THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It’s a love that dates back more than four decades. Gangadharan Nair’s bond with his ‘bulbul thara’, that is. But this one is special, for, the musician has made his own version of the bulbul thara, a classical music instrument. It is more an electric banjo that has elements of a guitar, harmonium and veena blended well. The instrument has no ‘body’, but is done on a simple wooden plank. We saw this 81-year-old playing for nearly an hour on his modified instrument, throwing a group of young music students into a near trance, at the launch of ‘Nadamritham’, the journal of music brought out by the Department of Music, Kerala University.After the concert, when the girls and senior music teachers surrounded him, he was like a small boy after his first concert, rather timid, trying to convince them that he ‘’knew very little about music.’’Age has affected his hearing a bit, so we try a higher octave with him. Starting with his love for instruments. ‘’I used to play bulbul thara from a very young age, accompanying my sisters as they sang. It was my uncle who encouraged my passion for musical instruments. He also gifted me a bulbul thara,’’ Gangadharan Nair recalls.But how and when he turned into modifying instruments and sometimes inventing new ones is a bit misty in his memories. ‘’Ever since I started playing instruments (he takes a break to tell us he plays nearly seven instruments, including flute, harmonium, gottu vadyam, mridangam and veena), I have been researching on them,’’ is how he puts it.So, Nair has made a ‘tamburu’ with an earthen pot and electric versions of banjo, veena and even a harmonium on a flat plank. To read the strings (of the modified bulbul thara) to his right side, he uses a striker which is probably a broken part of a powder tin. ‘’The tamburu with the earthen pot gave out music much clearer than a normal one. A student asked me and I gave the tamburu to her.’’ It is as simple as that for him. At his house in Edapazhanji, one can spot many such modified versions of instruments, which might disappear after some time (for, he cannot disappoint those who ask him). He also gives a few lessons in instrumental music to students who approach him. The ‘sa ri ga ma’ notes in the electric banjo are made of brass and Gangadharan Nair sits with the carpenter once the brass notes are ready, to fine tune them into a musical instrument. ‘’Those who love music can play the modified instruments really well. The stringed instruments are mostly played with the left hand, no? So, what is the difficulty? Maybe, the way you press on the notes and the way you coordinate with your right hand need to be improved,’’ he says.By the time the elderly musician left the venue, the students of the Department of Music and their Head and Professor B Pushpa had already made plans to visit the ‘researcher’ at his home one day.‘’He is an inspiration. Even at this age, he refuses to turn a teacher, but likes to remain a student of music, which should be imbibed by the youngsters,’’ Prof Pushpa says.
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