MonArkay of Music

 

MonArkay of Music

If you are an old resident of Mylapore, you will remember certain popular landmarks such as ‘Shanti Vihar’ Hotel for hot and soft idlis and this was before the Sangeetas, Saravana Bhavans which multiplied by the year at every available corner ! 

You will remember ‘Rex Fashions’ as a landmark place for clothes and this was before the Mall culture began and online shopping became a habit !

You will remember Vivek &Co for all home appliances and this was before Amazon came to rule everyone’s life ! 

You will remember the only beauty parlour around to be ‘Kanya’, this was before the Green trends, Page 3s, Vurves, YLGs were everywhere! 

You will remember ‘Thanithora Market‘ being a landmark for your veggies and this was before the Kovai/non-Kovai Pazhamudircholais cropped on every road, sometimes opposite each other ! 

Today, if you ask someone to wait for you at a Pazhamudir, your meeting may never happen unless you actually give the accurate latitude & longitude of the place! 

Ofcourse you have Google Maps but landmarks are not simply addresses or locations but they have a history, a time tested reputation and above all local connect & sentiment ! 

Like having rosemilk in the shabby little store called ‘Kalathy’ brings a lot of memories along with a lot of calories ! 

Today, that is what Arkay Convention Centre has achieved ...it has become a landmark for music concerts and other events. It has held its own might inspite of being surrounded by giants such as Music Academy, NGS, Parathsarathy Sabha, MFAC and people search for concerts at this venue only because of the quality of programs that they offer. 

It is a well known name where people come out of their choice despite of it being on top of a commercial building and parking their vehicles being a challenge. I have not come across a regular kutcheri goer who doesn’t know Arkay Convention Centre. That speaks a lot about the credibility and quality of this organisation. It has been the launch pad for many aspiring (and now successful)artistes 

Arkay celebrated the10th anniversary of their ‘Madhurdhwani’ which has largely been a platform for a lot of talented artistes. This was on 21st November in an intimate gathering keeping the pandemic precautions in mind. 

Arkay Convention Centre has hosted so many concerts through these 10 years and giving opportunity to showcase real talent. 

The event had many celebrated people such as Sriram Parasuram who often sings Jugalbandhi along with his wife Anuradha Sriram. He is better known for his Hindustani singing than his proficiency in playing the violin or Carnatic music. It was very interesting to hear him felicitating Mr Ramakrishnan, with several anecdotes which were both amusing & gave us a better understanding of the man who established this institution.  Sriram also elaborated the effort behind ‘Institution building’ and commended Mr Ramakrishnan. It needs a special kind of person who creates something for others to benefit. After listening to Sriram Parasuram’s engaging speech, I told myself that I must attend one of his lecdems next year(after all this year has not been in our control). 

Right after this, we had an upcoming artiste Manoj Krishna singing a song penned by Vairamuthu’s son Madan Karky, set to tune in Ragam  Khamboji by Rajiv Menon..... a man with many talents.  I was so caught up with the lyrics which was about the relationship between Man & God.  

It was Rajiv’s turn to felicitate Mr. Ramakrishnan and he was generous in that. Also while at it, Rajiv exhibited his knowledge in a variety of subjects, sharing with us his experiences as a child, where began his personal journey with music. He narrated as to how as a young boy, his family had to often move cities & school because of his father being a Naval officer. This proved to be a hurdle in learning music in an uninterrupted way. He said that one needs to be very fortunate like him, to have a mother who used to light the God’s lamp every evening when he returned from playing with his friends and he used to hear her reciting Lalita Sahasranamam followed by one hour of singing Carnatic Music. I am not sure if my children would agree with him, because I see them only with their AirPods/ earphones denying the possibility of even accidentally hearing me chant or sing ! Probably, that is because their mother is not an accomplished singer like his mother Kalyani Menon and also when Rajiv was young, there was no such thing as earphones or AirPods !

His mother’s influence was evident when he sang few lines of ‘Kaana Vendamo’ in Sriranjani Ragam written by Papanasam Sivan. Apparently he had earlier thought the song was composed by Gopalakrishna Bharati.  I was so impressed with Rajeev’s varied knowledge and enthusiasm for gaining more. 

He spoke of how understanding the lyrics or sahityam was important. He mentioned that Regional Films divided people by having separate categories for them whereas Carnatic Music transcends borders. For example Carnatic Trinity though having lived in Tiravayaru, mainly sang in Telugu. 

He spoke of King Krishnadevaraya and his contribution to music, for which the irrefutable proof being his own Telugu composition 

Amuktamalyada, an epic poem in Telugu. 

Krishnadevaraya was an emperor of the Vijayanagara dynasty  in the early 16th century. Amuktamalyada translates to A garland of pearls. Considered a masterpiece, Amuktamalyada describes the story of the wedding of Lord Ranganayaka of Srirangam and Goda Devi also known as Andal who was the daughter of Periyalwar and was an Alwar herself (who says that women were not given equal status in ancient India?)

What Rajiv brought forward was that while Krishnadevaraya was from  Karnataka’s Vijayanagara empire, he wrote this masterpiece in Telugu and the poem was about Andal who lived in Srivilliputhur in Tamilnadu and she wrote Thirrupavai in Tamil and married Lord Ranganayaka in Srirangam, Tamilnadu. So, what are we fighting about borders ? 

He spoke about Hindustani Ragas (it is not Ragam with a m for them) in Carnatic Music.  It was indeed very an engrossing speech by him, where he stressed the need for cross fertilisation among states. I couldn’t more agree with him when he said that we need to cultivate good rasikas more than cultivating artistes. After all, what are artistes without rasikas ? Speaking for myself, I am a confirmed Rasika for years to come.

It was an evening ending with many artistes coming together in a virtual presentation expressing their felicitations for ‘Madhurdhwani ‘ completing 10 years and expressing their good wishes to the hero of the day Mr. Ramakrishnan.

About the Author:
Sandhya Shankar belongs to a well respected business family in Chennai. She is a Life Skills & Corporate Trainer by profession. She is an avid reader and a natural writer, who has written several poems and articles. She even presented her poems as a reading at the British council. She has keen interest in all art forms  and has explored many different forms of painting like stained glass and Tanjore being among them. 

Music being her first passion, she had her formal training under Terakotti Chandrasekharaiah at Bangalore and later briefly under Mrs Champa Kumar. She is a regular visitor of concerts, theatre and other live performances. Her witty reviews have gained a loyal and interactive readership for their sound technical commentary and relevance for every kind of melophile, from the casual-goer to the ragam expert, frequenting Chennai’s rich music scene.

(*The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and not necessarily those of Music of Madras.)