CHEMBAI FEST DAY 2--visalakshi nithyanand

[padmanabha]

CHEMBAI FEST DAY 2

Her family had strong connections with music. Her father Thiruvananthapuram R S Mani, a popular musician of yester generation laid the strong foundation. She had the fortune to learn under the doyens Semmangudi Sreenivasa Iyer R. Venkitaraman and T K Govinda Rao. Meet Visalakshi Nityanand, a vocalist based at Chennai. She was here in the city to perform at the Chembai Music festival.

“I did my MA Music and these days I am concentrating only on performance. I have to devote more time for practice and so my husband resigned the job to support me. I attend plenty of concerts and each one is a lesson. A performer should be a good listener also” she said.

“My learning under Semmangudi mama is an experience. His rendition of ragas and flow of swaras, spinning coils within coils was awe some. It was the essence of carnatic music. He insisted that students of music should learn Deekshithar compositions. He taught me 25 compositions of Deekshitahr. R .Venkitaraman was a task master. He has reprimanded me many times and never prepared for a compromise. It was highly analytical. Both of them taught me plenty of compositions” she added.

She is tirelessly building up a massive repertoire from many sources. “I had to go to many sources. The concerts of great masters help me to improve. Each of them has their on qualities. But I never follow them blindly as reproducing them is neither easy nor right. I have to design my own style, based on their tradition. Regarding improvisation, initially I by-hearted the ones of great masters to gain frame and direction. Then it came naturally.”
Visalakshi has made it a point to render Ragam Taanam and Pallavi, _which is rarely heard these days. Today many try to make the concert appeal to the largest number of listeners. That is why they cut down on raga and concentrate on swara, often overloading small kritis with fireworks which destroy the form.

Visalakshi has performed in all major sabhas in Chennai, and Hydearbad. “As I am brought up in Chennai I don’t find any difficulty in finding a space for me. But all my north Indian tours were for the south Indian audience.” She agrees.
For a performer Kerala is an ideal place. “I was invited for a concert at Thottuva in Kollam district. When I reached the place I was surprised to see the nature audience. They never seem to have any taste in music. I regretted, but had to perform. There were only 50 peoples. When it commenced, people gathered quickly and the seats were full till the end. They applauded rarely” she remembered.