Ears and Eyes, the Fall Music Season

This is a recap of the music season this fall. Having volunteered for SIFA //www.southindiafinearts.orgin Spring and being backup photographer for many events, this season got to be the primary photographer for most of the season. The primary “aasthana photographer” was tied up on multiple days. Fortunately the one time I was hiking Angels Landing, he was back.

It was an interesting experience playing photographer for music events given arangetrams and dance programs are my forte. One can only capture moments and moods in the concert. Add to that weird lighting, requests from artists to cut back lighting, it makes up for some challenges with high ISO photography. Translation, you end up spending hours editing. Enough of photography.. lets talk music.

Except for a Sonu Nigam concert which we attended last weekend to celebrate Jr’s birthday, all the other concerts I attended were thanks to SIFA. Attended every concert, except Malladi brothers.

it was a lovely lineup of artists new and seasoned, and included a dance program to start the season. Using this as a cover for this post…

This group works really hard to bring good music to our doorsteps. Have been fortunate to be a part of this group this year. Had a lot of fanboy moments with the artists.

Given I keep wandering around the auditorium, behind the stage, left to right, my phone showed that I walked anywhere from 2-3 miles in each concert!! talk of combining three favorite activities..

Took 2000+ photos this year in all the concerts and had fun sharing them with the group and the artists. Here are a few of those to remember the season..

The season opened with a visual treat. Dance by Priyadarshini Govind and her dance group.

There was a music competition the following week and I was planning to go take pictures. Fell sick and had to stay home.

This was followed by a double header. Two back to back concerts. A music overload of sorts. The first vocal concert was by Vid. Aishwarya Shankar. Vid. R.K. Shriramkumar and Vid. K. Arun Prakash, two seasoned pro's gave her support that would make any parent proud when it comes to supporting the younger generation. These senior performers showed the meaning of the word "accompaniment". Was happy to see smiling faces everywhere.. the artists, the audience, the camaraderie with the artists supporting each other.

The second concert of the double header was an outstanding performance by Vid. Ashwath Narayanan, accompanied by Vid. Trichy Sankaran, Vid. V.V.S. Murari and Vid. Anirudh Athreya. Just superb.. My mom was thrilled to hear that I got the chance to listen to and take pictures of Vid. Trichy Sankaran. He was her favorite from a long time ago! This is the second time listening to Ashwath and his music is reminding me of my grandmas naarthangai oorugai that tastes better as the years go by!

After this I got to attend and photograph “songs of my heart” by San’s guru Jaya Vidyasagar. She did this for the Amma foundation and she dazzled everyone with her voice! It was a mix of Hindustani, Carnatic, Jazz, fusion and Cine music. There was something for everyone!

Then we hiked Angels landing the week after and that meant missing the Malladi brothers. Hopefully I get to listen to them live next year!

Then the Trichur Brothers performed, accompanied by Vid. Janardhan Srinath and Vid. Vijay Natesan. The entire concert was "vibrant" from start to finish. The brothers are unique in the way they do harmonies, engage the audience and of course make us smile.. They included Beethovanapriya created by Ramesh Vinayagam as part of the RTP! A concert that will stay in our minds for a long time.

The next concert was "Jannal Oram" Vid. Sikkil. C. Gurucharan. Have been a big fan of his carnatic music, but an even bigger fan of his Youtube series where he bridges the gap between film music and Carnatic music. He was accompanied by brilliant artists Vid. Sanjeev Venkataraman on Violin, Vid. N. C. Bharadwaj on mridangam, and Vid. Sriram Ramesh on kanjira. Have not heard a thaniavarthanam on the mridangam like this in a long time. As a photographer who is optimizing for low light conditions, high speed movement is challenging to capture. His fingers were flying. Stopped looking through the view finder and just enjoyed the rhythm. The ganjira and violin were equally amazing.

At the end of the concert, the winners of the SIFA Sangeetha Sreshta competition got awards from the artists. Very glad that SIFA is now hosting competitions for kids to encourage them to learn this art form.

Vid. Kalyanapuram S Aravind, wrapped up the SIFA fall season with a fantastic concert accompanied by Vid. H.N. Bhaskar and Vid. Delhi Sairam. They mesmerized us with the thematic concert on Rama Bhakti. Photographing a dance performance is one thing. Trying to save memories of a music concert is another thing. The smiles, the expressions, are all we can capture. The music just stays in your head.. Using photography to capture a music concert is like trying to capture the essence of the smell from a vaththakuzhambu my mom makes in words. One endearing thing about this concert was the supporting vocals and the encouragement of the next generation. The way the student got an applause during Shankarabharanam and the pride on the teachers face, priceless! My carnatic music idols are GNB and TNS. Sometimes I feel folks who know nothing of carnatic music will still be moved just listening to these two guys.

Vid Aravind reminds me of TNS. The vocal clarity when singing at that speed is something that you hear yourself to believe!

Right when we thought that was all the music we were going to get for the year, Jr. wanted to go to Sonu Nigam’s concert on her birthday. So off we went along with half the desis in the bay area. A full stadium, Sonu singing duets with an AI generated Mohammad Rafi, singing all our favorites old and new.. it was fun.

Came home thinking how come carnatic concerts where the artists need similar or higher level of mastery don’t get this crowd.

The answer came during a hike over the last weekend where I ended up just walking with San’s music teacher. There was a discussion of musical styles, flexibility, Hindustani vs. Carnatic and the impatience of the audience to have a gradual buildup .. cine music appeals to folks because you do one line plain and repeat the line with the most fancy highlight of the same line in that raga and the audience appreciates the contrast.. a gradual buildup needs an appreciation of the journey as much as the destination. Not everyones cup of tea or coffee.. or coconut water!

I did take a few video clips while walking around.. have pieced them together in this video..

Many video clips have disappeared during my effort to offload photos from iPhone to laptop. Missed a bunch of clips from Aishwarya, Ashwath, Jaya…

Hoping that work travel schedules will allow me to keep attending concerts next year!

My apologies if I have misspelt any names here or have missed some folks in pictures..

A heartfelt thanks to bay area South India Fine Arts for another amazing season!

Indha kazhudai ketta Manja sevuru

Have not posted anything about music this year and it is May. That doesn't mean there was no music this year.

The year started with learning classical music heavy movie songs and semi-classical songs for the entire January with Paadarivom Padipparivom, and I loved singing every one of those songs. 

We were busy traveling in Brazil and Argentina and I kept listening to "Vedam Anuvilum oru nadham" on repeat even while walking along the beaches in Copa Cabana. Knew I had to sing it as soon as we came back. Had hummed it silently so many times that when it came time to sing it, there was a confidence that the notes were close to where they needed to be! The rest of the songs in the genre were also appealing and challenging but loved it.

Also got a chance to be mentee again after two years and jumped at it. There were high expectations this time from my teachers and hopefully I didn't let them down. Have never tried singing Jathi ever and had to memorize the Jathi portions for a song and sing it. It was a great experience and my teachers were very happy with my enthusiasm. Will write about this mentee experience on a separate post. 

Then we went to India and work caught up and singing took a backseat for a good month. Every now and then, would banish myself to the unheated guest room with the yellow accent wall (hence the title for the post) and try to sing the song of the week from 10-11:30 PM. Given the kids are not here and my wife is busy watching some Korean serial till midnight, can practice till my throat protests. 

One fabulous thing that happened last month was the first US members meeting of Paadarivom Padipparivom in Dallas. Why Dallas? Because two of the teachers are now in Dallas and there are also three members there. One of them is an extremely passionate event co-ordinator and he pulled off what the three members in bay area could only talk about for the last two years. 

Students flew in from all parts of the US to meet and sing with the teachers and the other students. (some are not in the picture as they had to leave early to reach their destinations. there was bad weather and flight delays that weekend to add to our adventures)

The big bonus for us was a crash course on "how to get the most of a dynamic microphone" by the two teachers. Many of us who sing on Smule with our teachers use the mic that comes with earplugs which we hold with our hand (the earpods typically don't work well as they have a lag). When handed a mic in front of a live group the voice simply doesn't sound the same and one has to work too hard.. if you don't know how to use the mic!

Me happily demonstrating how not to hold a mic.. too low and not tilted up enough to suit my throat and mouth!

The teachers helped fix my problem in that one session. Turns out everyone is different and the angle you hold the mic and how close you hold it is something you can figure out easily. One has to practice it though.. kind of like holding the flute at the angle that suits your whistle. 

At the end of it, was able to hit high notes without straining my throat. Given the gain in the amplifiers, we don't even have to be loud. We can sing at a lower volume and sound way better. That was the big takeaway for me. All this time I was "seerghazhi govindarajan'-ing in front of a live audience. Holding the mic but using my real voice to reach.. bummer!

There was also great food and excellent conversation. Met some of these folks in person for the first time but feels like I have known them all my life. These folks are going to be friends for the rest of my life. 

It was great that San joined me for the trip. Within a day and a half, we managed to also visit 3 temples, eat at four places and catch up with friends and see the local area. Traveling with San is always fun for me as I just enjoy watching her be happy! Her face lights up when she is with friends and food.

Will cherish this trip for a long time to come! San also thinks my singing has actually improved. My first song was iffy beacuse I had practiced to a Smule track and was so used to seeing the gray and blue bars move to prompt me to sing and we ended up with a different track in Dallas.

There were two lessons there. First, just sing to the music and avoid the visual aid. Should have actually done that given the song was memorized already. Second lesson is to go before the start and get a feel for the sound of the room. Sometimes it is not easy to hear your voice when singing through a microphone because the amplified voice takes a second to hit your ear and if you are not used to it, you will be late on the beat. Guess this is why people use ear monitor in the mics. However that is not required. Just getting used to it before actually singing the songs does the trick!

San said I did fine after the first song. She even said it to our friends and that made me really happy. She sets the bar very high and we fight every now and then on the topic of "just repeating the same thing is not going to fix it. you have to understand what you are doing wrong and fix it and then sing it".. the repeats for me are to get to a basic level before even attempting fixes. We are clearly at different levels when it comes to singing! 

Now I am back to the manja sevuru every now and then trying to sing. Paadarivom Padipparivom has been a true blessing. The 4th year anniversary was celebrated last weekend. In two months it will be my 3rd anniversary with this wonderful group of people. 

My enthusiasm is still alive, but finding time with changed travel schedules and things at home is making it challenging to do more than just singing one song a week and practising Carnatic music for few hours a week.

Happy to be able to do at least that! 

Marghazi singing

Paadarivom Padipparivom has this wonderful idea to give a platform to students to sing one song each during Marghazi season. There is a lot of encouragement from this community for learning Carnatic music as well as Cine music.

Most of the fellow adult classical music students I have talked to, started learning in hopes that the knowledge here will improve their Cine music singing. It has been two years and two months since I started learning Carntic music again after a long break, from Koushik Ramchander.

He has been an epitome of patience!

For a novice like me, the support this group gives is just phenomenal. If there is one place where the Dunning Kruger effect is in full display, it is while learning Carnatic music or singing Tamil movie songs. 

When I started singing, my knowledge was very limited.. not that I could not identify ragas instantly or have a concept of what "right" sounded like. When my own voice was producing the output, my ears somehow selectively decided to be very forgiving when I was off. It takes a lot of "listening", very careful listening to understand that you are off. 

If a song had 600 notes total, I would be off on 400 of them two years go. Today I am off on 40 and going towards 4. My MIL has been my one constant judge and supporter while my mom has been my strongest critic. 

Two weeks ago, they agreed for the first time after hearing me sing a carnatic based movie song. My MIL told me my voice has finally adapted to sing SPB songs. My mom actually said this and I am saving this for posterity! She prefers if I stick to slokas and bhajans instead of movie songs, which is expected. 

My teachers at PP of course gave me honest feedback on every line of that song on where I was off in the notes, pronunciation and execution. The DK effect does play mind tricks, once you know finer details and appreciate what is actually required vs. where you are. You know what has to be done, but it needs a lot more effort to get there and it cannot be done in a week!

Not one for giving up, have been trying impatiently. That is the truth. 

Singing with just a Tanpura in background and your own hand to keep the beat was a lot more challenging than singing along with your teacher or fellow student on Smule with a familier fixed backround track! Almost came to the conculsion that Smule singing isn't singing and was downright depressed two weeks ago. This song is usually sung in the ragam Naatai (for most of the instances you find on Youtube). He taught it to me in Gowlai ragam. Asked my teacher why he thought I could do this and he said "You can do this Sundar! you already sang every line after me very well in class. you just have to do it at a stretch and on your own!"

Thank god for teachers. They tell you to buckle up, keep your head high and get your confidence back, one step at a time. Koushik Sir as I call him has been my music shrink as much as my music teacher. When you start learning at 49, the psychological challenges in learning need to be fixed as much as the skill gap. What he says between singing notes and making me repeat is the other half of the lesson, probably the bigger lesson! After many attempts, voicenotes feedback on whatsapp, he finally gave me the equivalent of the Oliver Cromwell look.. that made my day!

A heartfelt thank you to this platform and the folks who make it great!  

Carnatic music folks (especially family), this will not meet your standards. The good news is that I am okay with where I am today and tomorrow WILL be better than today! 

Thanks again to PP for this experience! It feels good to participate in the Marghazi season remotely!