Taming a recalcitrant voice
GARIMELLA SUBRAMANIAM
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The accompanists kept cheering Seshagopalan's every sanchara as he grappled with his vocals.
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Photos: D. Krishnan and V. Ganesan.
AGAINST ODDS: T. N. Seshagopalan overcame initial uncertainties.
The Hanumatodi and Hamirkalyani compositions hammered home his message on Sunday night. But if you were among Madurai T.N. Seshagopalan's fans at the Music Academy, you would have had butterflies in your stomach when the opening phrases in Begada came sounding rather stifled.
The rest of the programme was an essay in getting a recalcitrant voice on call, for the fifth concert in two days, to deliver.
It was probably not going to be easy but it was never impossible with a formidable line up of accompanists — Sangeetha Kalanidhi designate for this year, M. Chandrasekheran on the violin, veteran T.K. Murthy on the mridangam and the well-known T.V. Vasan on the ghatam. They kept cheering Seshagopalan's every sanchara as he grappled with his vocalchords.
The vocalist cum vainika, whose reputation as a harikatha exponent is fast catching up, seemed to regain his magic touch just a bit in the Anandabhairavi kriti "Marivere Dikkevaramma."
But it is a wonder how he thought of Tyagaraja's "Neesariyevvare Ramayya" in the 33rd melakarta ragam Kankeyabhooshani. And the composition that followed, "Nmoralakimpave," in Yedukulakhambodi, written by the Tallapaka Chinnayya Brothers — Annamayya's predecessors in the 15th century.
By half-time, Seshagopalan must have decided that offence was his best form of defence. So the spells in the Hanumatodi alapana rose to the higher fifth and then down to the lower second and finally returned to the middle octave. And the composition was Tyagaraja's "Emani Matladitivo," which takes off on the tonic in the higher octave and does not stay in the middle for long.
Again, Hamirkalyani, with a predominance of sharp notes, could have been a tough proposition for ragam tanam pallavi. But the pallavi "Mamayan Madhavan Vaikundan Srimannarayanan" was, if anything, a brilliant effort that showcased Seshagopalan's skill and stamina. And he finished with an impressive slokam and the ragamalika, leaving the audience asking for more.
Have you heard a kriti set in 14 ragas? Not likely, even if you have been listening to Carnatic music for twice as many or more years. This unusual composition featured in the concert of R. Prasanna, the equally unusual exponent of Carnatic music on the guitar.
Artistes like Prasanna take their audience seriously. They don't go on stage with preconceived notions about listeners' capacity to absorb novel and complex works. Guided solely by their creative instincts — or `manodharma,' the much bandied about term that means no more than spontaneity and individuality in an artiste — they invariably spring a surprise in a recital.
R. Prasanna.
The kriti in question, the Chaturdasa ragamalika, "Visvanadambhajeham" of Muthuswami Dikshitar, takes off with Sri Ragam and concludes with Bhoopalam.In between, you have Arabhi, Gowri, Natta, Gowla, Mohanam, Sama, Lalita, Bhairavam, Saranga, Sankarabharanam, Harikhambodi and Devakriya. Probably not in that order and obviously not in the alphabetical arrangement.
The closest there is to such a creation is an improvisation heard ad nauseam, based on the so-called ghanaragas of Tyagaraja's pancharatna kritis.
Prasanna's opening Ata tala varnam in Kanada reminded one of the late M. D. Ramanathan who used to sing it often.
"Karimukhavarada" of GNB in Nattai, "Garudagamana Samayamide" of Patnam Subramanya Iyer in Nagasvaravali, and a brisk rendition of Tyagaraja's "Sanitoditeve" in Harikambodi concluded the first part of the concert.
Prasanna often gave a sample of the innumerable octaves the guitarist has at his command, even though its value may probably be cosmetic in Carnatic music. The sound of melody that commenced in the Harikhambodi composition continued through Kalyani in Syama Shastri's "Tallininunera" in misrachapu and the ragam tanam pallavi in Hanumatodi.
The rhythms from Haridwaramangalam A. K. Pazhanivel's tavil and S. Karthick's ghatam had a notable difference to the normal percussion duo.
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