Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
On Deekshitar track
Jayalakshmi Santhanam during the Deekshitar Day concert organised by Rasikapriya.
MUTHUSWAMY DEEKSHITAR along with Tyagaraja and Shyama Sastri are referred to as the Trinity in Carnatic music. Of the three, Deekshitar is remembered as a distinctive composer who stood for the fundamental unity of Indian music. As part of this integral exercise, many Hindustani ragas were brought on the Carnatic track. Two vocal concerts were organised by Rasikapriya to brush up the memory of this legendary composer. Jayalakshmi Santhanam and Raji Gopalakrishnan gave a Deekshitar touch to the concerts held last week. Since it was officially announced as Deekshitar Day celebration, many listeners felt that a few words drawing attention to Deekshitar's unique contributions would have been appropriate on the occasion. According to them, organisers of music programmes should not follow the track of politicians who celebrate Gandhi Jayanthi without bothering about his teachings.
Jayalakshmi Santhanam belongs to the old school of musicians who had the good fortune to imbibe lessons from stalwarts like Harikesanelloor Muthiah Bhagavathar, Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar and V.V Sadagopan. G. Bharathi, daughter of the blind violinist M.Chandrasekhar, whose presence in the audience attracted listeners and inspired the performers, accompanied her on the violin. Mridangist Palghat Krishnamurthy and ghatam player Harikrishnan completed the team.
Jayalakshmi has been in the field for more than five decades now. But age has not withered nor staled her musical talent. Beginning with Navaragavarnam `Valachi vachi... ,' she chose five ragas (Sahana, Nattakurinchi, Panthuvarali, Vasantha and Sankarabharanam) for delineation. The main piece was `Sankarabharanam... ' in Sankarabharanam. `Vandanamu Raghunandana... ,' `Parvathi Kumaram... ,' `Visalakshi... ,' and `Rama Rama Rama... ' were presented in the other ragas. Two bits, Deekshitar's masterpiece `Akhilandeswari... ' in Dwijavanthi and Sadagopan's favourite piece `Enthavedukam O Raghava... ' in Saraswathi Manohari created a mood of nostalgia and endeared her to the listeners. `Sree Guru Guha... ' in Shudda Saveri also was beautifully rendered. Bharathi on the violin came out with a matching performance.
On the second day, Raji Gopalakrishnan was ably supported by violinst Thrissur C. Rajendran. M.K.S Mani played mridangam and Changanassery Subash played ghatam. Though some lack-lustre bits spoiled the earlier part of the concert, a delightful rendering of the Deekshitar krithi `Kamalambam bhajare... ' in Kalyani and `Subrahmanyena rakshitoham... ' in Shudda Dhanyasi made amends for that in alapana, swara singing etc. Notable among the bits were `Anandamrithakarshini... ' in Amritha Varshini and `Swaminatha paripalayasumam... ' in Natta.
M.K BALAGOPAL
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
|
