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MUSICSCAN

Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar.

I had wept in a concert hall hearing those sacred verses of Saint Tyagaraja recited in the beautiful raga Saramati some 40 years ago when I was a very young rasika and the great maestro M.D.Ramanathan had sung them spiritedly in his massive marble-like voice. And I am not ashamed to confess that tears of spiritual warmth welled up in my eyes as I sat transfixed in a concert hall last Saturday evening and listened to T.V.Gopalkrishnan rendering the same song vibrantly and soulfully in his powerful yet enchanting voice.

As this happened in an event organised by Nadopasana in South Chennai, it revived fond memories of a recital M.D.Ramanathan had given in the same Sabha on a cold and rainy evening in 1971, when he had brought warmth into the hearts of the listeners with the mystic power of his rendering of “Varugalamo?” And it wasn’t just a coincidence that I recalled that particular occasion now, because TVG’s vocal music too has a mystic quality like MDR’s, and can be very moving sometimes. Even his raga alapana of Saramati as a prelude to “Mokshamu Galadaa” was as intensely emotional as it was colourful.

Moreover, the resemblance doesn’t end there. It is true that while MDR invariably sang in a bass voice throughout a recital, TVG’s voice is very flexible and acquires the characteristics of a bass only in the lowest octave. But whenever TVG explores the nuances of a raga in the mandhara sthayi, or renders a song in an extremely slow tempo, his voice and style do resemble MDR’s to some extent.

But otherwise, TVG’s voice does have a distinctive character of its own in Carnatic music. Like the golden voice of the distinguished late play-back singer Mohammed Rafi in Hindi film music, it creates an impression of restrained power and also has a charming timbre and texture. Aligned with a resonant and perfectly-tuned sruti which TVG likes to organise with elaborate care (such a rare thing to see in these modern days of electronic sruti-boxes and blaring background noises!), his voice acquires a subtle refinement which pleases the senses.

TVG has turned 75 this year, which happens to be the 111th birth anniversary of his great Guru, Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar. In his younger days he was constantly associated with Chembai, either as an accompanist playing the mridangam or as a disciple singing alongside the master. And as a percussionist he had accompanied many great vocalists of the 20th century. All this varied exposure and experience had enabled him long ago to acquire superior knowledge and skills both as a mridangam-player and as a vocalist, and progressively cast him in the mould of a teacher and mentor also.

It has been a revealing aspect of TVG’s liberal character that even when he was swimming against strong currents to establish himself as a vocalist in Carnatic music, which aspect we had discussed earlier in this column (August 3), he had adopted many other aspiring musicians as his disciples and enabled them to develop their full potential.

Thus, even Ilaiyaraja, who had dominated Tamil cinema as the leading music director for several decades, had greatly benefited by the instruction and inspiration TVG had provided for exploring and mastering the intricacies and nuances of Carnatic music.

In fact, in recent years TVG had even stretched his role as teacher and mentor to allow some of his promising disciples to accompany him vocally on the concert platform, which tended to encroach on his own space as the main singer, resulting in a certain degree of dilution of his own performance.

However, he seems to have reviewed this trend now and decided to reverse it, as could be observed on some recent occasions when he sang without vocal support. And the sequel has been spectacular. He gave a superb vocal recital at the Tirumala-Tirupati Devasthanam in Chennai several weeks ago, and followed it up more recently with even better performances at Narada Gana Sabha and Nadopasana. There was ample evidence in all these concerts that even beyond his 75th birthday, TVG still retains all the vigour and grace of his voice, and the vitality and dynamic quality of his music.

All the instrumentalists who accompanied TVG on these occasions deserve a bouquet for their excellent, sensitive support which enabled him to achieve his own usual excellence. They are: S. Varadarajan (violin), Srimushnam Raja Rao and T.V.Vasan (mridangam), and A.S. Murali and V. Suresh (ghatam).

I cannot summarise the overall effect better than a jubilant rasika did when TVG concluded his recital at Nadopasana. He just exclaimed: “Vintage TVG!” But being a lover of Western classical music also, I would just like to add: “Bravo, TVG!”

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