Reflecting on Sethu Bandhanam

Sethu Bandhanam  (Bridging Musical Genres) 

by Dr. Bhagya Murthy

Singapore Polytechnic Auditorium, September 23, 2015

As she took her position on the raised platform and began to sing, immaculately dressed in a saree and hair adorned with her signature malli poo, I couldn't help but be transported back to the early 80s. 

Singapore. Cultural Theatre. Opposite the Marco Polo Hotel. Today neither place exists. But the memory of Bhagya Murthy, sitting on that stage and singing the Puranada Dasar kriti Yamanelli Kanenendu in Sivaranjani raga came back to me. I was a fairly young bharatanatyam dancer then; hearing her sing brought tears to my eyes that evening. I remember going straight to her after the performance and telling her that I longed to dance to her singing. And for quite a few years after that, she did sing for me - how she made me move and emote. How can I ever forget Baro Krishnayya, with Bhagya's voice and Ghanavenothan Retnam's flute. I would insist that Ghana play that Ga before the verse that opened with Kankana Karadalli.

The September 23rd production titled Sethu Bandanam opened with a Purandara Dasar Ugabogha in raga Brindavani. As Bhagya began to sing, it was as if she was beckoning me to dance again, in the way that I used to dance. The power in her voice was mesmerising. In producing this work she was supported in music composition and direction by noted Singapore flautist and Young Artist Award recipient Ghanavenothan Retnam, who also performed. Joining the celebrated duo were a stellar orchestra comprising leading musicians belonging to the present-day Singapore landscape.

Watching and listening to Bhagya, Ghana and mridangist TV Ramanan took me back to all my solo performances as I was growing up in Singapore - in theatre spaces such as the then Drama Centre at Fort Canning Rise and at temple festivals. We worked with so much camaraderie, so much devotion. 

Sethu Bandhanam that translates into 'a bridge constructed' was a bridge at many levels. Firstly, the production attempted to trace the evolution of Indian music in Singapore through the decades. In doing so, it presented a range of musical genres - classical, semi-classical, film, popular and folk music and traversed diverse ragas and talas. The music of ancient composers such as Purandara Dasar, Trinity of Carnatic Music - Tyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar and Syama Sastri, Tulsidas, Oothukkadu Venkata Kavi, Swathi Thirunal, Papanasam Sivan was juxtaposed with that of local composers such as Jesudassan, Kavignareru Amallathasan and Dick Lee. The audience was treated to songs in Tamil, Sanskrit, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi, Mandarin, Malay and last (but certainly not least) English. 

Interesting and important connections were drawn between the journey of Indian music through the Singapore landscape over five decades and that of the history and development of the nation-state. Kudos to the MC for the evening  - dancer and scholar Shobha Vadrevu, who presented an excellent link between the music and its milieux.  

Bhagya did well to include other talented musicians in her production. Vocalists Sajith Thekke and Aditi Gopinathan gave riveting renditions. (Aditi, by the way, is a rubber stamp of her mother Varija Menon who used to be my Balvihar teacher at the Chinmaya Mission at an old building at Norris Road that I'm sure has since been demolished. When she tried teaching us "Hari Om Tat Sat", 5-year old me heard it as "Hari Om Get Set" while to my 9-year old sister's ears it was "Hari Om That's It"!) I found myself literally dancing in my seat when the duo sang the famous song "Alapanam" from the 1982 Malayalam movie Gaanam. It was a different dance for each song  - the Kavadi Chindu, Shankara Sri Giri, Ranjanamala, Ksheerasagara, Thumaka Chalat, Bho Shambho and the Thillana/Tarana.  All these tunes are still ringing in my head. I must confess that I have never danced so shamelessly in my seat before, except for the one time at the Madras Music Academy when the band Indian Ocean sang Khandisa and Asheem Chakravarthy began his captivating alaap in Desh. One lone woman stood up and danced helplessly! 

Certain aspects of Sethu Bandhanam seemed a bit trite. The photographs and video clips, for instance, needed a professional hand. The red and white costumes - the colours of the national flag, became somewhat of an overstatement. The show was about two and a half hours long without an interval; some editing would have lent a crispness to the production. Also, the music tended to be too loud but I wonder if this is a Singapore thing as I have felt this way during other Indian orchestral performances as well. 

In the final section of the performance, the compositions that stood out for their sheer brilliance and vibrancy were the Thillana/Tharana that was arranged musically by Ghana and Swami Dayananda Saraswati's famous Bho Shambho. The timing of Sethu Bandhanam was uncanny for the very next day came news of Swami Dayananda Saraswati's attainment of Samadhi. 

The production drew into its frame younger artists such as Viknesvari Vadivalagan and Vishnu Veluri as well as a range of noted Singaporean Chinese and Malay musicians who merged quite seamlessly with the Indian orchestra. The audience was spellbound when Ismahairie Putra rendered his brief but captivating violin solo. While all the instrumentalists gave their best to the evening, I did wish that T.K. Arunkumar's veena was given some space to be heard and savoured. 

A performer both on stage as well as television, as well as a teacher, Bhagya has received numerous awards both in Singapore and in India. Her smile, laughter, openness, passion and single-pointed devotion to music - these are some of the qualities that Bhagya has carried with her on her unique journey that she began as a young housewife who had just arrived in Singapore from Bangalore. In those days, she she spoke very little Tamil but was always ready to face new and fresh challenges. I remember how she would call it her "ketta dhairyam". Well, it has definitely opened doors, enriching and uplifting herself and so many others in the process. To quote Guest of Honour Dr. Uma Rajan, "Bhagya holds music close to her heart with a loving and fierce tenderness, and is as creatively generous as possible". On September 23rd, she also presented her young and upcoming students who formed the choral group. 

For me, Sethu Bandhanam was an intense reconnection with the varied aspects of my own past. I was moved in ways that I had not anticipated. 

NIRMALA SESHADRI

SOFTLY, in the dusk, a woman is singing to me;
Taking me back down the vista of years, till I see
A child sitting under the piano, in the boom of the tingling strings
And pressing the small, poised feet of a mother who smiles as she sings.
In spite of myself, the insidious mastery of song
Betrays me back, till the heart of me weeps to belong
To the old Sunday evenings at home, with winter outside
And hymns in the cosy parlour, the tinkling piano our guide.
So now it is vain for the singer to burst into clamour
With the great black piano appassionato. The glamour
Of childish days is upon me, my manhood is cast
Down in the flood of remembrance, I weep like a child for the past.

PIANO - DH Lawrence, 1885