Source http://www.hindu.com/fr/2008/11/07/stories/2008110751020300.htm
Scholar on a mission
S. SIVAKUMAR
| Dr. Emmie finds Harikatha more direct, more authentic and more traditional. |
MUSIC MATTERS: Dr. Emmie with Janakirama Bhagavathar
Dr. Emmie te Nijenhuis, a music scholar from Holland, has been coming to India since 1970 — this is her 11th visit — and is on a specific mission now. She studied Western Musicology, Classical Piano and Sanskrit in The Netherlands and then specialised in Indian musicology, to obtain her Ph.D. in 1970, from Utrecht University. She worked for 25 years as Associate Professor of Indian Musicology here.
“I timed my visit to India during this part of the year, as I found that in December everyone gets busy and is unable to spare any time. I wanted to look at Kathakalakshepam, which again is a vast subject.”
She then reasons out how she is always practical and “narrows her area of research to something compact, where I can complete my work according to schedule.”
The objective has been to look at live renderings of Bhadrachala Ramadas’s compositions as they are sung, differently, in Harikathas and in concerts. “I should thank Dr. Prameela Gurumurthy of the University of Madras who started organising things for me as soon as I went to her.”
Conscious decision
Dr. Emmie listened to a variety of performers during the three weeks of her stay: Dr. Kamala Murthy and Dr. Prameela — at the University of Madras — Kalyanapuram Aravamudhachariar at the Varasidhi Vinayagar temple, Janakirama Bhagavathar at the Music Academy, Udayalur Kalyanaraman at MATSCIENCE and Prof. Ramakrishna at the Telugu University at Hyderabad. And she has this to say: “In concerts, Ramadas’s kirtanas acquire the virtuosity and musical excellence of the singer and he adds his personality to it, but in the Harikatha, it is more direct, authentic, more traditional and probably more original. It is not merely the ragas but the original tunes themselves that are of importance to me.”
Dr. Emmie’s output is huge, caused by her conscious decision to pursue Sanskrit and Indian cultural history instead of the customary choice of Italian language. Her publications include historical works such as “Indian Music: History and Structure” (1974), “Musicological Literature” (1977), and “English translations of Sanskrit Texts on Sangitasastra” (Dattilam in 1970 and Sangitasiromani in 1992).
Not one to be enamoured of fusion, Dr. Emmie feels that there is nothing to fuse and any music will and need to exist on its own.
“The works of 17th century Western Classical Composers — Bach and others — were well-structured with wide scope for improvisations and variations like say the niraval or the pallavi of Carnatic music. Things have changed and it is all terse, written down music now,” she regrets.
Dr. Emmie plans to document the life and work of Papanasam Sivan and will be back in India soon. She recalls with gratitude the help rendered by Dr. Ramanathan in all her musical missions. One of her most memorable aesthetic experiences was a Kathakali performance in 1967-68. She expresses her special liking for the small modular introductory narration that always preceded the enactment of “each spectacle,” in Kathakali. Her father was a sculptor and all that she heard of Indian Art, Indian Philosophy and the Theosophical Society in those early years shaped her taste.
Praiseworthy
After listening to the concerts at the Spirit of Youth Festival organised by the Music Academy, Dr. Emmie was all praise for the Indian psyche that possesses a unique ability “to pick up, sort out and reinvent what is best for them from other cultures.”
Being a piano player herself, she reminds you that it took nearly 200 years for the piano to reach present form. She also learnt the veena and the sitar to practically orient herself to “experience the gamakas,” which can at best be played, to be understood.
Her dynamism and unclouded manner of speaking at her age - she is 77 – leaves you at the edge of your seat. And Music, one may conclude, is her religion - and faith.
No comments:
Post a Comment