Music And Movies

  We will continue on MS's amazing neravals. Today, we take the Saveri krithi of Mysore Sadasiva Rao, 'sree kamakoti peetasthithe.' MS takes up the line, 'kadamba vana nilaye, amba, kanjalochane bhavani.' Initially, she repeats the lines a few times before launching into the neraval. The very start of the neraval is captivating, with MS stretching some syllables, shortening some, and of course, the emotion she puts on the word, 'amba.' The gradual exploration of the raga in the higher reaches heightens the bhava aspect without falling into sentimentality. As a friend of mine remarked, "Her voice has a divine resonance," which is clearly seen in this neraval. Even though the neraval is not as long as you would hear in concerts, it is amazingly effective. This is because MS brings into play all her skills while singing neravals: brilliant tone of the voice, ability of her voice to reach for the skies, her skill at creating tension, sustaining and the...

(Ustad Abdul Karim Khan) We saw earlier in this series how Gurudev Tagore was inspired by Muthuswamy Dikshtar and composed a song based on Dikshitar's "meenakshi me mudham dehi". One more great personality from North, Ustad Abdul Karim Khan was also so enamoured by Carnatic music that he learnt and recorded a few krithis!! You will understand why this is something unique if you know about Ustad Abdul Karim Khan. He was a great musician and was, what the Hindustani people call, the 'khalifa' of Kirana Garana. You can understand the impact his style had on Hindustani music by looking at the 'shisya parampara' of his gharana. Sawai Gandharva, Hirabai Barodekar, Bhimsen Joshi, Gangubhai Hangal, Sureshbabu Mane, Basavaraj Rajguru. All of whom were top class and influential musicians. Abdul Karim Khan was a revered musician of those times and it is indeed surprising to know that such a man took pains to learn and render krithis in a musical form which was qui...