Exposition to be cherished
Aruna Sayeeram
THE VENERATION O. S. Thyagarajan attaches to simple exposition of ragas and kritis is something to be emulated by others. He rarely goes hyperbolic and his force and focus are always on sruti and repose. OST's development of Karaharapriya to be precise created an ethereal ambience. How many places he had engaged himself to touch the core swaras and phrases of Karaharapriya? It was an experience to be relished and cherished. Saint Tyagarja's gem, "Chakkani Raaja'' was presented with equal honour. The long and short swaras he compiled with `da' at ``Kantiki Sundara'' were references not only for his knowledge but also for the respect he cultivated for the music. The swaras came as a calm stream than as a tornado.
"Nemamu Tho Nee Padamuleno'' in Latangi a with expansion and swaras at "Samaja Varadayeni Nineppudu'' with `sa' as kuraippu were also done creditably by OST earlier. With a singer like OST at the centre, the accompanists automatically followed his unassuming path.
M. A. Sundareswaran on the violin shadowed closely. Eswaran and Karthick were well known for their merit but Karthick's pot sounded a little on the top.
Good rapport
Correct me if I am wrong. Aruna Sayeeram is a maverick vocalist and she makes no bones about her approach. Her musical message comes loud and clear. Her raga vinyasas carry desolate phrases of discontinuity. So what? Aruna successfully communicates with the audience and vice versa. Her own evolved style had been employed for the alapana and swaras of Valaji and Kalyani; the kritis were "Karthikeya Kamalakshaya'' in Valaji (someone whispered in the back that it is a composition of Dr. Srivatsa!) and "Enthuko Nee Manasu'' in Kalyani by Tyagaraja. Aruna's kalpanaswaras go daft but for a flash of impressive permutation here and a combination there. Embar Kannan had very little role to play because his coherence and subtlety in exposition had paled into insignificance in the thunderous presentation backed by Neyveli Narayanan and S. V. Ramani. Well, there were a couple of supposedly soft numbers: "Muruga Muruga'' in Saveri by Thooran and "Kamalambam Sam'' in Anandabhairavi by Dikshitar. Fast paced "Neerada Sama Neelakrishna'' in Jayanthasri, an extended misra Sivaranjani abhang at the end and a crispy "Varanarada'' in Vijayashri were among the bonus to the receptive crowd.
Aruna is a vocalist with a lot of potential and fertile imagination but she seems to fritter away her knowledge as the gusty wind disperses the particles. Which is wiser, to please a packed hall of fans or a just a handful of sceptical critics? The answer is obvious.
Friends and foes
Misfortune never comes in single. Hyderabad Sisters Lalitha and Haripriya had to perform with two friends and two foes. The friends were the sober percussionists Thirukokarnam Krishnamurthy and
K. V. R. S. Mani. The foes were violinist Meera Sivaramakrishnan and the sisters' non-cooperative throat.
The saviours of the situation were their sincerity in singing and the blessings of the raga devatas. Their too extended swaras in "Mahaganapathim'' in Nattai itself showed the tell tale signs of a dissent throat. It became bad with the sisters trying to reach the upper registers of Charukesi.
O. S. Thyagarajan
Notwithstanding all these, the sisters rendered "Kripaya Paalaya Sowre'' of Swati Tirunal with neraval and swaras. But Meera was demoralising the singers with every off-key note of hers on the violin. It turned worse when Meera tried an alapana later for Hamirkalyani. Even her violin strings failed abruptly unable to bear her unpleasant bowing and fingering.
Bombay Jayasri Ramnath's concert had all the gloss of cultured singing. Starting with her favourite, "Deva Deva Jagadeeswara'' in Poorvikalyani by Swati Tirunal, powerful "Telialeru Rama'' in Dhenuka in between, Jayasri's main offerings included Nalinakanti and G. N. Balasubramaniam's composition "Nee Paadame Gathi'' and Karaharapriya through Tyagarja's "Pakkala Nilabadi.''
Jayasri's raga elaborations always display dignity and delicacy. The spins in Nalinakanti and the stretches in Karaharapriya carried these special qualities and they were more soothing because of her dulcet voice in perfect disposal. One expected Jayasri to include a few more tukkadas than just a viruttam in Kandar Anuboothi followed by two numbers: "Manadirkukandadu'' in Sindhubhairavi (Thanjavur Sankara Iyer) and a tillana in Behag (Lalgudi).
H.N. Bhaskar played his part well on the violin and Poongulam Subramaniam and Papanasam Sethuraman on the mridangam and ganjira offered rhythm without much paraphernalia.
R. Ganesh can no more be branded as a shadow of Maharajapuram Santhanam. He has evolved into a musician of his own stature and style. Ganesh had selected a good array of compositions for his morning concert in ragas well suited for the hour of the day: "Innum En Manam'' varnam in lilting Charukesi, "Swaminatha Paripalaya'' in Nattai, "Melukovvayya'' in Bowli, "Velayya Dayavillayya'' in Saveri followed by the Madhyamavati essay for "Ramabhirama,'' and then the elaboration of Karaharapriya. Impressive but what baffled the listener was why Ganesh propelled his concert most of the time at a feverish pitch. Because of this propulsion, even the catchy glides he made in Madhyamavati and Karaharapriya were clouded by crowded phrases piled up frantically. In swaras, his calculations and combines sounded fine; alas, but, again they were also shrouded in frenzy. A remarkably emotional and delicate Tyagarja kriti like "Sowmitri Bhagyame'' in Karaharapriya fell sick in Ganesh's flurried approach. Durai Swaminathan on the violin with glee matched Ganesh's racy forays in most of the places. It was unfortunate at least he could have provided the needed soft touch. A.S. Ranganathan and A.S. Shankar were helpless souls except to follow the path treaded by the vocalist and violinist in this case.
G. SWAMINATHAN
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