From the temple town of Guruvayoor to the big bustling city of Delhi seems a far cry. But for T.V. Manikandan, Carnatic music has bridged every gulf. And today, performing and teaching in the Capital as well as in foreign countries, he has become a bit of a bridge himself, as he strives to make classical music available to people from different backgrounds.
Though he also teaches in the Department of Music of Delhi University, it is through his own organisation, Rasikapriya, that he reaches out to a larger public. This Sunday, Rasikapriya stages a musical presentation of “Sree Krishna Leela Tarangini”, a Sanskrit work on the story of Krishna by 18th Century composer Narayana Teertha, at Delhi Tamil Sangam auditorium, 6 p.m.
Says Manikandan, “Only six or seven compositions from this work have been popularised. Semmangudi Mama (late Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer) gave music to about 30-40 of them but even they are not widely sung. He composed the tunes and gave them to the Narayana Teertha math . So it is like a mission for me to popularise them. I put the compositions to tune and teach them and also want to record them on CD. The Department of Culture is supporting me in this project.”
At the Sunday show, he is going to present some 20-odd songs from the work, along with his students, in group and solo format. “He (Naryana Teertha) has composed songs in the form of shlokas, daru, and in padya and gadya (both poetry and prose) format. There are also samvada padas — songs as conversations,” explains Manikandan, adding this time he will be presenting songs in the kriti format.
Manikandan's next project is dedicated to another composer, though one more widely known. “On 16 and 17 April I am organising a festival in memory of (19th Century Travancore Maharaja) Swati Tirunal. On the first day, Rama Varma, a descendent of the royal family, will sing, followed by Mallika Banerjee who will sing Swati's Hindustani khayals. On the second day, I will give a concert and this will be followed by Kathakali. Evoor Rajendran Pillai (Principal, International Centre for Kathakali) has composed a performance based on the Utsava Prabandas of Swati Tirunal. The performance will be by Evoor along with one dancer in the female role.”
Manikandan has had an array of gurus. He started his training as a child in Guruvayoor under his grandfather, Kadathanadu Govinda Nambisan and later came under Tripunithura Vishwanatha Bhagavathar (father of T.V. Gopalakrishnan). “Then I went to Trichur P. Radhakrishnan, who was a music producer in All India Radio. I was then doing my graduation from Calicut University. Then I came to Delhi to do post graduate studies and simultaneously learnt from T.N. Krishnan.”
Manikandan notes that Radhakrishnan's interest in composing light music must have contributed to his own penchant for composition. But finally, it was the “pucca” classical style with which he started and which pulled him to maestro Krishnan too.
While he teaches serious students on a one to one basis — “only then we can teach raga alapana, swara kalpana, neraval, etc. — he also takes a free class for a group 40-strong from all backgrounds and language groups. “I teach simple swara exercises, then gita, varna, simple kirtana. By repeating and hearing each other they learn. In the span of one year they may be able to sing one varna and one kirtana, which in individual teaching wouldn't be possible,” says Manikandan. He describes his teaching as “through actions,” adding, “You could call it experiments in musical pedagogy.” These classes are conducted at Mount Abu School, whose principal, Jyoti Arora, is a “very like-minded person,” he says.
