Festive and rhapsodic notes
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Recitals by M. Chandrasekharan, T.M. Krishna and the Carnatica Brothers provided the listeners a sumptuous musical banquet.
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Seasoned Artistes: M. Chandrasekharan
There is a rare sensitivity in M. Chandrasekharan's violin rhapsodies. And this was evident to the festival crowd at Chakkankulangara Siva Temple, Thripunithura, recently.
Getting off to a spirited start with a Ata tala varnam in Khamboji (`Sarasijinabha... '), Chandrasekharan kept the tempo going right through his concert. Before breaking into melodic singing, the violinist, in his `gayaki' style, brought out the mood and meaning in Dikshitar's `Sree Mahaganapathi... .,' in Gowla and a rare Tyagarja kriti `Naajeeva dhara... ' in Bilahari. He then rendered `Shambo Mahadeva... ,' with a full exposition of Pantuvarali, blending it well with each passage that he played on the violin.
From the heart
Chandrasekharan began almost every piece with a short rendering of the kriti. He did this for the piece de resistance of the evening, which was Hemavathi. The violin virtuoso chose the Dikshitar kriti `Kanthimathim... ' This was followed by a brilliant thaniavarthanam in which P. Satheeshkumar (mridangam) and Thripunithura Radhakrishnan (ghatom) matched each other beat for beat. Chandrasekharan had once said that what he needed to see he did through his heart. His music was created right from his heart. It had the power; an indefinable beauty that lingered long.
Grandsons of the legendary Gottuvadyam Narayana Iyengar, K. N. Sashikiran and P. Ganesh, are cousins who perform as a vocal duo under the name Carnatica Brothers. They made their maiden performance in Thripunithura memorable with a well charted out concert.
Rich repertoire
Their rich repertoire was evident in the variety of kritis and ragas that they rendered. Coincidentally, they too began with the Khamboji Ata tala varnam and even chose the same Swati kriti that Chandrasekharan had chosen the previous evening. There was an interesting turn in Sashikiran's alapanam in Bhoopalam (`Sadachaleswaran... '). The swaras for the composition were interestingly woven. What made their concert different was perhaps bringing in a couple of Oothukadu compositions for a detailed exploration. `Sree Vighna rajam bhaje... ' in Gambeeranattai and `Vrindavan nilaye... ' in Reethigowla were presented beautifully.
A ragam thanam pallavi, followed by ragamalika was the main piece. M.A. Sundareswaran ably supported them on the violin, while V. V. Ramana Moorthy (mridangam) and Elanjimmel Susheel Kumar (ghatom) rounded off the piece with a well-timed thani.
T.M. Krishna
T. M. Krishna provided a fitting finale to the festival with a technically sound concert. His resonant, mellifluous voice, strict adherence to classicism, high level of aesthetics in the conception and execution of ragas were all on view.
If there was one feature that made this Krishna's concert unique, it was his choice of rare Dikshitar kritis. `Kalavathi Kamalasana Yuvathi... ' in Kalavathi raga, `Tyagaraja yoga vaibhavam... ' in Anandabhairavi, `Chidambara Natarajam... ' in Thanukeerthi were some of those kritis and ragas that Krishna sang with rare sensitivity. Of this, the `Gopucha yedhi' part of the Anandabhairavi piece saw Krishna at his best.T. H. Subramaniam on the violin provided excellent support.
He ingeniously chose Gopalakrishna Bharati's `Vazhimaraithirukkuthu maadu malaipole... ' from `Nandanar Charitham in Thodi as the main piece. Soaked in bhakti and bhava, expansive niraval and swaras, this was followed by a superb thani by Trichur C. Narendran (mridangam) and Tripunithura Radhakrishnan (ghatom).
K.N. Sashikiran and P. Ganesh.
A ragamalika virutham in Mayamalavagowla, Sahana, Amirkalyani and Durbarikanada was rounded off with a bhajan `Jaya Jaya Sankara.'
K. PRADEEP
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