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 The soup bowls are arranged in a neat semi-circle,
water is poured, the chopsticks fine tune the ragas – and the music flows. This is
the unique music instrument, Jalatarangam, (water waves as it translates – mysterious
and romantic) in which 18-24 bowls are used normally. The mellifluous notes are similar to
the gurgle of a stream, winding its way in a far away glen. Alas! It’s one of the
rare instruments today, and Seetha Doraiswamy, one of its last exponents. A petite,
vivacious woman, olde worlde charm and grace personified, she is as sweet as her musical
cascade.
Seetha, 72, is an AIR and DD (All India
Radio & Doordarshan) artist and has been feted by many – from the Sangeet Natak
Academy to the International Foundation for Carnatic Music (IFCM, run by Chitra Veena Ravi
Kiran) last year.
Born in a musical family, Seetha along with
her sister, Meenakshi started lessons in vocal when she was eight, from Thirunelveli
Sitarama Bhagavathar. Then started her tryst with the Jalatarangam with her training under
Ramaiah Chettiar in the Summer School of Indian Music, organised by Prof.Sambamurthy.
Later she joined Music Academy to learn vocal and veena, where she bagged the gold medal.
Now she is also proficient in harmonium.
She has given innumerable
kutcheris
in India and abroad, most notably in USA under the auspices of the CMANA
(Carnatic Music
Association of North America). Her moment of glory came when she was honored by the Kanchi
Kamakoti Acharya. She has been awarded the `Jalataranga Sree’ by Suddhananda
Bharathiar and the `Sangeetha Jyothi’ by Venkateswarananda.
Written about in many magazines and
newspapers, Seetha has become synonymous with the Jalatarangam, although she is a trifle
sad today at the lack of learners and patronage to this vadyam. There is a whole
museum of rare instruments under the Department of Handicrafts in Mylapore, but that is
another sad story.
Why is the Jalatarangam dying? Some reasons
are obvious – lack of patronage (vocal followed by popular vadyams get more attention)
- it is tedious – from the process of painstaking shopping (for the right sounds) to
the whole effort of fine-tuning each bowl and then re-arranging for the next number.
Learning to play is actually the easiest part. So a whole concert takes meticulous
planning. Another point is the lack of a charismatic icon for this generation that digs
music channels and crunchy remixes. Someone like Mandolin U Srinivas or Santoor Shiv Kumar
Sharma.
The lacklustre support given by the
government (offers scholarships for rare instruments) has not done much for its image and
following.
But Seetha is carrying on her work –
performing concerts actively and coaching young ones regularly. Giving her hope are her
wards – all the children in the huge family are into music. Her grand children play
the Jalatarangam quite well, some are into the mridangam and others, vocal.
All these reflections fade as the divine
music envelops you as Sita works her magic…..
History
The Jalatarangam is one of the 64 great arts and has
been there since the time of Alexander, who infact took some artistes along with him.
According to Kalaimamani B M Sundaram,
noted Researcher and Historian of Music and Dance of South India, who mentioned in a
lec-dem at Sampradaya (library and archive of music) "in early texts like the Srauta
sutras and the Kamasutra, this vadyam was mentioned as Udakavadyam (meaning music
caused by water) or Kumbhavadyam. And they indicated that the yagashala must be pervaded
with the music of the veena and jalatarangam."
Author:
Padma Subiah
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