Ananthapadmanabhan Veenai

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A natural talent Ananthapadmanabhan

The name is synonymous with the veena. He was recently conferred ‘A Top Grade’ by All India Radio (AIR), the only veena artiste from Kerala in this category. The self-groomed Ananthapadmanabhan is the only veena staff artiste of the AIR in Kerala. Born in Thiruvananthapuram in 1951, he migrated to Thrissur in 1975 with an appointment order of the AIR in pocket. A beaming Ananthapadmanabhan introspects.

Initiation into classical music...

My father, the late T.S. Ananthakrishnan, who was Professor of Civil Engineering at the College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram, was a good veena artiste. He always used to play the veena at home. My father’s niece Gomathi Chidambaram was also an accomplished veena player. So the ambience at home was very musical. By the time I was 15, I had learnt the basics of the veena, both formally and informally from my father; by informal, I mean listening to him practising. In 1966, I happened to hear S. Balachander’s magical mellifluousness on the veena and was besotted by it. That concert helped me make the decision that the veena would be my forte.

Training…

After learning the basics from my father, I trained myself through practice that lasted for about six to seven hours a day. This practice was my main entertainment. During the last five years of college life, I used to spend all my evenings either practising or listening to concerts. I was very lucky to enjoy many live concerts of S. Balachander, Chitti Babu, K.S. Narayanaswamy, Mysore Doraiswamy Iyengar, M.D. Ramanathan, Semmangudi, Bade Ghulam Ali Khan and Ravi Shankar, to name a few. Those days, I used to play all the compositions I had heard at a concert when I got back home. Sometimes, I would select a raga and practise it for about six hours, trying to highlight its special features.

The break…

After graduating in Mathematics from M.G. College, Thiruvananthapuram, I wandered around for some time. Maths was never a choice. Music is and was always in my head and heart. During that time, I used to play the veena and the sitar for Thunder Birds Orchestra. I have performed with almost all the top playback singers in Malayalam. Although I also learnt to play the sitar, I realised that playing both the veena and the sitar would not take me anywhere. So, I decided to focus on the veena. In 1975, I was appointed as a veena staff artiste in All India Radio, Thrissur.

Style of playing…

I do not belong to any particular school of playing. Moreover, I have not been trained in any music college. So, with equal ease, I play both Carnatic and Hindustani ragas on the veena. That provokes orthodox rasikas. Even now there are pundits who feel that that ragas such as Nalinakanthi, Kalyana Vasantham, Bageswari, Desh, Syamkalyan and Shudhasarang should not be played on the veena. I do play these ragas, some of which are among my favourites. My work in AIR has given me the experience and confidence as I got to tune light music compositions too.

‘Triveni Sangamam’ ‘Triveni Sangaman’ was a confluence of Carnatic, Hindustani and Western music. The audience loved it. I did it in 1976, long before the people of Kerala even started discussing about fusion music.

Favourite ragas….

All the ragas are my favourite. Nevertheless, I think I perform more compositions in Carnatic ragas such as Todi and Reetigowla and in Hindustani ragas such as Bagesri, Syamkalyan, Sindhu Bhairavi, Jaijaivanthi and so on. The moods evoked by those ragas… such as romance, devotion, melancholy and so on captivate me.

Teaching music…

I do teach. But I believe that music cannot be taught. One needs an inborn flair; constant practice can set that spark aflame. A guru is only a guide to channel such divine sparks. Being the ward of a great musician does not necessarily make one the the torch bearer of that tradition. So, usually, in my classes I perform and allow my students to pick it up and improvise according to their calibre.

K.K. GOPALAKRISHNAN

S. Balachander Veenai

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Balachandar revisited

V.BALASUBRAMANIAN

MASTERY Incredible visuals and veena recordings of the maestro left the audience pining for more.

Genius: S. Balachandar.

As part of their Veena Navarathri celebrations, Veena Foundation organised a multimedia presentation of maestro S. Balachandar (SB) at the Narada Gana Sabha Mini Hall on Monday last. S.B.S. Raman, son of the veena genius , was the presenter, and he made it crisp and interesting. Like father like son.

What S. Balachandar was not can be easily listed. The multi faceted personality looked for perfection in anything he did. He was a good chess player and one of his original problems was published in the sports column of this newspaper in 1937, which hailed him as a prodigy. SB was just 10 then. The paper cutting projected on screen was an eye opener for many.

Taken in by SB’s skill on the ganjira, legendary film director V. Shantharam presented him with a tabla and the boy mastered it no time. He travelled to Sri Lanka and Pakistan (where his chess tournaments were also scheduled then) as tabla accompanist to his elder brother, vocalist S. Rajam . During a concert at Karachi, a lady in the audience rushed home midway , brought a sitar which she had bought for her son, and gifted it to SB. He mastered the instrument within a year and started playing Carnatic music concerts on the sitar.

Multi-faceted mastery

In 1941 he decided to switch over to the veena and vowed never to play any other instrument again. But for the veena, with which he was seen in the photographs shown, the young SB with his sharp nose and wavy hair looked more like a Hollywood hero! Even at the age of 13 he began working for All India Radio. Raman recalled with a smile that as Balachandar was a minor then, his father had to go to AIR to sign for his son and receive his monthly salary.

The first audio clipping played was a fast paced swaraprastara for ‘Sarasa Sama Dhana’ (Kannadagowlai - Adi - Tyagaraja). The definition was perfect despite the jet-like speed with which swaras fell in place, throwing challenges to the mridangam and ganjira accompanists. That the crowd was in an exalted state could be gleaned from the constant ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ of elation heard in the background.

The audio clipping that followed was the penultimate line of the first charanam of the song ‘Maayamma’ (Syama Sastri) in Aahiri — ‘Karunajudaway Kaatyaayani Kaalika Bhavaani.’ More than 30 variations of the line, each distinctly different from the other, bore testimony to the fertile imagination combined with impeccable swarasthanams.

SB was a genius indeed! The next was an excerpt from a Subhapantuvarali raga alapana he had played at Tiruvaiyaru with the perfection of a funambulist. Practice sessions running to several hours had made him scale dizzy heights.

After an audio clip of ‘Bantureethi’ played rapidly, came the toast of the evening — a 40-minute video clipping from a live concert in which SB played ragas Hamir Kalyani, Behag and Kapi. It was like a simham playing the veena. Spuritams, soft tapping, heavy pulls and deft touches created magic and the result was sheer ecstasy. Many in the crowd were in tears — this writer included. The master’s playing of the raga in the pit (the open space near the yali) where there are no frets was absolutely breathtaking! Traversing the octaves with ease, he showed his firm belief in manodharma.

Then came Suratti as icing on the cake, typically SB. And it ended leaving one yearning for more.