Composer-mridangist Okay. Arunprakash in the course of the Palani Subramania Pillai’s listening session at R.R. Sabha, Mylapore.
| Photo Credit: Akhila Easwaran
Quite a lot has been spoken about mridangam legend Palani Subramania Pillai as his 115th delivery anniversary was celebrated final April. Musicians have enthusiastically recalled how Subramania Pillai’s mridangam accompaniment blended seamlessly with the music. This impact mesmerised sure star vocalists reminiscent of Madurai Mani Iyer, who as soon as whereas singing Tyagaraja’s ‘Enduku peddala’ stopped halfway in the course of the niraval on the phrase ‘Veda shastra’ simply to hearken to Subramania Pillai’s playing. This was a heart-warming show of mutual admiration between the vocalist and percussionist.
The younger Palani Subramania Pillai. Photo:
| Photo Credit:
The Hindu Archives
In a listening session organised by Gaanapriya Foundation in affiliation with Rasika Ranjani Sabha, ace mridangam participant Okay. Arun Prakash took listeners by way of a number of uncommon recordings of yesteryear masters to decipher and re-experience the Palani magic. Arun, who hails from the Palani School by way of his guru Ramanathapuram M.N. Kandaswami, performed the session with a lot finesse as his strategy was experiential and easy.
Band collectively
When listening to Musiri Subramania Iyer singing the kriti ‘Amba nadu vinnapamu’, one might hear Subramania Pillai’s mridangam changing into one with the music. Arun selected to classify this as a musical mridangam expertise — the mridangam utterly entered the zone of Todi, exhibiting how a lot data of music Subramania Pillai possessed, to submerge himself with the vocalist and violinist. Palani Subramania Pillai was hailed as a ‘tyagi’ (somebody who sacrifices themselves) by Madurai Mani Iyer as a result of he would by no means spotlight himself when accompanying different musicians. In the olden days, this was historically outlined as ‘pakka vadhya dharma’.
Arun Prakash elaborated that Subramania Pillai needed to stability his virtuosity with the music being sung to optimally deliver out the most effective aesthetic expertise. As a mridangam participant, who often inserted complicated patterns nearly spontaneously, Subramania Pillai’s sollus had been historically handed right down to him. Being one of many few left-handed mridangam gamers of his technology, Subramania Pillai’s journey was not straightforward as he needed to show himself as a worthy accompanist. He by no means gave up regardless of going through rejection and lots of different obstacles in his profession.
Composer-mridangist Okay. Arunprakash elaborated how Subramania Pillai needed to stability his virtuosity with the music being sung to optimally deliver out the most effective aesthetic expertise. Carnatic Vocalist Navaneet Krishnan seems on.
| Photo Credit:
Akhila Easwaran
Continuity is a crucial idea when playing the mridangam on stage. As the vocalist progresses, sangati by sangati, the mridangam artiste must sail alongside uninterruptedly. However, Subramania Pillai demonstrated that even silence maintained continuity.
Significant pauses
Arun Prakash excellently noticed that Subramania Pillai’s mridangam expressed itself louder in the course of the pauses, accruing significance and depth to the music by firming itself down gracefully. This will also be referred to as ‘going with the laya of the music’ because the mridangam by no means overpowered the vocalist however as a substitute added a layer of sound to the grand tapestry of music visualised by the vocalist.
Alathur Brothers with Rajamanikkam Pillai and Palani Subramania Pillai.
| Photo Credit:
The Hindu Archives
Arun Prakash additionally identified that sustaining the kaalapramana is a misplaced artwork at this time because the percussionists who accompany vocalists invariably have a tendency to change the velocity in many kutcheris. Kaalapramanam adherence was considered one of Palani Subramania Pillai’s hallmark qualities that distinguished himself from different yesteryear mridangam artistes.
Some argue that mridangam gamers then hesitated to supply turns to upa pakkavadhya artistes reminiscent of ghatam and kanjira. Arun Prakash felt that this was not the case all the time, as Subramania Pillai typically labored effectively with the ghatam vidwan on stage, to make sure that they took turns meaningfully. After all, Subramania Pillai himself was a kanjira participant too. Variety in sound was ensured for the rasikas when the mridangam was reintroduced after the ghatam, as a listener-friendly strategy was prioritised. Perhaps rasikas keenly adopted these transitions. Today, rasikas largely zone out and hardly have the time or curiosity to be aware of these refined preparations between percussionists.
Another fascinating recording sourced by Arun Prakash was that of Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer singing a four-hour marriage ceremony live performance at Kallidaikurichi in 1958 accompanied by Subramania Pillai and 28-year previous T. N. Krishnan on the violin. Semmangudi and TNK dished out a number of avartanas of swaras in ‘Marivere’ (Anandabhairavi, Syama Sastri) with Subramania Pillai playing alongside melodiously. It was stunning to notice that solely two mics had been used in the kutcheri they usually had been reserved for the vocalist and the violinist. Even with out a devoted mic, Subramania Pillai’s mridangam stood out as he knew easy methods to stability the sound even with these constraints.
Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer with Palani Subramania Pillai and Mayavaram Govindaraja Pillai as accompanists at a live performance for Kalaniketan.
| Photo Credit:
The Hindu Archives
Using a recording of Musiri Subramania Iyer’s ‘Brovavamma’ in Manji, Arun Prakash defined how Subramania Pillai by no means approached the piece as simply one other Misra Chapu kriti however gave a lot significance to the general temper of the music, merging the sound of the mridangam with the bhava of the kriti. It was fascinating to notice that Subramania Pillai’s arudis normally completed with the music itself, as he was not one to indulge in prolonged theermanams. This meant the vocalist needed to know that the following stanza have to be commenced by them on their very own, requiring them to be further alert.
Complex rhythmic patterns
Even throughout tani avartanams it was straightforward for vocalists to overlook out on the tala whereas listening to Subramania Pillai, as he typically displayed his intellectualism by way of complicated rhythmic patterns and complicated arithmetic combos.
Listening classes reminiscent of these are precious for rasikas to understand the grandeur of classic music. Even although there isn’t a dearth of expertise at this time, it’s simple that the music of yesteryear musicians was distinctive and possessed admirable aesthetic qualities which are not often seen now.
Rasika Ranjani Sabha’s efforts geared toward music appreciation have to be inspired by rasikas and musicians by attending in giant numbers.