Homage to Tyagaraja
T. K. GANAPATHY
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Sri Thyaga Brahma Gananjali, Coimbatore, celebrated the annual Tyagaraja music festival recently in which eminent artistes participated and presented the saint's compositions.
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Photo: S. Siva Saravanan
NEAT RENDITION: Seetha Rajan
The annual Tyagaraja music festival organised by Sri Thyaga Brahma Gananjali, was inaugurated by K. V. Sundararajan, Post Master General, Western Region, under the presidency of N. V. Nagasubramanian on January 18 at Sri Venugopalaswami temple on Sullivan street, Coimbatore. S. Vaidyanathakrishnan, eminent musicologist presented the annual report. The speakers referred to the greatness and devotional fervour of the compositions of Saint Tyagaraja.
The inaugural function was followed by a music recital of Seetha Rajan. Well-aligned to sruti, Seetha Rajan's concert during the Thyaga Brahma aradhana celebrations adhered to the sampradaya style. She commenced with "Naadathanumanisam" (Chittaranjani) sprinkled with swaras.
"Apparamabhakti" (Panthuvarali), "Aadamodigalade" (Charukesi) and "Sudhamadurya" (Sindhuramakriya) helped her maintain uniform tempo and provide musical solidity to her recital. Her portrayal of Kalyani for "Amma Raavamma" and Todi as the main raga for "Gaddanuvariki" were elaborated with highly energised musical phrasings. The neraval and swaras for the kriti were imaginative. Her selection of songs and the rendition revealed her desire to create musical images and to link songs to their bhava.
Chandramouli on the violin gave able support. Rajamani on the mridangam and S. V. Subramaniam on the kanjira were at their best throughout the session.
Unchavriti bhajan from Sri Anandatheertha Math on Sami Iyer new street to Sree Gopalaswami temple, preceded the Tyagaraja aradhana celebrations on Bahula Panchami day. Eminent artistes (vocal and instrumental) from all parts of the city rendered Pancharatna kritis of the saint.
Wholesome recital
Deploying all his talents to provide a wholesome recital without any deviation from sensitive moorings, an expressive versatility characterised T. M. Krishna's concert on the second day of the music festival. Adhering to sampradaya tradition, he scaled high peaks in all the numbers he had chosen for the recital after a good homework. His emotion-packed opener, "Nennarunchara" (Simhavahini) was a neat rendition to set the trend. "Sujanajeevana" in Kamaas was classical in content. Varali raga alapana was a stream of flowing prayogas and his vibrant voice was indicative of his buoyancy and enthusiasm in the performance skill. The raga vinyasams of Chenchukambhodi for Vara raga laya and Asaveri for Lekhana were full of azhutham showing an interpretative passion and deep devotion. The delineation of Keeravani, the main raga, was dotted with abundance of subtle nuances that would vouchsafe for his lyrical sensitivity to the graces and grandeur of Carnatic music. His bhava-soaked presentation of "Manavyala" (Nalinakanti) and "Ksheersagara vihara" (Anandabhairavi) was stupendous in appeal and it was a firm proclamation of his professional competence.
His clarity of diction made a great impact on the rasikas. Chandramouli's (violin) solo versions of Varali, Asaveri and Keeravani were silky smooth. Manoj Siva (mridangam) and Sridharkumar (kanjira) provided rhythmic beats in the percussion wing.
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