Guru Vandanam |
SEMMANGUDI - HIS MUSICAL PROWESS - PART 4 |
HIS HANDLING OF TANAM AND PALLAVI |
| According to our system, singing Tanam is
rendering raga alapana in madhyama kala (medium tempo) couched in the words
"Anantam Anandam". In the early part of the 19th century, listeners
used to request musicians to render madhyama kala for ragas and this got established as
Tanam by 1920s. Maestros of the immediate post-Trinity period such Maha Vaidyanatha Sivan
and Patnam Subramanya Iyer were experts in Tanam singing. In concerts, Tanam is rendered after a lengthy raga alapana before the pallavi or the main piece. Tanam, when played on the Vina, is highly pleasant and thus is regarded the most suitable instrument for Tanam. In Vina concerts, artistes normally render tanams not only as prelude to the main piece, but also for other raga renditions. I would even go to the extent of saying that the vocalists should follow the vainika's method for effective tanam rendition. |
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| Tanam singing is very dear to Sri Semmangudi
and he is easily one of the best in this aspect. His tanams are highly musical, pleasant
and devoid of monotony. He follows the Vina method closely. He has indicated that while he
was at Trivandrum as the head of the Swati Tirunal Music College, he had occasion to
closely associate with Vina vidwan Venkatadri Bhagavatar (who belonged to Palghat
Anantarama Bhagavatar's family), and that through this he was able to embellish and polish
his tanam singing very well. Sri Srinivasa Iyer renders tanam only in the middle tempo,
madhyamakala. Right through, the same tempo would be maintained. There have been many
instances where he has started concerts with a few flashy phrases of the raga and a short
crisp tanam, the whole prelude lasting just a couple of minutes and then rendering the
first keertana. There is no doubt that his style of tanam singing is worth emulating by
every student of music. Rendering a Pallavi as the main piece in a concert is an established practice of the Carnatic music system. A pallavi is conceived with a set of words meaningfully linked to a rhythmic pattern and running normally to one or two tala sequences. Artistes with a flair for rhythmic juggleries adopt Pallavis intricately woven into tough tala patterns. Needless to say, Pallavis are always preceded by a raga alapana and tanam. After rendering neraval in the Pallavi, kalpanaswaras are rendered proportionately. Earlier, the opening words of a kriti were taken as a Pallavi. Sri Srinivasa Iyer has indicated to us students, that he used to handle intricate Pallavis in the early years of his career and that as his sangeeta gnana matured, he has settled for simpler, musically rich Pallavis. He is always of the view that raga bhava and musical abundance should never be subjugated to rhythmic exuberance in Pallavi renditions. The Pallavis should not be packed with words with no elbow-room for bhava rich neraval. Too much of sahitya (lyrics) in a Pallavi would make it seem like a recitation. Sri Srinivasa Iyer would always say that the choice of the tala for the Pallavi should be a comfortable one as otherwise it would demand all the attention and concentration of the artiste, leaving very little for manodharma and the musical aspect of the whole exercise. Sri Srinivasa Iyer would only select ragas which have ample scope for alapana for rendering Pallavis. The ragas which he would choose for Pallavi are Sankarabharanam, Kalyani, Todi, Kharaharapriya, Keeravani, Shanmukhapriya, Varali, Saveri, Natakurinji, Poorvikalyani etc. His Pallavi-singing would never make the rasika sit up at the edge of the chair tensed up as if watching a tight rope walk. In most of today's concerts Pallavis are either absent or is pushed to the end of the concert without being given pride of place and is finished off as a short rhythmic ritual. In this aspect also Sri Semmangudi's handling of the Pallavi is well worth emulating so that this rich tradition could get handed down to the next generation in the proper manner. V Subramanyam |
| Note: The author is one of the premier disciples of Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer. |
| Semmangudi - His
Musical Prowess - Part 1 Semmangudi's concerts - Part 2 Semmangudi's handling of Raga alapana - Part 3 |
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