02 October 2010

Singling Violin Dr Rajam

2nd October, 2010 at 6:30 P.M.

Padma Vibhushan Dr. N. Rajam accompanied in the Tabla by Shri A Pathak gave a Violin concert at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR) as part of SPIC-MACAY. True to the occasion, she began with a rendering of Vaishnava Janatu, a light classical of the famous Bhajan. The difference, between lay people and classically trained musicians playing a bhajan is that they can bring in their imagination in between the stanzas. The variation of volume and the pauses all being deliberate to make the music more appealing, aesthetic and emotional.

The second composition she played was a classical one where she interacted with the people and explained by stating that we begin with the Stahi, which has two lines, each line played twice then the first line is played once and then we play the alap where again each of the two line are played twice and then we end with the stahi. The alap, boltan and tan are intersperced with the Mukhda. Her imagination along with the imagination of the Tablist was followed by a jugalbandi, which she referred to as the question and answer session - she questions through her violin and the tablist responds through his beats.

On the question of the differene between Hindustani and Classical she told that both have the same base 'Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni' and the same way that the Stahi, Alap and other things are but only the way they present is different. She also responded by explaining the ascending and descending notes. On the question of how lay people can recognize a raga she suggested that buy CD of your liking and listen to it continuously for a month before going to the next one. This way you will be able to identify the raga. After all, it is a language one can only know by learning it.

Finally she along with the tablist played a nice composition where everyone was enthralled. All those who did not know the lines were also humming with her. And this is why she is referred to as the 'singing violin'. It was a nice day to spend the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri.

No comments:

Post a Comment