Music And Movies

We have looked at MS's handling of great krithis in two major ragas, Todi and Khambhoji. In this part, we will look at MS's handling of a Tyagaraja krithi in the raga Shankarabaranam. The krithi is the excellent 'emi neramu," which we unfortunately don't hear much. (It is not a recent phenomenon. I have not heard it in concerts over the last few decades, at least.) Once again, the choice of the kalapramanam is in keeping with the majestic structure of the song and the raga, Sankarabharanam, that shines when sung at a slow pace. The words are wonderful, and I want you to observe how she phrases the sentences. The phrasings in this song are a delight, both in the anupallavi and the charanam.  The way Tyagaraja sets up the charnam shows us what a great 'vaggeyakara' he was. The 'vaak' (words) and the 'geya' (music) merge perfectly. The words fit perfectly into the rhythm, and how they are phrased makes life easy for the singer and the percussio...

In this article, we will again look at a grand krithi replete with challenging sangathis and an innumerable number of them.  Just like 'O Rangasayee' that we heard in the last part, this song too is built brick by brick, sangathi by sangathi, and slowly revealing the grandeur of one of Carnatic music's majestic ragas: the mighty Todi. We must observe that the sangatis, especially in the anupallavi, can enthuse the musicians to such an extent that they would go over the top, and sometimes the music tends towards cacophony, with the violinist, mridangist and if present, the upa paaka vadhiyam like ghatam or kanjeera joining the din. Given the structure of the sangatis, which demand a lot from your voice and are crowd-pleasing in their construction, it is no wonder we get to hear some excess in this krithi.  In this rendition of MS, we hear more than just the voice control and precision we seek from her; we also hear her aesthetic decisions. There is a sense of quietude even i...

In this second article of this series, we once again look at a Khambhoji kriti of Tyagaraja. Tyagaraja visited Srirangam on his way to Madras and stayed at Srirangam for some time. During that time he composed five krithis on the Lord of Srirangam, collectively called the Sriranga Pancaratnam. The krithis are: O Ranga Sayee (Khambhoji), 'Vinarada Na Manavi' (Devagandhari), 'Chootamu Rare' (Aarabhi), 'Raju Vedale' (Todi) and 'Karunachoodavayya' (Saranga). The grandest of these is 'O Rangasayee' whose majesty towers as high as the gopuram of Rangan.  MS chooses a languid pace that enhances the majesty of the krithi. Observe the perfection of the sangatis in the pallavi. The sangatis are built so grandly, brick by brick, initially simple, slowly adding complexity before demanding great breath control to execute them. Observe the jaaru sangatis at 'raa raadha,' starting deep down and climbing smoothly like an eagle gliding up. The breath cont...

  In this series of articles, the regularity of which I cannot guarantee, I wish to try to present some great krithis sung by MS, as well as the neravals done by her and give my opinions of these aspects of her music. I say 'opinions' and not 'analyze' because analysing implies that I am an expert and understand the technicalities of music, which is not the case. So, whenever there is a need for a technical analysis, I borrow the thoughts of my friends who are well-versed in music. My approach will be that of a rasika, may I dare say a 'serious' rasika, for I shall not highlight the oft-heard and loved by all pieces of MS and concentrate on pieces where I think she had done a great job and that needs to be heard and appreciated by more people. I kickstart this series with a mammoth krithi of Veena Kuppier, 'koniyadina napai,' in Khambhoji. This is a grand krithi, where sangathi follows sangathi in building a grand edifice. Long back, I attended a concert...