Statement with Sankarabharanam
GARIMELLA SUBRAMANIAM
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Madurai T. N. Seshagopalan, who wears many hats, donned the mantle of a vainika with ιlan.
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IN TUNE: Madurai T. N. Seshagopalan. Photo: M. Karunakaran.
Last week at Hamsadhwani, the multifaceted Madurai T. N. Seshagopalan donned the mantle of a vainika. He will appear in the more familiar role of a vocalist tomorrow (Saturday). And if it takes the maestro's fancy one day, he could enchant his rasikas by reproducing some of his highly nuanced alapanas on the keyboard.
But these diverse accomplishments do not reflect the many charms of the man, a torchbearer of the heritage of Harikesanallur Muthaiah Bhagavatar.
Innate ability
Seshagopalan's long engagement with Madurai's vibrant Saurashtra community and an innate ability to absorb the subtleties of history and language are behind his more recent emergence as an exponent of the Harikatha tradition. Well, at the end of the two and a half hour veena recital on Friday last, no one was in any doubt about Seshagopalan's rightful place among the top ranking exponents of this instrument.
Seshagopalan's inimitable style, a hallmark of his vocal concerts, found an echo from the Mohana raga varnam onwards. The Swati Tirunal kriti in Mayamalavagowla sounded somewhat tentative and the Nattai Pancharatnam may not have been the most convincing presentation. Then came Syama Sastri's ``Marivere Gatiyevvaramma," which for some reason seems to be a favourite with him, although he sure would have liked to have played it better.
Tyagaraja's Sankarabharanam kriti `Swararagasudha rasa' was easily the most eloquent of the four major compositions featured in the recital. With just a few gentle strokes in the middle octave, he produced a most striking transformation in the atmosphere all of a sudden.
Interestingly, at the end of the alapana, he gave himself time for a quick tanam and a crisp ragamalika. As he tunefully played the sonorous lyrics of Swararagasudha, he spontaneously broke into singing the anupallavi (`Paramanandamanu kamalamupai." The inspiration for that memorable Sankarabharanam probably came to Seshagopalan from the previous kriti of Tyagaraja in Subhapantuvarali — ``Ennallu Oorake." It is left to the judgment of the esteemed audience of the evening. Or to his accompanists, Ganapathiraman and T. V. Vasan, who on the mridangam and the ghatam respectively, enriched the listening experience.
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