Outside the world of bits and bytes, samples and loops,
live reeds vibrated and produced a unique distinctive sound...
production assistants, tea boys, studio technician's..
everyone looked at these old men,
they all were in their late 50's....
and, they were blowing their heart's out in unison,
with their mouth in the embouchure position, effortlessly,
trying to direct air through the center of their lips... all
through a cylindrical tube like wooden instrument with a cone,
and, together they were making incessant rapid expressive animated
musical trills and notes....
Barring, the engineer inside the console room who was moving around juggling
the position of his neuman U-87 mics.. while constantly looking at the rich harmonic
structural waveform on the monitor..
everyone else present were in a state of aberration,
amused at the delightful soulful music they were hearing
and, they remained unmoved.... rather... stayed ecstatically static....
yes... ! ! !
They all were transported to the aural world of orchestral woodwind ensemble sound
as shades of caprices of Amadeus Mozart, Igor Stravinsky's three pieces , The Rhapsodies,
The folk music of Balkans, Traditional ethnic Egyptian and Turkish music , Magudi..
all echoed inside this mumbai suburban studio that day.... at last,
my particular passion for orchestral woodwind instruments had yielded results...
After so long, I had got an opportunity to write a score for the woodwind trio-
cor anglais or english horn, an oboe and a clarinet together for a film score session.
the oboist doubled on the english horn later..
thanks to my producer and director, Kabir , who wishfully agreed to this..
In fact... after a long long time the woodwind triads
had actually gathered for a film score recording session...
The sole session oboist of India who was struggling hard to blow to create
that magical intense sound from his " cor anglis "...
stopped and took a deep sigh...
" unlike the french horn this tone is
more intense.... piercingly sharp..!!!
no one plays wind instruments any longer...
It requires high skill, immense strength
in the lungs...long hours of practice, " expressed the oboist
in a voice filled with deep sadness....
"This oboe was gifted to my father.. by the renowned conductor zubin mehta.."
" Its not a career option any longer...
In fact the current generation barely recognizes the instrument ' !!!
alarmed the clarinetist who had played the catchy vibrant theme music
of the Bacchan's 70's Bollywood hit film "Don".
In India... when we ponder the term 'reed instruments'
what one associates immediately is to Raja ratnam/Arunachalam's
nadaswaram , Ustad Bismillah khan's shehnai or
the tutti sound used in the laxmikant-pyarelal 70's melodies...
and... how can one forget the fluid carnatic classical clarinet
maestro of the early 70s..
" vidwan A.K.C Natarjan ".....whose effortless renditions of
raag natabhairavi etched my memory for several years...
his sheer perfect melodic ornamentation playing kirtanams
with such carefree abandon was incredible..
prof. william powell called him the 'mount everest of clarinet"
and was stunned by the drastic modifications done on his ' claorinet '
which he referred as the 'reinvention of the clarinet"from the original
Denner's western clarinet.
In order to facilitate playing the carnatic rhythmic complexity
with ease and mastering the raga swaroopa, swaras with maximum felicity,
A.K.C had done several alterations on his instrument which later many
Indian bamboo flute players adapted to their instruments
" His playing is honed to such perfection as to be a worthy vehicle
for the descent of that Divine Essence which is the true, the supreme,
nature of what we call 'music', only that one is capable of
commanding such a pure attention from the devotees of our Art..."
concludes Prof. Powell in his quest and research work
of the " Use of clarinet in India ".
last year.. i was watching "crossing the bridge' and
the clarinetist Selim Sessler's improvisations playing the turk folk songs
just reminded me a shade glimpse of the great A.K.C.
I am very happy to hear, finally.. AKC had been unanimously
chosen by the executive committee of the Madras Music Academy
and was conferred the ‘Sangita Kalanidhi’ title last year.
The Indian clarinet I m sure will be reinvented, discovered
and explored by next generation music connoisseurs ,
musicians.... and Powell's research will be very handy
- Ved Nair
