When it rained ragas
V. BALASUBRAMANAIAN
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It was a torrential downpour as Kiranavali Vidyashankar packed 108 ragas in an RTP.
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MARATHON EFFORT: Kiranavali Vidyashankar with accompanists who matched her pace. Photo: K. N. Muralidharan.
Chennai Fine Arts presented Kiranavali Vidyashankar in a unique `Ashtotra-Shata Ragamalika Pallavi,' a Ragam Tanam and Pallavi covering 108 ragas. It was dedicated to gottuvadyam exponent, the late Narayana Iyengar on his 103rd birth anniversary.
Entering the Sastri Hall, one found at least half-a-dozen rasikas with pen and paper in hand, ready to jot down the ragas that were to be rendered. A useful handout with a list of 23 ragas prepared by Kiranavali was distributed. The remaining 85 were left for the knowledgeable among the audience to identify, which was not an easy task as it proved later.
Raga sans brighas
Kiranavali presented Shanmugapriya with consummate ease sans brighas. This was followed by tanam in Shanmugapriya, Nattai, Gowlai, Arabhi, Varaali and Sri. The exposition of Varaali was outstanding.
The pallavi started off with Shanmugapriya followed by niraval in five other ragas. At this point the auditorium turned into an examination hall, with the rasikas noting the ragas at a frenzied pace as they came flowing one after the other. Dr. Hemalatha (violin) gave a spirited reply in this phase.
With 97 more ragas to account for, Kiranavali plunged into the ocean of kalpanaswaras. The first five were slow paced and rendered well. The next three had variations in gati and eduppu. Kiranavali then returned to Shanmugapriya for a brief period only to muster strength for the stupendous 72-raga kalpanaswara segment. Thereafter it was athletics in Carnatic music. The avarthana kuraippu was simply breathtaking.
Giving up, the rasikas settled down to enjoy and admire as Kiranavali galloped away. It was virtually a nail-biting finish. The last segment, thankfully, was at a sedate phase, with 17 ragas that completed the 108. Rare ragas such as Lingapriya, Tapasvini, and Tanarupi were featured in the end portion.
It was amazing that Kiranavali did not show signs of strain after the marathon effort. Nor did she take a sip of water.
Dr. Hemalatha was quite competent and some of her counters on the violin stood out for their mellifluence.
Mannarkoil J. Balaji, disciple of M. N. Kandasamy Pillai, cajoled the topi of his mridangam to produce soothing patterns while Anirudh Athreya, disciple and grandson of ganjira V. Nagarajan, wielded his ganjira in a matured manner with total concentration. Kiranavali Vidyashankar should be commended on this attempt, although it may not be the lay rasika's cup of tea. Such exercises are especially difficult for a vocalist and it speaks volumes of Kiranavali's hard work and dedication.
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