“This is the style we left behind. Don’t you have something of your own?” Samuel Joseph, better known as Shyaam, was stunned by this question. The year dates back several decades and the location was a church in London. He was part of a visiting film unit. “It was beautiful with neatly placed seats and designated spaces for the organ and the choir. But the music was missing,” recalls Shyaam. He mentioned it to the only figure he found in the church.
“Please write it in the visitors’ book,” the Englishman said and casually asked, “Which country are you from?”
“India.”
“How do you offer worship there?”
“Through music — choir, organ and piano.” This was the reply which elicited the response given in the beginning. “I felt as if I was slapped,” Shyaam relives the moment caressing his cheek and continues: “I realised how correct that person was. We had not created anything native or original in terms of church music. Instead we were blindly following a British legacy.
School of music
Shyaam started ‘Geethanjali Isai Koodam — School of Indian Music,’ where trained Carnatic musicians teach children. “I have never looked at music through the prism of religion,” says Shyaam, once a prolific tunesmith for both Tamil and Malayalam films. MSV and Salil Chaudhury were close friends. Age has slowed his movements and speech but the warmth and sincerity are in tact. A student of Lalgudi Jayaraman, Shyaam went on to arrange the stalwart’s thillanas into a beautiful string of melody. The ace violinist presented him a signed LP record, which Shyaam has preserved.
How he came under the tutelage of Jayaraman is an interesting story. Shyaam was busy in the orchestra of MSV and that particular day was asked to be present for a recording. Shyaam landed with his violin and asked Govardan, a team member, who came with the notations. “Who is singing?” The reply was, Balamuralikrishna. Shyaam started packing. “I was not equipped to play for a genius like him and what was MSV up to, I wondered,” explains Shyaam. Soon Balamurali arrived and finding his violinist on the verge of leaving, MSV simply said, “It is nothing that you can’t handle.” Shyaam did manage and quietly left the scene but it had made a deep impact. “I realised it was high time that I learnt Carnatic music,” he says.
The decision landed him at the threshold of Lalgudi Gopala Iyer’s house in T. Nagar, just a street away from where Shyaam lived. The doyen obliged by asking son Jayaraman to be the teacher. So the lessons started. “Unforgettable days, those. My class will go on even as Gopala Iyer would be putting young Krishnan through his paces, the anklets on the child’s feet softly tinkling. Gopala Iyer would drop in at my house mostly in the mornings. On one of those occasions, he said, ‘It is my desire to see both Jayaraman and you play a duet.’ What magnanimity! Overwhelmed, I could only shake my head to indicate that I was no match for his brilliant son.” After reaching a level, Shyaam withdrew, but the friendship with the family has remained.
“This music should reach my community too,” Shyaam decided and is training several in the art. A full Carnatic concert with Christian songs has been his dream for long and is coming true now. “I was heartbroken by the negative reaction. Motives were attributed and I was disappointed,” says Shyaam about the controversy that rocked the music world recently.
“How could I cancel the show after making all the arrangements? Kalpana Raghavendar, a seasoned singer, came forward to perform. So the show is on,” he says. “After all this is part of this country’s rich music culture. Only seldom aired. I want music lovers to listen,” he adds.
Geethanjali Isai Koodam presents ‘Yesuvin Sangama Sangitam’ a concert of Christian compositions, tomorrow, August 25, 6.15 p.m., at MCC School auditorium, Harrington Road, Chetpet. “The songs are centuries old and the portraits of five composers — Vedanayaga Sastry, Abraham Pandithar, Krishna Pillai, Samuel Iyer and John Palmer — will be unveiled,” says Shyaam, whose organisation extends help to the underprivileged and differently-abled.
