A year of Madurai Mani Iyer

Madurai Mani Iyer at the Music Academy Sadas, pic courtesy The Music Academy, Madras

October 25 marked the completion of 100 years of the music phenomenon known as Madurai Mani Iyer. The year 2012 has seen several events commemorating him, ranging from grandiose Sabhas to humble tributes at terrace gatherings leaving one with the sneaking suspicion that the maestro would have been more at home at the latter. Be that as it may, all this brings to mind another year that was undoubtedly Madurai Mani Iyer’s – 1960, a year of triumphant progress with successive honours and felicitations. And The Hindu faithfully followed and reported on it.

It began with the Sadas at the Music Academy, Chennai, which took place on January 3. Mani Iyer’s response to the grand panegyrics on him was a simple observation. “Music is a delicate art,” he said. And he was always endeavouring to do better.

Next came the Tyagaraja festival conducted by violin maestro Marungapuri Gopalakrishna Iyer at Srirangam. The event lasted for four days, from January 16 to 19 and on the last day, Gopalakrishna Iyer felicitated Mani Iyer on his receiving the ‘Kalanidhi.’ A gold-bordered lace shawl was gifted to Mani Iyer who replied thanking Gopalakrishna Iyer for all the support he had given him over the years. The Hindu (January 24) noted that a ‘large gathering of musicians and music-lovers was present.’

On January 31, 1960, The Hindu published a detailed critique of Madurai Mani Iyer’s music, written by ‘Aarabhi.’ This was prefaced by the report that on the previous Sunday, Mani Iyer had performed at the Mylapore Fine Arts Club, Chennai, prior to which Prof. P. Sambamoorthy had spoken on him, observing that Mani Iyer in some respects “was the musician of the year.” T. Chowdiah, who was to accompany Mani Iyer gave him the title of ‘Ajatashatru’ – he who has no enemy.’

Aarabhi’s précis on Mani Iyer’s music noted all the salient points that have made him immortal. First came the sincerity. “He pours his heart out in his music, whether it is at a highly paid Sabha performance or at a free kutcheri performed at a temple.” Then his performance – “He must sing as he likes, unfettered, with his audience waiting breathlessly upon the next stage of development in a raga or a swaraprastara.”

“His swaraprastaras are always full of unexpected details though by now the broad outlines of their development have become familiar to us.” His attitude towards accompanists was summed up next. “He never denies his violin accompanist time and opportunity. He is not bothered if sometimes, it is the fiddler who wins the applause. And the mridangam vidwan has a full time job on his hand when he has to follow the ramifications of Mani Iyer’s genius.” And finally, Mani Iyer’s attitude – “at no time is he guilty of assuming an air of superiority, to which, as a matter of fact, his genius perfectly entitles him. That is why we continue to share his tremendous pleasure in his own music, with ever-increasing delight on his part.”

Aarabhi noted that his mastery over ragas such as Behag, Kaanada, Ranjani, Sindhu Bhairavi and Dwijavanti “keeps his audience glued to their chairs.” The writer also paid oblique praise to the English Note by stating that Mani Iyer, though a traditionalist, “had made certain inevitable concessions to modern tastes by the introduction of a touch of somewhat foreign flamboyance towards the end of each kutcheri.”

It is difficult to tear away from Aarabhi but there is more to report from 1960. On March 31, The Hindu announced that Mani Iyer was to receive the Central Government’s Sangeet Natak Akademi award. That very evening, the Sri Ram Samaj of West Mambalam, Chennai, whose Rama Navami concert series was in progress, organised a felicitation function. R.M. Seshadri, ICS (Retd.) presided and Mani Iyer gave a concert. The Hindu reported this on April 3. On April 17, the Tyagabrahma Gana Sabha, Chennai, organised a function at Vani Mahal. With Chittoor V. Nagiah welcoming the guests, the event was presided over by Justice M. Ananthanarayanan, ICS. Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer spoke in praise of Mani Iyer. It was a throwback to the past, for several years earlier, when the citizens of Thanjavur had banded together to confer the title of ‘Gana Kala Dhara’ on Mani Iyer, it was Ananthanarayanan who had presided and Viswanatha Iyer who had felicitated the awardee.

Many more events, in other cities and towns were to follow, all of which were graced by the maestro. His speeches were brief and he preferred to express his thanks through the language he knew best – that of music. Aarabhi was bang on target when he/she wrote presciently “the sweetness of his sincere music should continue to please us for many more years to come.”

This article was published under the Encore column of The Hindu dated 26th October 2012

The passing of Veena Dhanam

I wrote this article in 2005. For some reason I never put it up on the blog. It originally appeared in The Hindu as part of the Encore series.

“A visit to Veena Dhanam — the unfortunate woman is dying,” reads the entry dated August 21, 1938, in N. D. Varadachariar’s diary. Dhanammal, despite her condition, had shifted to granddaughter Balasaraswathi’s residence at Aravamudan Gardens in Egmore a few days earlier. On September 18, NDV writes of her rallying around and playing ragas Nattakuranji and Paras on her veena. She strained herself considerably during the Navaratri celebrations that year in connection with daughter Jayammal’s Dhanam School of Music in Egmore which began on Vijayadasami day. Dhanammal was laid up immediately after the event.

The family began a continuous round of singing in order to ease her passing. Regaining consciousness briefly, she asked for her veena and when it was placed next to her, embraced it, stating that it was the only thing she regretted being parted from. Her last words were “Muvva Gopala.” That was the signature of Kshetragna whose padams she had made immortal. It was found that her fingers searched for the veena till she passed away in the early hours of Saturday, October 15, 1938.

“Great Musician Passes” was the headline in The Hindu. Tracing her musical ancestry with forebears having learnt music from Subbaraya Sastry, son of Syama Sastry, the article also traced her own development through “training under Sattanur Panju Iyer” and her enlarging of “the knowledge she so obtained by association with musical celebrities of the rank of Dharmapuri Subbarayar, Ettayapuram Subbarama Dikshitar and Tirukkodikaval Krishna Iyer.” The article stated that “more than anything else, her own native instinct for the beautiful and the grand in music contributed to the distinctness of her style.”

There were tributes from several artistes and admirers such as Ariyakkudi Ramanuja Iyengar, Alamelu Jayarama Iyer, T. L. Venkatarama Iyer and K. V. Krishnaswami Iyer, then President of the Music Academy. Though it is not mentioned, The Hindu’s Editor, Kasturi Srinivasan, was on the spot, organising the funeral where he and T. T. Krishnamachari acted as pall-bearers for a short distance.

N. D. Varadachariar wrote in his diary that day that “a greater loss never befell arts in decades and perhaps, she will not have her peer for years and years.” Later, he was to write that he could not appreciate any other school of music.

More tributes came in on October 17 from C. Saraswathi Bai and Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer. On October 18, The Hindu reported that the Madras University Music Students Association held a meeting led by Prof. P. Sambamoorthi to mourn Dhanammal’s demise. On the same day, the Sri Tyagaraja Sangeetha Nilayam, Perambur, passed a resolution “expressing sorrow at the death of Srimati Veena Dhanam Ammal.”

The Indian Fine Arts Society stopped its music performance midway on October 18 to mourn the passing of Dhanammal. The family of V. Perumal Chetty, which ran the Society, had many admirers of her style.

The Annamalai University Music Students Association under the leadership of `Tiger’ Varadachariar, then the Head of the Department of Music, held a meeting to condole the death on October 23. `Tiger,’ who was a close friend and admirer, spoke at length on her music.

On October 25, The Hindu reported that a condolence meeting was held on the October 24 under the auspices of the Tyaga Brahma Bhakta Jana Sabha at 20, Ekambreswarar Agraharam, Park Town, with Ariyakkudi presiding. Among those who spoke was Bangalore Nagarathnammal, Dhanammal’s illustrious contemporary and friend. She and Dhanammal had fought shoulder to shoulder during the Anti Nautch crisis and in her speech she said that Dhanammal had “left an indelible impression in the minds of music lovers of South India.” It was proposed at this meeting that the anniversary of Dhanammal be celebrated each year and that monthly concerts be held in her memory.

On October 25, the Benares correspondent of The Hindu wired that “the ashes of Veena Dhanam were dissolved in the holy Ganges at Kasi in the presence of her admirers.” The old lady had once expressed a desire to bathe in the Ganges according to her confidante R. Rangaramanuja Iyengar. This was fulfilled in spirit by this act.

Reports of meetings held in her memory continued to come in from various towns till the end of October.

On November 3, the Music Academy organised a meeting in her memory at the Senate House with C. Rajagopalachari, then the Premier of Madras, in the chair. It was resolved that a memorial be constructed for her. The scheme remained on paper. A booklet compiling all the tributes from The Hindu was released on the occasion, which concluded with a concert by all the Dhanam granddaughters.

Today Dhanammal is a mere memory whose greatness is remembered more in anecdote than in fact. The reports following her death show what a legend she was in her own lifetime.

Review of the MCCI book

Championing Enterprise, 175 years of the Madras Chamber of Commerce and Industry was reviewed yesterday in The Hindu -http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-business/article3248981.ece

Remembering Madras Lalithangi

MLV has always been my favourite Carnatic musician and as for her mother, what she did for Purandara Dasa songs deserves to be recollected time and again. In many ways, Lalithangi remains one of my favourite characters and at least three who knew her – S Rajam, Sulochana Pattabhiraman and Padma Varadan, have vouched for her golden-hearted nature. This article was published in The Hindu in 2006. The original print version had a picture of Lalithangi and Vasanthakumari together. By a cruel irony, the obituary of Srividya appeared on the opposite page and the three- grandmother, mother and daughter, were featured next to each other. Strange are the ways of providence.
http://www.hindu.com/fr/2006/10/20/stories/2006102000060300.htm

Remembering Alathur Srinivasa Iyer

My tribute to this musician whose centenary was on 21st January, appeared in The Hindu – http://www.thehindu.com/arts/music/article2923799.ece

This year (2012) is a year of Carnatic centenaries. One of these is that of Alathur Srinivasa Iyer, the elder among the two musicians who teamed up as the Alathur Brothers. His birth centenary happened to fall January 21, and perhaps it is entirely in keeping with his self-effacing personality that it passed unnoticed.

Srinivasa Iyer was born to Angarai Sankara Sroudigal and Lakshmi Ammal at Ariyalur village as one of 12 siblings. His younger brother A.S. Panchapakesa Iyer was to make his name in music too, as a teacher and publisher of numerous primers.

At a young age, Srinivasan was apprenticed under the multi-faceted and irascible Alathur Venkatesa Iyer, where he teamed up in training with the guru’s talented son, Sivasubramaniam (born 1916). In time, Srinivasan was to emerge as Venkatesa Iyer’s favourite disciple, by no means an easy task, for, his teaching standards were known to be exacting to put it mildly.

The famous male duo

As per the guru’s wishes, the two teamed up as the Alathur Brothers and became the most well-known male duo in Carnatic music, the distaff honours being taken by Brinda-Muktha. Of the two, Sivasubramaniam or Subbier was the more outgoing and effervescent personality. Celebrated for his acerbic tongue, stories abound about him — his battle against establishmentarianism, his legendary friendship with some musicians, his run-ins with others and his up-down-and-up again relationship with Palani Subramania Pillai. It was Srinivasa Iyer who brought about balance and continuity in relationships.

Given their contrasting natures, it was a wonder that they performed together at all. But as veteran critic K.S. Mahadevan wrote, “The understanding between them was total.” On stage too, it was Subbier who dominated, as he had a more powerful voice. But such was the sense of proportion in the performances that Srinivasa Iyer stood out too. Perhaps the best analysis of his share of the music was penned by NMN, The Hindu’s critic, when Srinivasa Iyer passed away on October 9, 1980, in Tiruchi. Titled Assertive Vidwat with Small Voice, it was published on October 17. And here is what NMN had to say:

“The hefty voice of Subbu and the thin voice of Srinivasa Aiyar made a fine blend. Though small-voiced Srinivasa Aiyar was far from the junior partner and invariably took charge of ragas like Nayaki. Kannada and Devagandhari which call more for sensitivity in interpretation than strength while the virile-toned Subbu naturally took over ‘gana’ ragas like Thodi, Sankarabaranam and Khambodi. In technical exposition, Srinivasa Aiyar’s neraval skill was particularly sharp and striking…

In his music, Srinivasa Aiyar at times revealed how the small voice can even get thinner and acquire a new dimension of clarity and serene communicative force. This was possible on account of his deep involvement in the sruthi.

His repertoire was vast and comprised many compositions of the masters. His laya vyavahara discipline was ever well within the confines of the dignity of classical music. Many are the moments to remember that Srinivasa Aiyar has provided in the course of his illustrious concert career. An unforgettable alapana of Harikhambodi at the Mylapore Fine Arts Club and an excellent rendition of the less known Durbar kriti of Tyagaraja, ‘Endhunti Vedalithivo,’ sung at the Srinivasa Sastri Hall are pieces of music which this writer particularly cherishes.”

The passing away of Subbier in the prime of his life in 1965 was a great shock to Srinivasa Iyer and he refused all performance invitations for a considerable period of time. When he received the Sangita Kalanidhi from The Music Academy, he penned an article for the institution’s souvenir in which he expressed his sense of loss. It was left to close friend and another of the 2012 centenarians – Palghat Mani Iyer, to gradually convince him to return to the concert platform. It was at one of Srinivasa Iyer’s early solo concerts in Bombay that Mani Iyer famously launched into a tirade against mikes, espousing mike-less concerts thereafter. Though the ‘Brothers’ magic was absent, the talent of Srinivasa Iyer came to the fore in his solo performances. As K.S. Mahadevan wrote in his Musings on Music and Musicians, “…he maintained his reputation for shuddha patanthara of kritis as well as complex laya patterns in pallavi etc.”

It was left to Mani Iyer to add his voice to the chorus of tributes that came in when Srinivasa Iyer passed away. The end came a day or two before they were to perform together at the Navaratri Mandapam in Thiruvananthapuram. NMN was to remark that Mani Iyer would sorely miss Srinivasa Iyer.

Nine years later, an admirer was to recall in a letter to The Hindu that Srinivasa Iyer’s Natakurinji remained unsurpassed. Such is the stuff of great legends.

The origins of the Sri Ramakrishna Math in Madras

I wrote this article for The Hindu to coincide with the 175th birth anniversary of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa.

When Swami Vivekananda returned from his US trip in 1897, he was given a tumultuous welcome in this city. After all, the citizens of Madras had been at the forefront of organizing his overseas tour. When he left Madras after nine days, it was with a promise to send a fellow disciple of his guru Sri Ramakrishna, to be entrusted with the task of continuing his work in the city. This was Shashi Bhushan Chakravarty or Swami Ramakrishnananda. Madras was to refer to him as Sashi Maharaj. He was first housed for a short while at Flora Cottage, a bungalow no longer in existence, on Ice House Road in Triplicane. It was there that he first enshrined a photograph of Sri Ramakrishna, signaling the commencement of the Math.

The Ice House or Castle Kernan as it was then known, was the residence of Bilagiri Iyengar, a lawyer and ardent devotee of Swami Vivekananda. And it was at his invitation that the latter had made Ice House his place of stay when he visited Madras. Iyengar offered the ground floor to the Math and Sashi Maharaj moved in, in 1897. When Iyengar died in 1906, the house had to be auctioned and the Math moved out.

That year, a small piece of land on what was then Brodie’s Road, was gifted to the Math by Akul Kondiah Chettiar. With the foundation being laid by Swami Abhedananda, one of Sri Ramakrishna’s disciples, the building, was ready for occupation 1907. This was demolished in 1917 to make way for a two-storeyed edifice that is still preserved and used.

An interesting visitor in the early years was a Western disciple of Swami Vivekananda’s — Laura Glenn. Named Sister Devamata when she joined the Order, she stayed in Mylapore in 1910 and left behind a fascinating account of life in the area then in a book titled Days in an Indian Monastery. Among other things, she describes the annual festival of the Kapaleeswarar temple with Sashi Maharaj pulling the holy car or Ther. The birth anniversaries of Sri Ramakrishna and later, of Swami Vivekananda, have been occasions for mass public feeding at the Math. Sister Devamata writes of one such event in 1909, when about 5,000 people were fed at the Tanneer Turai Market (recently demolished).

Sashi Maharaj began the publication department of the Math in 1908. Today that is a busy bookstore selling several of the Math’s titles.

Over time, the Math became such a landmark that the road itself changed its name to become RK Math Road. Dwarfing both the old Math building and the publications division is the Universal Temple, completed in 2000.

What is heartening is the way the old and the new co-exist in the campus. The heritage structures are tended to with the same care as the new buildings. That is a principle that the rest of the city would do well to follow.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/article2921100.ece

Adieu to Balu

In the passing of KV Balu, or Hindu Balu as he was better known, the world has firstly lost a wonderful human being. That is the most irreplaceable loss. Among the many who will feel his absence will be the Music Academy of which he was Committee Member for years. He will be missed by his family and of course friends like me.

I got to know Balu as the man who would wear a Mysore Maharajah-like turban on the inaugural day of the Music Academy season each year. I was introduced by someone to him and we became friends. But that was the way it was with Balu, everybody who made his acquaintance became his friend. He kept in touch, got to know your family members and bound himself to your heart with hoops of steel as I believe the expression is. He was a man of limitless cheer and that kept getting him more friends. You never caught Balu grumbling about money, power failures, traffic jams, garbage, corruption or even health problems. He remained smiling through it all and preferred to look at the positive.

As I got to know more of him, I came to realise that he was a legend by himself in the world of advertising. Everyone knew Balu. It was said of him that when he was in service, the advertising department in The Hindu had to just whisper to him that a certain space would be empty weeks from now and he would ensure that it was filled with an ad. A phone call from Balu to some top industrialist would do they would say. It was no wonder that he was sent to Bombay by the newspaper and he spent several years there, making it known that it paid to advertise in it. And when colour was introduced in the paper, he brought in many advertisements as well. Balu for his part, never spoke of all this. He attributed everything that he had learnt in the business to G Narasimhan, father of N Ram, N Murali and N Ravi. Each year, on GN’s date of passing, Balu would at his own expense, publish a photo of the former in the paper, by way of his tribute. Balu cherished his Hindu years and kept with him an album that contained all his precious memories of his time with the paper. This included his appointment letter as well.

In the Music Academy, Balu was to fulfill a similar role. He was responsible for getting the souvenir filled up with advertisements, year after year. And once again he would use his contacts for it, in his gracious, non-pushy way. But my favourite memories of him at the MA are two- Firstly, he was the prime-mover in getting the MA to perform a Ganapathy Homam each year before the season. This was after the MA emerged from its court cases in 2005. He would organise the homam and be there much before everyone on the morning in which it was conducted. Secondly, he would ensure that right through the Season, all the volunteers had had their food and several times feed them at his own expense. The same affection extended to the boy scouts and the staff who took care of the services – the toilets, the back stage, the corridors – matters that the usual concert-goer takes for granted. He believed that keeping the staff and volunteers happy made the MA a happy place. There was another aspect to Balu – he never lobbied for getting his relatives concert slots at the MA. And there was never any dearth of talented people in his family.

Navaratri at Balu’s house was always special. With wife Vijaya taking pains to put up a spectacular display of dolls, some several years old. When he asked me to attend it one year, I was most reluctant and said that it was a ladies function. “Nee vaayya,” he said. “The snacks will be good. Anyway your wife is invited and so what does it cost you to also come?” I went and found that kolus in his house were some kind of high point in the social calendar. I can never forget one year when Vijay Siva had also come. At Balu’s request he agreed to sing and I then made bold to ask him to sing Dikshitar’s paradEvata. It was a wonderful experience. Immediately after Vijay left, we had Balu’s sister and brother-in-law, Charumati and Trichur V Ramachandran singing viruttams from Narayaneeyam, followed by a song on Krishna.

For me, the 2011 Season at the MA did not have its usual gaiety because Balu was absent, fighting his last battle valiantly. The end came on the 18th of January. Adieu Balu! I know you will expect us to keep smiling, but it is not all that easy as you made it appear my friend.

A talk on Sabhas and Society Mamas

I gave this talk at the Namma Chennai event organised by The Hindu and Park Sheraton. The Hindu report – http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/metroplus/article2749628.ece

The early Sabhas of the city

Beginning last week, I have been making some podcasts over the The Hindu’s website. The first of these was put up a couple of days back. Here is the link -http://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/archive/00860/Rough_and_ready_hom_860952a.mp3

Battling over the pallavi

A story of how several musicologists, amateur and otherwise, fought over ragam tanam pallavi in 1929
http://www.thehindu.com/arts/music/article2698075.ece