The Kalki Krishnamurthy Award will boost Sai Subramaniam’s efforts to popularize the modest instrument
V. Sai Subramaniam is the first Morsing exponent to receive the Kalki Krishnamurthy Award in the 25 years since its inception.
Sai grew up watching his father, a self-taught artist, play morsing, which is now rarely seen on the stages of Carnatic concerts. At the age of nine, he could reproduce the instrument’s distinctive twigs. “When I surprised myself, my father was shocked, as it took him too long. After that my father taught me simple nadis and chords.
formal training
The decision to undergo formal training was made by Sai after participating in a fancy-dress competition at the school. “My father suggested that I dress up as a morsing artist.” More than the costume, the response to his play was overwhelming. . His father then took him to senior musician AS Krishnan, who immediately accepted Sai as his disciple. As the youngster already knew how to play the instrument, he quickly moved from basic to advanced lessons. Two years later, at the age of 13, Sai began performing.
The only child of his parents, who were struggling to make a living, Sai began accepting every concert he came in to contribute to the family’s income. It also gave them the necessary exposure and experience.
Sai also got early exposure to many contemporaries with whom he continues to play, including JB Shruti Sagar, Praveen Sparsh, Vasudha Ravi, Sumesh Narayanan, Vidya Kalyanaraman and more. He wrote Suguna Varadachari, OS Thiagarajan, Thiruvarur Bhaktavatsalam, OS Arun, P. Unnikrishnan, N. Has performed with senior artists like Vijay Siva, Prince Ram Varma, Pati Satish Kumar, Abhishek Raghuram and Chinmoy Sisters.
Krishnan used to teach Sai both Morsing and Mridangam. “While playing the mridangam, he would ask me to repeat the same phrases on the morsing so that I could understand the difference. Discussing various aspects of the equipment over and over again helped me think creatively.”
Morsing being a melodious instrument, the artist cannot simply reproduce the playing of a mridang player. “I play to accentuate the overall sound. Knowing when not to play is important.” Ghatam’s exponent Chandrashekhar Sharma says that Sai is one of the few fearless artists who can play without hearing the underlying konakkol phrases. “Still, he can match the playing of other percussionists and his complex beats. His association with Shruti, crucial to Morsing, is impeccable.”
“As Morsing is not very prevalent, it is very courageous for Sai to adopt Morsing without any companion in his age group,” says Sharma. “He’s keeping the art alive.”
Sai has shared the stage with violinist KJ Dileep several times. Rai, shared by many others, Dilip says, “Sai makes excellent connections with other artists and is ready to try new things.”
Although Sai is unable to devote much time to teaching, he says the demand for learning Morsing is mainly from NRIs and foreigners. They hope to popularize Morsing as Vikku Vinayakram brought Ghatam to the center stage and G. How Harishankar exposed Kanjira.
The author writes on classical music and composers.
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