tw news-features

by K. S. Sivakumaran

In the recent past a number of Lankans who had contributed to the Thamil radio and writing passed away in quick succession. Chief among them were V. A. Gafoor and S. Punniyamoorthy, pioneer Thamil radio announcers and newscasters. I shall come to them in a moment.

We must not also forget to remember other important personages who are not with us. The list includes Chockkan (S. Chokkalingam – a scholar, fiction writer, critic and an educationist), Nandhi (Prof. S. Sivagnasundaram – a Medical Officer with international organisations - a fiction writer), Chempian Chelvan (Rajagopal – fiction writer, critic and educationist), Kurinji Thennavan (plantation worker turned fiction writer), Raja Sri Kandan (former editor of Thinakaran, fiction writer and translator), A. P. V. Gomes (educationist, fiction writer, critic, dramatist and broadcaster from the hill country), Poondulu Oya Dharmu (hill country writer), K.Ganesh (translator, poet, fiction writer, critic and pioneer progressive writer with whom the late Martin Wickramasinghe and Ediriweera Sarachndra associated) and Puloylioor K.Sathasivam (a fiction writer and critic). They were all great contributors to the Lankan Thamil literary scene.

Both V. A. Gafoor and S. Punniyamoorthy were top Thamil announcers and newscasters who were pace-setters in broadcasting in Thamil over the then Radio Ceylon in the 1950s. Their contribution was immense and needs to be written of at length. Punniyamoorthy’s book in English News read by S. Punniyamoorthy with a foreword by the veteran civil servant and first director general of the radio station that became a corporation in the late 1960s. I salute, like most of us, all of them, though they are not with us any more.

Carnatic music

Carnatic Music means “Shastriya Sangeetham”, peculiar to the traditional form of music in South India. In those days the masses could not appreciate it. Most liked popular folk music and film songs. But over the years Thamil music composers slowly introduced Carnatic ragas into their film music compositions. But in the 1940s and even in 1930s Thamil films had exclusively Carnatic ragas. Artistes like M. S. Subbulaxhmi, M. K. Thiyagarajah Baghawathar, G. N. Balasubramaniam, Dhandapani Desigar, Honnappa Baghawathar, P. U. Chinnappa and others, just to mention a few names, acted and sang Carnatic tunes in films. They all sang Carnatic ragas.

Later, music directors like Rajeswara Rao, C. R. Subbaraman, T. G. Lingappa, Veda and many others led the way for Visvanathan and Ramamoorthy Combo to introduce western and Latin American rhythms into film music. Then with the arrival of Ilayarajah and A. R. Rahman, film music in Thamil films took a different turn. They combined folk tunes, Carnatic ragas and western pop music and brought alive fusion music.

With that tid-bit of information, lets turn to a Carnatic music recital that took place at the Ramakrishna hall last Saturday. The artiste was a student of the Colombo Hindu College, Bambalapitiya. Sivagnanaranjan Amalan had his debut of playing the Mirudangam. In a Carnatic music recital in particular, performance in solo is not possible. You need a singer so that the mirudangam player could accompany the singer. And the singer on this occasion was the maestro A. K. Karunakaran. If a young artiste like Amalan could accompany a great singer like Karunakaran, that itself is a great achievement.

Young Amalan had his training under A. Vikraman, who himself started his career as a member of the Thamil Orchestra at the SLBC. He later graduated as Vidwan having followed advanced studies in music, particularly in playing the mirudangam. The veena, flute and mirudangam are the most vital musical instruments in a carnatic music recital. Young Amalan’s masterly performance was indeed a God’s gift.

It’s not merely the mirudangam and voice that matters in a concert of carnatic music (though these are the most important), there are other accompaniments too. In the performance, Karunakaran’s daughters Shyamalangi (violin), Thenuka (thambura) along with T. Jeyasundaram (ganjira), Madras Gajan (muharsingh) were the accompanists who did a good job in making this event a beautiful evening of divine carnatic music.

The programme was neatly arranger with twelve items of singing and playing of well-known compositions. One notable feature was that almost all songs had lyrics or libretto in Thamil, as opposed to the usual Telugu keerthanais.

I was fascinated by the singing style of Vidwan Karunakaran, whose voice of a high range, clear enunciation and smooth transition from one frequency or decibel to the other was effortless. This showed his versatility and strong traditional training that could even accommodate new nuances as interpretation of his own creativity.

I had the pleasure of listening to Karunakaran in Oman’s capital Muscat some years back, amidst a critical and well-informed carnatic music audience of South Indians. He received applauds from them. His performance at Amalan’s maiden recital was great.

As Prof. S. Santhirasegeram of the Faculty of Education, University of Colombo said Amalan’s training to become an exponent of high standards in playing the mirudangam is a productive extracurricular activity. He was the chief guest at the recital. He added that this was an exemplary act and he could be a model for the other students to follow.

T. Muthukumarasamy, Principal of Hindu College, Colombo was the Guest of Honour. He spoke at length of Amalan and the instrument and the music tradition.

I should also mention that two radio and TV presenters in Thamil did their role with austerity and finesse. They conducted themselves splendidly and their announcements with correct pronunciation did not go unnoticed. They were Ms. Satsorupavathy Nathan in English and Sanmugampillai Visvanathan in Thamil. The former is a newscaster and editor of Thamil news over the SLBC. She was at one time an organiser in the English service of the SLBC. The latter, son of Sanmugampillai, a veteran in Carnatic Music, is presently a newscaster on Rupavahini. He also heads the Thamil section of the television channel. Now, a word about Amalan’s father.

Kamban Vila

Kambavarithy Jeyaraj, a non-academic with a rich literary background, especially on Thamil literature of the 7th to 12 th century period, and particularly on the great epic poet Kamban, adorns a konde in the traditional style of Thamilians and Sinhalas a few centuries ago. He wears vetti and shawl in saffron cloth and displays thiruneeru (holy ash) on his broad forehead. He is an interesting speaker quoting liberally from Thamil literature, particularly from Kamba Ramayanam. He is relatively young and seems to be a confirmed bachelor. He has traveled widely on lecture tours. He looks simple and leads a simple life. But he does grandiloquent things with the backing of a few influential people like the Justice C. V. Vigneswaran and T. Easwaran, a business tycoon.

The annual Kamban Vila in honour of Kamban is a cultural event for most Thamilians in Colombo. This year’s gala entertainment of speeches, debates, poetry readings, etc. were concluded successfully at the Ramakrishna Hall in Wellawatta a fortnight ago. I missed out on this three-day festival, particularly because I am no more enamoured by Thamilian speakers and poets from Thamil Nadu. However, such cultural events could help us at least for a while to forget thesordid happenings around the island. [Source: Island]