Date: 22 May 1995 06:17:36 GMT
Message-Id: <[email protected]>
References: <[email protected]>
Subject: Two varnams? [was `Master Sashank's concert at SSVT Washington DC.']
In article <[email protected]> [email protected] (Sathyamangalam Sivasubramaniam) writes:
I am curious to know whether it is "proper" to play 2 varnams ( Inthakopa & Suma Sayaka) in the same concert.
Is this the start of yet another unproductive discussion about proper and improper music?
There is very little that is new in karNataka music, most of it has been done before. In fact, when something fundamentally new does turn up, it stands out by the vehemence of the criticism it invites at the hands of the all-knowing critics.
Anyway, Prof. sAmbamUrthe describes an incident in his History of Indian Music (chapter 21, section 10, pp. 255, 1st edition, 1960) that might answer the two varNam question.
According to the anecdote, rAmanAthapuram SrEnevAsa IyanggAr began a concert with his varNam naeranammethe in kAnadA. The mRdhang-ist, pudhukkOttI dhakSheNAmUrthe peLLI who was expecting verebONe in BIravE was disappointed and did not warm up for the rest of the concert. pUcce IyanggAr realized this and after a couple of kRthes sang verebONe, after which the concert continued with all performers fully in groove.
Now I cannot speculate if SaSAngk played two varNams to boost the enthusiasm of his accompanists or his audience or he had read sAmbamUrthe the night before and wanted to see what kind of a response such an action would invite from the connoisseurs of RMIC. However if anyone is going to fault him for any kind of transgression, they had better apply the same standards to SrEnevAsa IyanggAr to be consistent.
There is no rule in karNataka music that forbids two or three or 100 varNams in a concert. If one were to organize a concert solely for the exposition of the varNam form, it is incorrect to sing anything other than a varNam.
On a related note. Those among us that are deeply concerned about the quality of classical music and its imminent deterioration would do well to read people like sAmbamUrthe and ranggarAmAnuja IyanggAr (two chroniclers of karNataka music who never missed the chance to wax nostalgic about the good old days and the bad new days---sAmbamUrthe a little more accepting in his remarks, ranggarAmAnuja IyanggAr sparing no one but a small list of close friends).
People have been bemoaning the demise of their favorite form of music for as long as people have been making music. Each generation expresses concern over the encroaching populist values and democratization of music---the next generation treats the same as tradition.
Some pithy quote about history, ignore, and doomed to repeat seems apt here.
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