· The two part article on the role of the sruti in Indian music succinctly written by Mr.M.V.Ramakrishnan in The Hindu concluding July 2 and the apt rejoinder provoked me to introspect about the role of the taalam strings in the veena.
· Firstly, before we sing the swan song of the tambura, we should take note of the economics of the Carnatic music scene. Compared to the North Indian counter parts who can command a much higher remuneration both in India and abroad, the poor southern cousin, is not in no enviable position (though conditions have improved tremendously now I believe) with respect to either the remuneration or the respect “bhav” they command (if I am not mistaken, though I am not a regular concert artist).
· Another point worth noting is that in the war of amplification that Carnatic music is subject to, not surprisingly, the loser turns out to be the tambura as it has no ‘star’ player to demand the spiking of its volume.
· Turning to the veena, my primary concern, my friend Ludwig Pesch never tires of reminding me that it is a ‘sarvavadyam’ having its own taalam and its own drone (and its own voice as Indian music theory has always insisted that the veena is the closest to the human voice, if played as it ought to be).
· In this context, I am surprised that the majority of veena players use the taalam strings either very sparingly or strum only the upper shadjam while rendering the aalaapanai.
· What is worse is that there seems to be a general feeling that taalam strings should not ‘intrude’ on the melody. This notion of ‘intrusion’ is, to my mind, a carry-over of the general inaudibility of the tambura in Carnatic music.
· In my school of music, we follow the Veena Dhanammal practice of strumming the ‘sa pa Sa’ of the taalam persistently whether we render kritis, aalaapanai or of course, the taanam. While rendering kritis, we make it a point to make sure that the taalam strings are strummed at frequent intervals such that there is no point of playing where the taalam strings are totally silent. Therefore while rendering either adi or ata taalam, we strum the taalam at regular intervals,on all the odd beats in adi single kalai and all beats in double kalai taalams. While rendering the aalaapanai, the Dhanammal method is to strum the taalam strings in such a way that the sa pa Sa of the taalam is always heard in slow sequence as a constant background to the melody being rendered.
· Needless to say, this technique of veena playing does not really require a tambura as the veena has one built into it (though a tambura or a tambura substitute at hand becomes necessary to make sure the tuning of the veena is perfect at all times) . Once again, it was Ludwig who pointed out to me to keep the volume of the tambura down in my recordings, as it would be too much of a good thing becoming a real intrusion.
Namaskarams - this article was so thought - provoking that i decided to add my thoughts too !In the context of me also being a performing string - instrumentalist, i would beg to humbly differ on a solitary note : my opinion is that mere playing of the veena itself will unsettle the Thalam strings, not to speak of all the others.We have to recognise that merely playing the Veena creates the basic string pitch to go down (string tension goes down minutely on account of the pulling of the string), on account of minute friction at the lower - most Sa fret and at the bridge, and also because the birudai unwinds very very minutely, as does the 'tuner' that is seen in between the bridge and the top most portion of the veenai 'kudam' , and also due to the minute amount of heat created during the pulling --- even on the best made instrument, one or more of these happen. This, in turn, will unsettle the other strings , including the thalam strings, on account of the 'elastic' nature of the wood of the 'dandi' - the stem. Very simple verification ... please take a perfectly tuned veena, and deliberately de - tune (bring down) the main string by half a note ... then immediately check the tuning of the other previously perfectly tuned strings ... they would have also changed pitch ...So, I want to emphasise that mere playing of the veena itself will unsettle the Thalam strings, not to speak of all the others.I , for one, cannot imagine that the Mahaans who designed the modern Tanjore (Raghunatha) veena or the Mysore veena or the Vizainagar veena etc etc were unaware of all this --- so IMHO , thalam strings are meant only for thalam, and as an instant sruthi verification method for the player - they can not substitute for the Tambura's role, which is to provide uniform & constant pitch for every participant in the concert, and for the full duration of the concert. Perforce, every one, including the rasika has to listen and imbibe the basic sruthi from the Tambura at all times. So, all strings (including thalam strings) constantly need the tambura's reference pitch to keep themselves in true pitch.So, is the Veena really meant to be a 'Sarvavadyam ' ??? On another note - you might have heard the joke - how the 'othu' player in the Nagaswaram concert was remunerated with the maximum amount by an ignorant but wealthy patron --- but thinking about it now --- maybe it was the correct decision, as this person was given the job with max. responsibilty and least glamour, so to say :-)I would guess that even in case we have an excellent veena player playing a full concert without any another tambura, you will find that there will be a gradual but perceptible change in basic pitch, perceived well only when you listen to the recording of the Varnam & the Mangalam together. So playing with absolute pitch - i.e, another tambura , is very necessary, though, as Sri Vijaykrishnan says, we will do well to lower the volume of the electronic tambura.
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ReplyDeleteThe point made by Sri Mullaivasal Chandramouli is well taken. I wish to point out here that different playing styles also have an impact to the degree to which the pitches of taalam and other strings are altered. The baani which Veena Dhanam evolved - on which is based Professor Vijayakrishnan's style and those of RR Iyengar, Smt. Padma Varadan and others - has a 'left hand' technique that produces the full rich array of gamakas without necessarily deflecting the strings to the extent that that it impacts string pitch.
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