Cometh December, cometh the music-dance festival in Chennai-the cultural capital of India. There are numerous concerts to choose from and listen to, at various concert halls of the city. Staying at a three-hour distance from the city, the bus travel is only too cumbersome to make the dreams of attending live concerts come true! There are full-fledged itineraries for these sabhas which are published in the newspaper. The transistors and television channels too bring home a feel of the cutcheries in their own ways.
Being a child, I was bestowed with an amazing guru, Smt.Haripriya, who taught me music for about a decade. Music classes became my second home. I started getting drawn so much into this art form that it made all other joys of the world look small(barring amma’s love of course!). My teacher used to check out the concert-columns of various newspapers and chart out a whole day’s plan. The very thought of listening to masters like Rajam Iyer, Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan, Trichur Ramachandran and others in a closer proximity would get me sleepless with excitement for an entire week before our Chennai visit. I used to carry small notepads with me to jot down the list of songs rendered in a concert and their corresponding ragas. My teacher used to quiz me on what raga was being rendered and with every right answer, the thrill would build up. There was more fun when we used to go in groups. There would be a heated argument on the ‘whats’ and ‘hows’ of the various songs sung and ma’m used to reconcile us with her verdict. These concerts indeed went a long way in strengthening a good musical foundation as they helped learning more than the usual classes.
Some of the best places in this world are not these concert halls alone , but also their canteens! Not only for the good food that they serve, but also for the great platform they provide to have a closer look, and sometimes, even to catch up small conversations with your cherished musical stars! (Psst… they say that making good food is also an art like music.. not all can sing and not all can cook!!!)
When I got to meet some of these musicians personally, or even closely observe them, I found that they are people with abstract qualities. There is a mysterious charm about them and legendary musicians are amongst the most humble people on earth. They consider themselves as mere students of the art, inspite of reaching the highest levels of fame and recognition. Ask Padmashree K.J.Yesudas, and he would tell you that music is a vast ocean and he hasn’t learnt even a bucketful! Now, if that is the case with this musical Mozart, then where beginners like me would stand?..May be I could say that I have learnt a drop of music!!
As for listening to concerts at home, the Margazhi mahotsavam program on jaya TV(which lasts for a fortnight in the month of margazhi, December) and periodic cutcheries in podhigai TV are perhaps the only options. They are commendable efforts to give the audience an enriching experience of the sabhas(lest souls like mine could never find solace!). But one’s joy is lessened when songs are intervened with commercials. Nevertheless, without these programs, who could imagine watching Sudha, Sowmya, Jayashree, Ravi Kiran and Narayanaswamy performing in front of one’s eyes at one’s own home?
The transistors are better media for listening to concerts as there are hardly any announcements made in between. The choice offered is also higher compared to that of the television programs.
CDs and cassettes are devices which capture entire concerts in them. But unfortunately, they seldom succeed in giving the listener a wholesome experience.
Alas! There is nothing to match the happiness gained out of a live concert, where an artist’s emotions mellifluously penetrate into the listener’s heart and transcend him to a different world, a world of music and love, in an eternal state of bliss… There are no interruptions from doorbells or commercials and one can peacefully keep listening.
When the stage is set, with big boisterous curtains; when numerous people are packed into the chairs; and when the artist finally arrives at the podium making his way out of the maddening rush at the entrance of the hall, all commotion comes to a stop. Only Kalyani, Kambodhi, Bhairavi and the like speak through the artist’s renditions.
In these performances, legendary composer-saints like Thyagaraja swami and Purandaradasa find first preferences along with Dikshithar, Shyama Shastri, Badrachala Ramadas, and Papanasam Sivan. Listening to Thyagaraja’s conversations with Rama or Shastri’s pleas to Kamakshi, one will understand why music is considered to be the highest form of worship. These composers not only express their bhakti to various deities of their choice, but also bring out numerous expressions like karuna , shanta, sringara and vaathsalya. Sitting through a two-hour concert, one can truly experience the navarasas!
These vaageyakaaras(composers), are perhaps the greatest doctors of all times, as their krithis have a healing effect on ill-beings. Yes, compositions in Hindolam are supposed to cure high blood pressure. Music has the capacity to dictate even the arrogant time to cure people’s miseries.
Talking about the origin, naadham(sound), is said to have originated from Shiva’s udukkai(a double drum). It is said to have gained the classical form from Sarawathi’s veena and Krishna’s flute. But researchers find an interesting evolution of the classical form from folk music. Ragas like Anandha Bhairavi very well substantiate this fact.
As an ardent listener of music, every song and every raga means something unique and special to me. Every composition is a musical saint’s signature, and every rendition is an artist’s creative attempt to delve into the unknown realms of its composer’s mind. The depths of a musical mind are unfathomable, and with each holy dip into a composition, a new milestone is achieved.
So much to music and musicians in the simple words of a student of the art form. If only I had a house near one of those concert halls, I could spend the whole of the concert season sitting tight inside and listening endlessly, blissfully. No food, no water would be required then, for where there is food for the ears, the stomach doesn’t feel hungry!!
Music is truly the language of the world, beyond all spoken-languages, beyond nations, and beyond all man made boundaries, with its vivid forms. Musicians may die, but their music lives till the end of time. Long live the legacy of music and musicians!!
