Losing out on aesthetics
To an extent an artiste has a true insight into refinement, the aesthetic tendency in his performing pattern can be discerned. Intensely passionate exploration of sancharas in alapanas or interpretation of kirtanas does not necessarily provide an angle of vision of their enticing charm from a musician. Good music goes with terseness and brevity of expression.
In raga alapana T. M. Krishna sets much store by mass than tasteful brevity. In his performance at the Diamond Jubilee music series of Sri Thyaga Brahma Gana Sabha, he delineated at great length Todi ("Nannu Brochutaku") and Kambhoji ("Sri Subramanyaaya Namaste"). Putting on his vocal resources in this effort, the alapanas were rendered spacious, but spoke of diminishing aesthetic returns. There was virile manodharma and fecund full-throatedness, but sparsely subtle. In this vein was the neraval for the Kambhoji kirtana anupallavi line, "Vasavaadi Sakala." The alapanas and neraval pattern were just a dazzling collection.
It is here that the contrast in musical approach was provided by violinist R. K. Sriramkumar. He played with a commitment as if he was on a journey to take Todi and Kambhoji to their roots.
The selection of the songs provided dignity to the concert — "Ksheera Saagara Sayana" (Devagandhari), "Vinatasutha" (Jayanthasena), "Upachaaramu" (Bhairvai, rupaka tala) and "Kripajoochutaku" (Chayatarangini). J. Vaidyanathan (mridangam) and Trivandrum Rajagopal (kanjira) were the percussionists whose tani was brimming with eloquent, erudite rhythm.
Intrinsic
Subhiksha has entered the galaxy of young musicians. Accompanied by V. V. Subramaniam (violin) and Narendran (mridangam) she gave a performance under the auspices of Nada Inbam. Her intrinsic musical instincts provided a glimpse of meaningful dimension in the years to come. The deployment of gana-naya technique in her raga essays and kirtana rendition was an indication of cultural sensitivity. The felicity of the flow of music was remarkable for her age. In the long list of songs "Enneramum" (Devagandhari), "O! Rangasayee" (Kambhjoji alapana and neraval) and "Himadriputre" (Kalyani) were presented with minimum of fuss. Much need not be said about the senior accompanists who chaperoned her with care and encouragement.
Emphasis on quality
The emphasis on quality of music was the striking feature in the bhani of Sanjay Subramaniam, enveloped in passion and commitment, though the raga alapana sancharas in tara sthayi took a painful route. This characteristic was to be heard in full flow in his cutcheri organised by the Tiruppoonthuruthi Sri Narayana Tirtha Trust in association with Narada Gana Sabha and Saraswathi Vaggeyakara Trust to observe the Jayanthi of the saint who composed Sri Krishna Leela Tarangini. A musical mind far away from clichés helps him cover some of his vocal disabilities.
The recital began with the item, `Saranam Bhava Karunaam Mayi' in the traditional raga Sowrashtram, which someone has changed it to raga `Hamsavinodini.' This tickled his musical propensities to sing Pantuvarali alapana (`Kalyana Gopalam') and the next one, Kamas (`Gopalakameva Daivatam'). The whole suite of these two pieces — alapana, kirtana and kalpanaswaram — was presented with such fierceness, with mridangist Arun Prakash and ghatam artiste Tiruchi Murali deeply involved in it, as to wrench applause even from unwilling hands.
If Sanjay's Kamas was robust, the solo version of S. Varadarajan, the violinist, was succulently delightful.
SVK
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Entertainment
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
