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A conversation with Isai Peroli Gayatri Girish |
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How did you feel on being choosen to receive the title of Isai Peroli? I feel proud to have been selected among so many other musicians. They have recognised my talent. It also means a lot of responsibility, as I have to keep up the way I perform. It is an incentive as it makes one work harder and faster towards one goal. How was your early training? I started formal training at the age of 6. My parents used to take me to a lot of concerts and I believe by the age of 3 I had started identifying ragas. They used to take me to sabhas where a lot of people would surround me and offer me chocolates when I identified a raga correctly. (Laughs). That is how I first started recognising Hamsadwani and Kalyani. The environment at home was also conducive. My mother was a professional singer, and father a connoisseur of music and a great fan of Sri Semmangudi. Our house was always resounding with his songs! My first guru was my mother and then formally I started to learn from Vaigai Gnana skandan , which I continued for 14 years. Now for the last 8 years I am training under Madurai T.N.Seshagopalan. Any particular reason? I am great fan of his and it was a dream come true when he accepted me as his disciple. I like his style of developing the different facets of our music like raga, neraval, song etc. How do you combine their styles? I did not find any difficulty in adapting to Shri Seshagopalan’s style as he was not particular that I change totally. By experience I have adopted his style to those songs I had learnt. I have listened to a lot of his songs and his style is imprinted in my mind. I can imagine how his sangatis will be for a particular song. I have also sung a lot of songs learnt previously to him and he has given me suggestions on how they can be modified. What hurdles did you face in your growth as an artiste? None. In ’87 I started off with the 45 min. and 1 hour concerts at YACM, Kartik Fine Arts, etc. I had the advantage of participating in competitions and wining prizes. It was good exposure as people came to know about me. Automatically I was given a slot to perform. I do believe in rising to steady prominence, not suddenly rising and then vanishing. How many hours of practice do you put in? Daily, whenever I find time. Other than singing I also read, do a lot of mental thinking about music, and listen to tapes of senior vidwans of yesteryears. What is your definition of chaste Carnatic music? We have come through tradition. Our framework has been passed on through ages. It is not verbal but you know what falls within the parameters of tradition through experience. But you should be open minded to creative ideas. For e.g. there is nothing wrong if a phrase in a raga expansion is sung in a different ‘shruti bedam’, in the process of embellishing it. Inculcation of good ideas without losing classicism! Means to make Carnatic Music popular? Schools should include it in their curriculum and students should be invited to attend concerts. Singing in the language of that place is also important. I include a lot of Tamil songs in my concert and if I am singing in a particular place important to a particular deity I try to include a song on that deity. Tell us about the YACM activities... The main thing in YACM was interaction and discussion with my peers. We had workshops where senior vidwans used to participate. The ‘Build a rasika’ programme for schools was one of the highlights. Carnatic Music has complexities and they cannot be understood unless people are enlightened. We talked about the concert format, and other aspects of the art. We had a lot of response .We had follow up sessions also to see if they remembered it. We also suggested to lot of schools to incorporate it as apart of their curriculum. Memorable incidents during your career? In ’99 I gave a concert in Florida. U.S. The audience consisted of mostly Americans. After the concert a lady walked up to me and chatted with me for a very long time and asked me few questions “why do you close your eyes when you sing? What goes on in your mind”? You think about the audience, yourself or the artistes beside you?” They were really analytical questions and my answer was all compositions are on the divine and when we think of it we can present it better. Her enthusiasm was hearty. Another unforgettable one was, ICCR had sponsored me for a concert at Colombo. The day I was to return I had a concert at Bharat Kalachar in the afternoon. When I reached the airport at Colombo, there was an announcement that the flight was indefinitely delayed. After boarding it also it was delayed by an hour. I was tensed as just then Subbudu had given a very good review for me and it had been published the day before. Expectations would be very high. I just managed to reach Chennai on time for the concert. I changed to a silk saree in the airport, and called Bharat Kalachar that I was on my way. However I was a little behind time but sang to a fully packed hall. Your other interests? I love to cook and try new recipes. In my younger days I used to do a lot of and drawing, painting and stitching and read a lot of novels especially P.G.Wodehouse. Concert Schedule of Gayatri Girish:
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Gayathri
Girish