A.R. Rahman is a music composer that uses Mouth Harp in his songs, and is best known for his Academy Awards for Slumdog Millionaire track.
A. R. Rahman – Skilled in Carnatic music, Western classical, Hindustani music and the Qawwali style of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Rahman has been noted to write film songs that amalgamate elements of these music systems and other genres, layering instruments from differing music idioms in an improvisatory manner. www.arrahman.com/biography
Berklee Indian Ensemble | Berklee College of Music Boston, MA, USA With members from 42 countries to date, the Berklee Indian Ensemble provides an open and inclusive creative space for musicians from all over the world to explore, study, interpret, and create music influenced by the rich and varied mosaic that is Indian music today. From a Carnatic thillana or a high-adrenaline konnakol conversation to Indo-jazz experiments or qawwali, the ensemble performs an expansive repertoire with the ultimate goal of presenting concerts entirely comprising original student compositions.
Here is the story of Bhagyalakshmi Muralikrishna, an immensely talented morsing player. This is an excerpt from a piece by Kirthi Jayakumar, exclusively written for Aalaap
Hailing from a musical family, Bhagyalakshmi Muralikrishna took to a rather rare art form: the morsing. “My father, Morsing Emperor Gaana Kalaa Bhushana Vidwan L Bhimachar is the greatest exponent of morsing in India. My mother S Jayamma, is a singer. My older brother, B Druvaraj is a mridangist and my other brother B Rajashekar is a morsing player of international repute.” With a musical background of such grandeur, there was already impetus for Bhagyalakshmi to take to the field. “Dabbling with the musical background inspired me to learn to play the morsing.” Not many women play the morsing at all – and Bhagyalakshmi feels that she truly is in the minority in the field as a woman morsing player. “My challenge is to show the world that women are no less in playing the morsing in comparison with men. My father has been the greatest source of inspiration for me – he has given more importance to the quality of playing the morsing rather than to my gender - and has guided me on these lines.” However, as disheartening as it is, it is also true that the opportunities to play the morsing as a woman when compared to those that are open to men, are lesser in number. “There may be many reasons for this. I haven’t quite gone into that. Having said that, I must tell you that Ghatam Vidushi Sukkanya Ramgopal is my inspiration – and being a member of her Stree Taal Tarang group is a really great thing. We are being innovative in our conceptualisation and implementation of our ideas when we perform together!”
This lady holds some unusual credits to her name. Bhagyalakshmi Muralikrishna is one of the few women percussionists in the country, and the first woman to play the morsing in Karnataka. The Bengaluru-based artiste has accompanied several renowned musicians — both vocalists and instrumentalists — in Carnatic music kutcheris across the country.
Bhagyalakshmi is an approved A-Grade artiste of All India Radio, and has performed in more than a 1,000 concerts. Soft and mild-mannered, she packs a punch with her performances. The world of percussion instruments is, in general, a male-dominated one and the morsing itself is an unusual instrument. It has a metallic horseshoe-like ring frame with two parallel forks; and a metallic tongue in the middle, which vibrates when struck or plucked. The instrument is placed between the lips, and played to produce a unique music that involves synchronising the hand movement with the verbal expression of the laya. This is akin to transforming the art of konnakol to produce musical rhythms on the morsing.
Father’s legacy
Bhagyalakshmi learnt this art form from her father, the legendary morsing artiste Bheemachar. But the circumstances that made her learn the instrument are surprising. When the renowned percussionist H P Ramachar was trying to assemble an all-women percussion troupe, he realised there were no women who could play the morsing. He immediately approached Bheemachar and urged him to train his daughter in the instrument. Bhagyalakshmi was only 10 at that time. Her father had earlier trained his two sons, Dhruvaraj and Rajashekar; but was happy to coach his daughter too. Thus began Bhagyalakshmi’s tryst with the morsing.
She learnt the art form proficiently from her father, winner of the Karnataka Kalashree and GanaKala Bhushana awards. Initially, the process was difficult. The instrument had to be placed between the lips and care had to be taken to ensure that the artiste’s tongue did not come in contact with the slightly sharp ‘metallic tongue’ of the morsing. But Bhagyalakshmi overcame the difficulties and went on to perform at several concerts. She initially accompanied several upcoming and junior artistes. But soon her popularity grew, and now she can proudly proclaim that she has played pakka vadyam for prominent musicians like Balamurali Krishna, M S Sheela, Neela Ramgopal, Soumya, to name a few. Bhagyalakshmi is a well-known face in the Madras Music Academy, and has been part of the hugely popular December or Margazhi music performances.
Concerts & performances
Bhagyalakshmi is a member of the Stree Taal Tarang, an all-women musical percussion ensemble, organised by the renowned ghatam artiste Sukanya Ramgopal. All the percussion instruments like mridangam, ghatam, kanjira and the morsing are played by women artistes. The performances by this rare group is a connoisseur’s delight, and has received much appreciation. Bhagyalakshmi, along with her father and brother, has represented India in the World Jewish Harp Festival held in Amsterdam, where morsing (also known as Jewish harp) players from various countries gather to showcase their talents. The artiste has fond memories of this event, as their tri-member performance of father-son-daughter, was well received and world-class musicians rapturously applauded their unique rendering on the morsing.
While Bhagyalakshmi mainly performs the Carnatic genre, she has forayed into the field of fusion music as well. She played the morsing at Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt’s Fusion concert, which featured him on the Mohan Veena playing Hindustani music, accompanied by a tabla and a mridangam.
Bhagyalakshmi knows that in two-hour vocal concerts, the percussionists get no more than 20 minutes of playing time. She is happy that people are now more open to watching tala vadya concerts, where the instrumentalists and percussionists are given more time to perform, and can display their mastery of the instrument. She says, “I am glad the morsing has come a long way from my father’s time. It is recognised now as a pakka vadyam and is part of the essential list of additions on stage.” Coming from a family of musicians, she is also happy that her son and nephews are also learning to play the morsing. In fact, three generations of percussionists from the same family — her father, herself and her brothers, and their three children, will be performing together at a unique, first-of-its-kind concert this month.
Fine instrumental support for Pravallika was provided by Palaparthy Nageswara Rao on violin, Inapavuluri Pinakapani on mridangam and T.Lakshmi Shanker on the morsing.
Kothapalli Pravallika displayed fine manodharmam ability in the raga delineation and kalpana swaras.
The Upadrshta Foundation of Gudivada celebrated the 249 Jayanthi of Sri Thyagaraja Swamy at Upadrashta Venkata Sastri Brahmin Community Hall and a sizable gathering of musicians and music lovers attended the vocal concert presented in this connection. The singer was a 12-year-old prodigy Kothapalli Pravallika, a disciple of vidwan Popuri Syamasunder. Pravallika ha started showing extraordinary talent from the age of six years and she sports a melodious voice and sharp swara gnanam...
...Supported by A. Kanyakumari (violin), K.M.S. Mani (mridangam), Rajendra Nakod (tabla), Kovai Suresh (ghatam) and Bangalore Rajasekhar (morsing), Kadri began with ‘Pranamamyaham’, a Goula composition of Mysore Vasudevachar in Adi. Saturated with swaras in fast tempo, the number ended in a crescendo with an enthralling percussion flourish. Kadri’s affinity to Tyagaraja was evident in the selection of the next six numbers including the main one. ‘Kamalaptakula kalasavardhini’ in Brindavanasaranga, Adi, was prefaced by a short alapana. A penchant for speed was revealed even in the short Panthuvarali composition ‘Siva Siva’. But ‘Raghuveera ranadheera’ in Huseni, Roopakam, was in a relatively low tempo. Elaboration of Nasikabhushani evoked its inherent karuna rasa. But the mood changed as he played ‘Marevairi ramani’ in a fast manner. The musical ingenuity of the artiste was revealed through Abheri, the main raga for which he played ‘Nagumo ganaleni’. Commendable were the phrases he wove to essay the raga. Descending the scale in packets of double notes was really enjoyable.
Kanyakumari’s tani was soothing throughout and a contrast to the sonorous notes of the sax. Repetition of ‘Nagaraja’ in anupallavi in different modes embellished the piece. Percussion tani led by K.M.S. Mani stood out for rhythmic varieties, especially for Rajasekharan’s deft playing on the morsing...
two traditions come together for me - jaw harp (jew's harp or guimbarde, vargan, khomus, etc., _new to me) and Indian Music (which i studied extensively in my days at university)
"morsing" --- check it out -- South INDIA style – 04.23.16 MUSIC OF THE WORLD at 1:20:00 and 1:25:30
[check music 1:07:30; a bit of discussion at 1:10:00 and then 1:17:00; with a nice demo at 1:20:00 performed with vocal percussion style of reciting Konnakol ("bols")* then more at 1:25:30 with drums...]
* Konnakol (also spelled Konokol, Konakkol) (Tamil: கொன்னக்கோல்) is the art of performing percussion syllables vocally in South Indian music, the Carnatic music (South Indian classical) performance art of vocal percussion. Konnakol is the spoken component of solkattu, which refers to a combination of konnakol syllables spoken while simultaneously counting the tala (meter) with the hand.[1] It is comparablein some respects to bol in Hindustani music... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konnakol
