Connoisseurs of classical music have often seen the concert ‘avatar’ of mridagam exponent B.K. Chandramouli, and harmonium player Dr. Ravindra Gururaj Katoti. Recently, both these artists turned Chowdiah Memorial Hall into a classroom for a few hours, presenting lecture demonstrations as part of the annual Music Festival of Chowdiah Memorial Hall.
B.K. Chandramouli, along with mridangam artist, B.C. Manjunath and Konnakkol artist Somashekhar Jois conducted a lecture on ‘Laya in Mridanga and Konnakkol: Specialities and Similarities’. He began the lecture with the history of the mridangam, the materials used in the making of the instrument, the posture of a mridangam artist and the different stages in the learning of the instrument.
“The mridangam has been called Deva Vadya owing to its mythological references. It has also been called Raja Vadya . It is also one among the Pushkara Vadya which comprises other tala vadyas or percussion instruments such as pakkavaj, dhol etc,” he said.
Chandramouli then traced the mridangam’s story through a series of references across texts spanning centuries. He said that the instrument’s name can be found in a script from Nepal. “The script mentions it as ‘mridanga anukarana’,” he explained. In Sangam literature the mridangam is mentioned as Tanumai , he asserted. “The credit, however, for understanding the overtones produced by the instrument would have to go to C.V. Raman, the Nobel Laureate scientist,” he finally said.
With B.C. Manjunath’s help, he demonstrated the various shabdaksharas or syllables — tat dhi tom nam and ghum and the ‘correct’ manner of playing them. Somashekhar Jois, a popular Konnakkol exponent, intercepted this history of the mridangam with that of the Konnakkol. “In Carnatic classical music, the art of uttering the different shabdaksharas of percussion instruments within the framework of tala or rhythm is called Konnakkol.
It is a rare form of art where the different syllables are not just uttered plainly but meaningfully. The artist’s utterance has to be pleasing to the ear and here, the use of the larynx and voice modulation is key,” he explained. Manjunath played tat dhi tom nam and ghum on his mridangam, Somashekhar uttered the same syllables in the exact same speed and with a clarity and texture that matched the instrument’s. “Speed is one of the USP’s of a Konnakkol artist but that doesn’t mean he or she must sacrifice clarity,” he added. This became more evident when Somashekhar uttered a muktaya (the concluding portion) ending in kitathaka dharikitatom .
“The Konnakkol’s history begins during the time of the Vedas. The first technical definition of the form, however, can be found in Bharata’s Natyashastra where it is mentioned as Vashamkarana, which is nothing but a combination of vacham - utterance and karana - performance,” explained Somashekhar.
He then traced its journey and mentioned references in ayurvedic texts, the tiruppugazh of Arunagirinathar in the 14 century and Konnakkol’s subsequent entry into the concert platform in the 18 century. “The exponents of this art form are many and they include legends such as Mannargudi Pakkiriya Pillai, Mysore Puttuswamy etc. There are more than 15 artists in Karnataka itself. And, yet, the art form is hardly seen on the concert stage today. With a single microphone concert system in the past, the Konnakkol could have interfered with the vocalist’s performance and hence it perhaps made an exit from the concert ensemble,” added Somashekhar. Today, in the presence of a full-fledged microphone arrangement, there is little reason to not have the Konnakkol artist back on stage.
The trio then demonstrated what a tani avartanam would be like with the Konnakkol. The give and take between the them was energetic and superlative. Perhaps, the journey back to the percussion syllables was indeed necessary to resurrect an art form that had gradually exited the stage.
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The next day, Dr. Ravindra Katoti, along with his disciple Madhusudhan Bhat and tabliya Gurumurthy Vaidya conducted a lecture demonstration titled, ‘Colours of Harmonium’.
“The harmonium originated in France. What is remarkable is the fact that a ‘foreign’ instrument such as the harmonium has today journeyed to every nook and corner of Indian culture be it the music studio, bhajan sittings, classical and even folk music. The credit for this has to go to the instrument itself because the harmonium has its own language and has managed to communicate and interact with the different genres of music here and managed to make them all its own. This is why I like to call it a Samvadini, ” explained Katoti.
Through the Samvadini , Katoti, in his lecture, demonstrated the various compositions of the Hindustani genre. He began with the khyal. “A khyal, literally, is an idea. The idea or thought that a particular raga embodies is the focus of this composition. What is fascinating about the khyal is that the manner in which the same idea is explored varies from artiste to artiste,” he elaborated. He then played a khyal in Thodi in vilambit ektaal and the essence of his explanation became more evident. “What is gayaki? ” asked Katoti. “It is musical expression in human form. The same musical expression in the instrumental form is called Tantrakari . The raga is the same, the idea might be the same too, but the formation and exploration of that idea is often different,” he added.
After the khyal, Katoti then transitioned into a thumri in Mishra Khamaj. If the raga is central to Khyal, the bhava or the emotion is central to the thumri,” he added as he began the piece. The harmonium’s rendition of the thumri emphasized this aspect rather beautifully. “Generally, those who are not familiar with classical music associate the harmonium with bhajans. The truth is that harmonium entered India through theatre and then through the genre of devotional singing,” explained Katoti. He then presented a Rangageethe in Pilu to demonstrate how the instrument is used in this genre. And this was starkly different from the abhang that followed which was in turn different from the devarnama that concluded the lecture.
In Katoti’s hands, the harmonium singlehandedly communicated the different facets of Hindustani music. Like Katoti said in his lecture, “These are the different colours of the harmonium. Colours that are to be heard, rather than seen.”
