Artistic, brilliant
ASHOK RAMANI
Deep feeling and artistic structuring characterised Ashok Ramani`s brilliant alapana of Sankarabharanam at the MFA auditorium in the two-hour morning concert on Christmas Day.
Ashok's fulsome alapana was followed by an equally competent essay by Mysore N. Nagaraj on the violin. Playing on the three lower strings with powerful bowing, Nagaraj produced enjoyable harmonious notes. Ashok made "Swararaga Sudharasa" an elevating experience, rendering it with sober, profound involvement.
He dwelt on the charanam lines "Moola Dharaja Nada Meru Guta" with such profundity as to paint the composer's agony at achieving the `nada,' originating in `mooladhara,' `muda' and `moksha' (salvation).
Srimushnam Raja Rao's soulful tapping on the mridangam was in no small way responsible for elevating the 30-minute elaboration of this piece to soaring heights. Here again, the entire team, including Vyasa Vittal on the kanjira, seemed to be in tune with the truth that for the concert to fare well, oneness is a major ingredient.
Raja Rao's every pattern was worth giving an ear to. The tani avartanam of Raja Rao and Vittal, lasting 22 minutes over 45+42 avartanams at the end of Sankarabharanam crowned the event with delightful sparks.
Ashok Ramani's had the makings of a classy concert, starting from "Nera Nammi," varnam in Kanada, Ata tala, "Jayajaya" in Nattai, khanda chapu, "Jagan Matha" (Papanasam) in Sriranjani, "Telisirama" at high speed and another Tamil piece "Amba Ezhayaiparkka" in Bhairavi. The one fly in the ointment was the frequency with which Ashok's voice let him down, particularly on long karuvais at any single swara.
Nagaraj did certainly rush to his aid with his violin on such occasions but it was painful to watch a competent and inspired artiste struggle to tag his voice to the `adhara-sruthi.' This perhaps needs to be addressed through dedicated voice culture to raise his concert to the level it deserves.
P.S. KRISHNAMURTHI
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