Singing for the saints
In Sangeetha Sudhe held last weekend, noted singers sang different kinds of compositions by Haridasas with some useful commentaries. It was a grand treat of music and information.
Veteran singer B. Hussain Sab took the stage with Vasanthkumar Kumble (keyboard) and Kumar (tabla) as his accompanists. His rich voice and Hindusthani music based compositions reverberated through the packed auditorium. I was astonished at his chaste Kannada, knowledge of the Haridasa Sahitya, hold over music and style of presentation. Hussain Sab's full-throated singing brought out the essence of the compositions like "Onde mandali bhajisu", "Margavane toru Maruthi", "Upakaravena helali", "Aava siriyali", "Iduve nanna" and so on. The manner in which he created the musical ambience was praiseworthy.
Melodious singer Vidyabhushana stole the show with both his singing and his explanation of the various Ugabhogas. He threw light on the meaning, structure and the impact of singing Ugabhogas. Rightly, he pointed out that the Ugabhogas can be rendered in nibaddha (with tala) and anibaddha (without tala) formats.
Usefully supported by M.S. Govindaswamy (violin) and Bhargava Halambi (mridanga), Vidyabhushana demonstrated all his observations by singing select Ugabhogas. Purandaradasa's "Satata Gananatha" (Mohana) was the opening number. As usual he provided great pleasure to the rasikas. He sang "Sakala sadhanake" (Abheri), "Maneya kattuvudondu" (Shuddha Saveri), "Jagava suttiruvudu ninna maye" (Mohana), "Garbha vaasa girbha vaasa", "Hasidayiteli devara" (Revathi). His musical expression had great exuberance.
*****
The talented Raichur Seshagiridas took the audience by surprise when he and his entire team turned up in trousers and not the customary dhoti. In his informed concert, he rendered several sooladis and the one by Vadiraja was excellent.
*****
Seasoned singer R.K. Padmanabha spoke in length about his favourite Haridasa, Vadiraja, who had Hayavadana for his pen name. Besides the Vadiraja compositions, he also sang his own creations in praise of the Haridasa.
He was ably supported by his disciple Manasi Prasad. The choice of composition and the ragas they were set into made tremendous emotional impact. Successfully accompanied by S. Yashaswi (violin), C. Cheluvaraju (mridanga) and M. A. Krishnamurthy (ghata), Padmanabha and Manasi regaled the audience with "Narayana enniro" (Hamsadhwani), "Teja ari" (Todi), "Veni Madhavana" (Ahirbhairav) and others.
M. SURYA PRASAD
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Entertainment
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
