“A silent interlude can be forcefully articulated in creating an aesthetic musical environment,” said mridangam maestro Trichy Sankaran, in his ‘Laya Anubhav’ lec-dem for Mudhra . Setting the tone for the two-hour programme with the introductory statement that laya is experiential rather than prescriptive or descriptive, he said, “the percussionist has to have ‘swanubhuthi.’ Layam is nothing but ‘in tune with time’. Melody has rhythm in it and rhythm has melody in it. Even an alapana has an in-built layam.”
Sankaran then went on to differentiate between time-keeping and time-marking. Vilamba, madhya and duritha kalas are relative values. He demonstrated the method of playing for a kriti, with a recording of Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, whom he had accompanied on several concerts. “Vocal training for a percussionist is as important as knowledge of mridangam to a vocalist. And that is because melody and rhythm have to go hand in hand. A good accompanying artist should be an IAS — innovation, anticipation and superior selection of patterns,” he explained.
An accompanist should be unobtrusive and be able to enhance the concert, he pointed out.
Sankaran also focused on the importance of sarva laghu. “I have played an entire thani avartanam with sarva laghu with a mandatory korvai in the end,” he said.
It was an insightful lec-dem by a vidwan who completes 60 years as a performing artist. The Anubhav series by Mudhra is an attempt to experience art through its different facets.
The senior mridangist demonstrated different kinds of sollus — meettu, uruttu, chapu, gumukki, valam thalai and idam thalai. He hoped more mridangam artists are into ‘sollu’ development in different kalapramanas — slow, fast and irandum kettaan. A recording of vidwan K.V. Narayanaswamy was played to show how the instrument should be played for the pallavi.
The maestro then demonstrated naadai bhedam (pulse modulation) and how his guru Palani Subramania Pillai would subtly introduce a new nadai. . Elaborating the different types of moras, Sankaran spoke about how Pudukkottai Mamundia Pillai evolved the periya (long) korvai. The Dakshinamurthy Pillai korvai that he played was truly astounding. Through a recording, he showed the kuraippu in misra jampa by Alathur Brothers and another one between his guru and himself.
Sankaran underlined the need for standardisation of notations of mridangam sollus and pointed out the differences in playing for a kutcheri and natya.
The veteran mridangam player demonstrated with the help of video recordings, his laya anubhav in the contemporary scenario. His journeys with Steve Smith and Zakir Hussain were like lessons in rhythm experiments.
The evening ended with a question-answer session.
