MusicalNirvana - Articles on G N B

Articles on G N B

Unknown source - If you know the source or the author pls contact me.
Reproduced here for educational purposes only

Gift of Voice

A musical prodigy was born with all the blessings of God in an environment and facility for a musical prodigy to grow up under his father G.V.Narayanaswamy Iyer, who was a teacher in Hindu High School, a keen student of music with an almost professional thoroughness. The other inmates of the house being Shri. Guruswamy Bhagavather, a favored disciple of Patnam Subramania Iyer, Madurai Subramania Iyer, a good violinist who had completed his studentship with Karur Chinnaswamy Iyer (one of the four great violinists of the day) and frequent visits of many musicians who came to see Mr. G. V. Narayanaswamy Iyer, who was then the secretary of Parthasarathy Swamy Sabha. (This house in Sivaraman street in Triplicane was the meeting place of established vidwans, who were in Madras or came to Madras).

One of the earliest prestigious music sabhas Sri. Parthasarathy Swamy Sabha had the distinction of being run by some of the real music lovers, scholars, pandits, vidwans, patrons and rising artists. Monthly concerts were arranged in the 1st floor of a building, where G.N. Balasubramaniam had every opportunity of hearing good music.

The gift of voice is an asset to any musician and should be grateful for, but then there is a practical problem involved, which a moment’s calm analysis will show. In such a voice running at so fast a speed the effects of Brighas, twists and turns, come in quick succession that most of the audience, the lay audiences fail to appreciate and feel restless. Those with a musical ear, sure knows some of the nuances but this is loss to the lay audience, of course, and also a loss to the musician that his great achievements pass unnoticed. This was what I had to impress on Mani (G. N. Balasubramaniam) in those days. The cascade of notes were so overwhelming that our intimate friends failed to grasp the subtleties as confessed by them. In this attempt, another close friend and well-wisher was a trained mridangam expert K. Rajamani, B.A.B.L. (one year my junior in Presidency College, Madras) trained by Sri. Krishna Pillai of Pudukkottai, another disciple of Manmudia Pillai. The residence at No. 73, Big Street, Triplicane, Madras was where we three met. Mani got to practice to the accompaniment of mridangam. This helped him a lot and taught him many useful bits about mridangam technique which he could make use of in his concert. Some of the earlier appearances of Mani were with Rajamani on mridangam. Very many of the earlier performances of the few early years were at some friends’ house parties, college functions etc.

A performance was arranged by one of his admirers a well-wisher in Theosophical Society, Adyar under the world famous Banyan Tree (which has been there for centuries and ever green) Srimathi Rukmani Devi Arundale was the patroness of the occasion. Her appreciation and applause were noticed by the press representatives present on the occasion and they gave a glowing report of the concert in the next day dailies and that meant Mr. G. N. Balasubramaniam ( still my Mani) had arrived and the road to name, fame and fortune were open to him. Tributes paid to G. N. B. by the press did start the period when he received invitation from many of the music sabhas in Madras and some important mofussil towns where they had established Music Sabhas. Nothing succeeds like success and within a few years, he was among the most sought after male vocal musicians. His style of Raga elaboration, rendering of standard kritis in the classic traditions and apt swaraprasthana endeared him to the average music hall audience as well as to the knowledgeable musically trained critical audience of this time. He had restricted the speed, ideally suited to his voice at the same time easily followed by the audience. He had gained by attending the vocal recitals of the all time great Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar the Kalpana Sangeetham of Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer and achieved a synthesis of the two models, most attractive and technically perfect.

No wonder, he was at the top of the profession and he had gathered around him a large number of admirers, and ardent audience. His fan mail grew fast.

This was not an unalloyed good. The inevitable frequency of kutcheries, the frequent travel by air, and surface route, the irregular hours of food and rest began to tell on his health. When remonstrated with his undertaking 18 engagements a month often in places distant from each other, he had only one thing to say - I must meet my needs. They are great - my family is big, frequent marriages do and cost quite a bit and I cannot spoon pick and choose and not undertake so many engagements. This he again said when he came to Bombay for a concert and stayed in Wadala with his kinsman. The next evening he called on me at my house in Chembur, stayed for a few hours - would not eat - could not eat - just a mouthful of payasam and left early to take rest. This incident depressed me and all members of my family to see him in poor health.

He had taught and groomed during his active years number of his disciples to reach the top grade among professional musicians of the day - Radha Jayalakshmi, M. L. Vasanthakumari, Trichur V. Ramachandran, S. Kalyanaraman - to name a few - and they in their turn had trained musicians fast approaching the top. G.N.B. had the honor and pleasure of seeing his second generation shisyas numbering among the top of the profession. He had won all the top honors and distinctions in the field of music. He was made the state vidwan of Travancore, a Sangeetha Kalanidhi of Madras Music Academy etc. He developed and perfected a new style of vocal music rich-classical and very effective, appealing to the people as well as the pandits

Mani was persuaded by his friends and admirers to act in a film called "Bhama Vijayam". This film was unique in the sense that Mani and M.R.Krishnamoorthy (brother of Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer) together gave some excellent music in perfect unison. Later he acted with the celebrated musician M. S. Subbalakshmi in Sakunthala as Dushyantha. This film gave occasion and medium for the two top class musicians of the male and female groups to act and sing together - a feast of reason and flow of soul.

Taken from an unknown source - written by S. Ramesh
Reproduced here for educational purposes only

G N B

GNB - the first and arguably the most famous acronym in Carnatic music. The name somehow still retains freshness even now, thirty-three years after his passing away. A reflection of his style perhaps. This possibly explains why, as we are aware, youngsters born after he passed on have drawn inspiration from his tapes to take to music as a way of life and a means of livelihood. They couldn't have been swayed by his striking personality. With this belief I hope people will read on.

Speaking for myself - and I will indulge myself a bit - my own interest in Carnatic Music - I only listen – was kindled by a tape of his last Music Academy Concert in 1964 which came my way sometime in 1968. Then - I couldn’t identify a Saaveri or a Begada not to speak of abstruse ragams like Senchu Kambojhi or Jayamanohari. Today - after thirty years and hundreds of hours of listening - and mind you not just to GNB - I feel quite smug about being able to detail at least three other Ragas like Senchu Kambojhi which carry Sa Ni Dha Ni Pa on the descent. I can also tell you how it is not just the Ni on the descent, which differentiates Jayamanohari from Aboghi. So much for informed listening.

The objective of this piece – which I am improvising even as I write – is to put down my own thoughts and impressions on GNBs music as ingrained from listening to his tapes. I have only a very faint memory of seeing him perform and I have therefore also not been swayed by the concert effect of his much talked about stage presence. I will attempt in the following lines to break up my appreciation into dominant thoughts on various aspects of his music, which went through my mind – good and bad - as I listened to his tapes over and over again.

Voice

His voice had natural briskness and speed. Not easily controllable. I don’t think he really had to work for it. I am not talking of the brikha – his USP – when I am referring to speed. He could produce super fast gamakam-laden sangathis with strength and weight and great imagination. The impact of all this on the listener was powerful. The brikha itself was something of an optional extra - though it was this faculty which set him apart and by which he is most remembered. A little more of this later.

Some negative aspects. While he did dazzle with his fast - paced reach across the top octave, his voice did not have the same flexibility and fluidity in the top octave as it did in the middle octave in handling gamakams. In the slow tempo his voice appeared to be straining at the leash. He was also prone to mechanical failures especially in the area around the thara shadjam. Karvais in the upper octave were not his cup of tea. I would simply attribute these negatives to not enough hours spent on voice training. While he was I am sure aesthetically alive to this entirely, he probably preferred to spend more time in ideating. The idea was perhaps more important for him than its execution. This is the downside when things come easy.

His ragam statements had clarity of expression. There were no ugly syllables .His statements were also deliberate and applied and never unduly long. Even his bursts of speed were short and sharp. You wouldn’t get an unstructured torrent of molten passion from him. It was therefore possible for a listener to comprehend and assimilate his music conceptually. Reproduction in imitation form is not important or desirable and I believe he did not encourage it either.

Gamakams

His gamakams especially in the middle tempo had a wholesome rotundity - what they called a ravai shaareeram in Tamil. He never overworked the oscillating gamakam. Not more than one or at best two oscillations. The violin would take care of the rest of the oscillations. While traversing between two points in a scale he would do it with the minimum gamakam inflexion. He also used flat notes frequently but these were sung with strength and firmness – one never got the feeling that it was less than Carnatic. He must have believed in the preciousness of the gamakam and used it optimally so that he got the best mileage out of it.

Jharus

This is where he was in an altogether different zone. He would produce the cascading Jharu coming down from the upper octave and going down to the lower octave or he would do a looped Jharu in the middle tempo with different combinations of stress notes. The effect was simply breathtaking. He would do this with symmetrical / asymmetrical plain scales, and Vakra scales with consummate ease.

Brikha

As I said about his voice, the brikha was his USP – which probably gave him a distinct competitive edge. While his brikha sallies across the scale held the listener in thrall what delighted more were the subtle brikha - laden nuances, which he wove into his raga delineations. Even commonplace time- worn statements would sparkle afresh in his hands because of its brikha orientation. Having said this I must also state that the Brikha, not being a note -defined and controlled statement – more an exceptional voice faculty – has many a time proved his undoing when it didn’t work. But he could never resist it. It brought him a lot of runs, didn't it!

Note orientation

While environment would have imbued in him the essential flavour of Carnatic Music, his style was very note-oriented especially when in an expansive mood in the Pallavi raga alapana and he was a bold experimenter. He would come up with sharp note combinations, which were very attractive and original especially across octaves. He had a penchant for varjams and used them very effectively.

His Dha Ga Ri Sa in Thodi coming down from the madya sthayi Dha with all its variations was a thing of beauty. He would also employ catchy phrases where they were not conventionally in vogue. He was prepared to set convention. His one -off panchama varjam on the ascent in Kambojhi at the end of the alapana is a case in point. He would dwell at length on notes, which a "purist " would tut – tut at - for example the flat Ni in Thodi or the flat Ga also in Thodi, which produced a Sindhu Bhairavi effect. He would negotiate an elaborate spell in Kambojhi around Ni in the madya Sthayi gingerly poised below the Thara Sthayi Sa.

While he was note-conscious he didn't have a fetish about note precision or note - based grammar and would give convention its overriding place where it was established. I have heard purists arguing over how popular usage in the treatment of the two Dha's in Bhairavi was grammatically incorrect. GNBs handling of Bhairavi seemed to suggest that he respected popular usage once it got into the fabric of the ragam over time. Even Shyama Shastri’s Amba Kamakshi as sung today by masters whose credentials were beyond discussion would testify to this .He would for example invariably employ a " truncated " Kaakali Ni (read Kaisiki Ni) in one of his favorite finishing sangathis in Panthuvarali - his most often sung ragam.

Ragams handled as alapanas

Alapana was a distinct strength area and he had a penchant for creating ragam melody out of any given scale. He is known to have authored quite a few ragams as alapanas. His repertoire was vast.

Melakartas

He was most at home with Panthuvarali, Kalyani, Thodi and Shanmukhapriya. Shankarabharanam to a lesser extent .His Chakravaakam was very impressive. He has sung cameo alapanas in Rishabhapriya, Sarasangi and Harikambojhi. There is also an ‘unfinished ‘ Simhendramadhyamam on tape - part of an RTP. Not on tape are some Melakartas which he is said to have excelled in - Shubha Panthuvarali, Dhenuka, Natabhairavi, Keeravani, Charukesi. Karaharapriya I am told he hardly touched. I don’t know how a performer of his standing got away with this. I can understand him saying No to Rasikapriya, but surely to one of the Ghana ragam majors. I will be only too pleased if somebody would disprove this with a tape where he has majored in this ragam I have only heard a Virutham. Besides these I don’t know if he cared much for Latangi Vachaspathi Ramapriya, Hemavathi etc., among the old Vadi Melakartas. It didn’t seem that he was much into Vivadi Melakartas. I believe he has sung Jyothiswaroopini.

He was fond of Hindolam, Shuddha Saaveri, Aboghi, Madhyamavati, Amritavarshini, Hamsaanandi, and Malayamaarutham. Mohanam - yes - but not often enough for such a popular scale and I wont say he particularly excelled in it. He was also known to have popularised a few like Vijayanaagari, Vivardhani Vandhanadharini, and Saarangatarangini either through major composers’ works or his own compositions- these are not on tape. I haven’t heard Valachi, Shuddha Dhanyasi or Sriranjani amongst the better known plain scales. I know he has sung them. There is short and bright Hamsadhvani, which I like - this ragam is not often sung in alapana form.

Asymmetrical plain scales

His favorites were Saaveri, Bilahari, Dhanyasi, Ranjani, Poorvi Kalyani, Andolika (this one almost belonged to him), Kedaragowlai, Kaapi Narayani, Kiranaavali, Arabhi. And of course the peerless Bhairavi and Kambojhi. He sang a good Narayani I am told. I don’t think he took the popular Abheri very seriously - it is not on tape.

Vakra scales

He has handled most of them. Natakurinji, Devamanohari Sahana, Malavi, Senchu Kambojhi, Yadukula Kambojhi, Surati, Kanada Nayaki, Aananda Bhairavi, Reetigowlai (I thought he had no peers in this ragam), Ahiri, Asaveri, Begada, Atana, Poornachandrika, Kannada, Devagaandhaari, Saaranga, Hamir Kalyani, Sindhu Bhairavi, Paadi, Behaag, Of these his Malavi is much talked about. His Yadukula Kambojhi and Nayaki were perfect in their precision. Durbar is missing.

I haven’t heard the popular madhyamashruthi Ragams – Punnaagavarali, Naadanaamakriya, and Chenchurutti excepting Misra Yaman (Radha Sametha). GNB’s admiration for Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan is legendary in Carnatic circles. The Hindustani ragam Gaavathi that GNB incorporated into his repertoire was I believe inspired by Bade Ghulam. He even went on to compose a Varnam in Gaavathi. Very original, considering that most Hindustani ragams are adapted to Carnatic Music through the medium Thillanas.

Varnams

He was quite regular with varnams but seemed content with the three elementary ones in Aboghi , Mohanam and Begada , and the popular Kanada - Ata Thala and Navaragamalika Varnam starting with Kedaram.

Kirthanams

I did a rough number recall of his repertoire as heard on tape. Kirthanams include numbers, which were sung as thukkadas in the post - pallavi phase. Thodi - 7, Kalyaani-8, Kambojhi - 3, Bhairavi - 3, Shankarabharanam - 4, Panthuvarali - 6, Poorvi Kalyani - 5, Harikambojhi -3, Bilahari - 3, Saaveri - 2, Madhyamavati - 4, Hindolam -3, Aananda Bhairavi - 4 , Reetigowlai - 3 , Andolika -2, Yadukula Kambojhi -3 ( includes one of his own ) , Begada -3 , Kanada - 2, Khamas - 3 ,Kiranaavali -1 ,Hamsadhvani -2 , Bhairavam -2 , Arabhi - 2 ( includes Saadinchane), Paras -2, Shurutti-2 Shuddha Saaveri, Sahana, Malavi, Senchu Kambojhi, Mohanam, Manirangu, Atana, Malayamaarutham, Amritavarshini, Aboghi, Nattai, Gowlai, Shuddha Dhanyasi, Jayamanohari, Kaapi, Kaapi Narayani, Kannada, Mukhari, Dhenuka, Durbar, Veera Vasantham, Vasantha, Sindhu Bhairavi, Jayanthashri, Shuddha Seemandini, Shuddha Bangala, Ravichandrika, Poornachandrika – 1.

I must qualify here. The available tapes were mostly recorded I would imagine between say 1955 and 1965 and do not cover his full concert career. I am aware from people who have heard him through the 40s and from some hard material that his repertoire was much larger than the 100 or so that I have been able to recall. He seems to have discarded a few down the years. His Ethaavunara in Kalyani and Thathvameruga in Garudadhvani for example were quite famous and sought after though there is no recording available. One possible reason I suspect for this not very vast repertoire - apart from limited available recordings - could have been his divine involvement with composing during this period - 55 to 65 - which may have left him with little time and perhaps inclination to devote to further increasing his repertoire of other composers’ works. He did not as we all know sing his own compositions - about 250 of them - in concerts except for the beautiful Paramakripa in Yadukula Kambojhi. Even so, while he did have a reasonable repertoire for a concert professional it didn’t seem that he was an avid collector or accumulator of kirthanams.

His paatantharams were very sleek and precise and easily lent themselves to assimilation by an informed listener. He chose and moulded paatantharams to suit his brisk voice and style and did it with flair and restraint. Marugelara in Jayanthashri - one of the most all time popular songs of Tyagaraja - was, I would like to think, a GNB contribution. Ethaavuna in Yadukula Kambojhi - a kirthanam was sung with chiseled perfection at a slightly brisk pace .One could go on. He also embellished a few kirthanams with chittaswarams - Swaminaatha, Vararaagalaya, Shobillu, Eevasudha, Nennarunchinaanu, and Sudhaamayi, Rama Ninne (Saaranga). I am not sure on the origin of these chittaswarams. Talking of chittaswarams there is a shocking thing that he has done. He has completely edited out the beautiful chittaswaram and its matching lyrics from Shyama Shastri’s Paalinchu Kamakshi in Madhyamavati. I wonder just why he did this and on what authority.

Thanams

His Thanams were crisp and pacy and rendered with a clean diction. Some of the bols that he used had a very catchy rhythmic gait with a sparkling brikha streak built into it. He hardly ever went into the top octave when doing a Thanam. I would call this a shortcoming.

Pallavis

He chose all the major ragams for the RTP suite - Thodi, Kambojhi, Kalyani, Bhairavi, Shanmukhapriya, and Simhendramadhyamam. Shankarabharanam is not on tape. He also handled ragams like Devamanohari, Sahana, Natakurinji, Aananda Bhairavi, and Ritigowlai for elaborate alapana treatment befitting an RTP.

The Pallavis themselves were generally not complex or out of the ordinary. He did many pallavis in Adi and Misra chapu. He did not do the variation in three speeds - anulomam I think its called .I would have thought this was a must for Pallavis. Today’s singers respect this as a prerequisite for pallavis.

Kalpanaaswarams

His kalpanaaswarams were sharp and very imaginative. The swaram sequences were however never very expansive and lengthy. His swarams in a two-kalai adi kirthanam for example would mostly be restricted to one avarthanam at a time, would occasionally go into two and very rarely into three. Kuraippus and Kanakkus/ Korvais he hardly did. He probably felt that Kanakku was the domain of the mridangist. He was one of the early practitioners of the concept of poruthams in kalpanaaswarams i.e., variations in the approach or end note coinciding with the sahityam eduppu note. He usually did this in the first tempo. Conventionally all kalpanaaswarams generally have the same end note. Poruthams as the word suggests incorporate appropriate variations in the endnote logically flowing into the eduppu note. This concept has in modern times been developed into a highly sophisticated science by superbrains like Balamurali Krishna, Lalgudi, T R Subrahmanyam (TRS) and TN Seshagopalan whose kalpanaaswarams blend intricate kanakku patterns with poruthams.

Shruthi Bedham

GNBs name is inextricably and controversially linked with this subject as the man who started it all on the concert stage. We are all aware of the concept. I have really not heard him do any full scale-shifts in any of his alapanas available on tape. Only the occasional shift within a limited note range in Thodi Shanmukhapriya and Sindhu Bhairavi. Doing a Shruthi Bedham or a Swara Bedham is not easy and requires technical skill - I would like to use the word vidhwath - just as you require vidhwath in handling anuloams, nadai shifts etc. when executing a Pallavi. So why the cynicism and objection to this concept as a concert feature as long as it is done by exception . The modern masters, aforementioned will surely agree. They have all handled Shruthi Bedhams - I am not sure of TRS - on stage with telling effect. GNBs disciple - the legendary MLV - was an instinctive exponent of this technique

Bhaavam

There is a large consensus of opinion that GNBs music was short on bhaavam or emotional appeal. Now this is something very relative and not easily defined. The strength and brilliance of his voice and the flair With which he sang imparted its own emotional appeal, maybe at a slightly more cerebral level. I would for example rate his Saaveri, a relatively somber ragam, as superlative sung the way he did. True, if you wanted to experience an emotional catharsis or unison with God through music he was perhaps not the right choice. I will concede that his music had to be heard sitting up, not leaning back with eyes closed. I have an explanation for this. While he was himself aesthetically very sensitive and responsive to bhaavam-laden music, his voice, facile and fast paced as it as it was, probably took longer than most others to settle down and mature with time.

Conclusion

GNBs name will figure in anybody’s short list of all time greats. He was perhaps the first of Carnatic Music’s intellects -and a bit flawed at that like all great intellects. At an emotional level I will say he still had a good twenty years of music left in him to evolve and experience, notwithstanding his phenomenal success and reputation as a performing artist. In terms of music his heart had perhaps only just begun to rule his head. Alas the body was weak. His music will remain modern in any generation.