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Sumanth Manjunath and Pranshu Chatur Lal

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Sumanth Manjunath and Pranshu Chatur Lal

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Sumanth Manjunath, an Indian musical prodigy, is an incredibly talented violinist who strives to not only present his own emotions and feelings through musical presentation, but to also teach others the wonders of Indian Classical Music and improvisation. Sumanth is the son of the acclaimed Violin Maestro Dr. Mysore Manjunath, who inspired Sumanth from a very young age to explore his musical journey, leading him to practice regularly and intensely under the tuition of his grandfather, uncle and  father in order to develop his incredible skills. Sumanth has experience playing with a number of musicians, each of whom challenge him in collaborating with a new genre of music, such as Western Classical, Jazz, Flamenco, Arabic and many more. He received his Master’s in Music, specifically singing, with a gold medal at Mysore University, a very prestigious university in India.

Pranshu Chatur Lal, a highly awarded Tabla player, has been recognized for his impressive level of virtuosity and his ability to blend different genres together, such as Folk, Classical and Popular music. He is the grandson of the famous Pandit Chatur Lal, an Oscar nominee and BAFTA award winning Tabla player. Pranshu presented the Tabla, typically a concert instrument, as a solo instrument that is highly adaptable to any type of music. Pranshu has performed with a variety of musicians globally, and was awarded an Honorary Citizenship of Macon, Georgia during his tour to the United States of America.

Sumanth and Pranshu, both of whom occasionally run workshops and seminars to teach people about their music, kindly taught a workshop on improvisation the day before their performance, giving students at the University of Surrey the opportunity to gain insight into the complexities of Indian Classical Music. The two have come together for this European tour, including 13 different countries, and their performance at the University of Surrey was only their second within the tour. Sumanth explained how although he and Pranshu grew up in two different areas of India, they have known each other since childhood, and that Pranshu is his ‘brother’ in music, yet they have rarely played together, making this European tour that much more special to them.

Indian Classical Music, originating back 3000 to 4000 years, is particularly unique as it focuses more on rhythm, microtones and improvisation reflecting personal emotions than the Western music we are typically used to, which prioritizes tonal melodies and harmonies. Microtones are explored through sliding up and down the strings on a violin, and in order to make this easier, Sumanth noted that he uses coconut oil, stating that “coconut oil is good for everything, and I mean everything”.

Sumanth’s phone plays a continuous drone throughout their performance, mimicking a tambura, a long-necked fretless Indian lute, a commonly used in both Classical and Folk music in south Asia. The tambura acts as an essential tonal foundation due to the addition of sympathetic strings (also known as resonance strings or drone strings), which are additional strings that run parallel to the other strings.

The pieces that Sumanth and Pranshu played were completely improvised and are described by Sumanth as a ‘musical conversation’, requiring constant communication between the performers. Following the pieces, Pranshu said “that was not planned at all”, to which Sumanth added that “it is usually never planned”. Sumnath explained that they never practice particular pieces, but rather musicians come together and only ever improvise.

Sumanth encourages those trying improvisation not to be afraid to get things ‘wrong’, as he believes there are no mistakes in Indian Classical music as it is all about experimentation and playing what you are feeling as a form of artistic expression.

Sumanth and Pranshu present the beauty of Indian Classical Music perfectly, seeming completely enveloped by the music whenever they begin playing, making their performance beautiful and blatantly, completely heartfelt.

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I auditioned as a singer for The University of Surrey’s student-led Big Band jazz ensemble at the beginning of the first semester in my second year. Singers were required to audition with one of 2 song choices: Fly Me To The Moon by Frank Sinatra or Don’t Know Why by Norah Jones. I chose to sing Don’t Know Why as a challenge for myself as I knew Fly Me To The Moon well and had actually already sung it with the Big Band in first year for a jam, however I did not know Don’t Know Why and I chose to learn it as it better suited my voice as an alto. I was accepted into the Big Band as a ‘backing vocals dep’ (deputy) which is essentially an understudy for the backing vocalist, meaning I was not always needed at rehearsals. However, I chose to attend rehearsals regardless as it meant I knew the songs well just in case I needed to step in last minute. The singers only joined rehearsals once every 3 weeks as most of the Big Band’s repertoire was instrumental. The first rehearsal did not blend very well as there were problems with the microphones and it became messy and unorganized, especially as it was the first time the backing vocalists had all met. After this, the vocalists were separated into vocal group rehearsals to work on the songs that required vocals, including Sleigh Ride, for which Erin is the lead singer, and Things where Matthew was the lead singer. The first rehearsal with the whole band was more focused on helping the band than the backing singers as we already learnt the song but the band had not gone through it with singers yet. There were 3 or 4 rehearsals without Erin or Matt and it was just the backing singers.

The Christmas Concert took place at the end of November, before which all of the vocalists met up, however there was an issue as one of the backing vocalists was stuck and was expected to be 2 and a half hours late, meaning I, as their understudy, had to step in and prepare to take their place. Thankfully, they managed to get to the rehearsal just in time and ran in as we went up to do the sound check. In the main performance, the backing vocalists came on stage as the songs were called, and they were introduced to cue them up. The performance was recorded and live-streamed, however, although the mixing was perfect from the stage, the recording was not as good; one singer was too loud and another was too quiet.

After the performance, we helped to pack down and Erin said that she was very pleased with how it went and she wanted to continue having backing vocalists.

In addition to formal concerts within the university, the Big Band also does other events such as Big Band Jams, where musicians can sign up to play songs they want to play or sing and come up to the stage and ‘jam’ with other musicians. This semester, they also played at The Boileroom which was a paid gig with the aim to draw in an audience from outside the university. The Big Band also has a smaller band made from the main band called Blue Jay which is essentially for advertising the Big Band, playing smaller-scale gigs and concerts to draw in an audience.

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Leyla Cemilogu is a concert pianist who explores 20th and 21st century music and has a particular interest in Spanish music. She collaborates with both living artists as well as honouring the work of deceased musicians, seeking inspiration from other composers as well as art forms. Her performance in the Lunchtime Recital at the University of Surrey showcased a collection of contrasting musical ideas, including multiple pieces that have been written to convey landscapes, and honouring the work of specific composers.

The first collection of pieces she played was called Oscar Colomina i Bosch: from Imatges (2011), a group of pieces that were inspired by famous landmarks located in Valencia, and each piece plays homage to a 20th century composer. These pieces include ‘Song and Space, Stone and Light’ which is inspired by the Cathedral and its neighbouring Placa de la Verge (The Virgin’s Square) and plays homage to Henry Dutilleux, and ‘Beach and Night’ which is about the Malvarrosa Beach and playas homage to Xavier Montsalvage. These pieces contain musical mastery in the way they use sounds to paint a picture.

Firstly, ‘Song and Space, Stone and Light’ begins with a melody that uses a modified version of ‘Ave Maria Stella’, a Gregorian chant that honours the Virgin Mary as a guiding star and source of comfort for those in need. This piece perfectly musically embodies the image of space and light as it consists of both very low and very high registers, as well as rapidly changing tempos and levels of complexity, all to convey depth and contrast.

Similarly, ‘Beach and Night’ includes rippling sounds and repeating high-pitched, twinkling motifs, seemingly conveying what the moonlight reflecting on water would sound like. The melody of this piece includes material taken from the Alba, a traditional vocal form that accompanied religious festivities and was sung all night until Alba (dawn) arrives.

The second collection of pieces in this repertoire is called Landscapes (1942), the pieces within which depict postcards from Barcelona with inspiration taken from Frederico Mompou. These pieces include ‘The Fountains and the Bell’, inspired by the courtyard in the Gothic Quarter near the cathedral, ‘The Lake’ which is about Parc Monjuic, and ‘Carts of Galicia’.

Whilst the former 2 pieces are more tonal and conjunct, the latter is more experimental and is based around one note that plays repeatedly throughout the piece, a representation of Mompou’s late style.

The first 2 pieces also use musical elements to convey images, including repetitive arpeggios to sound like bells, musically written very similarly to the style of Mompou, and varying sections in  ‘The Lake’ that contrast discernibly due to the dramatic dynamics, possibly representing different parts of the lake moving at different speeds.

The third collection of pieces is called Elisenda Fabregas: Homentage a Mompou (2007), of which each piece is connected to Mompou in a certain was as it was written for the 25th anniversary of his death in 2006. This collection includes: ‘Screams in the Street’, ‘I have a Doll With a Blue Dress’ and ‘Games in the Street’.

The first piece features a direct quotation of a motif from Mompou’s piece, ‘Scenes D’enfants’, which is varied and transformed to reappear in every section of the piece in different moods. This piece switches between very staccato moments to legato sections very dramatically, almost as if to sound like an argument with one person yelling and the other trying to stay calm or calm them down. The staccato and legato sections then play together, as if the voices are interrupting each other.

The second and third pieces of this collection both celebrate the playful personality that Mompou embodied, incorporating a Spanish children’s folk song, melodically and rhythmically fragmented and recombined. Both of these pieces include moments where the left hand and right hand work in harmony and then other sections when working against each other, almost sounding like completely different pieces in each hand, almost representing a disagreement or childish chaos.

These pieces all convey a particular image or situation using only musical elements, however it is done with an inexplicable amount of creativity and skill, making the pieces effective, emotive and engaging to an audience. Leyla Cemilogu displays incredible talent and finesse, bringing the pieces to life and adding her own individual style and emotion to the pieces. The audience reacted very well to the performance, even cheering in between pieces.

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A clip from the Christmas concert

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A photo from the first rehearsal when we all met each other

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A clip from the first rehearsal of the band

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A clip of Sumanth and Pranshu playing with a conversational quality in their improvisation

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A photo of Leyla Cemiloglu in PATS Studio 1

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A video of Leyla Cemiloglu playing

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I was appointed to manage the Wednesday lunchtime recital (LTR) on December 3rd 2024. This performance consisted of 5 performers: one alto saxophonist, one flutist, one trumpeter (and flugelhornist), and two pianists.  Prior to my concert management, I got an email from the coordinator of the LTR with the order of performers asking me to organize the tech rehearsal with timings. I created a rehearsal run-through in reverse order to the program to make sure that the setup of the last rehearsal was in the same position as the first person playing in order to make setting up for the performance as fluid as possible. After distributing this to the performers and Margaret, the accompanist playing for some of the performers, I received an email from the last performer saying they needed to be moved up in the running order as they had to leave as quickly as possible. This meant that I had to discuss with Shiv, who runs the LTRs and all concerts, that the order of performers would need to be changed. I also discussed the new running order with the coordinator to make sure the pianists were not playing next to each other, but that there was an appropriate and interesting combination of instruments between in each other.

As the rehearsals were taking place, I took note of who wanted the piano to be on full stick or half stick, as this was dependent on the sound levels of the piano and solo instruments from the audience. I also took note of who needed a music stand or if it needed to be adjusted, and who would need the piano stand. I wrote this information down on a spare programme and made sure it was easily accessible to myself and the coordinator so we could refer back to it regularly. 3 of the pianists also asked for a page turner, and the first year assistant offered to do it, so I also made sure she knew when to join the performers on stage.

Shiv also emailed at the start of the rehearsals saying he wouldn’t make it there until later on, and asked us to make sure the piano was placed well under the lights. However, the lighting system was on a setting we were not familiar with as it had been changed for a concert the night before.

Managing a lunchtime recital takes a great deal of organization and coordination between all of the management team as well as the performers.