A confluence called Paanchajanyam
RANJANI GOVIND
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Five instruments and different genres — they melded to create music of a unique kind.
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INTERESTING ATTEMPT: Pulsating fare by the five-member group. Photo : R. Shivaji Rao
Experiments in classical music become more enjoyable when the roots are retained. An attempt in this direction was the pulsating fare by the five-member group Paanchajanyam at Vani Mahal this Wednesday.
The programme, also titled Paanchajanyam, ``is a tribute to the naada of Mahavishnu's conch and the Lord's ingenuity to resolve the restlessness in the four yugas," explained the announcement.
Conceptualised by the couple Punya Srinivas (veena) and D. A. Srinivas (mridangam) with Raghunath (keyboard), Sai Kartik (octopads) and Chandrajit (tabla), every aspect of Carnatic music found a new meaning with the five handling them with contemporary labels. Raga alapana, laya patterns, kriti, tanam, chittaswaram, western beats, folk tunes, sloka, vocals, konnakkol... Paanchajanyam scored in blending them to create an interesting sound.
The excitement was provided by the fusion created by bass beats of the octopads that vied for attention with the traditional thumps of the mridangam. Similarly, the shrill notes of the stringed veena contrasted with the flat notes of the keyboard to make up the melody.
Be it Tyagaraja's Naatai Pancharatna where the sahitya was made vocal to be followed by the musical rendering or the soothing lullaby to the ``ever-busy Lord" in serene Madhyamavathi, a thematic progression could be noticed in every piece.
The `Sound of Swan' was couched in Hamsadhwani with Punya transporting the swaras to the second octave of the veena in total clarity.
Even as this pure Carnatic raga chosen was apt for the delicate swan, the Aadi talam and the Khanda Nadai alternated in intervals for the keyboard and octapads, mridangam and tabla to provide the jubilant sawaal- jawaab air.
``That's the Root" (of music) they said when bringing in a mixture of Indian folk tunes, all based in Harikhambhoji. As the keyboard reproduced the pastoral strains from the Lord's cylindrical bamboo reed, the Rajasthani, Andhra and Tamil countryside melody unfolded in characteristic flavour.
Rare mixture
``Pot full of swaras" was a rare mixture of several chittaswarams from kritis. Short and crisp choices taken from ``Shobillu Saptaswara" (Jaganmohini); ``Telisi Rama" (Poornachandrika); ``Vanchatanu" (Karna Ranjani); ``Mahadevasutam" (Aarabi); ``Saamagana" (Keeravani) and ``Raghuvamsa Sudha" (Kathanakuthoohala) set an example for smart contemporary compiling that won the group a round of applause.
Paanchajanyam's title track bore the stamp of novelty. Consider this: With the laya bringing in patterns of 13/8 and the beats blasting away after the verbal pnemonics, the key board had jaltarang notes while the veena suddenly slipped into Mohana Varnam and later changed gears for taking up a Bach piece. This is where Punya traversed the 24 frets and seven strings of her veena with effortless ease.
As the vocals of Punya and Srinivas in the sublime Bhavani Ashtakam drew the curtains down, what came to the fore was the commitment of each graded AIR artiste on stage.
Punya has 3000 recordings in film music, Srinivas launched his career at the age of 14, Raghunath has composed ring tunes for Reliance Mobiles, Chandrajit is deft at handling both tabla and mridangam and Kartik has experimented endlessly in 1500 recordings.
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