The divine music of M D Ramanathan

          These are jottings (and quite possibly over-eulogized at that) of a fan of the great M D Ramanathan. As far as possible, the examples should elucidate the point being made. Please understand that many of the opinions are those of the author. However, the examples are all authentic. Only what we infer from them differs from person to person.

Innovation: Undoubtedly innovation and creativity stand out in MDR's music. They keep surfacing and you have no choice but to admire them. You may dislike his voice, the tempo or the lack of a fixed pattern, but the innovation – yes, it is there for all to see; no doubt about it. I'll keep coming back to this in each aspect of his music. Each time you listen to the same song (in different concerts) you can find differences. Even in songs like endarO. Sometimes, the style itself changes as in the various instances of nATTai.

However, let me point out a few things here that won't fall in the other categories. In one concert, the audience applauds after the supposed end of the song (endarO). Then, while still keeping count of the tALam, he continues with niraval and svaram! Or take the case of bAlagOpAla where he sang some kalpana svaram, then went back to niraval and followed it up with svaram.

Understanding of sAhityam: The innovation does not stop with the music alone. It enters the realm of sAhityam and when MDR does that, you know what the song is meant to be. You may complain that the words are not clear, but if you know the words of the song, learn from him their splitting.

In a rendering of kAmAkshI, he splits the words correctly to sing

nA cintala vEvEga dIrchAmmAyipuDu (kAmAkshI)

Most people sing this line as nA cintala vEvEgati and cammAyipuDu (kAmAkshI), which has no meaning.

In the same song, where most people sing sampadalaniccEvipuDuma | ... ... kabhayamI ... yyavE, he sings

sampadalaniccEvipuDu | mAku ... ...abhayamI ... yyavE

Of course, such things may affect the preset talam.

His innovation in sAhityam is borne out by the rendering of vAtApi where he sings the line "praNava svarUpa vakra tunDam" and waits for seven beats. Then he sings

Om (last vIcu of Adi tALam) praNava svarUpa ...

These small things (like the more famous akhila, nikhila, sakala interchanges, (tri)(jagat)(amba) etc.) add a personal touch to the song.

Tempo: The unmistakable characteristic of MDR's music, his tempo is slower than that of other people's, but not necessarily slow by itself. Some of his music, like a few of his kEdArams or nATakuranjIs, is extremely rapid. But, generally, there's no better way to put it than saying (in Tamizh)

nirutti nidAnamA, anubhaviccu pADuvAr

His yadukula kAmbhOjIs are always slow, but bear in mind that muttusvAmi dIkshitar chose this rAgam for shani because Saturn is the slowest planet.

Silence: Only if you have slow music, can you use the power of silence. How many times I've "heard" nothing in a concert. The effect can only be felt and is really wonderful, but none better than in mEru samAna. In this case, the violinist, mridangist, ghaTam artiste and MDR all stop after the anupallavi and start simultaneously an Avartam later. The effect is simply wonderful. In the interim, you can hear all the little noises around you.

Anupallavi starts: Many a time MDR would start from the anupallavi of a song. These are invariably anupallavis that have sancArams in the higher octave, or they have lot of emotional power.

Examples would be kShInamai, where, I assure you, the effect is grand. So too in varugalAmO and mOkShamu, where once he's supposed to have stunned Lalgudi Jayaraman himself. Another feature of his music, which requires that the listener has heard an earlier (traditional) rendition of the kriti, is what I call "atIta sangati" (taken after atIta graha in tALa) or pre-sangatis. He was a master at doing a mini-neraval of the opening line of a song before singing the traditional tune. For example, mahAnubhAvulu in endarO, rAma bhakti in apa rAma bhakti, similar to what MS does, and indeed he did, in sogasugA mRdanga tALamu.

tALam: An amazing master of tALam, he would be distracted several times before picking up from where he left off. Typical distractions are mike problems or his mini-speeches to the audience. But these didn't prevent him from singing aTa tALa varNams in misra gati Adi tALam.

AlApanais: His rAgam AlApanais smacked of the rAgam. He was popularly credited with the ability to make each svaram carry the stamp of the rAgam. They say of him

avarODu ovvoru svarattilum rAgam teriyum

Besides, his raga renditions had some uncharacteristic phrases that one normally associates with instruments. I'm inclined to call it "disjointed svarams", i.e. one svaram completely unrelated to the previous one. He had even disjointed svarams during svara kalpana, these things succeeding on account of the impeccable svarasthAnam.

Check this out for example. In an AlApanai of rAmapriyA, he has sung Ri^ ni ma ri. Who would expect such a thing from a vocalist? Maybe with Mali, but from a vocalist! Or examine one of his shankarAbharaNams: it has a lot of Western-type plain notes and the famous Sa^ pa sa, which he's used so often. Maybe you can feel the effect in the hamsadhvani svaram pa ni; Sa^ pa, ga ni; sa, ri karAmbuja pAsha..." As can be expected, patterned swaram by MDR is rare.

Interpolation: Apart from entire silence in the hall, there are many cases of MDR keeping silent. Sometimes the violinist and the mridangist, or only the mridangist continue. But there lies the beauty of it. By then, the listener has got a grasp of the context of the AlApanai, song, svaram or whatever, and the listener fills in the gaps. Probably, MDR was the only artiste to make full use of Rabindranath Tagore's observation in a poem on music:

The listener sings in the mind

(Unfortunately, I've forgotten the name of the poem. I read it in my English text book in IITM)

These gaps are not to be confused with the typical prolonged gaps between stanzas of a song. These actually come suddenly in the middle of a burst of innovation.

Of the many examples of interpolation, the hamsadhvani svaram (gajavadana, rUpakam, varadadAsa) is simplest for even a beginner. He sings in fast pace

          sa,; ri ga pa ga ri -

          ri,; ga pa ni pa ga -

          ga,; pa --------------

          pa,; ------------------

          ni; Sa Ri ------------

          Sa; Ri Ga Pa Ga Ri

Where the dots appear, MDR is silent, while the violinist takes over. The sequence is so compelling that we have to fill in the gaps.

mandra sthAyi sancArams: Can one leave this aspect out? Even though the world knows about it, some examples are in order.

In the kAmAkshI svarajati, the audibility in the first caraNam is amazing. In one shrI AlApanai, he finishes off at madra sa and attempts to reach anumandra ni and pa!!! In a tODI AlApanai, he weaves a brilliant, soothing tODI in the mandra styAyi for about three minutes, again reaching mandra sa. It's hard to imagine someone singing the tODI ga with its full gamakam in the mandra sthAyi.

Innovation is innovation: In all the concerts of MDR that I've heard, there is NO instance of his having employed the makuTa svaram. If ever, he has used at most the first two lines of the popular makuTa svaram. (Note that the kEdAram makuTa svaram in tyAgarAjagurumAshrayE is part of a ciTTa svaram)

All said and done, makuTa svaram is a blemish on svara kalpana, because it is prepared, and to use prepared material in svara kalpana would go against MDR's principles. In fact, the makuTa svaram is often left to interpolation, maybe with the attitude, "You know it as well as I do"

The other side of innovation:

He was totally at ease on stage and maybe that is what led to the innovation. But then, creativity and perfection are two sides of the same coin. In one rendering of kAmAkshI, he sings the first line of the sAhityam, realizes that he hasn't yet sung the svaram and goes back to it. In the same concert, he starts varugalAmO in normal shruti, and then he changes to madhyama shruti. What is interesting is his recognition of this trade-off between creativity and perfection. There are instances (so I've heard from a friend) when he has not succeeded in some extempore attempt and he has acknowledged these immediately. But, don't let this bother you – for the creativity that he's shown, his execution accuracy is amazing, almost super-human. These examples are only exceptions, in the real sense of the term, in successful attempts.

These are some of the things that drew me to MDR and I remain forever his ardent fan. For those of you who feel that certain important things have been missed out, please put it down to human lapses. "What happened to the melody of kApi or the power of nATTai?" you may ask, but then one can't pin everything down, can he?