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Voleti Venkatesvarulu — Mellifluous, Introspective Ingenuity

KavyaVriksha
KavyaVriksha
Published in
13 min readApr 13, 2022

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Pantuvarali ragam followed by the song Sambo Mahadeva

Indian classical music bifurcated into two separate forms, Carnatic (South Indian Classical) and Hindustani(North Indian Classical) music, only in the modern musical time period(around 17th century). The legendary Voleti’s unique approach to unfolding ragas reminds us of this prior lineage.

  • Pantuvarali Ragam followed by the song Siva Siva Siva Radha, with M S Gopalakrishnan on the violin; distinctive phrasing in raga alapana and again, in the kalpana svaras(frequently, omitting the svara pa, giving it the flavor of its Hindustani counterpart)
  • Pantuvarali Ragam followed by the song Sarasaksha, with Lalgudi Jayaraman on the violin; the melodious raga unfolds in surprising contours

“Voleti garu, a vidwan beyond compare who viewed music as a canvas to create and not a finished painting to be displayed. He was well-versed in both the southern and the northern paddhati(system) of Indian classical music, and was able to marry Carnatic and Hindustani into a unique style that celebrated the grandeur of both forms without detracting from the value of either.” — Malladi brothers and their father Malladi Suribabu who was a direct disciple of Voleti, in their Voleti Sangeetha Vaibhavam tribute[3]

  • Illustration by Malladi Suribabu of Voleti’s unique approach to raga improvisation; he emphasizes that Voleti effortlessly “adapted those Hindustani prayogas(phrases) when singing Carnatic ragas” and adds, that it is extremely difficult for others to emulate.

Musical Outreach — All India Radio

Voleti made innumerable contributions when he was at All India Radio, Vijayawada in the 1950s. In his Sruti interview, he states that he started learning from Sangita Kalanidhi Dr Pinakapani before he joined AIR.[1] A significant musical outreach program broadcast by AIR Vijaywada during his tenure was Bhakti Ranjani which featured many songs tuned by Voleti himself. Sangita Sikshana was another very popular program in which Voleti directly taught a song to one of his students, and this enabled the listeners to also learn the same song.

Sangita Sikshana

“One of my early programs on the radio was Sangita Sikshana (music tuition). It was started in February 1951. Besides the Trinity, composers like
Patnam Subrahmania Iyer, Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar, Ponniah Pillai and some modern composers were also represented. I must have taught about two or three hundred compositions in all through this program, Sangita Sikshana. This program benefited me… You see, to be able to introduce kritis which I didn’t know myself, I had to learn them first.” — Voleti in his Sruti interview[1]

Bhakti Ranjani

Malladi Suri Babu describes the immense contributions of Voleti to Bhakti Ranjani and the inclusion of songs by multiple composers like Sadashiva Brahmendra, Narayana Teertha, Bhadrachala Ramadas, Annamacharya and more; he adds that “ Artists who were part of these Bhakti Ranjani programs included Nedunuri Krishnamurthy, Vasundhara Devi, and Vinjamuri Lakshmi. Voleti collaborated with Chinta Krishnamurthy and created Yaksha gaanas, such as Usha Parinayam. He also worked with Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer on Kuchelopakhyanam. All these programs are still popular and well received.” — Malladi Suri Babu in the tribute :Voleti Sangeetha Vaibhavam

Musical Training from first Guru

In his interview with Sruti magazine, Voleti describes many unique aspects of musical training, assimilated from his first guru, Munuganti Venkat Rao Pantulu :

  • strong foundation for each raga, a thorough understanding of the svaras and their svarasthanas(positions in that raga); singing each svara in the raga and then, combinations of two, three, four, svaras, step by step, and ultimately, creating more complex patterns. Countless repetitions of these exercises. (We notice that this training has many similarities with the Merukhand framework symbolized by Ustad Amir Khan)
  • raga immersion, a similar approach to Hindustani Classical Music training where Voleti says his guru would make him sing “A constant repetition of svara and akara for about eight months in raga Kalyani only.”[1]
  • when learning kritis, singing the underlying svara notation first and then the lyrics.

Voleti says this solid foundation enabled him to notate any song the first time he heard it and to also learn a new song just by looking at the notation.

In this tribute to his Guru, Malladi Suri Babu highlights that “Voleti could notate even when people spoke! He could instantly notate the underlying musical notes of any song, Carnatic, Hindustani, film or Western Classical music.” . [3]

Illustration of these foundational exercises by Malladi Suri Babu and his sons, the Malladi Brothers :

This leads to the critical insight that “In varnams and kritis(songs), the svaras are being distributed and arranged to shape the song” and as you start understanding these key svara combinations, you discover the key phrases that define the raga. — Malladi Suri Babu [3]

Malladi Suri Babu adds that Voleti would start a raga alapana (improvisation) with the jeeva svara (identifying svaras) of that raga.

Hindustani Music influences and inspirations

In his interview with Sruti magazine, Voleti shares that in his childhood, he used to listen to a lot of music on the radio and he was first, more interested in Hindustani music. His “introduction to Hindustani music was through Ustad Bismillah Khan”; his other favorites were Roshanara Begum, Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Ustad Amir Khan and Pandit Pannalal Ghosh. Voleti repeatedly refers to the ‘sruti pakkuvam’(adherence to pitch) in Hindustani music that captivated his interest.

Voleti adds : “. I must have heard Roshanara Begum at least a 100 or 150 times; Her raga delineation was a superb treat. In our own system there is a raga alapana paddhati prescribed by our lakshanakaras [grammarians). But, if you want to get an idea of how to sing a raga, you could perhaps do so by listening to recordings of Roshanara Begum’s concerts. I was fascinated by her felicity, the ease with which she developed the alaap step by step, slowly negotiating delectable and difficult glides, building up the tempo over a period of time….”[1]

Malladi Suri Babu shares this fascinating anecdote about how Voleti would hum Hindustani ragas as a warm up, right before recording the most rakti ragas in Carnatic music like Bhairavi, Sankarabaranam or Kambhoji.

In his Sruti interview, Voleti shares some key elements of Hindustani music that inspired him : “voice culture, singing in vilambakala(slower speed) and their mode of singing in all svaras including vivaadi svaras. The highlight of that music is manodharma — the composition plus the musician.” And then, Voleti adds that Carnatic music excels in the “richness” of its compositions. [1]

That observation about vivaadi svaras is intriguing. Vivaadi is essentially the dissonance that occurs when two musical notes that are very close together such as R1(lower Ri) and R2(higher Ri), are sung consecutively. In a Carnatic vivaadi raga, it is denoted by a different svara name such as R1 G1 instead of R1 R2 (where G1 is the same musical note as R2). Hindustani music references only the actual musical notes, komal (lower) or shudh (higher) notes. However, there are many Hindustani ragas that have both Ni or both Ga; and of course, the more familiar ragas like Lalit, Behag, Kedar and others that have both madhyams.

Jugalbandhi (duet of Carnatic and Hindustani styles)

Vast and Varied Repertoire

“He was a disciple of mine all right, but what a genius! You can describe him as one of the best musicians of Andhra ever. I wonder whether we will ever get another musician like that” — Voleti’s Guru, Sangita Kalanidhi Dr Pinakapani, quoted in this tribute to Voleti

As Voleti himself shared in his interview, he greatly expanded his repertoire as a result of the AIR Sangita Sikshana program in which he taught hundreds of songs by different composers. [1]

Songs in Rarer Ragas

Rarer Songs in Familiar Ragas

Padams

Javalis

Songs by Annamacharya

Bhajans

Compositions tuned by Voleti

  • Playlist with melodious songs, tuned so beautifully by Voleti Venkatesvarulu

Musical Ethos

‘Voleti was a musician who set for himself and maintained the highest standards.’ “He had unlimited svara gyanam(knowledge and mastery of svaras) and was a creative genius in ragam.”- Sangita Kalanidhi Nedunuri Krishnamurthy quoted in A sage of Sangeet by ARUNA CHANDARAJU

In his interview, Voleti highlights the steps to achieving excellence in manodharma (improvisation in music) by pointing out what is missing in the quest:

“ We should get away from merely memorizing a varnam, a kriti or a passage. We do not analyze. We repeat without any variation. We do not sing the sangatis leisurely and enjoy the nuances. We see, we hear and we experience myriad variations but we do not adopt and make them our own.” — Voleti Venkaresvarulu in his interview with Sruti magazine[1]

Every aspect of Voleti’s legendary music deeply reflects the musical principles that he cherishes most :

  • the “Saukhyam” (melody which is soulful, serene and sublime)
  • the sruti and svara suddham (adherence to pitch, and meticulous attention to placement of musical notes for each raga).
  • as noted above, adherence to the critical elements of introspection, analysis, imagination and involvement
  • and ultimately, experiencing the joy of music

As Malladi Suri Babu says in his tribute : “Voleti does not sing for others; he tries to find the happiness for himself, first.”[3]

Raga Alapanas

“An alapana for him was not a sketch of what a raga is but rather a foray into what it could be.”- Malladi Suri Babu and Malladi Brothers in their tribute Voleti Sangeetha Vaibhavam[3]

In his tribute, Malladi Suri Babu observes that the starting phrases of Voleti’s raga alapanas were a ‘capsule of the raga’. Another key feature was the blending of Hindustani like phrases into his raga explorations. Malladi Suri Babu emphasizes that these type of phrases are fiendishly difficult to even attempt; however Voleti used to execute them flawlessly with ease and elan.[3]

Raga Alapanas by Voleti

Kalpana Svaras

Voleti’s cascading Sarvalaghu svaras flow seamlessly in a multitude of patterns, always, with the essence of the raga in the forefront. His svaras also include complex dhatu patterns (unexpected combination of svaras, skipping svaras like in dhatu varisai).

In his tribute, Malladi Suribabu says that the focus of Voleti’s svara kalpana was based on what was appropriate for that particular kriti. The emphasis was on “Saukhyam” and not on rhythmic gymnastics; (“a beautifully, balanced, ‘svara bridge’ which was not swaying unsteadily”; a wonderful metaphor for Voleti’s aesthetically apt svara combinations)[3]

Kalpana Svaras by Voleti

Ragam Tanam Pallavis

Intricate ragam tanam pallavis in traditional ragas with expansive raga alapanas, neraval(elaboration of pallavi line) and ragamalika svaras with unique flourishes:

In his Sruti interview, Voleti says “The desire to sing new ragas,
what they have heard somewhere, has crept in. I once heard Ghulam Mustafa Khan singing the raga Ahir(Ahiri Todi) and I thought: why shouldn’t I sing Natakapriya ?” (Note: these ragas have similar musical notes)

Viruttams

The singing of viruttams involves selecting a few lines of verses and spontaneously, improvising their tune on the spot. Viruttams are freeform and usually sung in multiple ragas. One of its musical highlights is the skillful transition from one raga to the next. Given Voleti’s ethos about appreciation of the poetry of the lyrics and accentuating the essence of the raga, his viruttams are indeed evocative, aural paintings, illustrated with so much bhava(soulful sentiment).

The same words are transformed completely by the different, underlying ragas or different shades of the same raga.

  • Sayankale (ragams Ananda Bhairavi, Mohanam, Sahana, Suruti)
  • Sayankale (ragams Saveri, Mohanam, Abheri, Hamirkalyani),
  • Sayankale (ragams Shanmukhapriya, Mohanam, Begada, Surutti)
  • Vyaso (ragams Shanmukhapriya, Mohanam, Surutti)

Melodious concerts, a confluence of classical streams

“Voleti had the wonderful ability to lose himself in his music and enjoy it as a third person. I composed a thillana in Pahadi at his request. He was a childlike person and always gracious with his accompanists.” — Lalgudi Jayaraman, quoted in A sage of Sangeet by ARUNA CHANDARAJU

Voleti’s concerts are, as Malladi Suribabu describes, the quintessence of ‘raganubhavam(melody of the raga), sahityanubhavam(poetry of the lyrics) and layanubhavam(resonance of the rhythm)’. [3]

His concerts include rare songs and ragas, and showcase different genres from kritis, kirtanas, padams, javalis, bhajans, tarangams and more. They feature composers across centuries, including latest 20th century composers. They indeed invoke the ultimate ‘saukhyam’ (melody which is soulful, and serene) and enable us to ‘lose ourselves’ in the sublime music.

References

  1. Sruti Magazine Interview with Voleti by GSP Rao and Surya Rao
  2. Internet Archive — A sage of Sangeet by ARUNA CHANDARAJU
  3. Voleti Sangeetha Vaibhavam — Malladi Suri Babu and Malladi Brothers
Music
Classical Music
Carnatic Music
Artist
Improvisation

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KavyaVriksha
KavyaVriksha

Written by KavyaVriksha

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life long student of Music

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