Topic started by Shyam Laxminarayan (@ nandi2.lsa.berkeley.edu) on Fri Jun 23 20:16:08 .
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Your opinions, comments and miscellany on these artists please |
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- From: gopal (@ ac8efa96.ipt.aol.com)
on: Wed Jul 5 00:46:55 EDT 2000
Listening to MS ('67,with Kanyakumari @ madras, thanks to shyam) i realised the masculine
ore in her golden voice gives her such a platform to "sanchaar" even at higher pitch, that we see rarely with other women singers... I notice same
content in Nithyashree's too, even though N requires years of taming under some expert's tutelage. Among men I notice this (among this generation artistes) in TM Krishna, to some extent in sanjay, seldom or never with Unni... in higher pitches, most of the artistes (male and female)
tend to screech like the manual brakes of age-old steam engine driven train cars...
does this any way reflect voice-culturing or is it genetics? are there any not-so-popular personalities out there, anybody familiar with them?
- From: Mike (@ host251.lawyersweekly.com)
on: Thu Jul 6 12:13:59 EDT 2000
I'd vote for Sowmya ... her pure, orthodox padantharam and her rich, warm vocal delivery make her music pleasant and easy to follow, esp. for a Westerner like myself. I think that may be Dr. Ramanathan's influence, as I hear the same qualities in Geetha Ramanathan's veena style ...
Nithyasree is a bit shrill at times, but already seems to be mellowing with age ... I'm becoming more and more of a fan with time, perhaps she's an acquired taste? Her purity in the high shrutis is astonishing.
Sudha is my sentimental favorite, though I find much of her work is beyond me. I have a feeling that I will appreciate her more as my own understanding of CM becomes deeper and broader ...
- From: Nadopasaka (@ akppp84.buffnet.net)
on: Thu Jul 6 13:56:27 EDT 2000
I am interested in how a pure, orthodox 'padantharam', is pleasant and easy to follow for Westerners still acquiring deeper and broader taste. In some music classes here, I have found the natives repeatedly turned off by SSI or KVN.
- From: Mike (@ host251.lawyersweekly.com)
on: Thu Jul 6 14:29:33 EDT 2000
Nadopasaka:
I hope I've not obscured my meaning through an improper use of the terminology, and I certainly invite correction if I have.
My best answer to your query is that a Westerner doesn't carry the same cultural baggage that a native listener does regarding orthodox forms. To explain, an article in the May 29 "India Today" about how "the younger breed of Chennai musicians have recast the image of the traditional Carnatic Classicist," contains the following passage:
"Rajith Nair, a 28-year-old Chennai executive [says] Carnatic music for Nair belongs to 'the elderly.' Like most of his friends he loves music but wouldn't be 'caught dead at a Carnatic concert because I would be an outcaste,' he says sourly. Can't blame him. Many still regard the Carnatic stage a domain of the prototype called bhagawathar: dhoti-clad, dour-faced, ash-smeared and elderly."
But you see, I don't have the cultural background necessary to feel that way. For me, a M.S. Subbulakhsmi recording is something fresh and exciting, not something fusty and dated that my grandparents used to listen to. So the "stigma" of the orthodox schools just isn't a problem.
And from a purely aesthetic point of view, a relatively austere and unadorned rendering of a given krithi (which is precisely what I find appealing about, say, a Sowmya or Aruna Sayeeram) is simply easier to follow. I can follow the enunciation, I can feel the structure; I can tell what's going on. In really ornamental or "gaudy" or gamakam-heavy styles, the structure -- which I think is essential to the "deeper and broader" understanding I mentioned -- is more apparent.
Does that make any sense?
- From: Nadopasaka (@ aappp23.buffnet.net)
on: Thu Jul 6 14:54:44 EDT 2000
Seems reasonable, Mike, .. I guess. You may however, get some debate about regarding certain traditions as cultural baggage ( perhaps this is itself a form of cultural baggage :-)) ) or whether musical orthodoxy is as simply related to a performers appearance. What are some examples of gamakam-heavy styles ?
- From: Mike (@ host251.lawyersweekly.com)
on: Thu Jul 6 15:05:08 EDT 2000
Maybe I'm throwing around the term "orthodox" too freely ... as I use it here, I mean in simplest terms a relatively unornamented vocal style. I think of the GNB-MLV-Sudha Ragunathan line as making heavier use of gamakam ...
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