Crystal clear articulation
G.SWAMINATHAN
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The group rendition by the students of V. Subrahmaniam spoke volumes of his scrupulous training.
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Photo: R. Shivaji Rao
In Unison: Disciples of V. Subrahmaniam.
Group singing is a bit challenging in Carnatic music, because it rests more on melody than harmony. If a group of six female and two male voices sings in unison and impresses the audience for nearly two hours in classical Carnatic music, the credit
automatically goes to the trainer. V.Subramaniam’s disciples — Bhavna, Saraswathy, Chitra, Maya, Meenakshi, Sreenidhi, Shravan and Rajiv — accomplished this task with the support of Kaushik on the flute, Akkarai Swarnalatha on the violin and Thanjavur Kumar on the mridangam.
The devotional songs on ‘Sivasakthi’ chosen by the Bhakta Kusuma Manjari group at Tattvaloka provided more space for Muthuswami Dikshitar compositions. The first and foremost striking aspect of the programme was the open-throated articulation by the singers — no stifle or false voice — the pronunciations and punctuations came with crystal clarity eschewing ambiguities. Opening with ‘Sri Parvathi Parameswaram’ in Bowli and concluding with ‘Mangalam’ in Begada, there were fifteen songs comprising the compositions of Tyagarja (‘Nannu Kannathalli’ in Sindhukannada), Swati Thirunal (‘Samabo Santhatam’ in Karnatakakapi), Ramaswami Sivan (‘Pahimam’ in Janaranjani) and Tiruvarur Ramaswami Pillai (‘Jagadeeswari’ in Mohanam). Brief raga expositions were taken care of by Kaushik (flute) for Mohanam and Thodi, Swarnalatha (violin) for Gamakakriya and Sankarabharanam validating the concert format.
Proving their mettle
The teacher in Subramaniam preferred to demonstrate the comprehension and reproduction skills of his students for which the choice of Dikshitar compositions is the best testing ground. The singers proved their mettle with confidence. Among the main numbers ‘Meenakshi Memudam’ and ‘Kamalambike’ (Thodi) stood out with radiance. The varying sangatis with minute inflections, the subtle notes of Nadanamakriya in the Mysore Maharaja’s composition ‘Siva Siva Siva Bo’ proved how meticulous is Subramaniam, as a guru in tutoring the musical nuances. ‘Jagadeeswari’ in Mohanam was quite interesting, with chittaswaram not only with recurrence of dhaivatam in different places but also a sahityam to match with intelligent swaraksharam.
A few remarks on the downside, series of horizontal presentation of slow set kritis created a dip of tempo in some places. The two male voices were virtually overpowered in the female terrain. A couple of songs could have been exclusively projected through Rajiv and Shravan to showcase their vocal range and justifying their presence.
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