Recently, I
was having a telephonic conversation with a close friend of mine and
invariably the talk was on music in general and his music in particular. In
fact the fulcrum of the topic was ‘longevity of music’. Here, ‘music’ should be
understood as a particular form and also music by specific composers in that
form.
Let me elaborate.
Though music is universal, the undeniable fact is that it has many forms
(or should I say genre?)- Classical, Folk, Pop, Jazz.. Film Music. The one mentioned first and the one mentioned
last are more relevant to this post and needless to say that the conversation
focussed on these two.
‘Will his music last forever? What is your opinion’,
asked my friend. I instantly spoke about the music of yesteryears-say of MKT-
and how it still attracts people. But my friend’s contention was that it is a
miniscule percentage. Well, in the absence of a scientific survey it will be
difficult to prove, but the very fact that the name rings a bell and that people
still listen to/ hum these songs proves that those songs are not dead. Though I
did not say this to my friend, I have seen posts in the social media raving
about such songs. Now, how relevant is this to Raaja’s music? I shall come to
that soon but before that I must also say something about the classical music
scenario. I am confining myself to carnatic music now and shall quote examples
from Hindustani and Western Classical, maybe in some of the future posts.
I told my friend-who unfortunately claims to have no
liking for this form- that kritis composed more than 150 years back are sung
with great fervour by the artistes. ‘If different artistes sing the same
kriti(s) in various concerts, how ‘different’ is it? Is it not the same stuff?’
asked my friend. ‘Here is where the ‘differential’ in terms of voice, style and
creativity’ come into picture was my refrain. How can there be creativity if
one performs the same song? A logical
question in the minds of people who are not exposed to this form.
A typical rendering of the kriti starts with a raga
elaboration called as ‘aalapana’, followed by the rendering which will have
some lines repeated with a subtle variation each time it is sung called as
sangatis, followed next by focusing on one particular line and singing only
this line several times during which multiple dimensions of the raga will be
touched-called as ‘niraval’ and finally the swara segment where the artiste
renders ‘kalpana swaras’ spontaneously while at the same time drawing some
patterns with mathematical calculations in line with the taaLa of the song. Though
the process remains the same, the way an artiste handles the various segments
in the process will be different from artiste to artiste. In fact, the same
artiste while singing the same kriti will sing a different aalapana, a
different niraval and a different kalpana swaras(adhering of course to the
grammar of the raga). Kritis can also be sung without aalapana, niraval and
kalpana swaras, but even then there will be difference-ranging from subtle to
highly pronounced-
differences in the way various artistes render the same kriti.
In a nutshell, Carnatic Music is not rigid. It has
the creativity factor , has enough scope for innovation within some parameters and
most importantly it shows the spontaneity of the artistes. It has lasted many
years now (some of the ragas like ShankarabharaNam, Kambhodi and Bhairavi have
been in vogue for centuries and there are even references to these ragas in the
Hindu mythology). That is why, one is not surprised to read news items like
‘Music concert running to full house’ and ‘people throng sabhas early morning
braving the cold to book tickets for the evening concert’. Carnatic Music has
survived many onslaughts and will continue to last forever.
Now, the next logical question in the minds and lips
of skeptics and believers is ‘Ok, this is fine as far as classical music goes.
But tell me how can this apply to film music? Can this be a bench mark for a
form of music which is light, purely commercial and composed for man-made
sequences?’
Let me take you back again to the previous to
previous paragraph where I have mentioned three factors that are inherent in
Carnatic Music- Creativity, Innovation and Spontaneity. Any form of art which
has these three features is bound to last long.
ILaiyaraaja’s music( I have straightaway come to him now since it is
pertinent to our discussion here) has all these three. Most importantly, his
music has that unmistakable classical flavour.
Take the rare gem of today ‘Paarththaen..’ from Agni Paarvai (1992) rendered by Janaki.
It is based on Kalyani, uses traditional instruments, has beautiful innovative
orchestration, has varied laya patterns, and as we all know everything is
spontaneous.
The ‘akaaram’ in the beginning draws the sketch of
the Pallavi while the brilliant use of the sympathetic strings creates the
right atmosphere.
The higher
octave notes in the second line shows the colours of Kalyani and the ‘hoiyaa’
after the first line gives the tribal flavour.
The chatushram pattern in the Pallavi is played
alternately by the rhythm pad and the drums. However, in the first interlude he
switches over to the traditional table which continues in the CharaNam too. The
chatushram played by the Tabla also undergoes a subtle change in the last few
phrases of the CharNams. In the second interlude, the percussion is totally eschewed
in the first part though the chatushram continues.
If the strings take us to a verdant valley in the
first interlude, they take us to a beautiful stream in the second interlude.
The western classical style in the latter is surely not to be missed. The Flute
too is used differently in the two interludes. In the first one, there is a
second flute which sounds feebly but sweetly backing the more dominant one while
in the second, the flute(s) play along with the strings in the second part. The
sympathetic strings that appear now and then so nonchalantly make the melodic
experience complete.
Now, 100 years down the line, will this Kalyani
still appeal to people? Rather than using the clichéd phrase ‘Time alone will
tell’, I can reply in the affirmative with great positivity.
Reasons?
Already mentioned and explained in the post!!
