A well-planned concert
GARIMELLA SUBRAMANIAM
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The mandolin duet of Srinivas and Rajesh was marked by interesting improvisations.
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MADE AN IMPACT: Mandolin U. Srinivas and Rajesh. Photo: V. Ganesan.
The performance of Mandolin Srinivas and his brother Rajesh was broadly along expected lines. Giving themselves a clean half hour towards the end for the four lighter pieces (including a Sai bhajan) after the ragam-thanam-pallavi, they underscored the value of planning in the overall impact of a concert.
Ragam Hamsadhwani is replete with songs on Lord Ganesha, which probably explains why it is played invariably early in a recital. Srinivas introduced an element of surprise all the same with a less known composition — "Namami Vignavinayaka," — Krishnaswamayya's kriti in tisranadai.
The exposition of ragam Gowrimanohari was a refreshing change from other scales that can sound rather humdrum on account of repeated use.
Tyagaraja's "Guruleka" — a predictable choice in this scale — had interesting improvisations made more attractive by the talam in five-beats.
Srinivas drew maximum applause for his alapana and thanam in Kalyani which, very likely, is a scale that listeners with minimum exposure to classical music can identify from the tone. The pallavi, ``Devi Kamakshi Enakkarul Seyvay," was followed by a ragamalika comprising Nattakurinji, Sri and Dhenuka among others.
A seasoned violinist, S.D. Sridharan drew on his experience to make an impression. Percussionists V. Harikumar (mridangam), Selva Ganesh (kanjira), and S.V. Ramani (ghatam) revelled in their wizardry, especially during the post-pallavi spell.
With that one abhang they sang, Ranjani and Gayathri probably came very close to giving a new definition to classical melody in recent times. Their pallavi in Begada was an example of how to do a neraval. The one in Karaharapriya, however, was its exact opposite.
The charanam to "Nee Samanamevaru" — "Paluku Palukulaku Teneloluku Mataladu" — is Tyagaraja's description of the attributes of Rama's brothers. T.S. Parthasarathi has done a neat translation of the kriti. C. Ramanujacharya, in The Spiritual Heritage of Thyagaraja is not too accurate but broadly correct. The duo's neraval did not quite capture the essence of the above line, possibly because of some error in syntax.
But the two were evidently on top of the lyrics in the Sri raga varnam and Patnam Subrahmanya Iyer's ``Ninnujoochi."
Post-Karaharapriya, when they sang a composition ``Saravanabhava," of one of Tyagaraja's many illustrious successors, so full of melody, the saint composer might have reconciled himself to the unfortunate aberration in his own kriti. The ragam-thanam-pallavi in Begada was enchanting. The duo infused passion into the delineation of the lyrics in the pallavi (Kandajati Triputa talam) — "Eesanai Tillai Natarajanai Potruvom" — even in the fast tempo of the rendition. The eloquence was no less in the next composition. And the abhang at the end — the genre which is fast adding to the sisters' vast repertoire — dripped with honey.
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