A thousand names for joy
VENKATESAN SRIKANTH
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The Sri Vishnu Sahasranama Satsangam of Noida marked its 10th anniversary with a musical ensemble that combined devotion with virtuosity.
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UPLIFTING The musical ensemble in action
Being the very first classical music programme of its kind arranged by the Sri Vishnu Sahasranama Satsangam, Noida, in the last 10 years of its existence, the Swara-Laya Madhuri presentation not only lifted the spirits of the devotees to higher planes, but also passed their litmus test. These outcomes at the end of the two-hour programme, organised by the Satsangam, as part of its 10th anniversary celebrations the other day, seems to have translated into greater happiness to each of these 6 artists.
Swara-Laya Madhuri was an ensemble of classical Carnatic and Hindustani instruments. While K.L.N. Sastry (violin), and G. Raghuraman (flute) played in the Carnatic style, P. Nandakumar (sitar) of Hyderabad played in the Hindustani style. P. Jayabhaskar on the mridangam, K. Ramamurthy on the ghatam and Nawab Ali on the tabla ably handled the rhythm aspect. Incidentally, musical instruments can be categorised into three groups, namely, plucked, wind and percussion, and was a good idea to have at least one representative of each of these categories in the ensemble.
The ensemble began with a Dikshithar composition, "Vathapi Ganapathim" in the raga Hamsadhwani, set to Adi tala. Not only was the composition played melodiously, but the swaraprasthara, handled in turns by Raghuraman, Sastry and Nandakumar, was indicative of their manodharma talents at the very outset. From the percussion side, Jayabhaskar, Ramamurthy and Nawab Ali took their respective turns and in the korvai culmination there was perfect synchronisation. Tyagaraja's composition, "Sobillu saptaswara" in the raga Jaganmohini and tala Rupakam was presented neatly.
It was now the turn of Nandakumar to lead the Hindustani session, by playing a khayal in the raga Pooria Dhanashree. While Nandakumar was able to effectively portray the emotive aspects of this raga even during his brief alap, Nawab Ali handled the rhythm delightfully. Yet another composition of Tyagaraja, this time the third Pancha Ratna kriti, "Saadinchene" in the raga Arabi set to Adi tala, underwent fine treatment in their hands. Devotees enjoyed every bit of this composition, even though it was being played on instrumental music, and they seem to have been transformed into `rasikas'in the real sense.
Ragam-taanam-pallavi
The main item of the programme was a ragam-taanam-pallavi composed specially for this occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Satsangam, in the raga Abheri and set to Adi tala. Surprisingly, Jayabhaskar who had composed this pallavi, also sang the lyrics, "Sri Ranga Hari Ranga Pandu Ranga deenaja samrakshaka" for a while, when it was being played on the instruments to enable rasikas to understand what the pallavi was. The programme ended with "Raghupati Raghava Raja Ram".
While Jayabhaskar did a good job of leading the rhythm section during the tani avartanam in adi tala on his mridangam, Ramamurthy on the ghatam and Nawab Ali on the tabla had very good understanding and played excellently. On the whole, the programme conceived by Jayabhaskar was a well structured one covering a good variety of items and driven by co-ordinated team-work, delighting the rasikas throughout.
The day's celebrations were lined up with a number of religious events beginning at 5 a.m. in the morning. Normally, music programme arranged as part such religious celebrations gets unduly delayed. But the professional approach of the organisation and delegation of responsibilities amongst their members seem to have paid rich dividends not only in maintaining the time schedule for this programme, but also in smooth conduct of a host of other events during the two day celebrations. It is hoped that this organisation will take up more Carnatic music programmes, as part of their religious activities or independently for their devotees and rasikas of Noida.
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