Gayatree

The last time I heard Muthu play live, it was in the heat and airlessness of the Odukathurar Math hall that somehow helped with concentration on the music. With the long locks and the khadi kurta (or jubba as us natives would call it) he looked out of place on the stage that was otherwise populated with veshti wearing, crew cut sporting Carnatic musicians. Playing the ganjira though, meant he could hide behind his better built brethren on the mridangam or the morsing.

He was Cdru’s friend and if I thought about it (which I didn’t too often) it was difficult to reconcile the bits that I knew of him. A dedication to classical music , Cdrus atheistic company, and a Chartered Accountancy course attempt. Where and how could the three meet? Tabla playing, long-haired, non believing kanakkupillai… ? Uhmm. No. Something would have to get cut. In the normal course of events, the something to get cut would have been first the hair and then the music. Fortunately, Muthu chose the other course of events.

Cut to today. @ Kyra – a dinner theater place in Bangalore, Muthu and his band (Taalization) are on stage. He still has the hair. He still has the jubba. He’s not hiding behind the mridangist. Instead he’s front and center on the tabla and the flute and the mike with explanations. The blurb says

‘Taalization performs live this Friday! Muthu Kumar, Karthik Mani and Dwight Pattison bring together complex layers of electronica with a groovy rhythmic backdrop. Having learned the tabla from the age of four from the great Ustad Alla Rakha himself, Muthu Kumar has travelled the world showcasing his rare talent in studios and live performances alike. He is joined by Karthik Mani on drums, inheritor of a legacy of the great Mridangam player TAS Mani. Completing the ensemble is Dwight Pattison. Now based in Mumbai, Dwight holds down the bottom end with rock solid bass grooves.’

Cdru, Rem and I walked in a little too late to find a good table. So we settled for a makeshift arrangement on the first floor that offered no view of the stage at all. I was happy enough. Previous experiences  led me to expect that I would enjoy the music more if I didn’t have to see the chaps playing it. But once the music began though I was craning my neck to get more of a glimpse. Because the show was not just about the music – it was also about the folks playing it and their intelligence and the thought they put into it shone through the music, brightening it.

The first half had tracks like Dark Morning, Sol Mix and Groovenamaha* that were extremely percussion heavy. Little or no melody leavened these tracks but explanations at the beginning of each track made one appreciate (if not understand!) the music. As a sample – the explanation would go… ‘In this track we will explore the phrase tha-dheem-gi-na-tha tha-dheem-gi-na-tha tha-dheem-gi-na-tha thom’ ** Sol Mix in particular had Karthik and Muthu breaking out into onomatopoeic verbal rendering of the musical phrase which they would then proceed to play on the table and the drums respectively. Groovenamaha was a playful track, lighter than its predecessors but heavier than its successors! By the end of the first set I had developed great respect for the minds (and fingers!) that were able to pick up, remember and reproduce rhythms that seemed more mathematical than musical.

During the second set the focus stayed on the percussion but there was more melody in the tracks which made it easier for percussion philistines. First piece back on the stage sounded like a nice traditional Thaniavardanai to me. By the end of it a lot of the audience were nodding heads and saying yess in time to the music (the yuppie equivalent of putting taalam and saying besh besh).

The next piece was called ‘Chakravyuha’ and per the rather involved explanation given, was supposed to be a ‘circular’ rhythm that evoked Abhimanyu’s experience in the Mahabharata – facing the Kaurava army in the formation, breaking into the chakravyuha, the relief of reaching the middle and (in a departure from the myth) the happiness of getting out of it.  My test: I could roll my head round in a circle when keeping the beat .’Sitar Gaze’ followed and now it was the otherwise quiet Dwights turn to be superstar on the guitar.

‘Revathi’ and ‘India Street’ (the latter in particular) were melody rich and completely enjoyable. Last but not the least was the jam when a slightly reluctant Ramamani joined the band on stage. The combination of her improvised ragam, tanam with the tabla, the drums and a wee bit of the bass guitar was (okay. well spelled adjectives fail me) sooooooper awwsome.

All in all a wonderful evening. I’ve got some new music to get onto the pod and hope that someday (a la muthu) I will get to reconcile the different parts of me!

*the my spellings on the titles may not be as the composers intended.

**Full creative license on the the letters of the musical phrase. I ain’t no classical musician