After violin, guitar, harmonium and harmonica, the eight-stringed strumming instrument -- mandolin -- demands its due from its players in India. To celebrate its unique melody and legacy, it was Mandolin Lovers’ Club (MLC), Pune that for the first time conceptualised a festival of mandolin two years ago. In its third edition, organised by N.S. Prasad, known by the name ‘Mandolin Prasad’ in Kannada film and commercial music circuits, and Prasanna Kumar Ballal, a direct disciple of mandolin doyen U. Shrinivas, the festival aims to reach mandolin amateurs beyond the Hindi belt.
Observing Mandolin Prasad’s love for his instrument, harmonium artiste Sudhir Nayak once introduced the Bangalore-based artiste to Anil Pendse, Founder, MLC. Watching the enthusiasm of its members, Prasad felt that the time to take his instrument to large number of audience and learners had finally come. “It was as if they all had come together to make my dreams come true. I was immensely drawn to the idea and exuberantly started taking steps to hold it in Bangalore this year. When I told this to Prasanna back home, he too was delighted,” says the senior artiste who has been playing mandolin for films, directing music albums and conducting orchestras for over four decades now.
8bgfr_chamber
N.S. Prasad was learning the veena under V. Desikachar of Mysore when he was strongly drawn towards another lesser-known stringed instrument of Italian origin. He then learnt mandolin from Ratan Kumar and ever since, his life has been all about mandolin. He was an accompanist to Mysore Ananthaswamy, the doyen of Kannada Bhavageete in the eighties. Recalling an incident from those days, he reminiscences: “Ananthaswamy also used to play mandolin in his early days which he had purchased for ₹25. Later he resorted to harmonium as there was difficulty in fine tuning the former. Whereas I, much junior to him, had a better-tuned mandolin which I had bought for Rs.40. In those days when I played for him, he had said, ‘I’m jealous of you boy’.”
Later, though Prasad played a number of other string instruments including the Bul Bul Tarang, he stuck to his most revered one, mandolin. He continued to accompany light musicians like C. Ashwath with whom he travelled across the world and over the years produced solo and devotional albums in Kannada and fusion albums featuring stalwarts of Hindustani and Carnatic music. “Only because I was a mandolin player, it was possible for me to do music direction,” he admits referring to other music directors who all knew to play mandolin from Hamsalekha to Manoranjan Prabhakar.
“Hindi film songs sounded ecstatic on mandolin and I loved playing them. It was Ustad Sajjad Hussain who achieved what was considered impossible 70 years ago on this instrument in Hindustani gayiki style. The efforts of Isaac David, an Israeli migrant who played mandolin and guitar in the film studios of the 30s should also not be forgotten,” says Prasad, who feels that every student of music needs to know the history to not only draw inspiration from, but to remind himself of his own insignificance.
“When mandolin was almost inevitable in the film circles, it was still strictly kept out of the Carnatic classical sphere. It was only because of the sole determination of U. Shrinivas, mandolin made an entry into Carnatic music. It was he who showed even the nuanced gamakas could be produced by this instrument,” he states.
Prasanna Kumar mentions: “The mandolin with which my guru U. Shrinivas used to teach two decades ago was a far primitive one compared to the present day mandolins. Now the instrument has undergone many improvisations, so much so that nothing seems impossible on it.”
Prasanna was enchanted by the magic of the mandolin for the first time when he was 15 years old, during a concert by U. Shrinivas in Jaganmohan Palace, Mysore. After three years, Prasanna who was learning Carnatic music from Mysore Nagaraj and Manjunath, finally left for Chennai to learn mandolin in Carnatic style from none other than Shrinivas.
Describing the sound of mandolin that belongs to soprano family of instruments, Prasad says, “if ‘shabda’ is sound, ‘nada’ is melody, ‘sunada’ is sweet melody and the sound of mandolin corresponds to sunada . An instrument with such a pleasant music generating capacity has to have its place irrespective of its origins. This festival is to uphold that identity.”
“It is not just in case of mandolin, every classical form, genre, style and instrument have evolved from its predecessors, folk forms, historical scenarios and surroundings. They all have come into existence because someone crossed the existing boundary to create something new. Therefore, in my opinion, we need to conserve and improvise whatever of value that exists today as one would never know what can become of it in future,” explains Prasad, who has even composed an album titled ‘ Beyond Boundaries’ that resonates this thought.
“Of course, for breaking boundaries, one should have mastered the musical framework. Only then will it be evolutionary,” he concludes.
