Euphonious duet
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The beats of the mridangam were in perfect unison with the cadences of the music during a concert by Umayalpuram Sivaraman and V.V. Subramaniam.
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Photo: K.K. Najeeb
In perfect harmony: Umayalpuram Sivaraman and V.V. Subramaniam.
"WHO WAS playing, you or VVS?" The question was shot at mridangam maestro Umayalpuram Sivaraman by a veteran rasika immediately after a violin concert by V.V. Subramaniam in Thrissur in the second week of February. And the percussion maestro's response was only a smile of appreciation.
The duo had performed as part of the two-day celebrations in connection with the seventh anniversary of Sruthibharathi, a cultural organisation devoted to the promotion of music.
The maestros had attracted a large audience as they were in the city after a long interval.
It was, perhaps, VVS' first solo. What characterised their performance right from the opening number `Sri Ganapthinee sevim paraare,' the Thyagaraja composition in Sourashtram, Adi talam, was the singular laya between the main instrument and Sivaraman's mridangam.
A penchant for slow tempo was evident as VVS' second number was the sought-after Pancharatna kriti `Entharo mahanu bhavulu' in raga Sri and tala Adi. Every syllable of the composition and every swara were embellished as the musician bowed out phrases that seemed to have no vocal equivalents. And the beats of the mridangam were in perfect unison with the cadences of the music.
Neat delineation
The Mayamalavagoula composition of Thyagaraja, `Viddalakumrokkeda,' also in adi tala, received a neat delineation. VVS cheered up Thripunithura Radhakrishnan (ghatom) who until then had chosen to play a subdued role. The crescendo of the tempo to which he ascended by turning to the ghatom and the mridangam alternately was aurally and visually enthralling. `Sujana jivana Rama,' the Kamas composition of Thyagaraja and `Janani ninnu vina,' in Ritigoula (composed by Subbaraya Sastrikal), added a new dimension as the former was in Roopaka tala and the latter in misra chappu.
Worthy of emulation
The long spells of silence that interspersed Sivaraman's beats while accompanying the music and the fast beats he chose to present only during the avartana were worthy of emulation by the young mridangam artistes who had gathered in large numbers.
VVS covered a wide spectrum of the innumerable shades of the sampoorna raga Todi as he essayed the Dikshitar composition `Sree Krishnam Bhajam' in adi tala.
G. S. PAUL
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