Veena artiste Soundararajan V. has never found it difficult to balance concerts and music recordings. An accomplished name with a number of solo concerts to his credit, this soft-spoken artiste pays little heed to the so-called puritans who have little appreciation for artistes who work in genres other than the classical stream. Born into a family of musicians in Narikkuni in Kozhikode district, Soundarajan is a B-High Artiste of All India Radio and divides his time between Sree Swati Tirunal College of Music, Thiruvananthapuram, where he is a lecturer in veena, and at the music recordings of various films, albums and television programmes. Excerpts from an interview with the musician who is now settled in Thiruvananthapuram…
Tryst with music
Music has always been there in the family. My father, Korappan V., was a chenda artiste and had learnt Kathakali as well. My mother, Ammalukutty, used to be a Carnatic singer. We are eight children in the family – four boys and four girls. My eldest brother Sreenivasan V. is a nadaswaram artiste and vocalist. It was he who inspired all of us to follow suit. My second brother, Sivanandan V., plays the tabla and now runs a music school at my native place. The third one, Chandran V., better known as Paris Chandran, is a theatre musician who plays a host of instruments. My sisters are also interested in music, but didn't pursue the art seriously.
Initiation into veena
After pre-degree, I joined Chembai Memorial Government Music College, Palakkad, for the Ganabhooshanam course with veena as my main subject. I chose veena as per my brother Chandran's suggestion. He used to play the sitar and I wanted to learn that. But there wasn't any one around to teach the sitrar. So he said veena would be the next best option. Interestingly, it was at the college that I saw a real veena for the first time. After finishing the course, I came to Thiruvananthapuram and joined Sree Swathi Thirunal College for Ganapraveena course and passed out in 1992 with first rank. During my pre-degree days I had learnt the tabla from Cheekilod Damodaran, and then vocal music from Chelanur Sukumar. However, my brothers have been my first gurus.
His entry into recording field?
While doing my Ganapraveena course, Jimmy Kidangara, my roommate, almost threatened me into going for a music recording! It was for the film ‘Oru Mayilppeeli Thundum Kure Valappottukalum'. There were two songs, sung by [K.J.] Yesudas and [K.S] Chitra and the recording was at Tharangini studio. That film was, however, never released. However, gradually I started getting more recording work. Till 1999, I was with music composer T.S. Radhakrishnan (better known for his devotional compositions).
Malayalam film music industry
I started off with a re-recording session for ‘Aadharam' (1992) under Johnson master. Till date I have worked with almost all composers in Malayalam – G. Devarajan, V. Dakshinamoorthy, Raghavan master, M.K. Arjunan, Johnson, M. Raveendran, Bombay Ravi, Vidyadharan master, Mohan Sitara, Shyam, M.G. Radhakrishnan, Perumbavoor G. Ravindranath, M. Jayachandran, M.G. Sreekumar, Ramesh Narayan, Ousephachan, Alphonse, Alex Paul and so on. ‘Samudayam' was my first film with Devarajan master. He was the one who showed me how to take notations. I cherish working in some of the best Malayalam songs, such as Raveendran master's compositions in ‘Aaram Thampuran', ‘Mazha', ‘Vadakkumnathan', and ‘Nandanam', Johnson's song ‘Enthe kannanu karuppu niram…' in the film ‘Photographer' and Perumbavoor sir's ‘Perariyathoru…' for ‘Sneham'. I have been a part of Balabhaskar's band, ‘Thee', for four years and have travelled a lot for live programmes. I have worked in music shows on television, like ‘Big Band' on Asianet Plus , ‘Indian Voice' on Mazhavil Manorama and ‘Tarang' on Kairali.
Playing for film songs
In concerts, you decide what to play, but in recordings you have to play as per the composer's directions. It is a lot more difficult than playing in concerts where you have a standard sruti. In film songs, you have to shift the sruti and play. That needs a lot of sadhakam.
On being criticised
Artistes like me are often looked down upon by the puritans. But I've no regrets. If you give a concert, the audience you get is limited. Also a veena artiste gets much lesser concerts when compared to other artistes. The advantage of playing in films/albums is that one gets a better understanding of sruti. Also, I get to interact with a lot of talented musicians. I accompany dancers well, which is a learning experience in itself. I have played for Methil Devika, Neena Prasad and Rajasri Warrier and actors like Santhikrishna and Kavya Madhavan. In fact, I teach my students how to adapt the veena to play for different music genres. There are many students of mine who are now active in recording field. The veena, in itself, is a difficult instrument to play. You learn for 15 years, still there is no guarantee that you will be perfect.
Influences in your life
I remember with gratitude my teachers at Chembai College who instilled in me a lot of interest in the instrument. Veena artiste Baiju N. Ranjith is the one who gave me a clear idea about music recording field. Now, my present guru, violinist B.Sasikumar, is a guiding light. I admire veena maestro A.Ananthapadmabhan who handles both classical and light genres with ease.
Your plans for future
I want to bring out a veena-based music album and also want to be known as a kutcheri-cum-fusion artiste.
