Monumental piece
Veena S. Balachander.
Marvellous Melakarta melodies
Sa Re Ga Ma RPG
Veena S. Balachander
Carnatic classical (Rs.1440)
S. Balachander, the veena vidwan who successfully established a unique style of his own, was undoubtedly a class apart. A self-taught veena artiste, he rose to great heights due to his innovative, brilliant mind and complete dedication to his art.
This monumental audio recording comprising the 72 melakartas, that others may have hesitated to touch with a barge pole, is perhaps the culmination of an outstanding career. The 72 melakarta scheme, an exclusive structure of Raga System, as conceptualised by the revered musicologist Venkatamakhin, was called the asampurna paddhati.
Superb effort
Later, Govinda conceived the melakarta arrangement as the sampoorna paddhati with seven swaras adorning the arohana and avarohana format, with no vakra or varja prayogas. Balachander, in this superb effort of his, adheres to the melakarta scheme of Govinda. Hundreds of thousands of ragas have been derived from these 72 parent ragas. In this volume of 8 CDs, Balachander has played in each, Suddha madhyama and Prati madhyama melakartas with optimum sensitivity to grammar.
The relevant nuances of the vivadi ragas, the precision in the swara sthanas, prayogas covering an extensive range and most importantly concentration on the aesthetics and bhava of each and every raga, create an impressive musical collage. The tanam, in true Balachander style, played with vivacity, verve, joy and enthusiasm, grips attention, and is evidence of the vidwan having etched his name in golden letters in the spectrum of Carnatic music, that will remain indelible in the minds of rasikas for a long period of time.
S. P.
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