THE HINDU Editorial Vocabulary- November 24, 2016- Topic 2
In the demise of
Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna on Tuesday, the world of Carnatic classical
music has lost a multifaceted artist whose work defied neat definitions, as his
popular appeal transcended barriers of geography and language. Through her
captivating and meditative performances across the country and overseas, it was
M.S. Subbulakshmi who had represented the southern tradition for the better
part of the last century. But it was Balamuralikrishna, the child prodigy from
Andhra Pradesh, who emerged as the national face of this genre over the past
half century. A combination of a richly gifted voice, sheer individual
brilliance and an incessant penchant for eclectic experimentation saw the
maestro cut through the conventional limits of compositional form and style of
presentation at a rather early age. The distinctive identity he carved out
would define his formidable reputation over the subsequent decades. When such
innovations sometimes did not find particular favour with the cognoscenti, the
composer-vocalist began to revel in the controversy they occasioned and the
popular appeal that resulted from his performances. But despite all the
maverick-like qualities, Balamuralikrishna remains, to date, among the few
musicians to have been conferred the highest honour of The Music Academy,
Madras, the Sangeetha Kalanidhi, at a relatively young age. By the time he was
awarded the nation’s second highest civilian honour, the Padma Vibhushan, in
1991, Balamuralikrishna’s acclaim as a playback singer and music director had
been reinforced.
Arguably, the great master’s
imprint on the pan-Indian stage was put irreversibly through the national
integration track ‘Mile sur mera tumhara’ on Doordarshan in the
mid-1980s. The explicit purpose behind this joint production with, among
others, the doyen of the Kirana gharana, the redoubtable Bhimsen Joshi, was to
foster a sense of unity and harmony in those troubled times. But the venture,
perhaps unwittingly, also heralded a new era in classical duet singing,
hitherto largely a characteristic of instrumental ensembles. The vocal
jugalbandis between Joshi and Balamuralikrishna brought home to the lay public
the fundamental commonalities inherent to the southern and northern ragas, as
much as they emphasised the distinctive styles in rendition across the country.
This exposure was no mean feat considering that classical music remained, and
maybe still is, a pursuit of the privileged in society. The void that
Balamuralikrishna leaves at the all-India level may be felt more, therefore, in
sustaining interest in this larger musical canvas. But the tremendous mobility
of recent years among artists, and a degree of cross-cultural appreciation,
promise the continuity of this legacy.
Vocabulary
Demise: a
person's death.
Example: Mr. Grisenthwaite's tragic demise
Synonyms: death, dying, passing, loss
of life, end
Multifaceted: having
many facets.
Example: The play of light on the diamond's multifaceted surface
Defied: openly
resist or refuse to obey.
Example: A woman who defies convention
Synonyms: disobey, go
against, flout, fly in the face of, disregard, ignore
Transcended: be or go
beyond the range or limits of (something abstract, typically a conceptual field
or division).
Example: This was an issue transcending party politics
Synonyms: go beyond, rise
above, cut across
Captivating: attract
and hold the interest and attention of; charm.
Example: He was captivated by her beauty
Synonyms: enthrall, charm, enchant, bewitch, fascinate, beguile
Meditative: of,
involving, or absorbed in meditation or considered thought.
Example: Meditative techniques
Genre: a
category of artistic composition, as in music or literature, characterized by
similarities in form, style, or subject matter.
Example: He was a pioneer in various genres including satire, literary criticism,
and drama.
Synonyms: category, class, classification, group, set, list, type, sort, kind
Carved: cut (a
hard material) in order to produce an aesthetically pleasing object or design.
Example: The wood was carved with runes
Synonyms: engrave, etch, incise, score
Explicit: stated
clearly and in detail, leaving no room for confusion or doubt.
Example: The speaker's intentions were not made explicit
Synonyms: clear, plain, straightforward, crystal
clear, easily understandable
Doyen: the most
respected or prominent person in a particular field.
Example: The doyen of Canadian poetry
Heralded: be a
sign that (something) is about to happen.
Example: The speech heralded a change in policy
Synonyms: signal, indicate, announce, spell, presage, augur, portend
Hitherto: until
now or until the point in time under discussion.
Example: There is a need to replace what has hitherto been a haphazard method of
payment
Synonyms: previously, formerly, earlier, before, beforehand, so
far
Pursuit: the
action of following or pursuing someone or something.
Example: The cat crouched in the grass in pursuit of a bird
Synonyms: striving
toward, quest after/for, search for, aim