Music appreciation made easy

Hello!

Natya Veda – This is how Brahma calls Natya Shastra. Natya was first performed in the festival of 'Flagstaff boosting' of Mahendra. They performed the war between Asuras and Devas, in which the Devas won. The same trend is followed until today in movies with a hero and a villain, and the hero succeeding in the end. The ‘Malignant spirits’ (Vighnas) watching the performance started creating obstacles. They disturbed the stage manager which led to a lot of commotion. Indra, with his ‘Banner staff’ (Jarjara) beat them to death. More security was needed to conduct performances like this. They decided to erect a 'dramatic hall' endowed with all good characteristics. Each Deva was assigned to safeguard different areas of the Dramatic hall. Each actor or actress performing also had a body-guard. The main characters were the Hero, the Heroine and the Jester. Also Brahma pacified the 'Vighnas', so that, the performance can continue without any further obstacles. More to come in the 1st chapter of Natya Shastra in my next post. 

Entertainment!! Pass time!! Important part of everyone’s life. What are the most wanted entertainments of today? We all know the answer for this question. Movies, Television and Internet. Listening to music also is mostly related to Movies. In sports and games cricket alone leads, while the rest of the games take the backseat.

I am not against TV or movies. I do enjoy them just like anyone else. But, we must keep one thing in mind. There are better ways of entertainment if we put little more effort from our side. Most of the people refuse to watch classical dance or hear classical music, giving the reason, they don’t understand. But the real reason being, not ready to learn. To enjoy Classical music or dance, people need to put a little effort from their side to understand the art form, which is not needed for most of the movies or TV programs.

What is the effort we need to put? Let me first take Carnatic music in particular. The best way to start, is to hear simple songs of composers tuned in popular Ragas. Then try to relate that song’s tune to any movie song you know. You can talk to a friend of yours who has more knowledge in Carnatic music to find out more details about that particular raga. Do listen to it regularly. By the end of one month you will be amazed with the knowledge you have gained. Lot of options are available in the internet itself.

This week’s update

In Mangayar Malar – a bi–monthly magazine in Tamil, a small information said that composers ‘Arunachala Kavi, Muthu Thandavar and Mari Muthaa Pillai’ are called ‘Pithamahas’ of Tamil Music. There were others who were as great as the above mentioned ones. Oothukkadu Venkata Subbhiyar, Gopala Krishna Bharathi, Papanasam Sivan, Periyasami Thuran, were a few to be mentioned, who contributed a lot towards Tamil Carnatic Music.

Read my Post every Saturday. Bye.

Natyam - Mind, Speech and Action

I would like to start today’s post by saying a few words about Indian religious works in general. The sheer volume and the intricate details scare us from learning these works. The Natya Shastra is no exception. There are a few abridged versions available, still not making it easy as they also speak jargons. Also the language in which they were written, usually Sanskrit, which we are not much familiar with, makes it even more difficult. We need more abridged versions with just the needed information for any one to learn and appreciate the art form.

Natya Shastra is divided into 36 chapters. I want to discuss the chapters slowly with you all, so that we can understand the essence fully and interestingly. I would like to tell you part of the 1^st chapter just like a story. Even though Bharatha is said to be the author of Natya Shastra, the real author is Lord Brahma Himself. Just like Mahabharatha was dictated by Vyasa and written by Lord Ganesha, same way Brahma dictated Natya Shastra to Bharatha. This art form is the blend of 3 styles (Vrttis), viz Verbal utterance which includes dialogues and musical verses (Bharati), the Grand conception of mind which means the imagination and understanding of what is being performed (Sattvati), vigorous physical activity which is nothing but dance (Aarabati). Charming graceful movements (Kaisiki) were added later.

The Vrttis mentioned here are nothing but Mind, Speech and Action which are very important for all art forms. But, Dance is the only one which uses each and every part of the body thoroughly. Even eyebrows and eyelids are used efficiently both in pure dance and expressions. After Bharatha learnt, practiced and perfected the art form along with his hundred sons, presented it on stage with the help of Sages Narada and Swati. Celestial Damsels created by Brahma also joined them in the performance. A story or Dance Drama was presented by them. What was presented and during what occasion it was presented? Let us continue next week.

Natya Shastra must be older than Mahabharatha itself, as there are instances of dance being performed during that time. Arjuna disguised as Brgannala taught dance to Uthra, princess of the kingdom of Virat.

The life of professional dancers varied from time to time and is always under criticism. Even though dance has attained high status, certain reservations still remain in the society. We need to understand and accept certain things related to time. We cannot argue or criticize their life based on our exposure and life values of today. I will speak about a few instances regarding this next week.

This week’s update

The Hindu’s Friday review carried a small information about the friendship between ‘Saint Thyagaraja and Tamil composer ‘Ganam Krishna Iyer’. When Krishna Iyer elaborately sang the first line (Pallavi) from one of Thyagaraja’s compositions, Thyagaraja asked Krishna Iyer to sing one of his own compositions. Immediately Krishna Iyer composed a new Pallavi in the same Raga as Thyagaraja’s composition. This incident shows the kind of respect between two great souls. Respect for fellow artists and sharing of knowledge are two commendable characteristics one should always follow. Art form on the whole should be contributed and more important than individual gains.

See you  all again next week!   

Natya Shastra - the 5th Veda

Hi everyone,

I want to divide my blog post every week into 3 parts.

1. Some learning regarding the art form.
2. Something interesting related to dance or music from our puranas or history.
3. Discuss reviews from the weeks’ news papers or magazines or from programs on TV or Radio.

Natya Shastra is the greatest book of theory or grammar ever written in the history of Indian classical dance. This was written by the great sage Bharata. The scriptures in Hindu religion are called Vedas, we all know. Veda, comes from the root vid, meaning wisdom. They are divided into 4. Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharvana.  Mahabharata, the great Hindu Epic, due to its greatness is accepted as the 5^th Veda. Natya Shastra is called the ‘other 5^th Veda’. Also all art forms come under ‘Gandharva Veda’,one of the sub-scriptures or Upa-Vedas. Upa- Vedas are also 4 in number. The other 3 are Ayurveda (medicine), Arthaveda (Finance) and Dhanurveda (Martial Arts). What other recognition does the art form need?

Earlier in ‘Old stone age’ people used to communicate through gestures and expressions. Later in ‘New stone age’ language developed. Slowly,language took the lead. Now we need to explain in detail before every piece is performed, in a dance performance. Just like various languages evolved, various dance forms also evolved.

Each state in India, just like having a language on its own, has its own classical dance form too. To mention a few, Bharathanatyam – Tamilnadu, Kuchipudi – Andhra Pradesh, Mohini attam and Kathakali – Kerala, Odissi – Orissa. Kathak came in due to Islamic influence. One thing in common in all these styles is God and religion. Even though Kathak came in through Islamic influence, it has blended so well with Indian thoughts and Hinduism. Christian and Islamic stories have been performed by great Bharathanatyam dancers. This proves, music and dance have no barriers like caste, creed, religion, language, country or even continents. Various Jugalbandhis( combination of 2 or more styles performed side by side) are also performed both in music and dance which brings out the ‘Unity in Diversity’, not only within the country but also between countries.

This week's update: Recently, in music concerts either in sabhas or TV or Radio, I am seeing Ragas Pantuvarali or Purvikalyani being sung too often. Mohanam has become very rare. Also I enjoyed the story of ‘Daksha Yagam’ narrated with the help of photographs of a ‘Kathakali’ dance drama, in the magazine ‘Culturama’, April 2014 edition.

Bye for now.

Indian classical dance - an understanding

Hi everyone! I am a new blogger. Not just a new blogger, a new writer too. This is my maiden attempt to write. I have of course chosen my favourite area to write about. I hope to give and get something substantial through this.

Since I am a dancer, I will be talking more about dance in the beginning and about music later. Dance means nothing but Indian Classical dance- Bharathanatyam in specific.

What is dance? If I start answering this question in the following way, ‘dance is the outcome of Lord Nataraja’s cosmic form and the philosophy behind this is…..’ Oh God! I am hearing a lot of voices shouting ‘No……., stop! Yes I will. Because I myself cannot understand such kind of complicated explanation until now. The simplest explanation will be ‘Stylized movements , made perfect through practice, giving a treat to the viewer’. That’s it. But, is it a complete Explanation? No. These movements do not convey any meaning to the viewer. So, these movements come under the name Nrtta or pure dance.

Then, what is missing? Oh, right! Emotion! Just like life itself, Dance is also lifeless without emotion. So, the part in which emotion is expressed is called Abhinaya or expression. Both Nrtta and Abhinaya put together become Nrthya or Natya, which means nothing but Dance. If you cannot remember names like Nrtta or Abhinaya, don’t worry! If you understand the content in English, enough! Great!

The entire Grammar of  Indian Classical Dance is elaborated under this pure dance and expressive dance. I am not going to get into the details of difficult Grammar , at least not now. My aim is to make this interesting and not boring.

How important is grammar to understand the art form? Let us take the example of learning our mother tongue. When we start saying a few words at the age of …. may be 2, do we know the grammar of our language? No. Definitely not. We learn to speak, read and write the practical side and later on, slowly, we learn the grammar through the teacher. So, let us put it this way, when a common man wants to appreciate the dance form, knowledge of the practical side is enough, provided he has some basic exposure to Hindu religious aspects and Indian classical music and dance.

Basic exposure? Explain. Yes. Little knowledge about Ragam, Talam, stories in Hindu Epics, Scriptures, history and Mythology is what I mean by basic exposure. I will talk about these things in detail with examples in my up coming blog posts.

See you all next week!