Report On A Cyclone

Madras Festival Season; Interview - Palghat K.V.Narayanswamy How do you teach raga, swaraprastara, niraval and such crea- tive aspects to students ? When Palghat Mani Iyer taught me raga, he would say, for example, Start singing Todi. I would start with a sangati. He would listen and say : OK. Now start differently. He would go on like that, getting out of me a number of starting sangati-s, a number of alternate methods of developing the raga and some sanchara-s. A sketch of the raga would emerge, with him adding on a few sangati-s of his own. Many raga phrases have come out of the great sangati-s in the various kriti-s played and sung by the masters of old—Papa [Venkatarama] Iyer, Ariyakudi and others. These are ageless, indestructible sangati-s which can help us in getting beautiful images of the raga. To learn the raga, therefore, one should hear a great deal of good music and one should practise a great deal. The phrases will at first be all wrong and irregular, but slowly the distinct shape of the raga will emerge. One has to pass through the painful stage of apaswara-s and confusing passages. In the [Government Music] College also, I used to structure raga teaching as I have described just now, starting with an outline, using a few well-worn sangati-s that can define a raga reasonably well. But some students thought the raga was just these few sangati-s, they sang only these and called that the raga. I had to chasten them : These are only the guidelines, the framework within which the raga should be sung. It is important, that, after finishing college, a student should polish up his alapana with the help of the outlines taught to him and with hard practice. Anyone who thinks he or she can come out of the college and start performing is foolish. It should never be done. The chronology is : college, followed by practice, and learning the nuances, the technical finesse, from a guru. There is much to be learnt from an experienced musician.

The Sangeet Natak Akademi awards for 1986 are being presented this month in Bhubancshwar, Orissa. where the Akademi is holding its awards function and festival. Carnatic musicians receiving awards are B. Rajam Iyer (vocal), Nedunun Knshnamurthi (vocal), M. Chandrasekharan (violin) and Rajeswari Padnianabhan (veena). MB. Srinivasan, who is wellknown for his choral music compositions and direction receives the award lor creative and experimental music. Other recipients of awards in this category are Anil Biswas and Hemanta Kumar Mukhopadyaya.