A day with Thodi and Nattaikurunji

When summer starts, its airshow season! Having 3 flight enthusiasts of varying ages in the house, Im the odd girl out!

Though everytime I think I should stay back and do some worthwhile music, I end up tagging along as I truly enjoy riding with my family and ofcourse invariably end up liking the grand finale of Blue Angels or Thunderbirds. I should confess that I also enjoy the post airshow rituals of getting my kids talk to the majestic Navy/US Army pilots and get their autographs.

Off late, I have found a way to keep my music alive along with the heaving roar of the FA18 hornet!... my ipod! 

For small airshows which generally gets over in an hour or so, I ride with them to the airshow, stay back in the car and practise some music, while they go out and explore the aircrafts. I also get to watch the grand finale singing kamalamanohari or bhairavi. All I have to do is just lift my head up to watch the formation in the sky! thats it! yay! I have found a way to manage my music yet not miss the fun of spending time with my family!

But for bigger airshows, where we get to meet the pilots, I still go with them!

Today was the Watsonville airshow! I got ready with my varnam book and my ipod loaded with G# tambura sruthi. About 2 years back, I learnt the thodi ata tala varnam from Sowmya. Thanks to my kids who keep me busy 24/7, I almost forgot the varnam in the span of 2 years.  Unlike childhood days, the rate at which I can learn a piece and the rate at which I can forget it, is almost amazingly equal! 

I drove with my family to the airshow location, stayed back in the car at the parking lot, while the boys ventured out to quench their endless thirst of aviation!

I humbly succummed to the beauty and nuances of thodi in solitude(well not exactly, amidst the musing flight acrobatics:-). Listening to the recording of Sowmya teaching me thodi varnam made me feel even more guilty- as always, Sowmya has given her precious time in teaching me the magnificient varnam,explaining the beauty of many phrases of thodi (like the subtle and rare proyogam of "R.S..M" in the charnam line "Maguvaa...ram" and how beautifully thodi can be developed by dwelling in M and so on). Here Im, re-learning the varnam once again after 2 years! On the positive side, re-learning I discovered, gives a better perspective and insight to many essential aspects of a piece, which I could have missed the first time! Anyways, by the time I finished memorizing the 3rd charanam, the airshow was done. 

On the way back home, I wrapped up with thodi and, for listening pleasure, switched on to not one, but two RTP pieces of Nattaikurunji one after the other. First was by GNB and the second by his disciple MLV:-) wondering all along how nattaikurunji which chokes and suffers a hard time flowing through my vocal chords, flows so fluently in theirs! The detailed ragam and thanam was so bindblowing that I didn't even feel like noticing if their nattaikurunji had panchama phrases, if so, how have they used it appropriately etc. The intricacies of the pallavi MLV sang was going way above my head! May be I had a overdose of thodi! So, not worrying too much, I quietly basked in the soothing rays of Nattaikurunji. Then came the fireworks of ragamalika swarams. Its quizzing time with my 9 year old! With the start of one phrase(sometimes one note!), he is blessed with the knowledge of identifying many ragas from the age of 2. He is quicker and better than I, in identifiying and understanding ragams with a deeper perspective. I enjoy quizzing him during RTP ragamalika swarams to further reassure myself that "YES! he has it!". He was on par with MLV's ragam changing speed in identifying the changing ragams like sudhadhanyasi, kedaram, valaj (identified as malayamarutham-i still gave him a good hand and explained him the difference) and so on.

All the listening and learning gave me a great inspiration to learn and sing more! Im all enthusiastic for trying Nattaikurunji raga alapanai after I try my new recipe for dinner- Oats Idli/dosai - (outcome of being in a health-freak state of mind few days back!) and also after I finish watching my 4 year old do a substraction cross-word puzzle! wow! may be when he grows up, he would be able to explain the mathematical nuances of MLV's nattaikurunji RTP!