The Navarasa Academy of Performing Arts, U.S., in collaboration with Sri Ragam Fine Arts, Chennai, organised a two-day festival (May 23 and 24) in memory of mridangam exponents Ramanathapuram C.S. Murugaboopathi and Trivandrum Mahadeva Iyer. ThevenuewasTTN Rajaratinam Kalaiarangam, Raja Annamalaipuram. The men behind the event were M.R. Venupuri Srinivasa, director of Navarasa Academy as well as a student of the stalwarts, and Vazhuvoor Ravi, sabha secretary and himself a mridangam player.
Mahadeva Iyer was Venupuri Srinivasa’s first mridangam guru. After his initial training, Srinivasa learnt under C.S. Murugaboopathi, whose presence on stage, according to G. Bharati, daughter of violin maestro M. Chandrasekaran, was equated to that of the celestial Nandi. CSM’s thoppi and valanthalai (right and left sides of the mridangam) were so distinct that even people unaware of the basics of the mridangam enjoyed his concert. The year 2014 marked his centenary, when celebrations began.
The evening on May 23 began with a nagaswaram and thavil concert by Thirupampuram T.S.H. Ramanathan and his troupe. This was followed by a ceremony in which M. Chandrasekharan received the C.S. Murugaboopathy Award from T.R. Srinivasan, Tiruvarur Bhaktavatsalam and Venupuri Srinivasa. Chandrasekharan recalled that he had teamed with Murugaboopathy in several concerts and the latter’s encouragement and support played a great role in the shaping of his career.
Vazhuvoor Ravi added that while the vocalist knew what he was going to present, the violinist and mridangam vidwan had to be prepared for anything.
The evening had a flourishing close with a concert of Chandrasekharan in the company of Bharathi.
The celebration of Navarasa Academy of Performing Arts’ tenth Annual Day saw Srinivasa’s students presenting a concert. R. Devendran (son of Vazhuvoor Ravi), Nithin Sankar (U.S.) and Surya Lakshmi Sankar (U.S.) accompanied on the mridangam to Durai Srinivasan and his student Devendran’s music on the violin.
The concert was followed by the honouring of Thanjai T.R. Srinivasan, who was conferred the Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to mridangam. He was felicitated by Tiruvarur Bhaktavatsalam, Bharatanatyam dancer Indira Rajan and Carnatic vocalist O.S. Arun.
As a mridangam lecturer at the Tamil Nadu Music College, Srinivasan composed a 35-tala sangam, informed Bhaktavatsalam. He was also the first to include seven percussion instruments in the traditional Carnatic orchestra, he added. Srinivasan trained many students, one of whom is now the principal of the Tamil Nadu Music College now, the first percussion vidwan to have made it to that post.
In his reply, Srinivasan had but one advice for today’s aspirants - listen more. “If you listen to music constantly, you will imbibe its values and goodness, which will lead to peace,” he said. The curtain came down on the two-day event with the vocal concert of O.S. Arun, who was accompanied by Karaikal S. Venkata Subramaniam on violin, Venupuri Srinivasa on the mridangam, Balaji Sairam on the morsing and H. Sivarama Krishnan on the ghatam.
