melody and which attracts even a lay listener”.
Sri B V K Sastry, a nationally acclaimed music critic, in his 1966 essay in the Illustrated weekly of India says “the ‘lightness’ one perceives in BMK’s music on a closer look – is not a quality alien to Carnatic tradition. It was pioneered by such maestros as PurandaraDāsa, Khsétrayya and Tyāgarāja. A study reveals that the ‘classical’ music of their time was full of labyrinthine and tongue-twisting clichés whose appeal was more cerebral. Against this backdrop, the songs of PurandaraDāsa, Khsétrayya or Tyāgarāja certainly strike one as “light” by their stress on pure bhāva (emotion) and lālitya (loveliness). Possibly, there were stern traditionalists during the days of Tyāgarāja who did not hesitate to brand him as a light musician.”
Someone said, “besides the art of getting things done, there is a noble art of leaving the things undone. The wisdom of life consists of elimination of the non-essentials.”
Can we say the magic of transforming something that’s complex and palatable only to the scholars, into something delightful to listen even for an ordinary listener lies in the wisdom of BMK to choose the aesthetics of emotion and loveliness, and elimination of the non-essentials?
Come, partake in the delight of listening to the maestro.
In the repertoire of Muraligānam, one can find several examples to study his ingenious ability to illustrate how the most complicated aspect turns to simplicity in his hands and how it is always the simple that produces the marvellous.
To witness aurally such an extraordinary feat of Muraligānam, here is an offering, some excerpts of a vintage live concert of 1963. In this BMK, together with legends like M S Gopalakrishnan and T V Gopalakrishnan, presents a short rendition of Saint Tyāgarāja’s composition in the rāga Nāyaki followed by a detailed rendition of a dual rāga RTP in the rāgas Anandabhairavi and Amritavarshni set in a complex tāla. The former, though a short piece, sung only as a composition (without rāgālāpana or svara-vinyāsam) gives the effect of comprehensiveness in music and depth in emotion; the latter, much like a detailed treatise, a dual rāga RTP sung in two distinctively different rāgās and set in Sankeerna jāti tāla still makes the listener to relax and enjoy without the need to fully understand much of the complexities that it contains. The presentation here very much reminds of da Vinci’s observation “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”
Last year, the audio recording of this vintage concert was restored and digitally remastered. Since then, we have been searching for someone who could tell more about this concert and explain some of the nuances, especially about the dual rāga RTP in Sankeerna-gati for better appreciation of its seeming simplicity and profoundness of scholarship. We are fortunate to find one such distinguished person, who was also a student of BMK, who was in the audience in that very same concert of 1963. He came forward wholeheartedly to share his thoughts, observations and reflections of the concert for our humble endeavour of music for posterity. That charitable gentleman is none other than the violin maestro Sri. Purnachander.
Despite his advanced age, his engagements and travel, Sri Purnachander’s zeal to listen, reflect and recover the facts hidden in his memory is something we admired profoundly during this project. His eye for details, his details of the facts recalled from memory, depth of knowledge, and his art of communication only go to demonstrate the admirable and desirable qualities of an ideal student of music live in him.
We offer our respectful and sincere salutations for his contribution (An audio introduction which is a part of this upload) in curating the corpus of BMK’s music for posterity and for being an eyewitness while the beautiful dual RTP was in the making.
The awe-inspiring universal appeal of BMK’s wisdom in singing the complexities of music has been one of the greatest aspects admired by many connoisseurs of art and music, and writers and poets alike.
Dr. Prabha Atre once said, “I like his Tillānās. Despite their complexities they stand out for the lilting rhythm, melody and which attracts even a lay listener”.
Sri B V K Sastry, a nationally acclaimed music critic, in his 1966 essay in the Illustrated weekly of India says “the ‘lightness’ one perceives in BMK’s music on a closer look – is not a quality alien to Carnatic tradition. It was pioneered by such maestros as PurandaraDāsa, Khsétrayya and Tyāgarāja. A study reveals that the ‘classical’ music of their time was full of labyrinthine and tongue-twisting clichés whose appeal was more cerebral. Against this backdrop, the songs of PurandaraDāsa, Khsétrayya or Tyāgarāja certainly strike one as “light” by their stress on pure bhāva (emotion) and lālitya (loveliness). Possibly, there were stern traditionalists during the days of Tyāgarāja who did not hesitate to brand him as a light musician.”
Someone said, “besides the art of getting things done, there is a noble art of leaving the things undone. The wisdom of life consists of elimination of the non-essentials.”
Can we say the magic of transforming something that’s complex and palatable only to the scholars, into something delightful to listen even for an ordinary listener lies in the wisdom of BMK to choose the aesthetics of emotion and loveliness, and elimination of the non-essentials?
Come, partake in the delight of listening to the maestro.
6 سال پیش
در تاریخ 1397/07/13 منتشر شده
است.
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