About "ANANDAM ANANTAM" - A Journey Into Tanam

JOY ALL THE WAY, says THE HINDU. Click Here for the entire review.




Manodharma Sangeetham or improvised Music is the touchstone of Carnatic Classical Music. Tanam is one of the most important, lively and bewitching aspects of Manodharma Sangeetham. In the genre of Ragam Tanam Pallavi, Tanam is sung after the Raga Alapana and before entering into the Pallavi. It is also called Madhyamakalam or Ghanam. Though there is no specific time measure (Tala), a perceptible rhythm prevails. Traditionally while singing Tanam, the words ANANDAM and ANANTAM are skillfully interwoven into rhythmic patterns. Tanam is a specialized field in the Veena tradition. It has an extraordinary charm and appeal when played on the Veena.

This product features Tanam played by us in 18 exquisite Ragas, some common, some uncommon and some very uncommon. Not only is this product a ready reference for Tanam singing or playing, its appeal is intended to be universal and could be a wonderful gift to a loved one for any special day.

We would be failing in our duty if we did not thank Sri Pradeep Chakravarty, whose idea it was that we record tanams in various ragas. In fact most of the ragams have been chosen by him. Thanks also to Vedanth Bharadwaj for being the perfect sound engineer. And last but not the least Smt Mala Mohan and others at Swati Soft Solutions for putting this together.

"ANANDAM ANANTAM" was released by Smt Veena Kichlu, Managing Trustee of Pandit Ravi Kichlu Foundation on 27th June at Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata. The event was organized by Guruguha Sangeeth Sammelan of Kolkata. Vidushi Veena Kichlu's presence as Chief Guest for the CD release was memorable for a very significant reason. Her husband, a highly respected and noted Hindustani Classical Singer, Late Pandit Ravi Kichlu was instrumental in bringing out our very first audio release with HMV, titled VEENA DUET, in the year 1992. It was wonderful that she could come and stay back to listen to our concert that day.

Anandam Anantam is a 2ACD pack, available now in leading music stores and also can be bought online through Swati's website - Click Here. We sincerely hope you will add it to your collection. Please do write to us and let us know your thoughts. The list of ragas on each CD is given below.

Disc - 1
1. Hindolam
2. Keeravani
3. Mandari
4. Kedaram
5. Huseni
6. Atana
7. Bahudari
8. Chitrambari
9. Navroj

Disc - 2
1. Bhairavi
2. Yagapriya
3. Balahamsa
4. Dhanyasi
5. Arabhi
6. Vegavahini
7. Mohanam
8. Nadanamakriya
9. Bageshri

BACK TO THE PAST

Was rummaging through some old papers and found this! An invite for our CD release function in the year 2000, as well as copy of Mudhra Newsletter featuring us. This CD called "Subramanya" comprises of some select compositions of Muthuswamy Dikshitar on Lord Muruga. This CD probably is not available in the stores any more. We have put up some of the tracks on our website www.veenajj.com. The music from the entire CD is available for download through the link given below.

PS: Of course, we have subsequently changed the way we spell our names!! Everything else remains the same!

Click here to download "Subramanya"

THE NEWSLETTER PUBLISHED IN OCTOBER 2000

RECOGNITION FOR EX-CALCUTTANS

We all respect our elders, and our admiration for them increases when they achieve such feats as to make themselves shining examples for generations to follow………… the happiness is manifold when they are people who you have known closely. It gave us great pleasure and a tremendous sense of pride to see the front page articles in The Hindu Friday Review, on two people who we have known since our Calcutta days. First up, Smt Bhuvana Natarajan, Bhuvana mami to us, who has been honoured with the Sahitya Academy award for Tamil translations of Bengali works, in particular of Asha Purna Devi. Amazing! And just today The Hindu Friday Review carried an article on Sri N Gopala Sundaram, who has translated the entire Tiruppugazh in English, and this has been brought out in the form of a book titled “The Glory of Lord Muruga.” We are sure to get Gopal Mama’s autograph on our copy.


Please see below the links to the respective articles:
Grand Culmination
Stupendous Work

THEMATIC CHAMBER CONCERT

A Thematic Chamber Concert was presented under the auspices of our organization Veenavaadhini, based on the Bhooloka Panchalinga Krithis of Muthuswamy Dikshitar. All the Kritis, representing the five elements i.e. space, air, fire, water and earth were sung and played by us on the veena. Sri Trichur Narendran accompanied us on the mridangam. Rajani Arjun Shankar provided word-by-word meaning and narration to each of the krithis. The background comprising of paintings of the great genius Late S Rajam, pictorially depicting each of the kritis, were made by Aparna Shankar. The two-hour programme consisted of the following kritis:

1. Ananda Natana Prakasam – Kedaram – Akasha Kshetra (SPACE)
2. Sri Kalahastisha – Huseni – Vayu Kshetra (AIR)
3. Arunachalanatham Smarami – Saranga – Agni Kshetra (FIRE)
4. Jambupathe –Yamuna Kalyani – Appu Kshetra(WATER)
5. Chintayamakandamula – Bhairavi – Prithvi Kshetra(EARTH)

The Hindu, Mylapore Times and Kutcheribuzz carried a byte about the programme. It was well attended and well received, and we are enthused to present more of such programmes in the near future. We thank all the rasikas for having attended the concert and making it a big success. And thanks Arjun for the pictures, and Parameswaran and Latha for video recording the event!

Given below are reactions from some rasikas who had attended the programme:

"I attended the chamber concert and it was really memorable. A dedicated presentation by the vainika-s. Special mention must be made of Smt Rajani's commentary which gave lot of insight into the supreme compositions of Dikshitar. It was a n excellent idea to have veteran S Rajam's paintings (of Panchalinga) in the background.

The efforts put in by JJ to internalise the kritis and presenting them authentically in Veena, was quite evident in their rendering.
Trichur Narendran's Mridanga support was something special and enhanced the aesthetic appeal.

I rate this among the best thematic concerts of the season!"

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"The narration, AlApanA-s, tani, and, above all, kRti renditions that adhered to MD sampradAya, were all excellent. It was especially pleasing to listen to chintayamAkandamUlakandam in grand chowkam, with the first line ending on M rather than the usually-encountered version."
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"It was a very nice concert. In fact, with narration and posters about each piece, it was a whole project rather than just a concert. Everyone had put in a lot of work for the benefit of the listeners.

Each piece was in a slow speed, making a contemplative atmosphere for the entire performance. Trichur Narendran never made any effort to hurry things along, but contributed to the mood perfectly.

The program was well attended, with the room being full, but not uncomfortably so; just right.

As a note of curiosity: not one song was in Adi Talam, which must be a very rare event. Misra, Khanda and Rupaka talams were represented."

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"A wonderful evening wherein everything fell in place. Jaysri's Yaman Kalyani alapanai was superb and was within the framework of Jambupathe. Jeyaraj played a lovely Bhairavi preceding chintayamAkandamUlakandam and also a brief tanam. Smt Rajani Arjun Shankar's narratives were well researched and crisp. Trichur Narendren is a class apart. His accompaniment was apt for the occasion and considering the fact that all the kritis were slow paced, he controlled the pace admirably."

ARTICLE IN "AMUDASURABHI" MAGAZINE

Anuradha Kannan of Podhigai TV fame recently authored an article for the reputed Tamil Magazine AMUDASURABHI titled "Karuviyum Kalaingargalum," featuring various carnatic artists and their relationship with the instrument they played. We were asked to write about our bonding (more appropriately, obsession!) with our veenas. Given below is our writeup in English from which has Anuradha interpreted the piece for the article.

VEENA AND US

Ever since we remember, music has been a part and parcel of our lives. During the impressionable stage of our lives, we had been exposed to music steeped in aesthetics and classicism.

Veena has had a revered place in our families and hence it was no surprise that we decided to take up the instrument as a vehicle for our musical expression.

Due credit should go to our revered teachers who have given us a completely unique perspective of the mother of all instruments – the Veena.

To us this instrument has ceased being an inanimate object for long. It is our best friend and it actually “talks” to us every day. It seeks constant pampering. If we fail to practice for a day, there is a sense of discomfort when we play on the instrument the next day. It feels as if the instrument seeks not to respond to our touch!! It needs coaxing and cajoling before it starts responding.

However when we are stressed or troubled, it is our Veena that we turn to. During such times of distress, playing the Veena gives us a lot of comfort and restores equanimity and peace. Surprisingly, under such stressful conditions, it is our friend that sympathizes with us; it needs no coaxing at that point. Playing the Veena becomes a completely de-stressing activity and the environment is filled with positive energy.

When you have such a friend, one would like to increase its tribe. Not surprisingly we have acquired a number of Veenas over the years, and many of these acquisitions can be aptly described as “impulsive”. But we have no regrets in indulging in such an impulsive act!!

Each instrument that we have is very, very special. Our music room is filled with a variety of Veenas, mostly the Tanjore variety. We have indeed built a family of Veenas.

There is one particular Veena that was presented by a music connoisseur for a token amount of Re 1. It is a Tanjore Veena and is more than a century old. It is embedded with ivory strips and the Veena has a unique tonal quality of its own. We are very partial towards this instrument and do not encourage anyone to touch the same. It is only available as a visual treat. Such is our attachment to Veenas that our possessiveness leaves our kith and kin, often, a trifle embarrassed!!

The need for enhanced sound and portability made us look to avenues whereby we could use electronics in a more purposeful manner. In this endeavor, we found great enterprise in Radel Electronics, who have created the Sunadavinodini, an electronic and portable version of the Saraswathi Veena. We have been using this instrument for our concerts in India and abroad. The public response has been very positive and we have had a number of impromptu Q&A sessions on this with members of the audience, particularly from the overseas communities.

However, when we play in solitude in our prayer room we use the original acoustic veena(without the contact mike) but for a concert, as professionals it is our duty to ensure that the clarity and volume of sound reaches every nook and corner of the auditorium and for us the electronic veena has been a boon.

Though we keep indulging in our hobby of collecting veena there are some identified ones which are handled specifically by one of us. They are more a personal possession and are seldom used by the other - not even during practice. This brings more familiarity to the instrument. We are not comfortable with outsiders touching or playing our instruments but we do make an exception for our own students and allow them to play on some of our Veenas especially during concert engagements.

Our Veenas are our treasure. There is an inextricable bond. Veenas, by design, are very fragile and one needs to spend a lot of time and care in keeping them clean and in perfect tune. They demand a unique sense of responsibility from you. Not a single day goes by without our realizing how much our veena has enriched our life, right from bringing us together as life partners, to giving us the opportunity to serve the cause of Carnatic music in our own small way. It thus goes without saying that our Veenas are and will always remain our best friends forever.

Jeyaraaj and Jaysri

OBITUARY

January 5, 2010 was one of the saddest days for the carnatic community. Veena Vidwan Trivandrum Venkataraman died in a car accident. He was one of the all-time great vainikas. For a man of such great vidwath and capabilities, he was a very humble and unassuming person indeed. Everytime we met, he would treat us with a lot of warmth and a personal touch that was very unique to him. We will definitely miss him. Even as we write this, we are still to come to terms with this cruel act of fate. He received the Sangeetha Kala Acharya this year from the Music Academy just a few days before his death. May his soul rest in peace. Our deepest condolences to his family and his sishyas.