THE MUSIC ACADEMY, MADRAS
60th Annual Conference, 1986
(English version of the Presidential address of
Vidwan K.V. Narayanaswamy, delivered on December 17, 1986)

To Rajya Seva Nirata Sangita Kalanidhi Dr. Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer who inaugurated this festival, to Vidwans and Vidushis, to those on the stage and to the music lovers in the auditorium, I convey my respectful obeisance. I cannot be sufficiently grateful to the President and members of the Executive Committee of the Music Academy for extending to me the rare privilege of presiding over the deliberations of the 60th annual conference of the Academy.

On this occasion I wish to recall with a sense of deep gratitude my "Gurus" who shaped me in the music field. I belong to a family with hoary traditions in music. For five generations my forefathers had been performing "sangeeta upasana". My grandfather Shri Kollengode Narayana Bagavathar and my revered father Violin Viswanatha Bagavathar were particular that I must learn only vocal music and with that end in view taught me vocal music and worked hard to create in me a limited capability to sing even from my childhood. Later, to learn all aspects of music, my father entrusted me to the care of mridangam maestro Palghat Mani Iyer. Both Shri Palghat Mani Iyer and Shri AL. AR. Chokkia Chettiar were responsible for entrusting me to the care of Shri Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar. I was also for some time under the tutelage of Shri C.S. Krishna Iyer of Palghat who taught me some kirtanas. Shri Mani Iyer arranged for my trip to Madras to learn vocal music under the violin maestro Papa Venkatarama Iyah and I became his disciple. After a lapse of many years during which I learnt the art of vocal music, came the great day when I had the good fortune to meet Sangita Ratnakara Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar and became his disciple under the Gurukula system in 1942.

I wish to say a few words about Gurukulavasam in those days. This would become a meaningful and rewarding experience only when the disciple forgets his own self and looks upon the Guru as the sole benefactor. There is a general view that Gurukulavasam is a difficult process. As far as I was concerned I did not consider it so. In living with the master, the sishya gets an opportunity to learn the intricacies of music while accompanying the guru in concerts, during his travels and in his conversations with his friends. But the sishya must have the capacity to assimilate these intricacies. Those who do not undergo Gurukulavasam miss this opportunity.

I wish to apprise this audience about the salient features of the music concerts of my Guru, Shri Ariyakudi. Such an attempt on my part will be of immense benefit to the fresh entrants in the field. In the music of my teacher, one recognized beauty, poise, involvement, elegance and a facile and reposeful style. One should emulate the manner in which he arranged the program. It is my view that he was very much impressed and charmed by the artistic loveliness which Veena Dhanammal brought into her music. Some of these nuances he introduced into his own music.

I have been profoundly moved by the elegance and richness of his attractive voice. His songs were noted for their impeccable form and substance. His concerts were always very successful and he was the foremost exponent of all the points for the conduct of an ideal concert. He charted out the path for musicians for the successful presentation of a concert. It is no exaggeration to say that he considered the concert dais as a temple and the audience as divine representatives. He allotted a high place for music lovers. Without transgressing the limits of Carnatic music and not swerving from established traditions, not indulging in excesses and pronouncing the syllables in clear and telling tone, he brought to bear great beauty on his songs. His songs were full of simplicity and vivid loveliness. He sang apparently with remarkable ease, comfort and felicity, but those of us who have tried to follow his path, know how difficult the task is. The credit for my getting this great guru rightly belongs to Palghat Mani Iyer.

I wish to give expression to some of my considered views for the benefit of young and upcoming musicians. We must aim high and we must strive our utmost to attain the aim. And the methods we choose must be as noble as our aim We must not be satisfied with short cuts. Musicians must be conscious of the limitations of their knowledge and should approach the problem with a view to attaining perfection. It is not possible to attain the ideal in art. For, the ideal is like a mirage; the closer we approach the farther it recedes. The gap will always be there. This is the humility that we should learn from nature.

Those who seek to learn South Indian classical music must aim at tonal excellence in tune with 'sruti'. Let me share with you my thoughts. We must learn to sing with a full voice and even those who learn instrumental music must learn to play in perfect harmony with 'sruti'. They must learn to tune the thambura and set it to the 'sruti' required for the occasion. To explain this aspect, I wish to recall an incident which took place at the University of Wesleyan in America in the year 1966 Dr. Robert Brown. then professor, University of Wesleyan, told me that he would be sending an unusual student. This person came and said that he only wanted to learn how to tune a thambura and produce the required 'sruti' and not to learn vocal music, violin or mridangam. I was pleasantly surprised. The trainee applied himself totally to that task and within one month acquired mastery over tuning the tambura and ensuring the required 'sruti'.

So far as Sruti is concerned, Hindustani musicians evoke our admiration. In Carnatic music, we must have an eye on sthana suddham in singing swaras and ragas and on clarity in pronunciation and sing with deep involvement. Vocal music is superior to instrumental music as much as it contains sahitya enunciation.

It is said that South Indian Classical music is becoming less and less popular and that it does not attract crowds. I do not subscribe to this opinion. Good things are not always abundant and do not get distributed quickly. I find that day by day more and more people are being attracted towards Carnatic music. It is up to us musicians to sing in a pure form and not to introduce innovations at the cost of tradition with a view to attracting crowds. We must create true rasikas by strictly adhering to tradition. The audience also must develop the proper mood in order to sit through the entire performance and listen to Carnatic music with proper appreciation of its subtle points and nuances. In our music, listening knowledge is of vital importance. Both the artiste and the rasikas have an equal part to play in the success of a concert.

I would like to dwell upon the discipline required on the part of rasikas. They must not resort to humming the tune as the musician develops a raga or kriti. This will cause undesirable disturbance to the other listeners. We must learn to listen to music in silence. It has become a tendency for some people to get up and leave the hall when the mridangist starts his tani avartanam This will spoil the mood of the artiste. When they are ready to extend or cut down the avartanam to cater to the audience it is the duty of rasikas to stay on and listen. The audience should not slap their hands and cause disturbance to the calm atmosphere in the hall. Sometimes the hand beats by the audience are picked up by the amplifier fed back to the stage and upset the rhythm of the artistes. To avoid this, rasikas must eschew the practice of loudly marking the tala.

A great responsibility devolves on those who are reputed in the field of music. There may be many keen on following in their footsteps. That makes the vidwan's responsibilities all the greater. They should not sing in a way which does not generate bhakthi and peace and equipoise of the mind. Our forefathers strove hard and have given us songs of eternal value. What is required is a devout approach to them. Science calls for a spirit of quest and constructive inquiry; music needs reverence to tradition. In my view it is not right to ridicule what is old and impose what is new.

As long as we are mentally attuned to accepting what is old, the new that emerges will cause no damage to tradition. "‘Sampradaya" connotes "'sruti laya sahitya suddham", the bhava imparted to sahitya by music and singing without "gayaka dosha". We must acquire the ability of pronouncing the words properly, in whatever language we sing, with a full grasp of their meaning. This is what our forefathers have advised us.

I would now like to touch upon the importance of 'sadhana' in singing. During 'sadhana in the morning, one should not resort to 'tara sthayi' but should sing in '“mandara sthay'". If we resort to 'mel sthay'" singing in the morning it will result in harshness of tone and spoil its easy flow. In the evenings it will be a helpful factor. We must pronounce the letters aa, ee, oo, e, o, m, om in every swara sthanam with long karvais and merge it With the sruti, gradually increasing the alignment in each swara. If we go on practicing in such a manner and learn to sing with voice reaching out it will facilitate us in modulating our voice in any controlled manner. If we restrain the voice in the early stages, full throated singing will later become impossible.

In order to arrive at sruti purity, we must have the aid of a well-tuned tambura, or a sruti box or an electronic sruti box, and practice regularly with it. This will produce good results. Daily practice of the seven pronunciations mentioned above will produce "sahitya suddha".

The tambura occupies an important place In our music and we must enable the audience to appreciate tambura sruti. I wish to recall in this connection an interesting incident which took place on October 1 when the World Music Day was being celebrated. The Principal of the Govt. College of Music, Madras, Shri Sandhyavandanam Sreenivasa Rao did something unique to observe the day in the college. Instead of a music concert he arranged a programme of tuning a tambura accurately and playing it, thus enabling the audience to listen to its Nada for 15 minutes. On hearing of this violin maestro Yehudi Menuhin wrote to the Principal, commending his action.

In order to become proficient in South Indian music, we must learn to be proficient in Tamil, Sanskrit Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. It is also advisable to learn Hindustani which abounds in Bhajan songs, for don't we include bhajans in our concerts? At one time in the music section of Annamalai University, Chidambaram learning Telugu was compulsory. It is not necessary that we become scholars in these languages. It will suffice if we learn to speak, read and write these languages to a certain extent. When we take up a song we should know how to break it into phrases and syllables. It is not correct to assume that we learn sahityam only when we sing. We have to pay attention to these small points.

As important as sruti is laya suddham. Layam means involvement. It is not merely the beat. In laya there is "kala pramana". I still remember the opinion expressed by Palghat Mani Iyer in this regard. In laya there is difficulty and comfort alternately as in the case of life, which is a mixture of pain and pleasure. Both these aspects must find a due place in laya. We must not rest content if we attain perfection either in laya or in sruti alone. If we assume that we can pay attention first to sruti and later to laya, we will attain sruti, but laya will elude us. Laya and sruti are like the two eyes. We must acquire the ability to attain perfection in both the aspects. We must always practice sruti and laya together.

I wish to tell the enlightened audience about the good old practice of conducting bhajans every Saturday. There was the practice of holding bhajanas in which reputed vidwans participated. The reputed musician, Thanjavur Mridangam Narayanaswamy Appa used to take part in bhajans by playing on the mridangam. All over the world today we find the good practice of Sai bhajans every Thursday. I have been amazed by the singing of bhajans in America by American and Indian Sai devotees with sincerity and purity of mind. Singing Sai bhajans Involves a certain discipline and orderliness. It Is a good arrangement to enable the young and the old to participate. Short Namavalis are rendered in easy tunes. This enables children to pick up sruti and laya. We must try to introduce such aspects in our Carnatic ragas also.

Musicians must have a prayerful attitude. They should take Satvik food calculated to have a sober effect on their mind and action. They must have a disciplined life with commitment to moral and ethical values. They must be deeply involved in music.

We cannot forget the yeoman service rendered to the cause of music by such great vaggeyakars as Vasudevachariar and Papanasam Sivan.

Before I conclude my address, I wish to make a special appeal to the Union and State Governments. Artisans who are manufacturing the tambura, sruti box, veena, mridangam etc. must be helped in a big way. Nationalized banks must help them liberally with large loans at low rates of interest so that they can produce good instruments.

In foreign countries, music is taught in all schools. This system should also be introduced in all schools and competent music teachers appointed for the purpose. By such means, all school going children will be facilitated to learn music. It is a matter for gratification that quite recently a forum titled ‘"’Classical Musicians Forum -- Tamil Nadu" has been formed to look after the interests of musicians.

Railway concession at half the fare should be extended to individual musicians also in all classes. This concession should apply for air travel also.

The Music Academy, Madras, which has grown into a mighty and prestigious institution, carries a heavy responsibility. The Academy has as its President a very capable person, with high, executive ability. So far as we artistes are concerned, we have been extending our cooperation to the Academy and will continue to do so. One request: when concerts are tape recorded, the monetary benefits that accrue must be shared by the musicians also. In this matter, those recording the concerts in their individual capacity as well as for the Academy should show the way.

From today, this conference and festival will be celebrated for sixteen days. With folded hands I solicit the help and support of musicians, the audience and the Music Academy officials. I seek your prayers and blessings to enable me to continue to sing as I have been doing and with undiminished popularity.

I conclude my address but not before offering my salutations to my "Gurus". My respects and thanks to you all.