Celebratory notes
S. VINAYA KUMAR
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The Chembai Music Festival is a much-awaited programme in the capital city.
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PHOTO: S. GOPAKUMAR
BREATH OF MUSIC: The Chembai Music Festival began with a Nadaswaram recital by Thiruvizha Jayasankar.
The 110th birth anniversary of Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar was celebrated on a grand scale by Chembai memorial Trust with a 10-day programme of classical music, which started on September 12.
There were two concerts every day, one that started early and lasted for an hour and the other later in the evening, which was of two hours duration.
This gave the rasikas of Thiruvananthapuram an opportunity to listen, however briefly, to well known, as well as not so well known artistes, and also gave not-so-well-known artistes an opportunity to perform before a discerning audience.
Nadaswaram concert
The celebrations got off to a great start with the first day's programme, a Nadaswaram recital by the well-known Nadaswaram maestro Thiruvizha Jayasankar. Nadaswaram is a `mangala vadyam,' considered a harbinger of the auspicious, and Jayasankar began the concert with the customary mallari.
This was followed by the popular Dikshitar composition `Vathapi Ganapathim bhaje' in raga Hamsadhwani. By now adequately warmed up, the musician next launched into a stirring alapana of raga Riti Gowla, which was appreciated by the audience. This was preparatory to rendering Swati Tirunal's `Paripalayamam,' again another popular composition, especially with Malayali listeners. However, the actual rendering of the song, while not unsatisfactory, failed to rise up to the level of the alapana.
The main kriti chosen for elaboration was Mysore Vasudevacharya's `Bhajare re manasa' in raga Abheri. This was by far the highlight of the evening and the artiste showed his mettle in full measure in the rendition of this kriti.
The Nadaswaram is said to be the only instrument in Indian music capable of reproducing the traditional 15 gamakas. Listening to the expert way in which Jayasankar brought out all the subtleties of this raga in his concert, one could easily believe this statement.
S.R. Mahadeva Sarma ably accompanied him on the violin, and G. Babu on the mridangam and Uduppi Sreedhar on the ghatom showed admirable circumspection and skill especially in the thaniyavartanam phase.
The only other instrumental music presented in the 10-day programme also made use of a wind instrument: the flute.
Music in his blood
Mysore A. Chandan Kumar, the great-grandson of the redoubtable violin maestro, the late Mysore T. Chowdiah, is not a frequent performer in Thiruvananthapuram and on the evening of Sunday, the hall was nearly full in spite of the rain. And these music lovers were not disappointed.
Early in the concert, the contrast between the Nadaswaram and the flute became very evident: for the Nadaswaram, for all its majesty, produces very loud music which is best suited to an out-door stage. The flute on the other hand is more easily controlled and more capable of giving unadulterated pleasure to a sympathetic audience.
Chandan Kumar gave a lively delineation of raga Mohanam as the main piece of the evening.
He was unobtrusively accompanied on the violin by S. Eswara Varma, on the mridangam by Trichur K. Jayakrishnan, on the ghatom by Thiruvananthapuram Karthikeyan and on the mukharsankh by Thiruvananthapuram Sajikumar.
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