BOMBAY S JAYASHRI

15, Cresent Avenue, Kesavapuram
Chennai 600 028. Tel: +44-42158609


Bombay Jayashri has the uncanny ability to produce a tranquilizing effect on the listeners. Her album titled Salokyam (Hindustani classical) is delightful for the sheer calm it brings to the minds of listeners. She has picked some nice songs.



The album comprises compositions of Mirabai, Jayadeva and a few others. Salokyam is a Sanskrit word. It means the realm of God (Vishnu).
Jayashri has brought her prowess in Hindustani music in this album.



Percussion artistes Mithilesh Kumar Jha and Sai Shravanam have accompanied her on Tabala. In this album, she sings “Jagadeesha Sudheesha” in Hamir Kalyani. It is the right kind of an invocation song with good lyrics “Jagadeesha Sudeesha Bhavesha Vibho,” lavishing it with her melodious voice. One is tempted to rewind the CD to hear it once more.



A composition of Jayadeva’s Astapadi “Ehi Murare” in Rag Natbhairav is rendered with fineness. Senior Hindustani vocalist Lakshmi Shankar is adept at presenting such compositions. This is a Gopika Biraha geetham.They shout to Lord Krishna, when HE is not found anywhere. Jayashri renders this with involvement. She nourishes the kriti with her creative presentation. “Raamam Ghanashyaamam” in Rag Bhagyashree is pleasant and warms the heart as well as the mind.

Bhagyashree, especially, is a soothing raga. Many a classical film song was sung in this raga. Mirabai’s “Gopala Gobinda” in rag Shaam Kalyan is exquisite, with riveting lyrics. Jayashri embellishes this one adequately, giving it an absolute classical touch. Indeed, she takes one down memory lane to Mirabai times with her touching presentation. “Kaatyaaayani Mahaa Bhaage” in raga Durga is full of melody and is pleasing to listen. Kulashekara Perumal’s ( Mukuntha Mala) “Ksheerasaagara Taranga” is tuned in raga Sindhu Bhairavi and sings it ever so gently.

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INDIAN MUSIC

The indian music is broadly classified in two categories Carnatic music and western music

CARNATIC
HINDUSTANI








Indian classical music is categorized under two genres. These are Hindustani and Carnatic. Broadly speaking, Carnatic music developed in the south of the country, while Hindustani is indigenous to the north.

Hindustani music is based on the raga system. A raga is a melodic scale, consisting of notes from the basic seven known as sa, re, ga, ma pa, dha, and ni. Apart from sa and pa which are constant, the other notes may be in major or minor tone, and this gives rise to innumerable combinations. Ten basic scales or thaats are recognized, and other ragas are considered to have evolved from these. A raga must contain a minimum of five notes.

Depending on the notes included in it, each raga acquires a distinct character. The form of the raga is also determined by the particular pattern of ascent and descent of the notes, which may not be strictly linear. Melody is built up by improvising and elaborating within the given scale. The improvisation is at times rhythm bound and at other times free from any overt rhythm.

Formal compositions (songs or instrumental compositions in a fixed meter) are juxtaposed with the improvised portion. Khyal and Dhrupad are two major types of compositions within the Hindustani genre. Of the two, Dhrupad is an older form and requires rigourous training in rhythm control as well as voice culture. Khyal developed as a more popular alternative as it contains both slow and lively compositions, though it retains its totally classical character.

MADHUP MUDGAL

212 Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg
New Delhi 110 002, Te: +2323-3791


The distinctive feature of the India International Centre's annual festival, The IIC Experience, is the range it presents in music, dance, theatre, films, exhibitions of books, art and sculpture, et al.

The musical fare offered a sumptuous variety from a jazz concert and Flamenco on the piano to Hindustani vocal, instrumental and Carnatic music concerts.



Madhup Mudgal is an unusual student of the maverick Kumar Gandharva. You would not expect the student of such a master to be anything other than a classical singer. Or can we actually do given Kumar Gandharva's unconventional genius? Whatever the case, Madhup is a classical singer receptive to music also from very different genres — he has done classical singing for the Brazilian samba dance, plays the bass and guitar, conducts choirs and loves qawwalis. All this when the great Kumar Gandharva was still around.



The morning concert of Hindustani music by Madhup Mudgal this past Saturday was specially conceived for morning ragas, which are normally not rendered in the routine evening programmes of music. The sprawling fountain lawns echoed with the serenity of Madhup's meditative Bilaskhani Todi with which he opened his concert.



The tuneful ambiance was created by the accurately tuned tanpuras played by three of his able students in the background. The introductory alapchari was a pencil sketch of the raga, which got detailed treatment in the following bara khayal, a famous bandish (composition) of Sadarang, "Neeke bol" set to slow Teen tala, like a painter putting various shades of colour by his deft brush strokes.

The subsequent chhota khayal "Neeke neeke shobha dekhat" was chosen thoughtfully to match the lyrics of the slow khayal. The lilting gate of the composition had a playful quality in the hide-and-seek of bols and laya around the sam. The main raga concluded with a captivating tarana set to drut Ek tala that had the unmistakable signature of Kumar Gandharva.

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HINDUSTANI VOCALISTS

BHIMSEN G JOSHI

GANGUBAI HANGAL

MADHUP MUDGAL

SUDHA RAGHUNATHAN

Flat: I-C, Bhaskarapuram, East Abhiramapuram, Mylapore,
Chennai 600 004. Tel: +24996600.


Sudha Raghunathan is one of the most popular women vocalists of today. Having learnt from the renowned vocalist, Dr. M L Vasantakumari, and provided vocal support for her in several concerts, Sudha's own career really took off in the late 80s and early 90s. Her climb has been sure and steady, and today, she stands on top.



Her bag of awards and accolades are overflowing, yet year after year, she has more to add! This year it was the turn of Nungambakkam Cultural Academy to honour her with the title of Sangeeta Kala Siromani. Carnatica congratulates her on the award and finds out a few of her favorite things ...



When Sudha Raghunathan sings, the emphasis is on the sahitya bhava or the expression of the literary content. And on the second day of the Soorya Dance and Music Festival in Thiruvananthapuram, this recipient of the Padmashri award and disciple of M.L.Vasanthakumari, presented listeners with an enchanting experience.



Sudha Raghunathan, the leading female vocalist of South India, was initially trained by her mother Smt. Choodamani since the age of nine. She continued training under Sri. B.V. Lakshmanan. She then had the good fortune to be trained by the late Dr. M.L. Vasanthakumari. Even as a student, Smt. Smt. Sudha Raghunathan received the Central Government Scholarship for Young Artistes for advanced training in Carnatic Music.



Smt. Sudha has represented the Carnatic discipline of music at several International Festivals conducted at various venues. She had the coveted honour of performing to a full house at the Theatre de La Ville, Paris on January 19, 2000. She has the exceptional honour of being the only Indian to perform at the International Festival ECHTERNACH at Luxembourg on June 3, 1995. She also performed at the Alice Tully Hall, New York on September 18, 1998.

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S RAJAM

41, Nadu Street, Mylapore,
Chennai 600004



A multifaceted personality Shri. S.Rajam was born on 10.02.1919 to Shri.V.Sundaram Iyer and his wife Chellammal. His father was a reputed advocate and a great scholar in carnatic music. Hereditary and environment helped shape Shri.Rajam as an exponent of various art forms: Drawing, Painting, Music to name a few.



Rajam had his training in music from maestros of music like Ambi Dikshitar, Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar, Papanasam Sivan and Madurai Mani Iyer. He has been giving performances from a very young age of thirteen. At the age of fifteen he developed his drawing skill. He joined The School of Arts and furthered his skills.



Rajam worked as music supervisor with AIR, where he popularised South Indian Music. During his tenure, he recorded rare songs of Vaggeyakars, produced many operas and musical plays. He has been instrumental in bringing out 72 Melakartha Kirthanas of Koteeswara Iyer. He has popularised Thirukkural by singing them. He has toured the whole of India and has visited many foreign countries U.S.A., Canada, Africa, Ceylon etc.. He is a member of the expert committee of The Music Academy. He has been training a lot of students.



Rajam through his drawings has drawn the attention of one & all towards the ancient culture of our country. He is a reputed painter in water colour. His drawings are a rare blend of traditional style with his unique touch. He has brought the forms of Vaggeyakaras of Carnatic Music, Epic characters of our Puranas, Gods & Goddesses to life through his drawings. For example his paintings of the trinities adorn the walls of The Music Academy, his paintings of Navagrahas find their place in the pooja rooms of many a home.
Rajam’s artistic abilities have won accolades. The notable are Sangeet Natak Academy award, Sangita Kala Acharya award & the Isai Kalai Chemmal award.

Rajam has the unique distinction of combining successfully his musical & drawing abilities for well over six decades and is contributing a lot to enrich our culture.

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KJ Yesudas

36, 4th Cross Road, Valmiki Nagar,
Chennai 600 072. Tel: +44-24994843



kj yesudas is one of the popular carnatic music singer, his voice is like honey, he is a disciple of chemba baagavadar. Talking to The Hindu en route to Mookambika, Yesudas said his mission was to continue singing in praise of `Guruvayurappan.' "Experiencing the divine bliss of music and sharing it with millions of devotees who use it as a means of communion with the Almighty is perhaps my greatest achievement. I am trying to attain a state of contentment so that I can experience the presence of the Lord anywhere.



yesudas has sung so many cine songs in tamil, malayalam and he has also sung many devotional songs of the lord iyappa. While expressing his heartfelt gratitude to the efforts of Mr. Sudhakaran, Yesudas feels the Government need not frame legislation exclusively for him. "I and my family are thankful to the Minister. But a situation should evolve on its own when temple doors will open for all those who have boundless devotion for the Lord.



one of yesudas most beautiful song is arivarasanam sung for lord iyappa. The developments also reminded Yesudas of the last birthday of his guru, Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar, and the concert the duo gave before the Parthasarathy temple in Guruvayur. "During Ekadesi, my guru used to visit Guruvayur, offer pujas and render a concert as an offering. Since I was forced to keep off the confines of the temple, he too decided to stay out and we sang together before the Parthasarathy temple.



Jesudas remains faithful to Guru's words to this day and talks about it wherever possible. The Divine Grace of Guruvayurappan can be felt in no small measure here, too, he had said. Though I had said that my guru himself was the embodiment of the Lord, I was really pained, and that sorrow haunts me even now. But for me, my guru could have sung at the temple," Yesudas reminisced.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Veteran singer K.J. Yesudas remains dispassionate to the renewed efforts by Devaswom Minister G. Sudhakaran who has written to Guruvayur Devaswom Board chairman Thottathil Ravindran, seeking entry for Yesudas to the Guruvayur Sree Krishna Temple.

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MORSING

This tiny instrument is held in the left hand, the 'prongs' against the upper and lower front teeth! Some players hold the instrument between their teeth. It must make firm contact, but do not press too hard or you will give yourself toothache and potentially damage your teeth — lightly but firmly



The tongue, which protrudes from the mouth, is made of spring steel. This is plucked with the Index finger of the right hand (backwards, not forwards) while the tone and timbre are adjusted by changing the shape of the mouth cavity and moving the tongue — kind of speaking silently, effectively.
Further control of the sound can be achieved with the breath, but extensive use of this technique for fast, staccato effect quickly results in hyperventilation; it is better not to pass out on stage! Unusually for a percussion instrument, you can produce a very long duration note on the morsing by sucking air through it, sometimes (depending on the instrument) without even plucking it first.



Like the mridangam, the morsing is tuned to the tonic, which means you have to have one for each sruti. Fine tuning is achieved by placing small amounts of bee's wax on the end of the tongue.

Although a tiny and relatively quiet instrument, the morsing unmistakably adds to the music, reinforcing the sruti and providing a kind of textural as much as rhythmic accompaniment



When it come to the thani it is as necessary to know your lessons as it is for any of the other instruments. Be glad if you grew up speaking Tamil, or one of the worlds faster languages; it is not at all easy for a native English speaker to master konokol and, even when you have made some progress saying it it is so much harder as soon as you put the morsing to your lips!



Time was when life was unhurried and sedate. People had the time and the inclination to savour four-hour concerts. Concerts of Konerirajapuram Vaidyanatha Iyer, Naina Pillai and Chitoor Subramania Pillai were often `full bench' concerts, with konnakkol and morsing artistes sharing the honours with the mridangists. Even in the 78-rpm records, upa pakkavadyams were used. Toraiyur Rajagopala Sharma had, apart from Venu Naicker on the mridangam, Seetharama Iyer playing the morsing and Parthasarathy on the kanjira. In later years, Chembai often had full bench concerts. The duration of concerts these days has shrunk to two-and-a-half hours, keeping in mind the needs of a generation that always seems to be in a hurry. Upa pakkavadyams therefore do not find a place in most concerts. The author caught up with some exponents of these instruments that are not heard as often as they used to be in the past.

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KANJIRA

The Kanjeera is a small round drum covered with goat skin and circled with bells on its wooden body. It is also very much used in classical performances



Fine quality Kanjeera available in various models and sizes. The Kanjeera is a small round drum covered with goat skin and circled with bells on its wooden body. It is also often used in classical performances.



kanjeera is also one of the old percussion instrument used in carnatic music in order to accompany mridangam. Kanjeera is a famous accompaniment to mridangam after ghatam being the first accompaniment



kanjeera is played with single hand and gamakams are also used. The famous number one kanjeera player is harishankar who is no more

kanjeera is easy to learn and also all other percussion instrument is easy when mridanga is learnt which is the king of percussion

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VIOLIN

The four major instruments in the string family, the violin, the viola, the cello and the double bass, are built the same way. The instruments are made of many pieces of wood which are glued - never nailed - together. The body of the instrument is hollow, thus becoming a resonating box for the sound. Four strings (sometimes five on the double-bass) made of animal gut, nylon, or steel are wrapped around pegs at one end of the instrument and attached to a tailpiece at the other. They are stretched tightly across a bridge to produce their assigned pitches.



The violin is the soprano voice in the string family. It is held under the chin, resting on the shoulder. The violin has a lovely tone that can be soft and expressive or exciting and brilliant.



Violin is known as the king of strings, since it is next to the human voice.Overview. A vibrating string can produce a motion that is rich in harmonics (different frequencies of vibration). Bowing the string not only allows a range of expressive techniques, but also supplies energy continuously and so maintains the harmonic richness. However, a string on its own makes little sound (think of an electric guitar that's not plugged into an amplifer). The bridge and body of the violin, and other related instruments, serve to transmit some of the vibrational energy of the string into the air as sound. The way in which they do so is important to the sound of the violin family of instruments.




If you put your finger gently on a loudspeaker you will feel it vibrate - if it is playing a low note loudly you can see it moving. (More about loudspeakers.) When it moves forwards, it compresses the air next to it, which raises its pressure. Some of this air flows outwards, compressing the next layer of air. The disturbance in the air spreads out as a travelling sound wave. Ultimately this sound wave causes a very tiny vibration in your eardrum - but that's another story.

Strings
The pitch of a vibrating string depends on four things.
Thicker, more massive strings vibrate more slowly so the strings are thicker as (on a violin) you go down from the E to A to D to G strings, even though the length of the string doesn't change, and its tension does not change much.
The frequency can also be changed by changing the tension in the string using the tuning pegs: tighter gives higher pitch. This is what the player does when s/he tunes up.
The frequency also depends on the length of the string that is free to vibrate. The player changes this by holding the string firmly against the fingerboard with the fingers of the left hand. Shortening the string (stopping it further up the fingerboard) gives higher pitch.
Finally there is the mode of vibration. When you play harmonics, you induce the string to produce waves which are a fraction of the length of those normally produced by a string of that length.

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CARNATIC INSTRUMENTS

CLICK ON THE NAME FOR MORE DETAILS

VEENA


F LUTE


VIOLIN


MRIDANGAM


GHATAM


KANJEERA


MORSING


MANDOLIN


SAXOPHONE