Nagaswaram makers hard put to create music

CHENNAI: GP Sundarajan and his son S Gunasekaran sit on the floor of their house in Narasinganpettai and align a wide wooden base with a tube of ebony to create the skeleton of a nagaswaram. Between them, the father and son have more than 70 years of experience crafting this south Indian wind instrument used in Carnatic music concerts and temple festivals, but the art is likely to die with them.
Sundarajan, 79, and Gunasekaran, 50, are part of a community of 20 people who live in Narasinganpettai village, about 18km from Kumbakonam in Thanjavur district. Just five traditional families here make nagaswarams. Their children are reluctant to follow in their footsteps as the work is hard, the money little, and the raw materials difficult to procure.
“After completing my graduation 25 years ago, I looked for other jobs but could not find any. So, I decided to take up the traditional art. My children do not want to and I do not wish them to do this,” says Gunasekaran.
Making the instruments requires a lot of skill and work. The long, narrow body or ulavu is made from the wood of the ebony tree, usually procured from the beams of old houses in Cuddalore, Puducherry, Villupuram, Thiruvannamalai and Aarani. Middlemen usually procure the wood. The lower portion or anasu is made from wood of the siris or vaagai tree that is available locally. The mouth piece or seevazhi is made of a reed found in Thiruvalangai near Narasinganpettai. Each nagaswaram sells for between Rs 7,000 and Rs 10,000 in the retail market but the artisans make just a fraction of this.
“It takes three days and three artisans to make one nagaswaram,” says N G N R Selvaraj, 51, the older son of N G N Renganatha Aachari who invented the vaari nagaswaram in 1955 for nagaswaram exponent T N Rajarathinam Pillai. Selvaraj says they want the government to recognize their work. “It will encourage us to continue the art. Our exceptional quality is not recognised,” he says.
The artisans say it is hard to get ebony wood. “We have to struggle to get the wood as officials do not let us transport the wood without bills. It is not possible to get the bills while buying second-hand wood,” says Sundarajan.
Dhenuga, an art critic in Kumbakonam, says, “The government has allotted enough funds to protect such dying traditions, but they were not used properly and were returned. The money should be used to honour artists and artisans and train more students.”
Nagaswaram
What is it: Wind instrument
Made of: Ebony and vaagai wood
Exponents: Seshampatti Sivalingam, Namagiripettai Krishnan, T N Rajaratnam Pillai, Sheikh Chinna Maulana
Other associations: Also known as ‘mangala vadya’ or auspicious instrument as it is played in temples, processions, festivals and marriages
The nagaswaram has a long narrow body made of ebony that gradually enlarges toward the lower end made of vaagai wood. It has seven playing holes on the upper end and five lower down. Playing a nagaswaram is rather challenging as the artist has to use a circular breathing technique to ensure continuous flow of air into the instrument. This allows sustained notes but it also means that the player has to breathe in through his nose while simultaneously blowing into the mouthpiece