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IN FIRST PERSON   • Semmangudi     Sreenivasa Iyer   • Kunnakudi R     Vaidyanathan   • Rajkumar Bharti   • Nityashree     Mahadevan   • Unnikrishnan

Soumya

As a child, Soumya was routinely described as a prodigy. She has lived up to the description and become one of the most respected figures in the field of Carnatic music. Unlike her contemporaries, she was never tempted to take up playback singing. In fact, she says she intends to keep her distance from film music in the future as well. Yet, she is extremely popular and performs on all days during the Margazhi season.

When she had to choose between her research at the IIT Madras and music, she decided to devote all her time and energy to music. Now, she is keenly involved in the research of the theory of Carnatic music.

I used to be very enthusiastic about the Margazhi festival when I was a young girl. It was as if a function was going to take place at home. Unlike today, there were not many sabhas then and our activities mainly centered around the Music Academy.

I was staying with my guru and used to accompany him to the lecture demonstrations in the mornings at the Music Academy and the Tamizh Isai Sangham. I loved the pongal they used to serve at the Music Academy! Now, they no longer serve pongal. We used to go the Music Academy first, have pongal and thereafter go to the Tamizh Isai Sangham. I used to be so excited the whole day.

Once the festival got over, I used to feel so lost. It was as if a lovable guest who was with you for a whole month had gone back. I used to feel so depressed, bored and forlorn.

Though I enjoyed every moment of the festival, I never dreamt I would perform during the Margazhi. I used to participate in some music competitions and they used to be held in the month of December. I won a prize at the Academy and, suddenly, I found myself performing there. That was in 1986 and I was in my 12th standard. Everything happened so suddenly and unexpectedly.

I was nervous and excited because I had to make a mark with that first concert itself. There were only two slots then, a junior slot and a senior slot, and mine was naturally in the afternoon. I remember all my friends were there in full strength to listen to me.

I feel it is very good for music to have so many sabhas and concerts. It helps to popularise the art. But I feel the quality of artistes has gone down of late. When I was young, you heard only great vidwans singing.

As there were not many sabhas in the eighties, I could manage to sing at all of them without much difficulty. Now, I find it very tiring. As the organisers of the sabhas are known to me, I can’t say even say no to them. Some of them take it personally if I do so. The end result is that I perform almost every day during Margazhi. It is very exhausting. It shouldn’t be happening actually. Sometimes, I tend to take some kacheris lightly, which is something I shouldn’t be doing. The connoisseurs of music understand the difference.

There is a crowd at all the kacheris, but I do not know whether they constitute a good audience. A crowd and a good audience are different, you know!

Also in first person:
Semmangudi Sreenivasa Iyer
Kunnakudi R Vaidyanathan
Rajkumar Bharti
Nityashree Mahadevan
Unnikrishnan
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