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Online edition of India's National NewspaperSunday, Nov 09, 2008ePaper Mobile/PDA Version
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THE HINDU
Online edition of India's National NewspaperFriday, Sep 26, 2008
Tones of tradition
VENKATESAN SRIKANTH
The veena concert of Bhagyalakshmi Chandrasekar was a treat.
Photo: Siva Saravanan Dedication Bhagyalakshmi Chandrasekhar.
Aristotle once said, “The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” Bhagyalakshmi Chandrasekar, during her two-hour recital recently under the aegis of Gayathri Fine Arts, did not sim ply play the veena, but brought out the richness of Carnatic music. She also brought to the fore the beauty of this instrument which is considered very close to the human voice, and often, when producing gamakas, even more than the human voice.
The very opening piece, the Saveri raga Adi tala varnam, was delightful. In “Guruarul thiruarul” in Aboghi, she brought out the raga bhava. The swara formats emphasised her manodharma talents. Bhagyalakshmi is never tempted towards lighter music to popularise the veena, The hallmark of Bhagyalakshmi’s presentation of Dikshitar’s “Diwakaratanujam saniswaram” in raga Yadukulakamboji was the alap, wherein the complete essence of this raga was brought out. Two more of Dikshitar’s compositions, one the fast tempo “Puraharanandana” in the raga Hamir Kalyani and the other the slow-paced “Akhilandeswari” in raga Dwijavanti, were emotive. As her main item, Bhagyalakshmi presented a ragam-taanam-pallavi in raga Shanmukhapriya set to Chatusra jati Jhampa tala. After a fine sketch of the raga, the taanam had a telling effect in the Delhi Tamil Sangam auditorium. She also presented creative swaraprastaras, following them up with ragamalika swaraprastaras in Mohanam and Subhapantuvarali. However, Bhagyalakshmi should reduce her simultaneous playing in two octaves, which she did often. This produced a jarring sound because of the contact mike. It also somewhat dilutes the original sound of the veena.
Mysore P.S. Sridhar on the mridangam and M. Yagnaraman on the morsing provided understanding support, and their tani avartanam in Chatusra jati Jhampa tala was enjoyable. On the whole, this concert will linger long in the memories of Delhi rasikas.
THE HINDU
Online edition of India's National NewspaperFriday, Nov 07, 2008
Heart to heart
ANJANA RAJAN
Bhagyalakshmi Chandrasekhar on her lifelong tryst with the veena.
Learning the veena is not fast food. You need at least 10 years
Photo: S. Subramanium Lifeline Bhagyalakshmi Chandrasekhar.
She is full of laughs and doesn’t carry her dignity on her sleeve like a fragile load ready to topple over at a nudge. What she does carry that’s fragile, and lovingly at that, is her veena that has taken her across India and the world. Veena exponent Bhagyalakshmi Chandrasekhar may have to make a few sacrifices for the sake of her instrument — like toting it around in hot weather, or manoeuvring it into an autorickshaw — but she would not exchange it for anything. The veena is for her, as it is for other devout musicians, God’s own instrument.
“Raj Narayan (G. Raj Narayan who received a patent for his invention of the digital veena) has created the electronic veena which can be dismantled into three pieces. It is very convenient, but I am not entirely happy with it,” says the Bengaluru-based Bhagyalakshmi, who was recently in New Delhi for concerts. “In travelling it is handy. The swarasthanam (tuning of notes) is perfect. But its tone is entirely different. Sometimes it sounds like a guitar and sometimes it sounds like a mandolin. If someone were to do some more research and improve its tonal quality, I would be the first to buy a digital veena.”
In speaking her mind, Bhagyalakshmi seems to follow the precepts of her music. The tone is sweet, even as the words hit sharply on the fret she intends them to. The accomplished veena player belongs to the tradition of Mudicondan Venkatrama Iyer.
All for a revival and further development of the instrument, she regularly attends seminars and teaches select students. “Those who want to take junior exams, senior exams, etc., I don’t accept. This is not fast food. You need at least 10 years,” she explains. Bhagyalakshmi feels musicians should not try to lure listeners by playing film songs. “If you have to do it for your bread and butter, okay, but I feel we should avoid it.” At the seminars, she suggests, prerequisites like learning vocal music and avoidance of “shortcuts” should be stressed.
Bhagyalakshmi who participates in music therapy sessions with Meenakshi Ravi, a doctorate in music, has heard that a doctor in Manipal uses her album ‘Varaveena Mrudupani’ while performing surgery. “When I hear of such incidents, I am very happy. Definitely the veena can cure any ailment.”
Her own is a case in point. A severe head injury nearly took Bhagyalakshmi’s life some years ago. “I was in coma for four days. My haemoglobin came to three,” she recalls. “The music was in my head. That Todi, that Shankarabharanam, I thought, how will I play them?” Having trained in the instrument since she was 12, she was terrified the injury would make her forget the ragas. But she began playing again even before she could sit up properly, leaning back on pillows for support. Today the injury is but a memory. In the playing technique, Bhagyalakshmi believes in less plucking with the fingers of the right hand and emphasises the movement of the left hand along the neck of the instrument while holding it close to the heart. “The heart is on the left — so the music should go from heart to heart.”
