Veena Mani By Express News Service As I walked into P r e m a n a n d a Apartments in Adyar where Car nat i c v o c a l i s t DV Kanakadurga lives, one of my favourite songs in her voice — Oothukadu Venkata Subbaiyer’s Marakata Mani Maya Chela — plays in my head. This is one of the pieces I cannot imagine anybody else singing. After exchanging pleasantries, when we start talking about her journey, she starts singing Maragatha Mani Maya, as if she could read my mind. This and some other tarangams were the exciting pieces she worked on with Kuchipudi doyen Padma Bhushan awardee Vempati Chinna Satyam. As we spoke, she even sang a line from Neelamegha Sareera. “Neela Megha and Govardhana Giri Dhara, both compositions of Yati Narayana Theertha, were actual tarangams — where dancers balance themselves on the rims of the brass plate, at times also on a brass pot filled with water on the head, moving to fast rhythmic patterns. But Maragatha Mani was choreographed in the tarangam format by guru Vempati,” she explains. Kanakadurga is a Carnatic vocalist, a specialist in singing for dancers. She has been singing for artistes for over 40 years. Her work has majorly been for Vempati Chinna Satyam. Among the pieces she loves is her guru Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna’s Hindolam Thillana, traditional Kuchipudi jathiswaram set to Athana ragam and a swarajathi set to Vasanta ragam. These were some pieces that Kanakadurga worked on at the Kuchipudi Art Academy. She even hums a few lines of each of these pieces for us. Working with a legend Kanakadurga was recommended to the maestro in 1973. “Hema Malini had a show to perform in. She was also the maestro’s student. That is when I got in touch with him. There were a few items he had set before I met him. We performed to those items. After that, he and I used to sit together and set items to tune, work out the repetitions and go for studio recordings,” she recalls. Kanakadurga has also lent her voice for Hema Malini’s production, Noopur, where she sang Krishna Sabdam — a traditional piece in the Kuchipudi repertoire — Sancharadhadhara — Jayadeva’s Ashtapadi — among others. She has been part of creating ballets like Chandalika, Rukmini Kalyanam, Saktuntalam and Ardhanareeshwara. Fondly remembering her tuning session with Vempati she says, “Vempati master gave me a platform to showcase my art. I got recognition because of him through all the Indian Council for Cultural Research (ICCR) shows.” She has been the voice in all of Vempati’s choreographies — solos and ballets. Recitals over concerts Music is in her blood. Her grandfather Pulavarthi Satyanarayana was a Harikatha Bhagavatar. Kanakadurga started learning in Palakol from guru Rudraraju Subbaraju. She did her first vocal concert at the age of seven. Later on, she began her tutelage under the late Padma Vibhushan recipient Balamuralikrishna. Though a graded All India Radio artiste, Kanakadurga preferred singing for dance recitals than doing her own vocal concerts. Perhaps, this is why she was conferred with the title ‘Kuchipudi Gayani’ by Music Academy in Chennai in 1980. She continued to sing for Vempati even after she left for Vijayawada in 1992 to teach at the Music College there. Guru Vempati used to call her for his shows for which she often travelled from Vijayawada to Chennai. “I used to come to Chennai for two or three days to practice for shows when master called me.” Juggling roles Kanakadurga juggled her job as a lecturer in Vijayawada and singing for the Kuchipudi Art Academy. “He was dedicated to the art. He expected us to make ourselves available all the time. And, I could use all that I learned in Carnatic music, in his dance productions. Most of his items and plays have multiple ragas that would start back-to-back without the singer even having time to breathe in between. That’s how challenging, yet fun, it was for me to set music for his productions and solo pieces,” she says as she starts singing Jayadeva’s Ashtapadi-Sancharadhadhara, to show how ragams change. Sancharadhadhara was one of the many hundred solo pieces Vempati choreographed. Here, Radha narrating the time she spent with Krishna, talks about his raas leela. This did not mean she and Vempati never had disagreements. She wanted to sing for other dancers too, when they called her. But Vempati did not want her to divert her attention from his shows. “He insisted all musicians stay till the evening for practice. When we had shows, he did not like it when I took up assignments with other artistes. He got angry when I did that.” They, however, did not have major disagreements. She did shows for other artistes when Vempati did not have a show. “I could hardly give my children any time because I had to spend time rehearsing, composing and travelling for shows. Sometimes I used to be away for months together. But I could do all this because of my husband’s support. He took care of everything. My mother helped me a great deal by looking after the children. So, I owe it to my mother and husband who managed everything at home so that I could follow my passion,” says Kanakadurga, adding that her children also understood her love for singing. Singing for dance Over the years, Kanakadurga specialised in singing for dancers. To sing for dance, one has to learn to follow movements and think of repetitions that suit the movements and actions, while in vocal concerts the vocalist leads and is free to sing in any manner as long as the rasa of the piece is conveyed to the audience. Not just Kuchipudi, but she has lent vocal support to Bharatanatyam dancers as well like KJ Sarasa and the Dhananjayans among others. She says it is important to look at the dancer, feel the mood and know the episode and actions. “For example, there is a piece called Mandooka Sabdam,” she says as she starts singing. “Here, the dancer shows plucking of flowers. The Sangati (different ways of singing the same line while keeping the mood intact) should be sung in that manner. Next in the episode, a deer is jumping. I need to change the Sangati for that. My Sangati needs to change with the action.” This, she says, is her concern as the next generation of singers do not understand how to do it. As she has been observing dancers for so many decades, demonstrating the piece comes naturally to her. Life after Vempati After the demise of the Kuchipudi doyen in 2012, 70-year old Kanakadurga continues to sing for the Academy as much as she can. “I am not able to travel that much. With my age, picking up the speed required for master’s pieces is not always possible. That is why I limit my shows. I was supposed to go on a tour to the US with the Kuchipudi Art Academy last month but my health did not permit me to go.” She has been singing for other senior artistes like Manju Bhargavee and Bala Kondala Rao who are Vempati’s disciples. She also teaches Carnatic music. Her most recent student is her granddaughter. She has other students for her weekend class. Kanakadurga’s voice in dance shows continues to keep the legacy of the Kuchipudi maestro alive.

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