Vijay Siva’s Vande Sangeetam Series
Senior musician N. Vijay Siva recently inaugurated Vande Sangeetam, a video series with a difference, on his YouTube channel. The first episode titled Kaveri Saveri sees Vijay ensconced at the Kapila River, pristine water streaming behind him. He talks of the importance of rivers to civilization and the fact that most prominent Carnatic composers hailed from the banks of the Kaveri, interspersing it all with informative anecdotes. He then sings Muthuswamy Dikshitar’s Kari kaLabha mukham, a song in rAgam sAvEri on the Dundi Ganapati deity located on the shores of the Kaveri in Mayavaram.
Vijay learns the word-by-word meaning of songs he sings. Those who have observed Vijay would also notice that he does not use any mnemonic aids at concerts. In these videos too, he delivers profound content sans notes, in easily comprehensible English, moving from anecdote to anecdote, switching effortlessly to singing whilst strumming the tanpura himself. With some twelve episodes filmed from dawn to dusk over three consecutive days, one can only imagine the immense effort put in at the planning stages to present depth and breadth of content in a free-flowing, end-user friendly format.
A version of this article appeared in The Hindu.
A team of five is behind the entire video series. Vijay, two friends who provided instantaneous feedback on site, and the camera crew of Pramod Gokhale (his long-time student) and his wife Akshatha. Aesthetically presented, the videos have been filmed in an uncluttered manner, amidst picturesque scenery that catches the viewers’ attention and holds it. Pramod and Akshatha scoped out locations ahead of time, zeroing in on the Mundaje area of South Kanara district in Karnataka. Some locales were hilly and tricky to get to even requiring Vijay to be lowered down carefully with ropes. The attire was selected ahead of time for each video from hiss wardrobe. No make-up was used, Vijay sticking to his regular vibhUti and kumkumam. Pramod and Akshatha handled the introductory graphics, recording and post-production.
Lest we think this is a series about rivers alone, Episode 2, released this Wednesday, is titled Margam Tyagaraja and filmed in a lush green farm surrounded by banana saplings. Taking off from how Tyagaraja has an Aradhana all his own, Vijay explains how the composer stands apart from others in being the only one to show professional musicians how to be professionals in the art and attain salvation whilst mired in earthly life. He sings the relevant compositions of Tyagaraja that illustrate how to produce the voice, how and when to practice, what and what not to do including a little-known fact – that the composer advocated AlApana and neraval singing but not kalpanAswaram-s.
Subsequent episodes, Vijay says, will explore different topics all commingling composers, stalwarts, ragas and thoughts on puranas. Ever practical, Vijay adds that while the plan is to publish an episode about once a week for a year or so, the exact release will be subject to day-to-day practical constraints faced by the team.
When concert schedules are back to normal, time constraints would make such projects unfeasible, says Vijay. The goal with this series, he explains, is to engage with rasika-s in a productive manner, sharing information that is relevant not just now but for posterity. He adds that much of the content is not available on Google. Indeed, the series makes it evident that Vijay has combined his formidable knowledge of compositions with what he has assimilated from erudite books and gleaned from direct interaction with musical stalwarts and spiritual seers.
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