Manodharma Sangeetha

Article on Hindu on Manodharma Sangeetha reproduced below:

A distinguished lineage, recognition as a child prodigy followed by
2,500 successful concerts worldwide, widespread critical acclaim, and renowned
for his scholarship and teaching skills, that's vocalist K.N. Shashikiran for
you. Like every mature artiste, Shashikiran's noted not only for his
composition-renditions but also his rich manodharma - the true test of a
musician's creativity. His ragalapanas, tanams, pallavis, neraval, swarakalpana
testify his depth and fertility of imagination.


"Though
manodharma is popularly explained as `what comes to the mind', it does entail
adherence to certain values and codes. First it needs rigorous grounding in
music fundamentals. Then you should've listened to a lot of music. Have an open
mind. Seek knowledge from all sides," he says about the tendency of the audience
to attend concerts of only big names, thereby missing out on the talent of a lot
of unknown youngsters or obscure veterans and the lessons inherent in their
performances. Manodharma, he insists, is not only about exercises and
fixed-duration practice sessions. "The more you meditate on a particular raga,
the more its facets will be revealed to you. Start visualising it, and it slowly
acquires a form, almost a human form to you. Manodharma is about passion for a
raga. Slowly, all its nuances will become apparent to you, you'll begin to sense
the emotions it evokes, understand that certain notes bond more with the other
and so on...."


In that sense he says the "raga becomes a
canvas on which you paint your manodharma. To the given scale of a raga you add
flesh and blood with your neraval, kalpanaswaras... There are certain basic
standards already set by the great past masters you can follow - for instance,
certain phrases they all repeated - but the packaging, the unique creative input
has to be yours. We must emulate the greats, not imitate them." He also insists
on voice culture everyday, on akaara sadhana in different ragas to improve
raagalapana and kriti renditions. Practising saraliswaras or alankaras in three
kaalas should remain a daily exercise even after reaching advanced levels. He
says books give only existent patterns for the alankaras, jantas or dhatus but
the students have to evolve their own. In the olden days, teachers would throw
challenges at students asking them to sing allied ragas like Darbari and Nayaki;
or Sri and Manirangu one after the other. Or give a situation for a pallavi and
ask them to come up with an RTP for it; or a limited range of three to four
swaras and ask them to sing 20 neraval patterns without repetition. Thus
challenged, the student would rack his brains, use his imagination and come out
with original, unique inputs. Or they'd be given different points in the same
kriti say, "Vataapi", and asked to produce kalpanaswaras at each point. So, once
the student turned performer, he'd sound different every time he sang even the
same kriti - his concerts would never be predictable.

"Today,
with the short-duration programmes we have, one gets just 15 to 20 minutes to
elaborate a raga and thus even manodharma-adept performers are getting
restricted." When you remind him of pallavi durbars, he says: "Even here, many
participants come with prepared pallavis." The spontaneity and extempore element
are thus missing, he feels, adding: "Ideal tanam and neraval singing standards
too have dropped considerably." Any solutions? "We must have a panel of experts
which audition anyone wanting to take to the stage by throwing challenges at
them. Only those who pass this test should be permitted a professional platform.
And even of those who've made it, there should be constant expert evaluation,
like the ATP rankings in tennis." Doesn't the critic perform that function? He
surprises you with his candidness: "Well, not all critics give honest opinion,
simply because they are afraid of the repercussions. If the review is negative,
the offended performer might call up and question the reviewer's erudition
itself. For some interesting reviews on Music, read http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/fr/frcl06.htm