The walking stick

I saw a speciality walking stick store in the Hiltopia mall in Shinjuku this morning. The lady, Ms Nagae, told me it's the only one of its kind in Tokyo and 26 years old! Visit http://www.Chaplin.co.jp. I am going to post a video clip of Poirot's elegant and expressive silver-topped stick the moment I'm back home.

The dance of Shiva

I took this photo in 2005 in Prambanan, Indonesia.

(scripted using Baraha)

In my previous post, there is a link to Pandit Chhannulal Misra's recitation of the sutra to indicate how Shiva is the originator of our music and literature.
I loved this sloka and researched it. I reproduce below the quote from kamakoti.org; the explanation of the sloka is presumably by the Sage of Kanchi:

Nrttavasane Nataraja-rajo nanada dhakkam navapancavaram


Uddhartukamah Sankadisiddhanetadvimarse Sivasutrajalam

I will speak briefly about this stanza. The silent Siva remains still [as Daksinamurti]. But the same Siva [in another form of his] keeps dancing all the time and it was from his dance that the science of language was born.
Nataraja is the name of the dancing Paramesvara. "Nata" is a member of a troupe which also consists of the "vita" and "gayaka". The nata dances. Nataraja is the king of all dancers-- he who cannot be excelled as a dancer-- and he is also called Mahanata [the great dancer].
"Nrttavasane. . . " Nataraja performs an awe- inspiring dance. It seems to bring together all the dance that all of us have to perform, the rhythms of all our lives.
Nataraja has a drum in one hand, called the dhakka or damaruka. The tala of this drum (the time kept by it) is in keeping with the "footwork" of the dancing god, the movement of his feet. The beat of his drum is referred to in the words, "nanada dhakkam".
When Nataraja dances, Sanaka and his brother sages, Patanjali Vyaghrapada and so on stand round him. They are great ascetics, so they are able to see the dance. At the close of the dance, the concluding beats(cappu) produced fourteen sounds. It is these fourteen that are referred to in the stanza ("Nrttavasane", etc) as "navapancavaram"; "nava" is nine and "panca" is five, so fourteen in all. "Nanada dhakkam navapancavaram.
The fourteen sounds produced by Nataraja's drum are the means by which the reality of Siva is to be known and experienced within us in all its plenitude. Nandikesvara has commented upon the fourteen sounds in his Sivabhaktisutra.
The fourteen sounds are recited at the upakarma ceremony. Since they emanated from the drum of Mahesvara(Nataraja), they are called "Mahesvarasutras". Human beings can produce only inarticulate sounds on the musical instruments played by them. The hand of Paramesvara is verily the Nadabrahman and Sabdabrahaman incarnate, so his cappu on the damaruka at the conclusion of his tandava sounded as a series(garland) of fourteen letters:
1. a i un; 2. rlk; 3. e on; 4. ai auc; 5. hayavarat; 6. lan; 7. nama nana nam; 8. jha bha n; 9. gha da dha s; 10. ja ba ga da da s; 11. kha pha cha tha tha catatav; 12. kapay; 13. sa sa sar; 14. hal-iti Mahesvarani sutrani.
Though the musical instruments do not produce articulate sounds, they create the impression of producing the phonemes of human speech. If this be so in the case of instruments played by humans, why should not the drum beaten by Nataraja during his pancakrtya dance produce articulate sounds?How did Panini make use of the fourteen sounds? He created an index from the sutras to vocalise the letters or syllables together. According to the arrangement made by him, the first letter or syllable of a sutra voiced with the last letter or syllable of another sutra will indicate the letters or syllables in between. For example, the first syllable of "hayavarat", "ha", and the last letter of "hal", "l", together make "hal". This embraces all the consonants in between. Similarly, the first letter of the first sutra, "a", and the last letter of the fourth sutra together form "ac"-this includes all the vowels. The first letter of the first sutra and the last letter of the fourteenth sutra together form "al" - it includes all letters. "Halantasya" is one of the sutras of Astadhyayi. "Al" itself has come to mean writing. "A-kara" is the first letter in all languages. In Urdu it is alif; in Greek it is alpha. Both are to be derived from "al". So too "alphabet" in English. Here is another fact to support the view that, once upon a time, the Vedic religion was prevalent all over the world.

We know thus that the prime source of grammar is constituted by the Mahesvara-sutras emanating from the drum of Nataraja.

Singer extraordinary - Pandit Chhannulal Misra

I have been listening to Hindustani music for decades and yet did not know of this wonderful musician until today when You Tube introduced me to him.

He is a great ambassador for Banares. He gives a very interesting meaning for the word Banares here. (right click and open a new window).

He says beautifully that Banares is the home of music since the original musician Shiva has made it his home! Also that  "Banaa ras" is their motto.. to make music!

Listen to his music here,

and here too,

and here again,

and some more!

Agatha Christie's Poirot

You Tube Link

I am watching this exquisite TV series, I bought a whole lot of DVDs.

The 1930's period setting, the character sketches, the acting, the dialogue, are all quintessential British humour. Of course David Suchet is incredibly good.

Watch the You Tube video. I am sure you will soon grab the DVDs!

Here is a link in Wikipedia

Todi on the Mridangam - Umayalpuram K Sivaraman

I think the most salubrious situation for musical excellence is a well-tuned veena and mridangam in conversation, in the hands of two maestros who have no care in the world so they can pursue the ethereal bliss that music can shower on us. There is no quieter place on earth for such a tête-à-tête than a recording studio and in this instance we have Emani Sankara Sastry and Umayalpuram Sivaraman collaborating in an AIR concert. Emani plays a Todi RTP and I give below the pallavi portion to show what heights they both can reach, especially the mridangam maestro.

Can you immerse yourself in the Todi that the mridangam maestro plays? The sensitive accompaniment, the sparkling sound, the deep bass, the strokes that sound like a stringed instrument? And Todi in all its splendour, with the Ga, Ma, Pa and Dha and the other notes dancing at his finger tips?

Blessed are we to have such a great musician like Sri Sivaraman giving us blissful music for so many decades. Nothing can express our gratitude to this maestro ever.

Ten do's for enjoying Carnatic music

I have listed here the ten things I have learnt over time that will make me enjoy Carnatic music more deeply and lingeringly:

1. Be on time for the concert.
2. Buy a ticket.
3. Respect each artiste- every moment of music is a gift- fresh and enjoyable.
4. Listen. Don''t sing along.
5. Keep your knowledge to yourself. Don't try to impress others.
6. If you do put tala, be discreet and correct.
7. Listen totally. No chat, paper or mag.
8. No toilet break.
9. Applaud if you enjoy. It is a good exercise.
10. Go home and savour the lyric later. It is a good after-taste.

iPhone smiles

The Festival of Light

As we celebrate light, let's remember
Darkness nourished us till our arrival.
Light plays on our beings much like joys and smiles
But darkness prepares us for this Festival of Lights!

Gandhi and Obama

Mahatma Gandhi was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1937, 1938, 1947, and a few days before his assassination in 1948.The fact that he was not awarded the Prize was regretted by the committee publicly when the Prize was awarded to the Dalai Lama. If you read this item at Nobelprize.org, you will learn that it was because the Nobel Peace Prize was somewhat exclusive to Europeans and Americans during Gandhi's time. The postage stamp in the picture is from UK in 1969.

Now the Nobel Prize has been awarded to Obama. Obama became the President of USA less than a year ago on a vote for change, a change from the policies and beliefs that precipitated wars and economic crises big time. Obama is a great orator, but he has not achieved anything to win a Nobel Peace Prize!

Gandhi's life is remarkable. I found this report in the Time magazine archives from 1931:

The same frayed sandals that carried St. Gandhi on his illegal salt march through India 19 months ago carried him last week up the crimson-carpeted stair of Buckingham Palace. Flunkies in scarlet & gold bowed the small, unrepentant lawbreaker into the Picture Gallery. There at the head of the receiving line stood George V in striped trousers and morning coat, Queen Mary in a shimmering silver tea gown and Edward of Wales (who had flown down especially from Liverpool) dressed like his father. The Lord Cham berlain, the Earl of Cromer, advanced through a horde of 500 tea guests, some of them Maharajas wearing pearls as big as butterballs.

  "Mahatma Gandhi!" announced the Lord Chamberlain. George V at once looked up. The sandals carried the Saint to His Majesty who stretched out a royal hand. Mr. Gandhi took it firmly, shook it warmly. He then placed his own hands palm to palm, bowed to Their Majesties as a Hindu priest bows when imparting benediction.

Queen Mary smiled approvingly. Mr. Gandhi was not in "morning dress" as the royal invitation had requested (TIME, Nov. 9) but he was wearing a loincloth wider by a thumb's breadth than usual, and a shawl of homespun. Queen Mary saw nothing unseemly, betrayed the merest flicker of interest as she espied the Mahatma's dangling dollar watch.

 King George drew Guest Gandhi into the royal study. There the King-Emperor took a dish of tea, the Mahatma sucked in a bowl of goat's milk sent up from the palace kitchen.

 Among buzzing guests in the Picture Gallery several startled the rest by recalling that this was not the first Gandhi-George V meeting. In 1901 the Indian community of Durban, South Africa welcomed the then Duke & Duchess of York, now Their Majesties, with a reception at which Lawyer M. K. Gandhi made the principal address. In 1901 impotent Ad- dresser Gandhi was bedight in the latest British fashion. Last week potent St. Gandhi created a sensation by leaving the royal teaparty before no other guest. "Personally I have very little time for social functions," said he. "Both Their Majesties were charming. I also liked the Prince of Wales."

British Reporter: Did the King give any encouragement to your hope for Indian independence?

St. Gandhi: Only God gives encouragement, not Kings.

 Badgered by correspondents to tell what his host had talked about, Guest Gandhi replied, "It would not be dignified for me to tell you what the King said," and explained why.

 "Our conversation consisted mostly of pleasantries. There were questions and answers about the weather and its effect on a man so recently come from India as myself."

 Shortly from Bombay the Mahatma received a cable signed by leading spirits of his Indian National Congress. They begged him to quit the Indian Round Table Conference in London because it has shown no sign of recommending independence for India. Promptly St. Gandhi announced: "I will sail for Bombay from Genoa on the 29th. ... I feel that I'm wasting my time here, but I'm willing to stay in London until the end of the Conference, which I expect will be in a fortnight. Then nobody can accuse me of impatience."

Photography

I just posted a web album..a Sunday in Sydney. Check it out in the box

Weekend Sydney

Begada - my favourite raga

Begada

Begada, or as we say in Kannada, Begade, is my favourite raga. It has a depth and colour like no other raga in either Carnatic or Hindustani music. There are many wonderful ragas, but Begada has some creative energy like the ocean. I just wrote a poem on Begada:

Begada

Pride of the valorous Shankara clan,

Your presence resonates with majesty.
You’re supple strength in gymnastic leaps and dives
And yet you’re subtle in your nuanced graces.
You bring courage to my heart
And also a serene benediction.
You lash me like the mighty waves of the ocean;
Standing on the rock, I exult in your subtle spray.
 
I am yet to come across a rendering that does justice to my imagery, the strength and nuanced touch that this raga commands in my imagination. The fact that I am not a musician surely helps... I can dream without duress!
 
I give you two links to unfamiliar compositions in Begada:

Vaa Muruga - O.S. Arun - this is a tough composition which calls for considerable vocal skills. The composer is Spencer Venugopal.

Hari Narayana - Purandara dasa- sung and played by Ganesh Kumaresh.


The photo at the top is one I snapped in 2006 in Kota Kinabalu. I wish the sea had been thundering with waves so I could show the mood of Begada.  But you can still see its fiery potential!

Gene Kelly - the amazement continues

Julie Andres & Gene Kelly show you some tricks

Did you know?

Eugene Curran "Gene" Kelly (August 23, 1912 – February 2, 1996) was an American dancer, actor, singer, film director and producer, and choreographer. Kelly was the recipient of an Academy Honorary Award in 1952 for his career achievements. He later received lifetime achievement awards in the Kennedy Center Honors, and from the Screen Actors Guild and American Film Institute; in 1999, the American Film Institute also numbered him 15th in their Greatest Male Stars of All Time list. He was born in Pittsburgh, was a very good sportsman, and started a dance school to help the family economically when he was in his teens.

He was also a good student and earned a degree in Economics from the University of Pittsburgh.

To see his incredible talents, see these two You Tube videos (links below the pics)....

Gene Kelly takes it to a new level- tap dances on skates!

Julie Andrews & Gene Kelly show you some tricks

Singin' and dancin' in the rain

No Indian movie can survive without song and dance. Those arty ones where dance and music are eschewed are doomed to fail like a poorly fuelled rocket. But if you think, like I did till yesterday, that Indian heroes are the most unabashed dancers and can dance at the drop of a dupatta, even in VT and even in a karmic Slumdog British bash, think again.

I saw Gene Kelly's Singin' in the Rain last night. It was made in 1952, and is often ranked as the best musical of all time and the fifth best film in 100 years. It is a totally unreserved Hollywood musical, and songs and dances hit you as often as Pillaiyar temples in Chennai and medical shops in Bangalore. It is co-directed and choreographed by the lead actor, Gene Kelly. You should see him to believe what a man can do as a dancer.

Just watch these You Tube videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmCpOKtN8ME

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FW02c5UNGl0

There are breathtaking dances right through, and Gene Kelly is unimaginably athletic, graceful and sings so well, too!  The camera work in 1952, with a smoothness that shows almost no editing, pays a huge tribute to the talents that did it in just one take.

The story itself  is interesting. The stars of the silent era have to face the prospect of singing and dancing and talking in the new talkies, and the star who commands a big rating has a woeful voice and no speaking talent. Her voice is dubbed by a lovely young talent, but the star insists that no one should know that her voice is dubbed and her voice-over artiste should remain unknown. But the hero, Gene Kelly, loves the voice-over talent and wants her to shine and be known. How all this comes about is the stuff of a great film.

I once uncannily wrote in my head a similar story. A Kannadiga starlet becomes famous for her Aishwarya-like looks in Telugu movies, but cannot speak the local tongue. Hence all her voice is dubbed in all her movies by an anonymous talent, whose emotive voice mesmerises audiences with a rich depth. So everyone in the industry keeps praising the starlet for "her voice", when in fact, unseen and uncelebrated, someone else builds up the starlet's entire charisma through her dubbed voice.

The dosa rules

Divinely born, a dual sided disc-

Bronzed to a dazzling brown,

Rules the DOSA like a mahavidwan

Flanked by impeccable accompaniment;

Truly do the seers proclaim: raso vy dosah!

This word 'great'

I just counted 17 occurences of "great" in my blog already. In fact, in one place I say "great great".

What is this thing I have for this word "great"?

Some quick research says that in old English, great meant large, rough and uncouth. It is related to the German word gross ( in fact they place a ß to replace a double "s" and call it an Eszett.Of course we know what gross means in English.)

I use this word because I am somewhat excited to describe what I am saying at that moment and can't find a simpler way to describe how wonderful, magnificient, incomparable, unprecedented, outstanding, remarkable, memorable, impactful, indescribable, excellent, superb, fabulous, out-of-the-ordinary, unforgettable, surprisingly good, prompting-an-exclamation, drawing-a-wow, inciting-an-applause, instigating-a-Bravo! the thing or feeling or person I am alluding to, is.

I took this picture of the Great Barrier Reef when I flew recently from Tokyo to Sydney. The pilot obligingly told us to look out on the left side. My ever-obliging iPhone was at hand in flight mode.

The Great Barrier Reef.  Here I quote from Wikipedia ( the guy who named it was sure as excited as I am sometimes)

The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,600 kilometres (1,600 mi) over an area of approximately 344,400 square kilometres (133,000 sq mi).The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland in northeast Australia.The Great Barrier Reef can be seen from outer space and is the world's biggest single structure made by living organisms. This reef structure is composed of and built by billions of tiny organisms, known as coral polyps. The Great Barrier Reef supports a wide diversity of life, and was selected as a World Heritage Site in 1981. CNN has labelled it one of the 7 natural wonders of the world. The Great Barrier Reef has long been known to and utilised by the Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and is an important part of local groups' cultures and spirituality.

Sydney beckons to spring!

If you click on any picture, it will open in a bigger size. Originally shot in 21 MP resolution. To give you a flavour of it, see below. (it is cropped from the left-side flower)

K.V. Narayanaswamy

I have posted a great KVN sampler from the Internet alongside. It is a rendering with the great Raghu, Allah Rakha, and V.V. Subramaniam, all shown in the picture here.

The Poornachandrika tillana is my favourite. Listen to the "josh" with which Raghu and Allah Rakha accompany KVN. Yes, the one and only KVN. His interview which is a "maargadarshi" for aspiring musicians is linked here.

Enjoy!

Life paints in water colours

As I see everyday the beauty of flowers that bloom for a day, as I see the seasons change ever so subtly to bring a new song to birds, I think how subtle and changing every aspect of life is. It is delicate and transient. To appreciate it calls for a great sensitivity and willingness to accept change. After all, life seems to paint in delicate water colours, easily washed away. Not with permanent markers.

It isn't too hard to know it, but to accept it calls for great serenity on my part. Akbar, the semi-literate but wise emperor, carved at the entrance to his Fatehpur Sikri fort this message :"The world is a bridge, pass over it, but do not build upon it".  Everything moves and changes, but I hold on, asking for things to last for ever, to be the most intense they can be, and lose all subtlety. How insensitive all this makes me indeed!

I think Indians are particularly fond of holding on to things. We are also forsaking subtlety for hard impact. We make and preserve masalas, (the most processed of all food stuffs, and going beyond seasonality and subtlety) and garnish everything with tons of salt, ghee and sugar. We have moved away from subtle chamber music to stereophonic cacophony. We now wear polyester dhotis and Chinese nylon sarees. We have thrown away our woven straw mats and hand painted wooden toys for a plastic world. No more oil lamps. It's all neon, my dear. Temples and function halls are garishly decorated with plastic flowers.  What a mega-maha confession of lack of subtlety and true aesthetics!

Just remembered how even great Carnatic musicians have produced albums garnished with pathetic orchestral embellishment.

Life paints in water colours. Here today, gone tomorrow. Living in the moment calls for an aliveness that I must again cultivate. I was born with it, but have lost it in this make-believe world!

The picture at the top is my way of going back to subtlety. It is a water colour rendering of the original photo I took at Monet's impressionist garden in Giverny.

Jewellery branded as Poverty

The British Crown Jewels

I am amazed and speechless reading äbout this new brand of extraordinary jewellery pens in the name of a man whom Churchill called 'a half-naked fakir'.

Quote from today's The Hindu:

‘Mahatma’ pens from Mont Blanc -241 pieces of the white gold pen will be available

Mont Blanc to come out with a limited-series pen on the Father of the Nation. The high-end pen is priced around Rs.14 lakh, according to a watch retailer. The pen comes with a gold wire entwined by hand around the middle, which “evokes the roughly wound yarn on the spindle with which Gandhi spun everyday.”


There is also the ‘Mahatma Gandhi Limited Edition 3000’ pen available, both as a fountain pen and a roller ball. Three thousand piece each will be available worldwide. The pen which is available for about Rs.1.7 lakh (fountain pen) and Rs.1.5 lakh (roller ball) comes with sterling silver mountings on the cap and the cone.

Unquote

I remember a joke. A rich school girl's essay on poverty goes like this:
There was once a poor girl. Everyone at her home was poor- her parents, servants, drivers, nannies, cooks and gardeners!

Mahatma's India in 2009 scoffs at jokes about cattle class and holy cows. But the nation seems to miss this joke! What next? Slumdog diamond necklaces, Garibi Hatao designer wear and finally Bhikari wedding packages in Bangkok!

No wonder we build temples to self-effacing saints with golden thrones and crescents, and throw lavish parties to celebrate the poor!

The Barcelona Bull - my first HD video on YouTube

The Barcelona Bull - my first HD video on YouTube

Guys, long time, no see. Was away in Korea, trying to earn my bread, rather my inedible veggie noodles.

I made this HD movie with the Canon 5D MkII. Shows me how hard it is to make videos. Kudos to all those who lug heavy cameras and produce the best of the best.

Barcelona, where lived Picasso for many years, boasts many cultural wonders. You should see the funny Woody Allen movie, Vicky Christina Barcelona to soak up the mood, music and sights of this busy city. When I visited their arts village, I bought this ceramic bull in Gaudi colours.

And the compelling music I have added in the YouTube video comes from Percussions II.

Samyogamu

(courtesy: Internet)

Of course! Shiva is the mahayogi. Kundalini is the fire. Through the union of praana and kundalini shakti, or as the samyoga of the two, he will ascend the seven chakras or saptaswaras. And connect with Omkara.
So the veena is also a metaphor. But all said and done, Thyagaraja is the quintessential musician, with nadayoga and bhaktiyoga, blessed as he is by a direct vision of Narada, the mahavainika and mahabhakta!
Truly interesting thoughts, albeit not original I'm sure.

(folks, I am unhappy that I am not following the Kyoto convention while writing Indian terms, but then it will also look a bit odd to read as if it is a procession of camels....like mOkshamu galadA- sAramati-tyAgarAja and so on. So please forgive me..in fact forgive me in general for this blog which is quite a violent intrusion into your space!)

Mokshamu galada

Mokshamu galada

This highly evocative song has been rendered by the Madras String Quartet (Mr. Narasimhan) in a different style. It has been rendered meditatively, with western concepts of harmony. I must admit I have my own reservations about this kind of fusion as it seems to lose the evocative spontaneity of Carnatic music.

The link to their presentation on YouTube is here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8rX0CtXuzs&feature=related

Now this song has some interesting words. If you click here, you will go to a very nice article in another blog posted by Mr. Govindan:

http://thyagaraja-vaibhavam.blogspot.com/2007/06/thyagaraja-kriti-mokshamu-galadaa-raga.html

Let me give you my interpretation.

Thyagaraja says that Shiva, who plays the veena, is the living embodiment of Jnana and Bhakti. By knowing his nature, those who are able to combine the appreciation of true music with real devotion (=surrender) will be able to liberate themselves while embodied, and only they will get true liberation or moksha. Thyagaraja is making a vital point. There is no liberation unless you get liberated while living in your body. What is the way? Through music!

Why music? Because it emerges from the source of Omkaara by the combination of Praana (life breath) and Anala ( the fire of life or body metabolism). The body is the medium for making music by sourcing the original Omkaara. To make music, you need your life breath and also the effort of making music using your bodily energy, and by staying connected  with Omkaara. ( There is another piece in this blog, the Sound Unheard).

Once we do this, we are able to understand the essence of music and also develop true devotion to the ultimate. Then we become Shiva, who is in that eternal blissful state, playing on the veena!

I found a photo on the Internet of a beautiful sculpture of Shiva playing the veena. See how blissful he is!

Jai Ho to our great Indian culture which has Shiva, veena, Omkaara, Thyagaraja, sculpture, and KVN!

KVN's 1967 Music Academy rendering of this song is playable by clicking the link on the left panel.

Enjoy!

An idea for a Carnatic FM radio channel

Sangeeta Setu FM Project

Music is an instinct unique to man. It uplifts one’s mood in a faster and deeper manner than anything else known to man. Music is the staple of Indian culture. Indian cinema can do with mediocre actors, indifferent storyline, poor direction, flickering photography, but not without music.

Indian classical music is like no other. It is based on thousands of years of artistic evolution and a robust structure. It has been passed on from teacher to student better than anything else. It has been preserved jealously as Gharana and Bani. It does not create a regional rift in spite of being called North Indian or Carnatic. It shows an unparalleled maturity in having absorbed foreign instruments, cross currents of musical milieu, lyrics from different inspirational streams, and moods of nine and more hues, and finally even the impact of electronification.

The genius of the 20th century musicians was to develop, spread and inculcate an abiding tradition of classical music using every modern development. The teacher started traveling on a bicycle, as did the student. The performer criss-crossed the country in trains, buses and motorcars. The traditions traveled thousands of miles and left their marks in an intriguing manner for musicologists to unearth. Witness this fact. The same Baroda court that honoured Veene Sheshanna in a procession of caparisoned elephants as grand as Jamboo savari, also clasped to its bosom a great musician from Mysore called Baksh. And his successor was the great Sufi mystic Inayat Khan. Inayat Khan reached the peak of classical music, gave some incredible 78 rpm recordings on instruments and in his voice at HMV Calcutta before 1910, and finally transcended his musical career into one of Sufi mysticism forever before he was forty. Any wonder that I see hints of Carnatic influence on the Sufi and Qawwali music of northwestern India?

The biggest influence on the spread of classical Indian music was the AIR. It is only very very recently that classical musicians have stopped to revere the role of AIR in their musical careers. Whereas Indian television has abject dependence on film songs and dance sequences, AIR has always been a huge promoter of Indian classical music. Even a thousand Maharajas could not have done as much for Indian classical music what AIR has done for the spread and nurturing of interest in the people across the land.

There is nothing more egalitarian or socialistic than radio. It is a powerful mass medium that reaches an expensive HiFi system as well as a humble transistor. And the genius of Indian classical music is that the listener can enthusiastically soak up the music whatever its bandwidth, by virtue of his supercomputer of an auditory-cerebral processor that works on enhancing the signal to noise much like the mythical swan that could drink milk and leave the water alone. My love of music was my mother’s gift, and she spent a princely Rs 400 buying a fine radio in the ‘50s. That is true also for many other families in the country.

Thanks to the advent of LPs, tape decks and cassettes, you will find here and there wonderful private collections of classical music of at least 5 decades. Great artistes who are no more with us will always be with us through these recordings. But there has never been a great way to reach this music to more people, until the advent of the Internet and the MP3 format. So today, here and there you will find well-meaning NRIs and techie enthusiasts putting great concert recordings on the net.

But the charm of the radio in its simplicity, energy efficiency, economy and the mass reach seems to have betrayed classical music. There are no FM channels in most Indian cities where you can listen to classical music. Some radio stations like Chennai and Kolkata FM stations still broadcast classical music, but with perhaps waning popularity or reach, in the clutter of TV stations, the chatter of FM Channels and the frenetic life style of most urbanites. In other words, something could and need be done to improve the marriage of FM radio and classical music.

Sangeeta Setu FM is an effort in this direction. The founding ideas are:

It will start with 2 hours (9:30-10:30 AM and PM) every day, perhaps and extra hour or two on weekends.

It will be Bangalore-based.

It will have only Indian classical music.

The music will be entirely listener’s choice based.

The listeners CAN ALSO bring in their music… their old recording or collection, and present it, with a brief personal introduction.

A Sangeeta Setu team for audio quality, musical content and contextual appeal, will preview the content.

Invited experts will comment at the end of the pieces about the music and the musicians.

Listeners will be encouraged to send in their musical recordings.

In other words, the FM broadcast by listener participation, harnessing the widespread gold mine of recordings, with expert presentation will be the hallmark of Sangeeta Setu FM.

The entire project will be based on NO PROFIT, NO COMMERICAL INTEREST AND NO ADVERTISING. But it will need money via contributions.

It will be an offering to music lovers and musicians.

Initially time will be purchased from good quality and popular FM channels and eventually Sangeeta Setu will have its own station.

Laugh with Jerry Lewis

This morning they had Jerry Lewis on Channel 7 TV. He is the famous old comedian from US on a tour here. He was asked to tell a joke.


"I am feeling the itch to go to New York and soak up the life there. I go and get on the subway (metro). And I see a tall, lanky young man. He has a beaky nose with a big ring on it. He is wearing a chain from his ear to round his neck. He has his hair waved up nearly 12 inches, dyed in bright green and orange.

As I stare at him, he asks me, 'what. Old man, haven't you done anything different in your time?'

I reply. 'well, I did. 20 years ago I had sex with a parrot. And I think you're my son!!!' "

As I enter my office, the iPhone espies a lovely bottlebrush

Shot with Genius app on iPhone 3.0, processed with Photogene app, and uploaded via Pixelpipe app

Ring of vanity

In the first rays of the sun, I see my emerald ring glow and can't help but click this iPhone photo, in sheer, despicable vanity.

C.V. Raman and the Mridangam

I had read writings of C.V. Raman on the mridangam when I was in IIT. Later I had a chance to visit the great acoustics lab in IISC, a legacy of Raman and maintained by Prof B S Ramakrishna.
I heard once from a mridangam vidwan that there was a meeting between Raman and Palghat Mani Iyer. Mani Iyer was at first dismissive of science and technology in the art of mridangam playing. Then Raman showed him how the vibration patterns of the mridangam membrane could be analyzed and it could even be tuned more precisely by using scientific techniques.
You will find pages from a book about Raman's work on mridangam in the link I have cited above. Some quotes:

The link to Google Books pages

Mridangam - the greatest percussion instrument ever

Mridangam - the greatest percussion instrument ever

I am crazy about the mridangam. I have been lucky to hear the great vidwans on several occasions. Almost every time I hear some other rhythm or percussion instrument, I cannot help thinking how great the mridangam is.

I am nobody to push such a view, but I still would like to insist that the mridangam is the greatest percussion instrument. I give you ten reasons:

1. 
   
   The mridangam makes an impact throughout a concert. 
2. 
   
   It has great scope for improvisation, in the song, during neraval and swaras and also in the tani avarthanam. It changes colours with the light items, much like the dancer changes her costume for the second part of a recital.
3. 
   
   A good mridangam player can make you feel the concert was worth it just by virtue of his tani avarthanam.
4. 
   
   The mridangam player sits in the front, and is on the "right side"of the main artiste. He has the maximum eye contact with the musician as well as the audience. I believe he enjoys the concert the most!!!
5. 
   
   The instrument is placed horizontally, and played with both hands, with much finger dexterity. It is highly ergonomic.
6. 
   
   The instrument has a great tonal depth, and is tuned prominently to the sruti.
7. 
   
   The left side adds tremendous emphasis to the strokes, and makes a profound difference to the song accompaniment. The right side has a great tonal quality and in the right hands sounds like a stringed instrument.
8. 
   
   The accomplished mridangam player can wow you with a tani for a long period of time, with a variety of patterns and strokes and sounds, at different volumes, as a great example of improvisation.
9. 
   
   The mridangam is quite travel-hardy.
10. 
    
    The mridangam sounds better without electronic amplification. In fact in later years, Mani Iyer eschewed the mike as a modern evil!

I just heard some fusion music. After listening to these pieces, you will agree how great the mridangam is! The artiste playing mridangam is Satish Kumar and the album is a live recording in 2003 called Colours of India (Ganesh Kumaresh).You can access it here:

http://www.raaga.com/play/?id=67974

http://www.raaga.com/play/?id=67975

At http://www.sangeethapriya.org/, you can access a great Lalgudi Jayaraman concert on the AIR with Mani Iyer. Just the varnam is enough to know Mani Iyer's greatness.

Palghat Raghu's tani avarthanam in the KVN album from Nonesuch Records has been posted in the site http://www.palghatraghu.org/. It is the defining piece of a tani avarthanam, according to me.

Umayalpuram Sivaraman has shown his prowess in hundreds of recordings, and I have been privileged to listen to some really great ones with KVN and Lalgudi. His DVD on the techniques of mridangam playing is encyclopedic.

I think the mridangam is India's greatest contribution to the world of musical instruments, and we don't celebrate this fact enough.

Karnaranjani - genetic engineering in Carnatic music

(12 Century AD sculpture in Belur, Karnataka)

At the outset, let me assure you I know my ignorance of the intricacies of Carnatic music. I am only an avid listener and somewhat reckless in airing my opinions.

Recently I came across twice the word "sophistication" in the context of Carnatic music. And I heard just the other day on raaga.com a lovely tillana by Ganesh Kumaresh in Karnaranjani.  It quite surprised my untutored ears. Last night I was surfing to find out more and saw that there are many interested in popularizing this raaga. It happens to be, like a grafted rose, based on Kharaharapriya. I then also heard a Balamurali exposition starting with the word Omkaarakaarini in a just four note raaga called Lavangi. All this has set me thinking. What is the role of sophistication in Carnatic music, and is our music becoming genetically engineered?

Living in Australia, I see much discussion how agri-produce here is not genetically engineered and therefore safer. I also saw on BBC that in the UK, genetically engineered produce is banned. We are anxious to avoid the unknown harm of genetic engineering  in foods and other things, but if medicine benefits from it, we welcome it. Of course scientists will have their way if there is a cost benefit. And safety is a much debated but quite uncertain subject, as we can see in the context of radiation effects of mobile phones.

So coming to Carnatic music, are we driving sophistication these days? Undoubtedly. I am quite sure that Carnatic music and compositions did not sound the way they are rendered now, about 75 years ago. And since the 50's, there is evidence that musicians are so much into perfecting techniques and presentations in every sphere that we can be sure that what we hear today is a much more developed or sophisticated product than before. And the invasion of electronics, which I would like to describe as " the Rahman Effect", is as big in music as the Raman effect was in Physics. So you have tamburas losing out to CDs and synthesizers, and almost everything has a contact mike. I am sure someone will finally invent a chip that morphs one's voice into your chosen one just as we saw in Mission Impossible movies!

That leaves two questions I wish to address.  Raaga means colour in Sanskrit. From the 7 primary colours, today you have 16.7 million colours on your computer. Similarly, we have been propagating raagas almost like scientists discovered elements as possibilities based on the periodic table. That surely enhances the variety. But is it Karna-ranjani, which means in Sanskrit pleasing to the ear? Since the Primordeal One made man ( like the goddess made Om!) , and man is making these raagas, are they divine? A bit like calling a tiger a vegetarian, but seriously, should we feel good about all this?

The first test of music is that it should be pleasant to the ear. The second, when it comes to classical music, we expect it to have some enduring impact, which is derived from structure, dimensions of rhythm, lyricism and evocative depth. The structure also helps in reproducibility. Finally, some raagas and songs will be repeated and requested by audiences more and more. There may indeed be a neurolinguistic aspect to why a raaga or song becomes popular. On the other hand, musicians are also increasingly "showing" off  their sophistication with new raagas and rare compositions.

There is surely a place for perfecting one's presentation, appearance, mannerisms, concert etiquette and so on. This kind of sophistication is welcome. But Carnatic music has such a delectable balance between Lakshya and Lakshana (loosely translatable as musicality and technicality) that we need to find the golden mean between old and new, innovation and tradition, electronics and natural acoustics. That would be the ideal sophistication!

The Sound Unheard

(based on a talk by Osho)


The Sound Unheard


The musicians get busy, twanging and tonking their instruments oblivious to the restive audience-as they tune strings and drums into unison so that the music may arise presently.

 The musicians only tune in. It’s the music that descends into the air - the grace of the Sound Unheard that is the source of all music.

 Theologies east and west stake their positions irreconcilably but all agree on the primordial source of life - the one truth. That is the Sound Unheard.

 Temples and churches have a welcome bell. The bell rings truly not to waken the One within - but to beckon us to journey to the beyond, stepping through that sound of the ringing bell to the music beyond hearing. And who is unmoved by the music coming from beyond?

Of all things, music alone stirs us beyond our senses and is the substratum of life, of breath and being. Science says all matter is but vibration- but in truth it is the Sound Unheard.

 Thereby hangs a fable. Once Wajid Ali of Oudh was bent on bringing a famed singer to his court. The singer had his own mad condition. He said he would sing only to those who did not move at all, not even shake their heads to his music. Wajid Ali was true to his reputation. Out went the drum roll around town calling only those to court who could hear the music without any physical sign of being moved at all. The town was bemused to hear that strange call to court - any one who showed any sign of being swayed by the music was courting death - That was the punishment proclaimed by Wajid Ali.

 This is no pointless tale. So a handful did come.

Perhaps they were those stoics and mendicants who had hardened all their senses into frigid obedience. But when the music started –

None could resist its eternal charms. Heads swayed, hands moved, bodies showed sheer enjoyment.

 Wajid Ali was chagrined. He stopped the singer and asked, “Sir, must I accept defeat and have these wretched ones beheaded?”

The musician laughed - “Of course not! I have been waiting all along to sing to such as these who dared death to court music! These intrepid ones are truly worthy of partaking with me of that grace of primordial Sound!”

 How should one reach the Sound Unheard? By being still- still within and not running about looking for true bliss in the world of the senses. Only stillness prepares us - the guru then wakens within you that Primordial Sound. And then you see - it was, is and will always be everywhere! You did not hear it so far- like a fish feeling thirsty in water!

 There is only one true prayer that is neither begging nor bribery. It’s that ever-eager wait in the stillness for the Music to descend - to become one with it. The musician merely tunes in- its that Music that then flows.

Narasimha or Man-lion God

Man-lion God

( First photo: Mural in Melkote.

  Second photo: Nrityagram's spectacular Dashavatara dance showing Narasimha)

This happened when I was seven. I lived till I was twelve opposite a temple. Therefore I spent a lot of time exploring the temple precincts and playing under the large peepul tree there. That day there was no school and I was happily playing alone that morning as usual in the shade of the peepul tree there.


Just then a classmate came running and told me that our teacher Mr. Sharma had sent for me. Apparently there was a recitation competition that morning in the school and Mr Sharma wanted me to participate. I had never been in recitation competitions. But afraid to upset the teacher, I rushed to the school which was not too far away.

There, in the classroom, sitting on wooden planks were some 20 children. Mr Sharma directed me to stand up in front of the class and recite something. The only thing that came to my mind was a long prayer my nanny had taught me, ‘Srilola Manohaara’. It was a prayer to the Man-lion God Narasimha. It seems I did such a good job that morning that I won the first prize. Mr Sharma was actually so moved he lifted me on his shoulders and did a small processional dance!

Later that evening when my mother came back home after work from the college where she taught, I could not convince her that I had won a big prize. She went the next day to the school to confirm it. My name was on the notice board announced as the winner and I later got a nice (real) silver cup as the prize.

The story of the Man-lion God is my favourite. It epitomizes the Hindu concept of surrender and God’s unfailing help to the true devotee. Later in my childhood my father told me our family deity was Narasimha and even taught me a sacred mantra. Movies, harikathas, classical operas galore tell the ancient scriptural story of how Narasimha protected Prahlada, a very young prince, against the fury of his demonic father who was drunk with his own power over the three worlds and his apparent immortality. You all know this story. But please let me tell it my way.

The father had earlier done a severe penance and won a boon that no man or animal or god could kill him with any weapon and he could also not be killed during day or night or inside his home or outside. Armed with such a boon, the demon had proclaimed that he was the ultimate ruler of all and everyone should worship him as the ultimate god. Unfortunately, his young son was defiant and said that he believed in the true god of eternal compassion and grace,
Narayana or Vishnu. 

After giving the demonic father many chances to understand the power of young Prahlada’s unswerving faith and belief, finally Narayana appeared as a man-lion, at twilight, and tore down the demon with his claws on the threshold of his palace. The boon had held good but still could not save the demon against this strange set of exceptions that overcame those conditions of invincibility. The moral: whatever boon you may get, you cannot go against the ultimate power of good and piety. What fascinates me in this mythical story is the utter helplessness and hopelessness in a worldly sense of the boy Prahlada. He is a prince And adored by his mother. He is intelligent and charming.

Normally a child feels totally safe and protected by his parents and has therefore no real fear. He gleefully declares, ‘My father strongest!’ In Prahlada’s case it works against the boy! Simply because he adamantly opposes his all powerful demonic father, even when threatened with death. The father is the monarch of all he surveys and is given to violent rage when opposed. He has declared himself as god and does not hesitate to put his son to death. He tries drowning, pushing him off a precipice, trampling him under a wild elephant, even burning him. And the son is equally tough! He worships Narayana, his father’s ancient enemy. The boy is utterly convinced that Narayana takes care of everything.

Can I have such faith? It is possible only if I do not have an agenda or a desire to achieve something or acquire wealth, name or fame. If I truly surrender all my ego and desire, then only do I really give the full power of attorney irrevocably to God. Then only grace kicks in. Otherwise not. By virtue of my convictions that my desire or ambition or agenda is righteous, God does not come to my succour. On the other hand, if I truly surrender all ego and choice, then and only then do I have nothing to fear, even if I am a young boy under the total physical control of my father who may be the most powerful demon and hell-bent on killing me!

That is why I do not appreciate stories of people like Bhattatiri who keeps on pleading to God to rid him of disease. True devotees like Ramana and Ramakrishna did not pray for a cure even when they suffered the worst cancers and died. How can you present your agenda of physical well-being or immortality or freedom from poverty or infamy when you also say God knows best, is all powerful and does no wrong so whatever happens is for the best?

The world at large is either perplexed or amused that we Hindus worship animals and birds. Cow, bull, monkey, elephant, eagle, snake, lion, boar, fish, turtle, horse and so on. In the eyes of Muslims and Christians and far eastern Asians, all creatures are there to be hunted, put to work and eaten. In fact these people have greatly developed animal husbandry and veterinary sciences to yield more succulent meat and more tasty fish and fowl. The recent diseases like bird flu, mad cow disease, SARS and swine flu should give them pause to think but they are convinced of their ways as never before. They think poorly of the Hindu beliefs of non-killing and ridicule the Hindus about all the cows and dogs wandering in Indian streets. They think it is a joke against the ridiculous Hindu concept of animal worship. People like Guenther Grass who have won the Nobel Prize and Margaret Mead and so on have written tomes on this Hindu ‘stupidity’.

But all these people miss the true metaphor of Hindu animal worship, especially as Man-lion god. The story basically shows that however powerful you may be, there is an overarching truth. Call it God or Existence or Nature. And the combination of man-lion shows that man alone is not the sole inheritor of this creation. Unless he recognizes the role of animals in existence, he will remain alienated. And sometime or other, Nature will humble man in unimaginable ways. Like the Australian bush fires or Chinese earthquakes or the hurricanes that flattened New Orleans.

There is no defence against a Tsunami. But if you realize your vulnerability, as long as you live, you live with a profound respect for all creation. That instills the true faith of a devotee. There is no religion that confers immortality. But true faith brings a balance, harmony, beauty and peace in life that makes every moment immortal in its joy.

Kafir Lily

That airline seat

That Seat

Are you a frequent flyer? Are you phobic about cramped spaces? Are you one who kind of spreads like poured honey into a bucket seat? Or are you one who has to watch out for short doorways lest you lose 3 inches of your head? Yes?

Then you should know this. Every airplane has 3 worst seats. They vary with configuration, with models and designs of planes. Which row and which seat number, varies. There was a time when airline hostesses were intellgent and well trained and knew which seats they are. Not anymore perhaps. But still the seats always exist. And who gets them? Who curses that trip for a few weeks afterwards, as it almost ruined your business meeting or soured that birthday party you were so looking forward to, all because you cricked your neck or hurt your knee or spilt airline coffee on to your starched shirtfront? Or worse got your crotch all wet and soaked up?

Well, you can then join me in finding out why the hell YOU had to get THAT seat. As I told you already, there are three such seats. And if on average there are a hundred passenegers, your chance of getting that is only one in thirty. But then, how come you had to adorn that lousy seat, the one that doesn't recline and has just enough leg room for a miniature man?

Perhaps you know by now that everything in the airline industry is governed by master computers manned by hugely qualified nerds who do nothing but work out polymorph math for fun on weekends. These computers decide everything. Yes, everything including how many tissues are in the toilet and how many milligrams of sugar are in your satchet. The airlines are so competitive these days that they need to not only fly you, dirt cheap, safely, on time, but have to manage the amount of fuel they burn, the amount of sound they generate, the amount of rubber they burn on the tarmac, the amount of effluents they eject in airspace and so on and so forth.

So, everything, including who gets the lousy seat, is governed by advanced mathematical modelling. I just discovered the secret formula. As a backgrounder, you should know that once upon a time, in the days when IBM had punch card computers and had 99% market share, those 3 lousy seats were randomly allotted. On a last come first served basis. But some minister's niece had a bad time in one such seat and several heads had to roll because of the hungama she raised. As a consequence advanced MBA schools were consulted and some geek came out with a massive math formula that would proactively and deliberately squeeze those three specially selected passengers into those seats and avoid random acts of unkindness. That way you could rest assured that the cruel one above had deliberately handed you the wretched boarding card as one of those specially chosen three.

And the formula is being revealed for the first time here. The geek formula is based on vaastu, numerology, astrology, biology and epistemology. The last one is a bit like phrenology and ornithology in terms of popularity. The formula takes your name, converts it into an esoteric string of numbers. Now it takes your date of birth and adds a square of that in Windows 2000 native date string format, and then pretty much freaks out with your star sign,moon sign, and date and time of flight. Finally the result is divided by the Napier logarithm of the fight number and the remainder is then carefully matrix multiplied with the chi square of your number string. By now we are almost done except we still need to take the ASCII code of the dreaded seat number and subtract it from the resultant string after excluding those instances when the string matches any one of the first 48 prime numbers.

If you have a remainder which ends in a 1 or 2 or 3 you had it. I mean youget the dreaded seat.

All this is done on first come first served basis, conscious as airlines are of the importance of process engineering and punctuality. So next time you get a dreaded seat, beware. Either you change your name, or date of birth, or flight number, or day of travel in the week, or time of flight. In the best case scenario, stay at home and do a tele-conference.

Tillanas

I have uploaded three great tillanas in a zip file here.
All compositions of Lalgudi G. Jayaraman, one played by him, one by his niece and disciple Veenai Jayanthi, and another by his disciple Bombay Jayashri.
http://www.easy-share.com/1907662839/3 Lalgudi tillanas.zip

rsachi.blogpost.com

My first iPhone upload!

Veena Dhanammal

Hello folks

I have put up in YouTube a 3 part series called VennaDhanammal which shows a documentary I was able to download from the Internet.

It shows the great Veena Dhanammal's life story with several musical clips and interviews.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM81b-2Iyzk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y786ufbdWYc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw5LDPCdIJ0