Apoorva’s enthusiasm is a sure giveaway. Slowly, one by one, all her fellow music mates trickle into the rehearsal space, also looking exuberant and joyous. By now, you’ve figured it out. Bahudari , the ensemble that Apoorva is directing, is not just the name of the famous Carnatic raga immortalised by Tyagaraja’s krithi “Brovabarama”. Bahudari literally means many roads, and on seeing the young talent pool, trained by different gurus and different styles, you closely guess it is a celebration of the diversity in music. “It means many ways to celebrate music,” says Apoorva. “I have never collaborated with so many young musicians before, and I cannot explain how happy we all are to be with each other. We share similar views, our level of understanding is same… we are so excited about our performance. We have even thought of a dress code,” she adds. While most of them in the group are trained by gurus in Chennai and also have made it to the Season concerts, this performance in the presence of who’s who of music in the heartland of Carnatic means a lot to each of them. “We are working very hard.”
It’s hard to guess Apoorva Krishna’s mental age when you see her on stage. The young violinist, in her late teens, is in total control of herself, unperturbed by what’s happening around her. This, is not just in the immediate context of the concert, but even in the larger scheme of recent trends in Carnatic music itself. Her music is marked by conviction and confidence, and a complete understanding of her training in the Lalgudi bani . Her effort and seriousness is evident; Apoorva’s music rarely contains a phrase that stems from the temptation of showmanship.
“What’s the point in gimmickry? My approach is very traditional,” says the lively young girl, attempting the air of a senior musician. “I am not really taken in by external pressures. I listen to everyone, have regard for their music, but I do what I have been told is right by my gurus. Speed is not the buzzword for me,” explains Apoorva, beaming a wide smile.
As a little girl of five, Apoorva was fascinated by the violin. “We lived in the US then. My parents had taken me to a concert of Anuradha Shridhar. I apparently told them I want the violin, and that is when it all began. I became a student of Anuradha Shridhar, the legendary Lalgudi Jayaraman’s neice, and the violin became the most important part of my life.” Anuradha Shridhar was a guru, one of her kind. She picked her students from school, took them home, fed them, and the lessons went on for hours. “At times, it used to be for three to fours, and very rigorous. All I know is that we would lose sense of time with her, and enjoyed it thoroughly. That is probably because it was not a conventional guru-shishya, tuition kind of a class. She was so caring towards her students that even rigorous classes did not matter to us at that age.” The Lalgudi bani – a school of singing violins – believes that all who come into their tradition must be able to sing too. “So we are taught both vocal and violin. Understanding of sahithya is very important for this school, the emphasis is to reproduce the emotions of the voice on the violin.”
Fortunately for Apoorva, her family lived in California which was filled with South Indians. Most of her friends, and children in the neighbourhood learnt either music or dance. “So I didn’t feel isolated in my music. In fact, the atmosphere was very much like what it is here.”
When Apoorva was in the sixth standard, her parents decided to move to India. Her guru’s mother Lalgudi Shrimathi Brahmanandam became her teacher. “She is a perfectionist. There are times when she has taught me a kriti for three months. She first sends me the idea of the kriti, makes sure I can sing it well, know the sahityam perfectly, and then mounts it on the violin. She extracts minute details from me, and it has added a very important perspective to my learning.”
An able accompanist and soloist, Apoorva has just added another dimension to her musicianship – that of a composer. She recently composed a Thillana in the raga Ranjani which went viral, and now Bahudari , which is to have its first show on December 13. “I like being an accompanist and a soloist. While being a soloist gives you a lot of freedom, it is fun being an accompanist. There is challenge in it. I think I enjoy composing too…,” she explains.
By now the entire team has assembled. They break into “Srimahaganapathim” in Athana, calculate rhythm, differ, make adjustments… and in a few minutes there’s cackle and cacophony. They shed their musician selves and become like every other youngster. They sure will set fire to stage, but aren’t we glad that there are several shades to human persona? Another kind of Bahudari.
