Ideas Unfolding.....

Unfolding Bud

One is amazed
By a water-lily bud
Unfolding
With each passing day,
Taking on a richer color
And new dimensions.

One is not amazed,
At first glance,
By a poem,
Which is tight-closed
As a tiny bud.

Yet one is surprised
To see the poem
Gradually unfolding,
Revealing its rich inner self
As one reads it
Again and over again.

- By Naoshi Koriyama

"Unfolding Bud" by Naoshi Koriyama is a beautiful poem, which though looks simple, has a lot of in-depth meaning.

I was teaching my son this poem yesterday and the verses set me thinking.....And here I am, expressing my thoughts on it...

The transformation of a water-lily bud into a magnificent, beautiful flower is a gradual process and a process through which, the blooming flower gains more vibrant colors and newer dimensions as it grows, with each passing day.

Here the poet compares the unfolding of the bud with one's understanding of a poem. Just as a tiny bud remains tightly closed, when one reads a poem for the first time, it sounds dull and uninteresting. But with each passing day, through repeated reading of the poem, the inner beauty of the poem unravels itself beautifully and expresses itself beautifully one fine day...

Well, I now proceed to extend this analogy to classical music too...

I think it holds good for both a performer and a listener. When one sings/listens to a particular composition or a raga for the first time, the true meaning might not reveal itself fully. For a performer, continuous practice of the same phrases or the same song adds a lot of color, meaning and dimensions to it. This is how the beautiful process of internalization happens. As a listener, repeated listening never results in boredom. On the contrary, each time one listens to the same music, a fresh dimension, a fresh meaning, a fresh interpretation opens up in one's mind. This is when we realize that each one of us is endowed with a unique degree of creativity ! And this makes us realize how blessed each one of us is !  

While constant innovation of some kind is necessary, every artist believes in this concept of "repeated renderings" of a particular raga or composition. We try and make it "our own" and the more we sing the same kriti in, say, raga Kalyani or Bhairavi, the more bhava or "feeling" we are able to portray through the music. New dimensions of the raga unfold each time and the experience is total bliss.   



“Inner peace is impossible without patience. Wisdom requires patience. Spiritual growth implies the mastery of patience. Patience allows the unfolding of destiny to proceed at its own unhurried pace.”
― Brian L. Weiss, Muchas Vidas, Muchos Maestros


Another important virtue that one needs, in order to be able to appreciate and understand the "unfolding of a bud" or "unfolding of a piece of music" is patience. The things in Nature and our own spiritual nature are so beautifully linked...And once we start understanding and appreciating this vital link, life becomes more beautiful and creativity becomes unlimited..

So, let's all start looking at things around us with more care, with more awareness and let us try and achieve that inner peace through the virtue of patience and awakening of the mind..


 

Chennai Margazhi Music Season 2013

Posts and updates here have been pending for a long time, starting from Episode 10 of Myriad Forms of Lord Shiva till my concert on the 31st of December at Madurai.

Before I proceed with those updates, I thought I would write about the concerts of other colleagues of mine that I managed to attend during the December Music Season.

Amidst my own concert schedule, I attended concerts of Ranjani-Gayatri (at Narada Gana Sabha), Sanjay (at Krishna Gana Sabha), Gayathri Venkataraghavan (at Mylapore Fine Arts) and two of Abhishek's (at Music Academy and at Bharat Kalachar). Each one of them was wonderful. It always gives me great pleasure to listen to different styles and to different artists, who have worked really hard, to be what they are today.

The review in today's Hindu Friday review (3rd Jan 2014) of Abhishek Raghuram's concert at the Music Academy has prompted me to write this now:

Abhishek is an artiste with extraordinary prowess and talent. A genius. His presentations always have an astounding amount of freshness and uniqueness in approach (this is one of the reasons why I try and attend as many concerts of his that I can) and I have also written an earlier post here in December 2012 about his NGS concert.

• I can firmly say that there was no ambiguity in the simhendramadhyamam that he sang that day at the Music Academy.
• His immense virtuosity needs to be first understood. Remarks made in the review are in poor taste.
• The kamAs AlApanA was definitely neither dragging nor repetitive. Hats off to him for the rAgamalikA swarAs that he presented - it is not easy to sing like that- I can vouch for it !
• Mysore Srikanth- one of the most wonderful violinists that I have known. Has accompanied me in more than 100 concerts and I know from personal experience that he is very quick in responses, be it in a rAga AlApanA phrase or mathematical patterns and kanakkus that we sing. That he is one of the most sought-after violinists says it all !!
• This kind of a review gives a very different picture of the entire concert for people who have not attended.
• Reviews have to be more balanced and just - be it accolades or brickbats.

Finally, I truly believe that Abhishek Raghuram has richly deserved the Yogam Nagaswamy Award that he has got in December 2013, which is the highest honor that the Music Academy bestows on an artist in the senior category.

Studio Recordings

Yesterday was one of those hectic days for me at a studio, finishing a CD recording of mine.

There are two reasons for writing this short note now:

Yesterday I actually wanted to write about the studio experiences as soon as I got home from studio,but then it was 7.30 p.m when I got home and after dinner, kids were ready with their Scrabble and Monopoly games and I had to settle down with them for a few games of Monopoly :-). Hence I decided to pen it down now.

And then, it was such a coincidence when I saw Haritha's comment last evening regarding a recording of mine. (You can see this comment at the end of my previous post). This prompted me even more,to write it now.

Wearing headphones and singing in a studio, with the air conditioners and fans switched off is no fun !

And that's not all..On some days, we would go all the way to the studio and the engineer would say that the voice is not up to the mark, or sometimes the dynamics in the voice would be slightly different and hence the recording would actually not take place.

Enunciation of lyrics again has to be tactfully done over the studio mikes which are really powerful. Particularly for a person like me who is always cautious about the "Pha"'s, "Bha"'s, "Tha"'s, to sing these syllables with just the right amount of accent and emphasis is indeed a challenge :-)

An entire day at the studio, trying to get all the audio levels right and aiming for 100% musical perfection can really be physically tiring.

But...

After all the hard work and the long days of work at studio as mentioned above, when the artist listens to the final product, the satisfaction that the artist gets is something overwhelming.

More importantly, when listeners enjoy the music, when our music brings happiness and makes others forget their worries, the feeling of contentment to the artist is something very special.

This is the greatest reward that an artist could get, for all the hard work, for the heart and soul put into music !

God's Little Creations

While travelling by Shatabdi Express yesterday to Bangalore for a concert at BTM Cultural Academy, I saw a differently-abled child travelling with her mother. Immediately,my thoughts went back to a cultural program that I had attended as one of the Chief Guests, about two years back.

This cultural show had children aged between 3 and 10 participating in it. All these children were orphans. As I watched them perform beautifully on stage, my eyes were moist with tears- it pained when one realized that these tiny-tots had no one to call "their own".

Looking at these children, I wondered what kind of turbulent thoughts would have been going on in these innocent minds. They would have definitely missed having their "near and dear ones" there.

I was pained by the fact that these innocent children had been deserted at birth,for no fault of theirs and wondered why some peoples' destinies are carved out in such a manner.

I express my heart-felt appreciation for voluntary organizations like Udavum Karangal, and many others, which have been doing wonderful service by taking care of these "less-fortunate" children.

Other organizations like the "Banyan","Vishranthi" also deserve mention here for the care they take towards destitute women and senior citizens deserted by their families. At this point I am also reminded of "Nivedita House", started as a wing of "Udayan", a voluntary organization started to help children whose parents are affected by leprosy. Australian Cricketer Steve Waugh has written in a wonderful manner in his autobiography "Out of my comfort zone", about Niveditha House and Udayan.

Let us all extend our co-operation towards these voluntary organizations and help the needy children in whatever little way we can. Monetary help can always come in, through grants and sponsorships. But, the emotional care and affection that these children need- lets give it to them in plenty and make our lives more meaningful by such good deeds :-)

Let us bring happiness into the lives of God's "Little Creations".

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!!

Yet another year has drawn to a close and what a tumultuous year it has been! If the economic meltdown wasn't bad enough, Indian pride and our sense of security was deeply dented by a bunch of terrorists , who I believe have inadvertently brought us closer to each other as a nation. The eternal optimist that I am - I feel the worst is over for us and that 2009 is going to dawn on us in a bright and beautiful manner. As artistes, we also have a strong role to play- in healing the troubled and disturbed minds, as also in trying to bring families and communities together.

I'm going with Barack Obama's Presidential campaign mantra - "YES WE CAN!" Yes, my friends, I know we can have a great year, we can and will overcome hurdles and stumbling blocks, we can make our country and all its lively citizens happy, healthy and prosperous.

So, here's wishing you all unbounded joy, and from me personally, a promise that I will earnestly try to regale all my listeners with good classical music!

HAPPY NEW YEAR.......

A Day Usefully Spent...

How does one feel at the end of a fruitful day?

As far as I am concerned, such a day leaves me exhilarated. Makes me more energetic, more happy ( I will be extra careful before I use the word "satisfied" - after what I heard from Sachin Tendulkar the other day on TV !!). My conscience is clear that I have made good use of the day.

I had a good music practice session today, polishing some old Krithis and learning a new one. Surprisingly, interruptions in the form of doorbell ringing and phone ringing were minimal today, which was a big relief :-). Singing a song or a phrase again and again helps very much. When an artist feels that he/she has internalized the song by repeated singing, the pleasure derived out of it is something very unique and cannot be described in words. It has to be felt. I strongly believe that each song that we present on stage should produce this effect.

I firmly believe in hard work and look forward to many more days of hard work in my chosen field..

With a hope that tomorrow will be as fruitful (or even more!) as today, I sign off now.

Good night !!

Calling the Youth...

Dear Music Lovers,

I am introducing this new section primarily to raise a few pertinent and poignant questions regarding the growth and the future of Carnatic Music.

While there is no gainsaying that there are many youngsters taking to Carnatic Music in a big way, my query is - are they serious enough and\or can they stay away from the strong influence of the lighter versions of music which could bring them instant fame and lucre?

With music becoming more and more of a visual medium these days, serious Carnatic Music is getting relegated to a handful of its faithful audience.

However I am an optimist and am hopeful that things will turn around and also that youngsters will learn to understand and appreciate the depth, range and the varieties that Carnatic Music has to offer.

Suggestions, ideas and views regarding this are welcome.

Looking forward to your comments,