Her silky smooth bowing, unhesitating fluency and immaculate accompanying skills make Charumathi Raghuraman a sought-after violinist for leading artistes such as Ranjani Gayatri, Sudha Ragunathan, Vijay Siva, Gayathri Venkataraghavan, Ramakrishnan Murthy and more. Charumathi’s musical path involved a lot of travel (“I was in trains a lot”) and frequent separation from immediate family. It began in Mumbai where her family lived, with Charumathi imitating her older sister’s violin playing using a ruler and a pencil. She started lessons at age four with N. Krishna Iyer of Bhakta Rasika Ranjani Sabha. She also learned vocal from T.R. Balamani whilst absorbing what her mother, Rama Raghuraman, taught her vocal students at home.
At a friend’s urging, Rama took Charumathi to the doyen T.N. Krishnan in 1995 when he visited Mumbai. He took her under his wing after hearing her play. Intense practice followed. Charumathi says, “My mother would wake me up at 4.30 a.m., bundle me up in a monkey cap and sweater in the colder months, give me my Bournvita/Horlicks while practically still asleep, and make me play for a couple of hours before school.”
A diary was maintained ensuring that Charumathi cycled through practising all the varnams she knew, each 5-6 times and at multiple speeds. Varnams, varisais, kirtanams, manodharmam — everything she knew was played every 48 hours at least. This routine of 5-6 hours of daily practice continued for years, with Charumathi travelling from Mumbai to Chennai every six weeks or so for violin classes.
On one such trip a year later, Krishnan told Charumathi that she would be playing with him at a concert that evening. She was all of nine. “It was totally unexpected and surreal.” More such performances ensued.
Increasing difficulties juggling school in Mumbai with music lessons in Chennai made Charumathi and her mother move to Chennai in 2000.
She continued training whilst also taking vocal lessons from P.S. Narayanaswamy. “I learned vocal to get the necessary lyrical background for the violin,” she says. She listened to a lot of music, observing the give and take within concerts, and discerning subtle vocal nuances and how to reproduce them. She practised by playing with vocal recordings and during the violin interludes.
This rigorous sadhakam has yielded handsome dividends. Acclaimed vocalists and violinists Ranjani and Gayatri say, “The bow is the voice of the instrument and Charumathi’s bowing is one of the best there is. It comes to the fore particularly when playing at higher pitches. We sing at G sharp where the violin can sound shrill. However, Charumathi generates wholesome sound due to her finely honed bowing technique.”
Different challenges
Violinists have to quickly figure out unknown ragas and play it on stage sans prior practice. Charumathi says “The antennae should be up in fullest concentration and the arohanam and avarohanam rapidly ascertained. But a raga is not just a scale — there are specific phrases that give life and body to it.” Short and long alapanas both present different challenges. “To synthesise the life of a raga in a short duration is as difficult as playing an elaborate alapana. However, it is such aspects of live concerts that are most invigorating.”
Charumathi keeps refining the technique. “I try to bow only when there is a syllable, to ensure adherence to the lyric.” She practises at least an hour a day now, travel and performances permitting. “My instrument will tell me if I have not played for a couple of days,” she smiles. Say Ranjani and Gayatri, “Even as Charumathi embodies the best of the T.N. Krishnan bani, she has been enriched by other approaches too, particularly noticeable in her one-string playing. Her sense of fingering and placement with incredible control, as she traverses 1.5 octaves on one string, is a combination of an intuitive feel for the instrument and a lot of hard work.” A fan of the gayaki ang of Hindustani music, Charumathi has also learned from Kala Ramnath.
Knowledgeable rasika and renowned movie director Rajiv Menon says, “Accompanying so as to boost the vocalist, holding the right note at the right juncture — Charumathi has imbibed these so well. She customises her playing for each artiste, reflecting his/her characteristic vocalisations minutely and accurately. She is pleasant in demeanour and not afraid to show enjoyment on stage.”
An MBA in Finance, Charumathi is a foodie, who actively researches sabha menus during music season. “I patronise the canteens on days I don’t have concerts. I also like chaat so much that I am called ‘chaat-mathi’ by my good friends,” she grins. Charumathi Raghuraman is an accomplished soloist too, who wishes that violinists be given more opportunities for solo performances.
The writer opines on Music, Moods and Meals at lakshmianand.com
Published - August 15, 2019 02:58 pm IST
