Purity vs. popularity
SVK
|
It was flamboyance that dominated T. M. Krishna's recital.
|
The music field today seems to be mainly for the currently popular charismatic performers. There are many young contenders to the top slot with more genuine aesthetic motivation.
Many of the former category persuade themselves into introducing unmusical elements to lift up their performances to be acceptable to the lowest rungs of audience taste.
All the pretty delights of high-decibel vocalisation and swara obesity are but counterfeits of the true basis of music. They stand for the glittering impermanence of today's concert technique.
By the adoption of such a method there can be no pretensions to classicism.
The situation in the Carnatic music circuit has created a debatable zone of purity versus popularity.
It is not that popularity by itself precludes refinement. It is the choice of the musicians that matters.
In the music festival season of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, T. M. Krishna deployed all his musical resources to provide titillation to the audience, accentuated by its isolation from sensitive moorings. The bombastic item penetrated his musical consciousness. The images of sound served to camouflage distortion of expressional refinement.
An indication of his mind was plain in the very first song "Marivere" in Ananda Bhairavi that suffered grievously from a squall of frenzied swaras erasing the very reposefulness of the kirtana. Again the same treatment was accorded to the Jayantasena song of Tyagaraja, "Vinataa Sutha Vahana." The power-packed swaraprastharas for this piece and the Anandabhairavi effort were like the Chennai rains.
For good music, vocal strength alone is not enough. Delicacy and restraint are called for. In this respect, T. M. Krishna portrayed energetic positivism towards expository flamboyance replete with thrills and frills. Music directed to wild excitement in concentration was more in evidence than "Saanthamu Leka Sowkyamu Ledu."
"Samantham," a four-raga song, provided the novelty angle to the kutcheri. Sankarabharanam was the main raga vistara followed by the song, "Sadaasivam Upaasmahe."
Violinist R. K. Shriramkumar made a convincing response to the vocalist's dynamism but in a pleasing soft idiom. The contrast in musical objective between the two was palpable. Manoj Siva on the mridangam and S. Karthick on the ghatam were modest in extending their percussive support.
Sweet voice
The valuable asset of Nisha Rajagopal is her sweet-scented voice with subtle appeal to be felt and not merely heard. In her recital, her music of soft-gentleness blended well with every vocal nuance. A quiet dignified atmosphere prevailed through her expressional approach. Musical balance was the theme of her performing style.
Talent in weaving aesthetic flashes in the raga vinyasas of Ranjani and Bilahari in particular abounded in her recital. Singing she soared and soaring she sang as the flights of sancharas took wings.
It looked as if she never drove a sanchara, but persuaded it to its desired destination of cadences. Impeccable in execution, the raga coverage was refreshingly free of briga contrivance.
In tune with the alapana stature, the two songs, "Dunmaargachara" and "Sri Chamundeswari" of Vasudevachar were interpreted with great solicitude.
V. Sanjeev, the violinist, in his solo, presented a simple straightforward version. Nellai Balaji was the mridangist who spread his percussive support keeping in view the vocalist's grace and elegance.
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Entertainment
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
