VEENAVAADHINI STUDENTS IN LOCAL EVENTS

Young students of Veenavaadhini participated in local events in India and abroad recently.

Radha Madhuri played veena at Thyagaraja Music Festival organized by Hampton Road's Association of Virginia, USA.

Master K. Vignesh participated in Thyagaraja Utsavam organized by Udayam, Kolkata. He was accompanied on the mridangam by Sri R Srinivasan. All of these were mini-programs of about 10 minutes each.

One must wholeheartedly applaud the efforts of organizations like these which conduct such programs year after year, providing opportunities to so many children pursuing our classical arts. In fact, for all established musicians giving full fledged concerts, these programs would have been their valuable first few steps in the career climb. It is also most appropriate to have one's first stage performance to be a tribute to the Trinity of Carnatic Music (Thyagarajaswamy, Muthuswamy Dikshitar and Syama Sastri), since it is only their compositions that form the basis of any carnatic recital.

HR Kamakshi and HR Meenakshi presented a vocal recital under the auspices of Kalaranjani on January 1, 2010. They were accompanied on the violin by Kumbakkonam Selvaprasad and on the mridangam by Gomathishankar. Samskruthi.info reviewed their concert. Click Here To View.

Jayash and Manash participated in Thyagaraja Utsavam organised in Tampa, Florida. You can watch a video recording of their recital in the space above.

Yatra To Kanchipuram

Sunday, November 22 dawned very early for the eighteen of us. Students of Smt Jaysri and Sri Jeyaraaj, and their families, along with the Vainika couple, all assembled at their Mandaveli home by 5.30 and we set off with a prayer and a smile.

The journey was quite exciting –seeing the break of dawn, enjoying the cool breeze as well as going on the empty roads which we have always seen busy . We stopped in Tambaram to pick up some more members of our group. Soon we were experiencing the soothing sights of greenery after we left the city limits. We noticed many birds like parakeets, mynahs, bee-eaters, warblers, drongos and many, many kingfishers. The children especially enjoyed seeing these.

We reached the imposing temple of Goddess Kamakshi at 7.30am. After a brief stop at the office , we were led to the platform right in front of the sanctum sanctorum. Here we settled down, while some of us stood to be able to have a good darshan. We then sang "Kamakshi Kamakoti pitha vasini", "Kanjadalayatakshi" and "Kamakshim Kalyanim" there. After these, the Gurukkal requested us to sing more, and “Devi Brova Samayamide”, which we had to decline politely due to lack of time etc. We were then taken to the shrine, where the Gurukkal explained the significance of Arupa-lakshmi and Vishnu shrines flanking Goddess Kamakshi’s shrine. We offered Kamakshi’s kunkuma prasadam on Lakshmi as instructed by him. We then had the great fortune of seeing Deeparadhanai at close quarters and receiving Kunkuma prasadam and flowers. During this time we sang “Samaganapriye Kamakotinilaye”, a short but lovely Nottuswaram, and Smt Jaysri sang “Shringara Rasamanjari”. Being in the presence of the Goddess was an overwhelming experience even to us, so we could only imagine what state a Srividya Upasaka like Dikshitar would have been in. We then wound back to the entrance. Latha and later Arjun took videos of us near the entrance.

Since it was close to 9am, and we had many children with us, our next stop had to be breakfast. We went to Neo Rama Café, which proved true to its reputation. We were provided delicious idlis, pongal and coffee, along with attentive, quick service. Soon we were on our way to Kailasanatha temple, with renewed vigour.

In the beautiful Kailasanatha temple, unique in both its colour as well as architechtural style, we were introduced to many important aspects of the temple by the elderly, articulate priest. He explained the significance of the Praakara which is narrow, and only allows one person to go in at a time, and requires bending, crawling etc to come through. It represents the cycle of death and birth. Most of us went around it and we all received the prasadam and settled down to sing before the lord. We sang Kailasanatham Bhajeham in Vegavahini. Here too the Gurukkal asked us to sing many more songs, like “Siva Siva Siva ena raada” and we had to explain that we were on a time-bound schedule.

From Kailasanatha to Ekamreshwara : the maginificent and huge, ancient temple of Shiva, sung by the Thevaram trio and many other saints, welcomed us with its expansive corridor with its gigantic granite pillars. We went to the mandapam just opposite the sanctum sanctorum. Seeing the Lord in his form of the unusually shaped Lingam, as well in the Somaskanda form just behind that, we sang “Ekamranathaya” in Viravasanta, followed by “Ekamranatham” in Gamakakriya. We felt fortunate while receiving the Prasadams of Ekamranatha as well as Nila-tunda Perumal who is enshrined in the Praakaram.

Our final destination was the abode of Lord Varadaraja in Vishnu-Kanchi. This temple, famous for the shrines of Goddess Perundevi Thayar and Lord Varadaraja Perumal, is also known for the Thanga Palli (Golden Lizard), which people touch for good luck. Here we settled at the base of the flight of steps that lead to Perumal’s Sannidhi, and sang "Varadarajam Upasmahe"(Saranga) and "Varadaraja pahi vibho"(nottuswaram). Then we went up to see Lord Varadaraja, who was resplendent in all his finery. The receiving of Tirtham, Tulasi etc were made all the more heart-warming by the gracious welcome given by the Bhattar, saying that the lord was happy to see musicians, just as we were happy to see him. He also enquired more about the Vainika couple’s musical lineage etc.

The mission of the day accomplished, we had a nice lunch at Sangeetha’s and left. We were back in Chennai by 4.30 pm.

Report by Rajani Arjun Shankar

PERSONALITY

Srividya Anantharaman, Srividya Akka, or just Akka to the many, many students that she has, is the face of Carnatic Music in Kolkata. In charge of Sri Guruguha Gana Vidyalaya, the music school founded by her grandfather Brahmasri Ananthakrishna Iyer in the year 1943, she took over the reins from her father and aunt, Late A Anantharama Iyer (Sir) and Late A champakavalli (Teacher) respectively, and has been carrying forward their noble mission of upholding the tradition of Carnatic Music and particularly disseminating Dikshitar kritis to students in this part of the country.

We caught up with Srividya for a brief chat on her recent Chennai visit.

Q. It must have been quite a responsibility to take over a school which had a reputation to live up to. You have had to take a lot of care to continue the work of Sir and Teacher in much the same manner as they did. How did you cope up with this ominous task?

A. My full fledged career as a teacher started more with destiny bringing me into the profession as opposed to myself taking the initiative to plunge into it. I went into computer training as a profession for a good part of my life, but I had been teaching on and off, lending my father and aunt a helping hand, probably it was in my system. However, now I am fully engaged only in teaching carnatic music.

Q. Do take us through some of the activities of Guruguha Sangeeth Sammelan, the students wing of the Vidyalaya.

A. An important feature of our year-round programs is that they are mostly theme based; built on songs on a particular God, say Krishna, Muruga, Shiva, etc, covering all composers. For our annual Dikshitar Aradhana program also we maintain a theme. This actually started way back around the late 80s, taking up Navagraha as a theme, for example.

Q. The modern-day carnatic music Guru is very different from what people like Sir and Teacher were. What do you think has changed and what according to you has remained the same? As a corollary, how different are the students of these times from what we were?

A. Method of teaching needs to be altered a little bit keeping in mind the psyche of the students. Drawing appropriate comparisons with current events etc, goes a long way in making the student identify with what he/she is learning. They need to know the reasons for everything and if you do explain logically they are ready to take. Guru-sishya bhava has not changed but they have to be approached more as a friend. The loyalty and dedication is always there, the intent not to let the guru down; they read facial expressions, and if my smile is a pasted one and not genuine, they can guess they have not been upto the mark.

Q. Fascination and leaning towards carnatic music is not as much an automatic response for either the student or the rasika, in comparison to, say, popular music or even other forms of classical music. Do you think it is in the interest of carnatic music that we leave it as it is, to be enjoyed by a niche audience, or modify it to lend it more instantaneous appeal?

A. Modify, definitely. But within the limits of tradition.

Q. How would you define the roles and responsibilities of the student (in the context of carnatic music)?

A. Sishya's role is not only about performance, it should been seen in totality, cultural values, vinayam, devotion, hard work, consistency, all matter. It is also the responsibility of the teacher to tell the student if she or he is not ready yet. Quality should not be compromised. Parental role is important. They must take them to various programs and concerts and try to always keep the interest alive. Music should be compulsorily taught to all children. Initially it may feel like a lot of pressure but they then eventually listen to music as a relaxation even during board exams - it has that quality - at any age or stage one can listen and enjoy. Don't we sort out problems better if we listen to music.....

We wish Srividya Anantharaman health, wealth and happiness and may she continue the magnificient work she is doing for the cause of Carnatic Music for a long, long time.