Blend of melody and bhakti
G. SWAMINATHAN
|
Gayathri Venkatraghavan's music delighted the ear and touched the soul.
|
Photos: R. Shivaji Rao and R. Ragu
EMOTION-PACKED: Gayathri Venkatraghavan.
Music, when bhakti runs as the undercurrent, is considered as a path to salvation. When the element dominates in a recital, the concert assumes a different dimension. Those who heard Gayathri Venkataraghavan sing at the Mylapore Fine Arts Club for Mylapore Arts Academy would have understood the point.
Gayathri's vocal abilities and perceptions have acquired greater wisdom these days. Her music is a blend of melody and devotion. It is not just for the cerebrum but also for the soul. Gayathri's total commitment to the divine idiom of the ragas and the abject surrender to the devotional component in the lyrics elevate the listener to delightful heights.
Gayathri's manodharma and sincerity to explore the raga through its `sahithya bhava' made it an extraordinary experience. Her Begada alapana (`Ganarasamudan' by Papanasam Sivan) and the emotion packed expression of Syama Sastri's `Devi brova samayam' in Chintamani and the expansive Bhairavi alapana and nerval for `Nee padamule gathiyeni nammidi' of Patnam Subramania Iyer were examples.
Maintaining the momentum
Gayathri's raga essays were replete with reposeful extended phrases of bhava. The development, middle and the conclusion moved at a gentle pace at the same time keeping the momentum in tact. The delicate akaras and aesthetic brigas were used only as icing on the cake. But the results were amazing. While singers allow kalpanaswara to flood their music, Gayathri was discreet using her acumen for correct diction and distribution. For zestful balance, Venkataraghavan included `Pahi shripate' in Hamsadhwani by Swati Tirunal, `Srilakshmi varaham' in Abhogi by Dikshitar and `Chalakallala' in Arabhi by Tyagaraja with spiralling swaras at `Elalo sarivara.'
Akkarai Subalakshmi has faith in relating to the mood of the vocalist to make the concert a success. So her contributions to the quality of the programme turned out to be substantial because of her identical approach to Begada, Bhairavi and in the swara sallies. Neyveli Narayanan on the mridangam was slightly coercive and exuberant in the initial stages but became sober with the power of `Devi brova.' The beautifully framed soft beats of his mridangam and Purushotham's kanjira proved what thoughtful percussionists they are.
Too shrill
Vijaygopal.
With all the advanced technical expertise, one expects better acoustics for the music concerts held in sabhas. But occasionally one faces situation of a different kind.
Dr. Vijayagopal's flute had the highest magnification for the thin audience at the MFAC for Mylapore Arts Academy. The audio parameters for instrumental music have to be delicately set as the character of each instrument differs distinctly from the other. If the magnification for a high pitched wind instrument like flute is on the higher side, as it was in this concert, the result could only be shrills and echoing shrieks rather than soothing music. And so it proved to be.
Vijayagopal's textbook reading type concert was further damaged by the audacious audio arrangement. The song selection went like this — Vasantha varnam, `Vinayaka ninnuvina' in Hamsadhwani, `Manasa etulo' in Malayamarutham with `Swara raga sudha' (Sankarabharanam) as the main piece.
Vijayagopal prefaced Malayamarutham and Sankarabharanam with alapana. His focus and diacritic were more on speed than on being gentle. The neraval and swaras at `Moola dharaja nada' in Sankarabharanam were steered on the right track but landed ultimately on a pell-mell of rapidly heaped pile of notes as swaras. V.V.Ravi on the violin presented marginally better pictures of Malayamarutham and Sankarabharanam.
The saving grace of the programme was the eloquent, pleasant, balanced and expert percussion by veterans Umayalpuram Sivaraman and E.M. Subramaniam on the mridanagam and ghatam.
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
