CHENNAI: Legend goes that the Amruthavarshini ragam in Carnatic music ushers in rains. So it was no less than a coincidence when historian Nivedita Louis walked us through three important landmarks in the history of music along the arterial Mount Road on a rainy evening. A group of music and history enthusiasts visited The Tamil Nadu Handicrafts Development Corporation, Torvin Audio Systems and Musee Musicals. “This is like a curtain raiser for the upcoming music season. The city has a rich heritage and varieties of instruments that needs to be preserved and treasured. Most instruments have been revived and recreated by music prodigies in Tamil Nadu,” she said.
The TN Handicrafts Development Corporation
Our first stop was at a quaint place on Vasan Avenue in Anna Salai. This is the only search centre in Asia where musical instruments were recreated based on existing models. It was founded in the 1960s by late professor P Sambamoorthy and inaugurated by late President Rajendra Prasad. It was initially called Sangita Vidyalaya. Around 100 musical instruments have been recreated here and presently there are 250 instruments.
Sambamoorthy was a child prodigy. He performed his first flute recital at the age of 15. Upon not finding right documentations of music to teach, he went to the University of Munich in 1931 to pursue musicology. After studying the history and evolution of music, he came to India in 1932 and conducted an orchestra for Indian songs with western instruments. He was the first musician to recognise the importance of documentation and penned 50 books including three on western music. One of his best works was a six-volume series on south Indian music and a dictionary until alphabet N on south Indian music and musicians. The legend also helped to set up Music Academy with E Krishna Iyer.
The shop has 11 varieties of yazh (harp) recreated and inspired from Vipulananda’s Yazh Nool published in 1947 after 14 years of research. Vipulananda, in his book, notably describes six forgotten yazh instruments — vil yazh, peri yazh, makara yazh, cakota yazh, seeri yazh and senkotti yazh.
Torvin Audio Systems
“It was only after Thomas Alva Edison’s invention of a gramophone did music become accessible to common man. Earlier music was a privilege. This was a reason for including Torvin Audio System in the walk that manufactures and repairs audio products for all kinds of people,” said Nivedita.
As we step into the age-old building on Ritchie Street, a board reading ‘Make in India’ welcomes us. John Thankachan, the mastermind behind Indian-made audio products on par with foreign audio quality for one-third of the price, greets us.
Tower speakers, home theatres and VCDs, he has designed them all. An electronic engineer by profession, he came to the city in 1980 and he has an experience of 42 years. Back then, people would buy foreign-made audio systems and repairing them was a challenge due to the unavailability of spare parts. He realised the importance of authentic systems and then began manufacturing all kinds of audio equipment in India. “I used to work 20 hours a day. Mixers, speakers, amplifiers, woofers — name it and I can make them with a 10-year guarantee. Every music legend of the present day will have at least one of my audio creations in his studio,” said John who is popularly called The Father of Indian Audio Systems. Torvin Audio Systems has designed products for organisations like ISRO.
For the benefit of audio-enthusiasts, electronic students and audiophiles, John preserves vintage audio products like gramophone, spool players, vacuum-tube amplifiers, radios and several audio products of International brands. One of his prized possessions includes the Station Master. “The National Panasonic 5410 mono-tape recorder is my favourite. I want to set up an institution where I can pass on my knowledge by training kids on aspects of audio, music and sound,” he said.
Musee Musicals
From the smallest guitar picks to the most expensive pianos, Musee Musicals has been the go-to store for musicians and music lovers in the city. It is 175 years old. It was named Misquith & Co after a merchant Wallace Misquith who founded it in 1842. Around 1880, an order was placed here for an instrument called free reed English concertina in London. The shop, which was near the Wallajah Road curve on Mount Road, was popular in the foreign markets.
In 1930, the shop was bought by Edgar Prudhomme. He moved it to Dinroze Estate, earlier used as a stable for elephants of Parthasarathy temple, and renamed it to Musee Musicals. Musee Musicals has a 117-year liaison with Trinity College London. It houses instruments like — march drums, trombones, tambourine, capas (made of coconut shell), rain stick and wambooka.