My search begins...
On my return to Chennai I started to keep closer tabs on the November Fest and specially Agam. I didn't know if I was coming out of the Carnatic closet and morphing into a curious one? And as days passed by I logged on The Hindu November fest registration site to see the reaction of Chennai audience to a contemporary progressive Carnatic Rock and also keep tabs on number of vacant seats.
Though walking away in the middle of the concert is not new to the Carnatic world (both Musicians and Rasikas), but for some reason I was reluctant to book my seat for the show. Years of listening turned me into a wise listener, and these days I only wanted to expose myself to music that I enjoy the most.
I searched Agam on pages of Wikipedia and also sifted through the video content on the You Tube. On my search, I came across their interpretation of Bantureethi, which I felt was a blasphemy and moved on to hear the song titled Brahma where they effortlessly ascended the raga scales of Valaji and Chakravaham with bringing in hues of Hindustani raga Jog. I also heard their version of Malhar played for Coke Studio and Sree Ragamo track and before sending out an email to some Carnatic Musicians and aficionados in Chennai.
It is an unwritten rule among the Chennai Carnatic Connoisseurs to exchange notes, share views and opinions on music and musicians – old, established, new and upcoming. And within a few hours one responded positive asking me to check out their version of the Dhanashree Thillana, a composition of Swati Thirunaal which was popularized by the Legend MS Subbalakshmi. I decided to savor the flavor from Malhar and Sree Ragam and keep Dhanashree piece for the live performance.
Will Agam satisfy the enormous appetite of Chennai audience who effortlessly savor a dozen Thodis’ and Bairavis’ almost every day in December and leave them hungry for more or poison, paralyze and shut their system down for nomore Carnatic Rock? Will it really be Rock the Raga or Raga on the Rocks? Will Agam find a permanent place in the agam of Chennaites? Come on let’s find out…
At the Venue
When I turned up at the venue I noticed popular Carnatic musicians dressed and decked down, while the Mylapore Mama and Mami mafia were clad in their regular concert attire - silk saree and jibba thronging the venue. And to my surprise I noticed many youngsters who I never saw at the Carnatic music Concerts. And not to my surprise, I noticed people standing along radially straight lines swarming the ticket examiner outsider the door. Somethings about Chennai never change!
Let us not forget that both this Metro and Carnatic Music has always been progressive. Muthuswami Dikshithar, one of the Trinity Composers from the 19 Century, was inspired by the British Band that played at Fort St. George and composed the noteswaras, which are still played at concerts. And Prasanna, a guitarist from Chennai also plays Carnatic music on the guitar.
Will the Mamas’ and Mamis’ of today love Dhanashree and Sree Ragam with their Champagne instead of Filter Coffee was yet to be seen. Will the Agam inspire Carnatic musicians to try something new on their concert platforms or will it leave them threatened or will it further push Carnatic musicians higher on the pedastal of superiority was to be seen today.
Agam’s journey begins….
To survive Chennai audience is the most difficult of all litmus test and all the more difficult when you call yourself Progressive Carnatic Rock! Agam kuliruma? To a full house at Music Academy, Agam, sharp at 7.30 pm embarked their litmus test with an invocation number on Ganesha and Brahma.
The vedic chant on Ganesha tuned in Valaji was followed up with a brief Thanam exposition and then quickly moved on to invoke the blessings of Brahma tuned in Chakravaham bringing along the hues of Jog, like the breeze carrying the fumes of clarified butter (ghee) from the neighborhood kitchen.
Names Shiva, Ganesh, Harish, Jagdish, Praveen, and Swami, didn’t sound too blasphemous for Carnatic Rock, and their long hair, studs, tattoos, holding guitars to their waist and violins to their shoulders and amalgamating Carnatic with Rock. The critic in me promptly opened my iPad to make copious notes for you.
Harish the lead singer of the band, undoubtedly had a powerful voice, was perfectly aligned to shruthi and importantly his vocal chords was able to travel effortlessly ascend the scales of the raga and also bring out the nuances along with appropriate gamakas. He surprised the audience when he heldup the violin and regurgitated the phrases which he vocally displayed and kick started the hunger in the audience. Jagdish and Praveen on the guitar left the audience mesmerized.
Chasing away the Swans of Saraswathi
After having invoked the blessings of Ganesha, Brahma and the audience, Agam moved on to perform the Hamsanadham piece that they titled as Swans of Saraswathi. Hamasanadam is a peppy raga and Bantureethi, a composition of krithi of Thyagaraja know very well to even a layman in Chennai was taken up. The Pallavi was followed with a garland of swarms reminding us of immortal composition of our Maestro Illayaraja Swaragamey yendralum.
The sedate Hamasanadam kriti was turned into a high-decibel jamming session burying the mood and meaning behind the lyric. Bantureethi was definitely a blasphemy, chasing away the Swans of Saraswathi. Is this Progressive Carnatic Rock?
Fury of drums bury the lyrical beauty
Be it a Carnatic concert or a Rock Concert, the principles of engaging with the audience and the co-artist on stage and the fundamentals of connecting with the audience through the song remains the same.
Both songs, Minnidum Ghanamey a Malayalam song tuned in Saramathi and Lakshya Paathai penned by Swami, the key boardist in the troupe had mellifluous melody and niaque infusing lyrics to savor. But sadly the over enthusiast drummer killed the lyrical beauty and mood in the melody numbers.
Many Carnatic percussionists also make the same mistake of trying to steal the thunder and moment with some high decibel playing, while the same thunder can be won with some prudent playing to accentuate the mood and lyric in the composition.
Falling flat on AR Rehman Compositions
A prudent music director like AR Rehman has appropriately used beats, chosen pauses, and has highlighted notes to evoke and accentuate the mood to create everlasting melodies. Taking AR Rehman’s pathos number Uyire Uyrie, slow number Vellai Pookal and peppy number like Dil Se and bringing in inappropriate high wattage beats failed win the applause of the audience. And sadly none of these songs had any classical flavor in it and Agam failed to reproduce the original mood or enhance it with their classical touch.
This brings us to the fundamental question, if loud beats are characteristics of a rock concert, what kind of songs should be played? Shouldn’t they stay away from melodies and warm and pensive poetry that gets lost in high decibel jamming?
Dhanashree, not new to Chennai even when sung at the middle
In the middle of the concert Agam played a popular Thillana in Dhanashree, a composition by Swati Thirunaal. OMG, now I know where one of our popular musicians picked up the quirk to start the concert with a Thillana and end with a Varnam. Didn’t I say at the beginning that Carnatic Music, Musicians and Chennai metro is progressive?
Can a projectile be shaped like a car? No!
Be it Singaravelaney Deva, an old melody by S. Janaki or Kannodu Kaanbathellam by Nithyasri Mahadevan, our Tamil Film music Directors have explore and embellished Dhanashree in a variety of formats with creativity and including complex swara patterns, instruments and beats. Agam could have come up with their version of Dhanashree with some exotic mélange of instruments, and accompanied by rhythmic swaras and beats rather than playing a Thillana with some deafening beats. They must not forget that Thillanas were composed for Dance and have been adopted in the Carnatic concert platform and will have to be adapted to fit in the Rock Concert platform rather than forcefully fitting it in. Shouldn’t we write songs to fit the context and platform rather than trying to give wings to cars and making them fly?
Chennai loves Darbar as much as it loves Dappankuthu
You must be wondering if I am on a trip to berate the band and pulverize their hard work into pieces, not at all. One must remember to aptly must choose the right platform, right audience and right composition to showcase their music. With the next set of songs, Agam was getting back on the track again.
The folk melody from Kerala with catchy jathi in Aarabhi and Durga got the audience engaged and involved with the band.
This was followed dappankuthi song Kadai Kaan Paarvayil written by Swami and tuned in Kapi with an interesting and infectious rhythm cycle built it in. A cup of Coffee after 5 pm keep me awake till late night, but this Kapi vanished from on my mind the moment I exited the hall. And at the peak of it the drummer broke into a thaniavarthanam. And for the first time the Chennai audience didn’t walk out during the thaniavarthanam. May be it is time our Carnatic musicians learn a trick or two from here?
With many popular Carnatic musicians surrounding themselves with reams of paper on the dais, it was a welcome to see Harish, the lead vocalist in the band sing without the need to constantly peep at the lyrics. Is the band well rehearsed and prepared or is it they have a limited repertoire? But nevertheless they had some best practices that Carnatic musicians can take home.
Moving towards the final half hour of the concert, the band unleashed some solid metal rock, followed by Aaromale.
As the penultimate piece they played the song Dum Damaru Bhaje invoking Rudra with some high-wattage beats and chants. Harish shaking his long hair enhanced the mood of the song.
Chennai knows traffic and Kissan jam, but how about Malhar Jam?
Chennai lips that are used to uttering Sabash to soulful Shanmukhapriya and Bale to a brilliant thani, were taught when to say Wah and Irshad by Agam. As the last piece Agam played the Malhar jam, a piece that they played on the Coke Studio. And recited a few lines from Hariharan’s gazhal and the Chennai crowd punctuated their lines of poetry with Wah and Irshad at the appropriate moment and encouraging Agam to ended the concert with some beats that we hear on the way to Krishnampettai.
And the Verdict
A hall that usually resonates with sedate Tampura Shruti that evening reverberated with strum from three guitars, rhythm from an array of drums and powerful vocals. That evening Chennaites overwhelmingly approved Agam and expressed their taste for Filter Coffee flavored with Chicory and Kahlua.
As I exited the hall I came across few Carnatic musicians with whom I exchanges notes and opinions. They didn’t feel threatened, but rather overwhelmed to see youth in the concert halls, and happy with Agam’s attempt. They also brought out the need for lyricists to pen down songs for Carnatic Rock rather than move Carnatic compositions directly to fit their format. One of them was even anxious to hear Mukhari and Bairavi on rock and ready to ask Agam to rest the Jog and Arabhi. By the time I hit the Agam stall to grab a CD for my friend in SFO, it was all sold out. The stall manager asked me to check http://flipkart.com to buy the CD or download tracks.
The purist in me was not too impressed with their song selection, noise levels, but that night I was impressed with their talent, on-stage presence, how they got the audience involved, how they’ve worked hard to come this far. It was beyond doubt or deliberation that Agam was a big hit with Chennai audience and I am sure will come back for the next edition after more homework, expanding their repertoire of songs, and draw more youth into music halls.
Here is the review from The Hindu - http://www.thehindu.com/arts/music/agam-scores-an-a/article4115421.ece
Here is the review from The Hindu - http://www.thehindu.com/arts/music/agam-scores-an-a/article4115421.ece
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