Face to face with Smt Vedavalli

[eesha]

Rasikas,

An interactive session with Smt Vedavalli amma is planned to be held on Saturday 25th Feb 2017 at Narada Gana Sabha mini hall. We are soliciting questions from rasikas, especially music students on any aspect of Carnatic music which Smt Vedavalli will demonstrate (after due scrutiny of the questions for suitability).

Questions sent to [email protected] before 5 PM IST , Wed 22/Feb will be considered for inclusion.

The entire Q&A session will be recorded and will be made available to public. All are WELCOME for this event.

Rasikas are urged to use this opportunity to send their questions and also participate with your friends and relatives.

[vilomachapu]

How and to whom do we send our questions?

[Nick H]

See the email address given above

[Sachi_R]

Sharing here the question I have emailed to the senior Vidushi:

Respected madam,
Namaskaram. Thank you for fielding this question.

I heard a celebrated flutist recently perform Eti Janma in Varali. The song rendition itself followed a time-honoured pAThAntara and brought out the melancholic prayer of Saint Thyagaraja.

But during niraval and swaras, his irrepressible talent manifested itself as a great deal of virtuosic outpourings and rapid-fire gymnastics. The mridangam accompaniment readily embellished that mood.

I surely felt it was ill-placed in a song wherein Thyagaraja is bemoaning the woes of worldly suffering.

Yesterday's The Hindu carried a fine article, "Singing of Saddest Thought", on how some pieces of music like Raag Bhairav and a famous Western piece "Adagio for Strings" evoke pathos and suit sombre occasions.

How does a Carnatic star draw a line between being most adherent to the mood of a song/raga and showing off his/her virtuosic prowess for the applauding fans? The question is also very pertinent to Bhajans, Abhangs, Dasa Sahitya, and so on.

What is "mot juste"? Is this a learnt or intuitive sensitivity? Or simply an intellectual norm which can be arbitrarily breached at will? Similarly, can one spoil the mood of a jolly song with tortured slowness and counter-productive seriousness?

Sorry for my verbosity.

Thank you!

Sachi R. Sachidananda
Bengaluru

[Sachi_R]

The mood of the song Eti Janma, as I understand it, is the extreme anguish of a devotee, with a heightened sense of tragedy of this worldly existence, feeling that he has spent his life in utter waste, without the vision (darshana) and communion (yoga) with his Lord Rama.

[thanjavooran]

eesha,
Not able to send to the above e mail Id. Separately sent my query to your personal id through the Adm. If possible please help.
Thanjavooran
20 02 2017

[CRama]

Thanjavooran, Are you coming for the programme. I will like to meet you.

[thanjavooran]

Eesha,
problem solved. I have been clicking the link and turned down.

Shri C Rama,
Really interested to attend subject to my health condition.
With wishes,
Thanjavooran
21 02 2017

[CRama]

Thanjavooran, My Mob no 9445070656. If you come, please call me. We will meet.

[thanjavooran]

First half OK. Second half not happy but for the meeting of Shri CRama Avl.
More details shortly in concert review section.
Thanjavooran
26 02 2016

[Vocalist]

First half OK. Second half not happy but for the meeting of Shri CRama Avl.
More details shortly in concert review section.
Thanjavooran
26 02 2016

Thank you thanjavooran and CRama for fearlessly reporting on the happenings at this session.

Congrats to TVG and to the Sangeethapriya team; I wish them every success for their significant contribution to today's generation of budding musicians, as well as flocks of rasikas.

As to the part of the program which left a bad taste or brought the mood down, it is quite extraordinary how the very mouths which rasikas can love to see open to produce music can open to recklessly (if not deliberately) produce contemptible remarks. Sadly, it is often too late for them to notice that they are harming themselves

[Nick H]

Contemptable... Is being abusive towards a loved and respected elder artist.

I fear that our forum has hit one of its low points.

[pattamaa]

Organizers need to clarify... the invite (in post #1) says Smt RV will explain and demonstrate select topics on carnatic music. Not sure why the samvada took different turn. It was disappointing indeed.

Smt RV is entitled to her opinion on sharing concerts online in internet. That apart, i see no reason to be evasive to questions, and not to demonstrate to the extent possible. A wasted opportunity.

[vichu1947]

I was in a double mind whether to write my views as an attendee on that day. Finally I decided to. Here I am.

the programme started 15 mins late. I saw organisers checking something with the sound system. Perhaps some technical glitch. Nothing much as compared to some great vidwans regularly and purposefully coming late to their own concerts.

Award function was smooth. Only Smt RV and Sri TVG were on the stage. Usually someone from organisers also used to sit along to be under the limelight. Not in this case.

Nice prayer song by one of the trustees (Jayashree ??) , followed by a crisp welcome address by another trustee (a Prof somewher) summarising what ganapriya does, then a nice narrative by "eesha" on the achievements of TVG and also a passing mention about past award winners (including our own srkris) . Smt RV talked about TVG as a very nice soft person and appreciated sangeethapriya for recognising his effort.

She also said 'we struggled a lot to get hold of a kriti, today people are getting it by a click with google, so nothing should be available easily, nothing should be available in sangeethapriya etc'. It sounded a bit sadistic to me. "I struggled, so you also struggle"

Crisp acceptance speech by TVG and it ended with a vote of thanks by another trustee. All over in 30 mins. So far so good.

Then started the "interaction" part. Disappointing, to put it mildly. The 2 hour interaction was announced as 1 hour to start with by smt RV. And finally when it ended it was only for 45 mins. And that 45 mins included first 10 mins of yessel talking about TVG about his service.

No demonstrations. Answers to some questions were evasive. For one question by audience on practice method for good voice quality , the answer was STUDENTS SHOULD ASK THEIR RESPECTIVE GURUS. Then someone asked what if the guru is not aware, she said "THAT IS STUDENT's MISTAKE. THEY SHOULD CHOOSE THE RIGHT GURU". The point is, when we have a face to face with a legend, we want to get tips and advice. ASK YOUR GURU is not an answer. We all know that. And everyone can't get the "right" guru. They have settle for whoever they get. For argument sake, if 500 students turn up at Smt RV's house tomorrow seeking her as the RIGHT GURU, is she going to teach all of them ?

Yessel did a good job of moderating. He managed to stretch the session to 45 mins. Otherwise it would have been over in 15 mins. For some questions the answer was 'IT WILL TAKE 1.5 HOURS EXPLAIN'. Perhaps true, but is there no short answer for 5 mins? The way the questions and hence those who asked them , were treated with disdain was surprising.

Some questions were answered with a wave of hand, as if did it not merit much talking. For one question "for ragas without panchamam, is it required to keep the thanpura without panchamam", the answer was "IS THIS A QUESTION ? IT IS UP TO U"

Nadai vs Gathi -"THAT IS A BIG SUBJECT"
Nadai Pallavi - THAT WILL TAKE 1 HOUR TO EXPLAIN
Another question -I DO NOT WANT TO SAY ANYTHING ON THIS
Lyrics and Emotion - RASIKAS WILL GO TO CONCERT BASED ON WHAT THEY WANT

and so on. While audience had a hearty laugh for some answers , it still left a void that the answers were incomplete or evasive.

Since any demonstration was ruled out, many questions had to be thrown out and with many questions dismissed with disdain, soon Yessel ran out of questions.

And all was over in 45 mins. And when smt RV was leaving , I went near her to convey my pranams and I can't avoid overhearing smt RV talking to one of the organisers. As the organiser handed over her sambhavanai, I heard her saying, "I know I did not meet your expectation"

As I left the venue with sympathies to the organisers. I asked myself "Why one would knowingly not meet the expectations, having agreed to this session"

[SrinathK]

It's a fact that things that were difficult to get before are commonplace now thanks to technology and the immense efforts of many rasikas (and the same can be said for just about everything else available in hindsight). It took a lot of struggle and effort to make a sangeethapriya or a lyrics resource too, these collections have been decades in the making.

But there is one merit of the old ways, when done right, it gave them far better memories as every phrase was hammered into your brain like a nail till you got it right. Technology has made things easier, but just like our bodies, our minds also need sessions of intense workouts to keep them as strong as they once were. For e.g., Writing one's own notations is always superior than reading a notation written by another. Using smartphones should not be an excuse for forgetting important phone numbers.

That said, the abundance of information available means teaching need not be so quantitative as before in that music classes are not just for learning compositions. We can focus more on things like technique, basic exercises, certain sangathis or versions unique to a particular school or musician, or polishing the results of self study in class, or focusing more on raga phrases, grasping & reproducing, gamakas, laya, analysis, interpretation, tone, emotion, packaging, manodharma, composing, concert practice, or building face to face relationships with the CM community, etc...

[sureshvv]

Some questions were answered with a wave of hand, as if did it not merit much talking. For one question "for ragas without panchamam, is it required to keep the thanpura without panchamam", the answer was "IS THIS A QUESTION ? IT IS UP TO U"

I think what she was trying to say is that, "This is a matter of personal taste. You should choose what works best for you".

For one question by audience on practice method for good voice quality , the answer was STUDENTS SHOULD ASK THEIR RESPECTIVE GURUS. Then someone asked what if the guru is not aware, she said "THAT IS STUDENT's MISTAKE. THEY SHOULD CHOOSE THE RIGHT GURU".

Let me transcribe this for you.

Practice method for "good voice quality" (whatever this means), is something that depends on the student's voice to begin with. Only someone who can spend enough time with the student in a close setting and gauge this will be able to suggest these practice methods.

If you feel that the "Guru" is unable to help in this matter, you may have to find one that does.

The point is, when we have a face to face with a legend, we want to get tips and advice. ASK YOUR GURU is not an answer. We all know that.

If you want some quick and easy "tips and advice", don't go to a legend. You will be disappointed.

And just because you know the answer, you want her to come up with a different answer that you don't know?

And everyone can't get the "right" guru. They have settle for whoever they get.

Then they settle. They cannot come to a Q/A session and magically become maestros

As I left the venue with sympathies to the organisers. I asked myself "Why one would knowingly not meet the expectations, having agreed to this session"

Two possible answers.

1. The fact that expectations were not met was realized/known only at the end of the session, not before.

2. The proceedings depended on other factors (like the quality of questions selected) which was also not known before the session.

[Sachi_R]

Is there any point in pursuing this "post mortem" discussion?

[sureshvv]

I think there is. May be next time they invite a legend for a Q & A session, they can vet the questions a little more carefully.

1. Don't ask them technical stuff that you can google

2. Ask them something that they can narrate from their personal experience.

[Nick H]

I think there is. May be next time they invite a legend for a Q & A session, they can vet the questions a little more carefully.

And maybe they can discuss the questions with the guest and prepare properly.

[sankark]

She also said 'we struggled a lot to get hold of a kriti, today people are getting it by a click with google, so nothing should be available easily, nothing should be available in sangeethapriya etc'. It sounded a bit sadistic to me. "I struggled, so you also struggle"

"Bit sadistic"? could be.

My 2 paisas. Do we humans value a priceless treasure if it were available free of cost/toil? So it might that, she meant that such priceless treasure shouldn't be made available without a little bit of toil so the receiver knows its worth and treasures it as such.

[vichu1947]

I think there is. May be next time they invite a legend for a Q & A session, they can vet the questions a little more carefully.

And maybe they can discuss the questions with the guest and prepare properly.

I understand from a person close to one of the organisers that questions were collected from rasikas thru email upfront and submitted to smt RV 2 days before the event but she refused to accept email questions and she wanted to answer only those from audience present on that day.

[varsha]

Sad that Sangeethapriya's work ( as well as TVGs) is considred by some as though it was just ware housing work.

It is a rare and fine example of highly intelligent collaborative work , with an altruistic gilt edge.
It is not given to immediate generations to understand the full value of such initiatives.

[Vocalist]

And maybe they can discuss the questions with the guest and prepare properly.

Given what vichu said, clearly efforts were made but the guest chose not to. Anyway, I can't help but wonder why some are getting so defensive for this guest. I think people who have commented here never had anything personally against the guest. If anything, those people had (and might in fact still have) a great admiration, love, or respect for the musician. In fact, I doubt any of the people here have expressed anything negative about the way in which she performs or what she does either. So it is really beyond my comprehension why one feels a need to shut down any discussion about what they genuinely observed, listened to, felt, and heard about from that day. The entire discussion has been civil and yet you say things like "abusive" or "the forum has reached an all time low".

There is a great responsibility which comes with being a musician. That responsibility is not limited to the music which is produced at any given time; it extends to sessions like this also. Repeatedly overlooking this type of conduct will only encourage such phenomenon to continue (in fact the lack of publication of such incidents arising from other musicians appears to be doing just that), and I for one am not at all for it, no matter who the person/musician is.

Whether an individual decides to take it constructively, or takes offense to it (particularly when it is not intended at all, or any more so than what the individual did/said) will speak for itself in the end, so I will wait to see what happens.