Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Thiruvananthapuram
Visakhapatnam
In honour of music and musicians
THE SREE Poornathrayeesa Sangeeta Sabha came up with a unique event recently. They felicitated the winners of the Kerala Sangeeta Nataka Akademi awards, paid obeisance to Saint Tyagaraja and also managed to squeeze in two short vocal concerts.
"Our attempt was to honour and bring the veteran musicians together, irrespective of caste and religion. Music knows no such distinctions and for all those who swear by music, Saint Tyagaraja is the supreme guru. This then was the message we wanted to send out at this musical meet," explained S. R. Natesan, secretary of the Sabha.
On the day before this special event, a vocal concert was Neyyatinkara Vasudevan was held. He began with `Pranamamyaham... ' in Gowlai and followed it up with `Sree Varalakshmi... ' in Sree raga. The vocalist appeared restless and kept glancing at his watch at the end of every piece.
One of the most sought after Carnatic musician of the State, Vasudevan appeared fatigued that evening. But there were flashes of his brilliance in the `bhava' he was able to bring during the short Bahudari alaapana and the crisp rendition of `Brovabharama... '
`Mokshamu galada... ' in Saramathi, in which Tyagaraja contemplates over the ways of salvation to the human soul, was appropriate to the occasion. There were times when Vasudevan moved away from the microphone and was hardly audible. A series of his favourite krithis like `Paramapurusha jagadeeswara... ' in Vasantha, `Rama Rama gunaseema... ,' one of the few Rama krithis by Swati Tirunal in Simhendra Madhyamam, which was complemented by a short raga rendition, followed.
This raga usually comes forth in vivid shades on the violin and Abdul Azeez had different phrases to offer. During the `swaraprasthara,' as patterns took to longer phrases, and with the vocal accompaniment of Chandra Babu, the rhythm started going chaotic. But Parassala Ravi (mridangam) and Thripunithura Radhakrishnan (ghatam) stepped in to retrieve the situation. And during the `mukthaippam,' they showed how a professional combination could see through lapses and turn it out to something delightful. And only when Vasudevan passed it on to the percussion for the `thani,' did one realise that that was the main piece, for neither the `alapana' nor the `manodharmaswara' had received fullness so vital for the main piece.
`Arabhimaanam... ,' `Parukkulle nalla naadu... ,' (ragamalikas), Krishna nee begane (Yamuna Kalyani) and Dhanashri tillana wound up a less than two hour concert, which though it had all the support essential for a successful concert, did not reach the desired level of excellence.
The second day started with the rendition of Tyagaraja krithis by Nedunkunnam Vasudevan, George Panjara and Aryanad Sadasivan.
Kalamandalam Hyder Ali, Aryanad Sadasivan, N. P. Ramaswamy, Natesan Bhagavathar, Mathangi Sathyamurthy, Cherthala Ramachandran and Kadanad Gopi were honoured at a special function.
The highpoint of the day was the presentation of the Pancharatnakrithis. This being a regular feature at most of the music festivals in Thripunithura, the participants were sure of what they were doing. The programme led by stalwarts like Neyyatinkara Vasudevan, Kumara Kerala Varma and Mavelikkara Prabhakara Varma, hence did not witness the regular chaos in similar presentations, like the female vocalists screeching at the high pitch, the vocalists having to read and sing from the text and so on. Every one systematically traversed through the `sangatis,' `swaras' and `sahitya.' The krithis `Kanakaruchira... ' and `Entharamahanubhavulu... ' were especially noteworthy for the percussion embellishments from Alappuzha Chandrasekharan Nair and Thripunithura Radhakrishnanan.
Hyder Ali, who confessed being an infant when it came to Carnatic music, rendered the `krithis' `Samaja vara gamana... ,' in an insipidly slow tempo, and `Mokshamu galada... ,' in which emotion went low key. The modulated singing style in Kathakali music seemed too prominent in his style.
And then the announcement came, a confirmation of Neyyantinkara Vasudevan winning the Padmashri. Vasudevan received an rousing ovation from every one present.
Mathangi Sathyamurthy's 30-minute recital was resplendent with the unique `Carnatic flavour' so unfortunately absent in many a vocalist. While she never went for `alapanas' for any of the pieces, her full-throated timbre showed some real creative mettle in the `swaraprasthara' for `Vinayaka ninu... ' in Madhyamavati. `Ilalo pranatharthi... ' in Atana, `Amma Ravamma... ' in Kalyani and `Sobillu Saptaswara... ' also had the `swaraprasthara,' and the `madhyamakala' renditions were amply complemented by Nedumangad Sivanandan on the violin and Alappuzha Chandrasekharan Nair on the mridangam.
With a new venue at Sanskrit College and the enthusiasm from the audience, both home and outside, the event became a truly memorably one.
HAREESH BAL
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Thiruvananthapuram
Visakhapatnam
|
