A tribute to the great singer, Neyyattinkara Vasudevan

Photo acknowledgment::
www.sreevalsanmenon.com/images/pages/sree12.html

One evening in 1988 I was sitting on the terrace when my wife Annie called me and said, ‘There is someone singing on the TV. He’s even better than (she gave the name of a famous singer)’

I rushed to the TV and learned that the performer was Neyyattinkara Vasudevan. I had not heard that name before obviously because of my limited contact with Carnatic music. But from that day onwards I never missed an opportunity to listen to the divinely gifted singer.

There were a couple of movies with the story line of a singer from a backward community scaling great heights in Carnatic music and the problems he had to face. Perhaps it was Neyyatinkara Vasudevan that the script writers had in mind.

Vasudevan was born in 1940 at Neyyatinkara, Trivandrum District. His father was a daily wage worker, but had an immense love for music which the son inherited. After the boy finished school he was sent to the Swathi Thirunal Music College in Trivandrum. He was fortunate to have a set of eminent teachers headed by the great Semmangudi Sreenivasa Iyer.

After passing Ganabhushanam and Sangeetha Vidwan, Vasudevan had training under Ramnad Krishnan in Chennai. Then the student became guru. He joined the teaching staff of RLV College of Music in Tripunithura. Many of his disciples are famous musicians today.

Vasudevan was with Akashvani for twenty-five years. He gave many performances in different parts of the world. Several honors were bestowed upon him. These included Padmasree (2004).

But I would consider Neyyattinkara Vasudevan becoming the first non-Brahmin to give a concert at the Navarathri Mandapam in Trivandrum is of special significance.

Neyyattinkara Vasudevan will not sing again. At the age of 68, he passed away yesterday afternoon at Trivandrum. His immortal music will of course live on.

Ends.

For more details on Neyyattinkara Vasudevan, please see the website of Sreevalsan J. Menon, one of his eminent disciples:

http://www.sreevalsanmenon.com/neyyatinkara.html

Also see: M.S. Subbalakshni – The Queen of Song

M.S. Subbalakshmi – The Queen of Song

Music moves earthlings and the gods. It reaches the pinnacle when there is a combination of talent, learning and commitment.

Technical perfection alone can sometimes be boring. But when knowledge of music is combined with the personality of a singer like MS Subbalakshmi (popularly known as ‘MS’), lyrics take wings, compositions become sublime and listeners are carried to ecstasy.

Here the word ‘personality’ is used in its wider meaning. It involves devotion, voice, clarity of pronunciation, capacity to carry pitches which lesser mortals falter at, application, and beauty. MS had all these and more.

There was hard work as well. Born in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, on September 16, 1916, MS grew up near the Meenakshi Temple to the sound of music. By the time she finished the basics, her guru, Madurai Srinivasa Iyengar passed away, but the sad event did not deter her. She went on to learn, under different teachers, Hindustani classical, Rabindra Sangeeth, bhajans and other areas of music.

Since the time she cut her first record at the age of ten, MS did not look back. Hers was a life devoted to music, except for a short stint in cinema that she combined with her singing. Her ‘Meera’, released in Tamil and Hindi, was a runaway success.

MS gave concerts before distinguished audiences in different parts of the world. She sang not only in Kannada which was her mother tongue but also in Tamil, Telungu, Malayalam, Hindi, Gujarati, Bengali and Sanskrit. She was bestowed with many honors. These included Bharat Ratna. MS was the first musician to receive that distinction. Pandit Nehru is reported to have said about her “Who am I, a mere prime minister, before the Queen of Song?”

MS Subbalakshmi, the nightingale, died at the age of 88. For downloading her songs, visit Downloads of M.S.Subbalakshmi's songs

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Photo: Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain

Also see: Dances for the gods.

Jaltarang

While looking through my files I came across this photo, which immediately reminded me of an evening two years back at Dakshinchitra on ECR, Chennai. I was attending the Founding Day celebrations of ABL Biotechnologies Ltd., a fast developing bio-tech company. The focal point of the function was the enthralling jaltarang performance by the lady in the photo.

Who is she? Unfortunately I don’t remember her name. Is she Seethalakshmi Doraiswamy, the octogenarian who is one of the great exponents of jaltarang? (You can read a splendid article on ‘Seetha mami’ by Hema Vijay titled ‘’And The Granny Goes To…" at http://www.boloji.com/wfs5/wfs852.htm) I plan to check with ABL Biotechnologies (must congratulate them for including such a program for their annual function) for her name, but don’t have the patience to wait till the answer comes, to post this.

Jaltarang means water waves or waves of the water. Perhaps ‘song of the waves’ would be a more appropriate translation. It is music produced by tapping China bowls (usually), filled with water to different levels, with wooden mallets to produce heavenly notes. The bowls are of different sizes. Lower octaves are produced by the larger cups and the higher octaves by the smaller ones. The tuning is done by adjusting the level of water in the bowls.

I wonder if the specific gravity of the water that is used makes a difference to the sound. Perhaps it does. For instance, a bowl filled with salt water could produce a note different from the one that has potable water. I suppose that it can be corrected by adjusting the level. Will those readers who know these things kindly share the information with others either through comments on this post or by email to me?

How many cups are used in jaltarang? It seems that the complete set is considered to be 22. But some artistes use lesser number, say 14, or 16. I suppose that each performer finds an ensemble that is best suited for him.

Jaltarang is ancient. It is mentioned in old Indian, Byzantine and Greek texts. According to Vatsyayan’s Kamasutra playing this instrument is one of the sixty-four skills a woman should acquire. It is also mentioned that Alexander the Great took jaltarang players from India to Macedonia in 4thc B.C.

The music of jaltarang is divine. Nevertheless, it has become rare these days. In fact, it was after a long time that I had a chance to listen to jaltarang at the ABL Technologies function.

Why is this instrument fading away? Historically, a language or a system dies when it becomes incapable of absorbing new developments. Is that happening to jaltarang? I am not competent to judge. Perhaps some of the readers can enlighten us.

Ends.

Photo acknowledgement: ABL Biotechnologies Ltd. Click on image for enlarged view.

Also see: Dances for the gods.