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Primetime Prism, since its inception has continuously endeavoured to reflect and reminisce the traditional and cultural spirit of Hyderabad in various fields of performing arts, dance, music and other creative spheres. In the process we’ve accomplished up to a modest degree in promoting our ageless tradition. Our reporting in the past has taken us in front of some of the best cultural venues that our city can boast of and a further pursuit has led us into some illumined alleys where these torchbearers piously labour hour after hour, to perfect as well as propagate our national treasure.
Our effort is to bring out this light from out of their humble dwellings and present to you some of that amazing talent that lies in abundance in our very own city.
This interview with eminent local musician, Sri Jaykumar Acharya, an accomplished Mridangist as well as a Tablist, is first in our series of ‘Torch Bearers of Art’. Sri Jaykumar Acharya is today one of the most eagerly sought after classical percussionist and forms part every major musical ensemble. Some excerpts from the interview...
Q. Acharya Garu, tell us something about your background.
Answer : I was born in a village called Ragunathpalli near Warangal. Since I hail from a farmer’s family, my entry into music was very late. I was already twenty when I first came to know that those divine sounds of produced were by an instrument called Mridangam!
Q. Since then, how has been the journey so far?
Answer : All credit to my two gurus, I must mention that I received my first music knowledge from my own uncle Sri Jagannath Acharya, my guru too. He taught me Tabla. After three years, in 1983, I came to Hyderabad and took shelter under the greatest Mridangam master, late Sri Sudharshan Acharya. A word about my late guru, if today there are serious practitioners of mridangam, the credit undoubtedly goes to this man who single handedly trained more than 500 mridangam students! Here, for 17 years I trained under him in the gurukul parampara. In 1991, I got a job in the Government Music and Dance College, Old city and in between my first job selling clothes near Charminar and my present one I tried to learn everything that I could about sounds and percussions and classical music.
Slowly my performances grew in number and today I am the Aasthana Vidhwan (Resident Musician) at Yadagirigutta Laxmi Narayanaswamy Devasthanam. In recent years I got the opportunity to tour places abroad. In 1996, I accompanied Shoba Naidu’s troupe to London and in 1998, I toured Australia with Smt. Rajeshwari Sainath and her troupe.
Q. Guruji, we have seen you play a variety of instruments. How is that?
Answer : I play on Mridangam, Ghatam, Kanjeera, Moorsing and then the Tabla. The first four belong to a similar school. They fall in the same musical system of South Indian Carnatic. Once you know mridangam, the rest of the quartet is a matter of earnest practise. But Tabla is a totally different instrument. They are diametrically opposite right down to the basic swaras. But the Taal is the same and in the end, I have to tell you out of my experience, that it is music that unifies everything, all the differences, et al.
Q. How is it to be a part of a concert? What is the experience like?
Answer : I love it! To play as much as I possibly can is what I strive for. That’s how today I play different instruments at one time. It is highly challenging to respond to the vocalist, the dancer, the music all at the same time.
In each musician, there is that humor. I guess, music is what that fills all of us with this wonderful quality. I owe everything to my music. All that I have belongs to music alone. Today, after having performed over 2000 concerts, I don’t have anything more to ask from God. Except ask him to pay me a visit again sometime...
A word about Acharya Garu :
He is the quintessential devotee of music and is most humble in his pursuit. He tries to obtain it in whatever form that comes and in the true tradition tries to pass the knowledge unto others. Just as two decades back when he used to cycle about the whole town teaching the ardent music lover, even today he never fails to teach the student who honestly desires to learn the classical percussions. If you are looking for a guru and if we may in some form be instrumental in gaining you one, here is his contact number: 4562912. As they say, you can’t find a Guru. When time comes the Guru will find you.
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