Revelry is one thing which all of us love.
When we celebrate something, adrenalin
rushes in, endorphins run around, serotonin jumps, dopamine
dances and oxytocin smiles. The positives far outweigh the negatives and
probably this is one of the major reasons for the existence of so many festivals
in India-especially in South India.
What happens when we celebrate art
forms and poetry? Wouldn’t this result in our aesthetic sense
getting fine tuned?
But then, are celebrations
and aesthetics mutually inclusive or exclusive?
This is not an easy question to
answer. Celebrations can be gaudy, displeasing and distasteful. It can also be
artistic, beautiful and creative.
Let us see how a great poet
celebrates a very important and a significant occasion.
Rama and Sita get married at Mythila. Kavi
Chakravarthy describes this Event with panache. Though there are
many verses, let me just take 3 of these now.
First, the sun rise:
அஞ்சனம் ஒளியானும்
அலர்மிசை உறைவாளும்,
எஞ்சலில் மணம் நாளைப்
புரிகுவர் எனலோடும்,
செஞ்சுடர் இருள்
கீறித் தினகரன் ஒருதேர் மேல்,
மஞ்சனை அணிகோலம்
காணிய என வந்தான்.
It seems spreading it beautiful rays, the sun rises
to witness the wedding of Rama and Sita.
Then, he describes the city and the people
of the city.
அன்னமென் நடையாரும், மழவிடை
அனையாரும்,
கன்னி நன்னகர் வாழை கமுகொடு நடுவாரும்,
பன்னரு திரைமுத்தம் பரியென தெரிவாரும்,
பொன்னணி அணிவாரும், மணியணி புனைவாரும்.
Young girls and men adorn themselves with priceless
pearls and jewels and the city is full of the auspicious plantain trees.
And finally, the wedding:
ஆர்த்தன பேரிகள், ஆர்த்தன சங்கம்;
ஆர்த்தன நான்மறை, ஆர்த்தனர் வானோர்;
ஆர்த்தன பல்கலை, ஆர்த்தன பல்லாண்டு;
ஆர்த்தன வண்டினம், ஆர்த்தன வேலை.
The drums reverberate. The conch
reverberates. The veda mantram reverberates. The bees buzz. The ocean thunders.
All these say, ‘Long live the divine couple!’
As I said there are more verses, but I have
chosen just 3. Look at the contrasts in the first and the second
verse. The first one describes Rama as ‘dark-hued’ and Sita
as the one who lives on the lotus flower. The second one has the swan (girls’
gait) and the bull (men’s gait). The last one ‘sounds’ the percussion
and the melodic conch. It also talks about the ‘bee’(which goes in
search of honey) and the ocean(water)- symbolizing living and non-living
things.
To imagine that even the bees and the ocean
celebrated Rama’s wedding, calls for a profound aesthetic sense. And that is
why, we celebrate Kamban.
If this was a poet’s celebration and the celebration
of a poet, what we are going to see now is a musician’s celebration. In the
former, Kavi Chakravarty celebrated his Hero’s wedding. In the latter, Isai
Chakravarty celebrates his hero’s wedding-his hero (or should we say
heroine?) being music.
Through almost all his compositions ILaiyaraaja
celebrates music and this is reflected in the output. So, what would have
happened when he was asked to compose a song for a wedding
sequence- a tribal wedding sequence at that. Wouldn’t that have made his
creative juices flow and even overflow?
That oozing resulted in ‘Kanni PoNNu Kai
Mela’ (Ninaivellam Nitya-1982).
The rhythm, the pattern, the use of
apt instruments and a very special raga make us imagine the
ecstatic state the composer would have been in, while composing this
song.
To start with (and I am going in reverse), let us
look at the raga. Theoretically speaking, SaarangatharangiNi is a
simple scale. It is a shadava raga with 6 swaras in
ascending and descending. The great carnatic music legend Shri.G.N.Balasubramanian,
a musician known for many experimentations, once thought of adding a swara
(dha) to a very popular raga Hamsanadam. The new raga was
christened SaarangatharangiNi. Though it does sound like a Hindustani
raag(a lot of resemblance to Shuddh Sarang and not without reasons),
it has a unique charm.
ILaiyaraaja used
it for the first time in this song(and some more times later on).
Shehani, an
instrument (wrongly) associated with melancholy alone, has been used
prolifically by ILaiyaraaja in very happy situations. This instrument is
ubiquitous in this song (note that it is played in North Indian weddings).
ILaiyaraaja is
known to for using very different instruments. In this song, he uses tribal
percussion which plays the tribal beats.
And of course there is his most favourite
instrument which is called as ‘silence’.
Let us now celebrate the song looking at the
nuances.
It starts with the tribal percussion
sounding ‘ta ka dhi mi/ta ka dhi mi/ta ka dhi mi’ for 2 aavartanas(taaLa
cycles). The chorus hums now and isn’t this enticing? The dynamic melody
matches the rhythmic intensity. It is the marriage between raga and taaLa!
As the chorus continues, we see the
resplendent shades of the raga. It continues for 11 aavartanas
with a special sound occurring at the end of every second aavartana
till the 8th and then at the end of every aavartana.
This special sound which lasts for just one beat, shows
how a subtle improvisation can enhance the mood of a composition.
The chorus touches the higher octave
and twin-shehnai decides it is time to jump into the fray. It plays the
first line of the Pallavi and then goes on. The bass guitar joins
the percussion which by now gathers more momentum and intensity, giving
a resonant beat at the third microbeat of the fourth ‘ta ka dhi mi’.
The subtle flute joins the shehnai
for the last two aavartanas to play a part in the celebrations.
Suseela
starts the Pallavi in higher octave. Not many songs have a start
like this. There is pause after ‘kai mele’ with only the special
sound appearing there. Malaysia Vasudevan repeats the first line
and the chorus appears again after the second line, humming in a
typical tribal style for one aavartana. And then there is silence for 3
beats after ‘KalyaNam’. Does this signify something?
As if to show the contrast, the male voice, the
female voice and the chorus sing the next line boisterously!
With a willowy grace, the shehnai moves in
the first interlude. But before that, the resonant percussion
sounds ‘ta’ with yet another tribal percussion sounding ‘ka
dhi mi’ rather gently. And this goes on for 2 aavartanas. But
the beats continue in the same pattern in the background throughout the interlude-
when the chorus sings ‘tam tam tam ki ta’ followed by a
brief akaaram and then ‘tam tam tam ki ta tam tam tam tam’
for 4 aavartanas, when the flute plays a piece couched in
winsome melodic language for 4 aavartanas and when a tribal
melodic instrument joins hands with the keys mimicking the humming
of the chorus.
The lines in the CharaNams are eloquent with
silence playing a role here too. There is silence for a full aavartana
after the first and the third line. The vocals(female in
the first charaNam and male in the second charaNam) give a
repartee in the second and the fourth line. The chorus
joins after the fifth line, repeating the min singer’s lines. The last
line rolls with musical intensity.
The second interlude is vivacious. For
starters, the tribal instrument gives a gripping melody. The strings
respond intensely with the percussion-which is intense as well- backing
these, playing ‘ta – dhi mi/ta ka dhi mi’. After two rounds, the shehnai
wallows in and moves with exhilaration. A host of shehnais and a couple
of other instruments join now and then. As if smitten by this, the chorus
sings with ecstasy. It is contrast again with the keys sounding
with suppleness. The tribal/keys melody appears again and this time the chorus
joins in giving the repartee.
Sheaves of melody!
Sun rays, priceless pearls, jewels, buzzing bees,
thundering ocean..
Artistic, Beautiful and Creative..
It is the Celebration
of Life!
