Galaxy of artists honor the memory of T. Chowdiah on his birth Centenary in 'Parvathi' 1994
OUR CHRONICLE
More than anyone else in the 20th century, it was Mysore V. Doreswamy Iyengar who symbolised the sweetness of Mysore Veena. He was also a dear and admired friend of the leading Carnatic and Hindustani musicians of that era.
“… Some time after this, a music festival was conducted in Mysore at the Bidaram Krishnappa Hall. The concerts were by senior musicians like Ariyakudi (Ramanuja Iyengar), Chembai (Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar) and Semmangudi (Srinivasa Iyer). I was surprised to see a 14-year-old featured among these giants. Somewhat irked by this choice, I decided to leave the hall when it was his turn. Anyway it was close to eight and dinner time. But the boy began to play with such confidence that I was taken aback. He did so well that I sat through the performance, convinced of his genuine talent. "
“Do you know that the Maharaja made him the youngest asthana vidwan in Mysore state?”
“No ego, no self-importance. He wore them lightly, and remained simple, sweet-natured and uncomplicated all his life. He had no bad habits.”
“…He could give up food, but not music...”
“…Doreswamy had sweetness and melodiousness. Many people don't know how to play the veena. They bang on it as if it were a harmonium and end up producing noise. Venkatagiriappa was a good man. He allowed his disciple to develop in his own way, doing what came naturally to him…”
“…Doreswamy belonged to a family that had an essential nobility and humility in temperament….’
"...now if you ever find yourself in Doreswamy Iyengar's house you will see an old photograph...it is that of my father (K. Puttu Rao) honoring Doreswamy's Guru, Veena Vidwan Venkatagiriyappa in our home "Parvathi"... both Doreswamy and I were so young...like with Lalgudi our friendship started as teenagers...you see us seated on the 'jhamkhana'(floor spread) there..."
"... ours was all brotherhood ... friendship ... whatever you may want to call it ... during the early '50s and '60s we all used to meet together... myself, V.Doreswamy Iyengar, M.Cheluvarayaswamy...we used to go to this 'Galli (by-lane) Hotel' in K.R.Mohalla... we all loved this 'set' dosa' [ note: a specialised Mysore delicacy of the popular Dosa, stacked up like pancakes, served with mouthfuls of distinct soft white buttermilk butter called 'benne' with a bowl of 'sambar' to dip into ] ... after this meal we would proceed to R.K. Narayan's house in Lakshmipuram for a long chat about music and musicians... sometimes Thitte Krishna Iyengar and M. A. Narasimhachar would join us. R.K. Narayan would play his spool tape recordings of Karaikudi brothers' veena recital and other such recordings of the old veterans...these meetings would go on till about 2 pm"
"... the same friendship continued even in the recent years (the '90s) when I took up partial residence in Bangalore...V. Doreswamy Iyengar would regularly take walks from his Malleswaram residence to the Indian Institute Of Science. On his way back, he would sometimes drop in at our house in Sadashivanagar. After breakfast and a long hearty chat, I would drop him back to Malleshwaram....sometimes I myself would drop in at his 18th cross residence. During these meetings we would have long, relaxed chats about Music, Musicians, T. Chowdiah, his dynamism and would recollect many anecdotes..."
“Doreswamy Iyengar revered his forebears in the tradition so much that he painstakingly gathered the compositions of Veena Seshanna and popularised them. He attributed his good fortune to his guru's blessings and, as his guru lay bedridden before death, he played Bhairavi day after day at Venkatagiriappa's command."
As we hinted in some of our earlier postings, we have come to love vintage things for now. So, we leave you once again with a very vintage concert from April 17, 1978 in "Parvathi" by the great maestro; sweet sounds, no contact mike as the Vidwan refused to wear one, Philip spool clarity as it was then ! Also performing, are Vidwan M. Chandrasekharan on Violin; Vidwan Erode Gururajan on Mridangam and Vidwan Manjunath on Ghatam.
[01-Shivashiva-Pantuvarali-Thyagaraja 02-Marivere-Ananda Bhairavi - Shyama Shastry 03-Inta Kannanandamemi-Bilahari- Thyagaraja 04-Brochevarevarura-Khamach-Vasudevachar 05-RTP-Kambhoji & Ragamalika 06-Vishweshwara-Sindhu bhairavi Bhajan- Swati Tirunal ]
A TANGENTIAL STORY ON A MYSORE VEENA
While she did not make it into any professional rank, K. Puttu Rao's daughter chose to remember her Guru (Doreswamy Iyengar) in the only way she could, through self practice of the things he had taught her. As time tends to hang heavily in such lonely river valley projects, Smt. Subbalakshmi strove to fill in her time by collecting any lady with any fragmentary knowledge of music to weave musical patterns together from a Thyagaraja or Dikshitar composition, not withstanding the hybrid nature of such a process. There was supposedly an American player too in their group, a Ms. Mary Lou Williams, who would bring in her accordian for occasional lessons in Carnatic notes ( we couldn't find a picture for Ms. Mary Lou, so we are just sending a shout out to her in any corner of the world by mentioning her name )
Time, however, moved on; the happy man called Mr. Chidambaram found himself soon transferred to Calcutta. It was then that Smt. Subbalakshmi’s only daughter, still a child of seven, was diagnosed with a brain tumor. The local doctors made a definite pronouncement. The child under any circumstances, had to be removed to Vellore hospital immediately, to be operated by none other than the brain specialist of the day, Dr. Chandy. This caused the young parents to panic. It was one thing to have so sick a child on your hands. It was another to procure reservations so suddenly on such a long journey? You had to first change trains in Calcutta which might include ( when you are in a hurry ), waiting out entire days for a reservation in the busiest train station in the world. Where would they stay in Calcutta? With nothing to hope for but to just chance it out at the railway station, waiting out time within a waiting room or maybe even spreading it out on the floor of a filthy platform , they left for Calcutta pinning their hopes on the one above to show them the way.
It was when they arrived at Howrah, that a very eventful situation transpired. As their train pulled into the city, a man had simultaneously arrived to confirm train reservations for his family’s return from Chennai. As the lady Subbalakshmi,a sick child and her husband wended their way, not sure where and what they would be doing, they happened to bump into the person who had just come in. As each lifted their face to apologize, there was a brief pause and then a mutual gasp of recognition. The man proved to be none other than the Mr. Chidambaram of earlier times. Pleasantries aside, each came to recognize the reason for the other being there. Mr. Chidambaram acknowledged mentally the presence of a sick child and the predicament of a family uncertain of where they would spend their night. Hadn’t Saraswati once sent this same lady as a succor when he needed a Veena? That was sufficient reason for him to hear no more. They were going to honor him by staying in his house and he was going to make sure that their onward journey would be a very safe one!
A few months later found the erstwhile Mrs. Subbalakshmi and her husband back in the same place on their return leg, but this time without the child who had succumbed to the hands of fate.
