NUNGAMBAKKAM CULTURAL ACADEMY
Capsules of alapana
S. SIVAKUMAR
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While Rajam Iyer's recital was punctuated with comments, Unnikrishnan set the mood right at the beginning.
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ERUDITE: B. Rajam Iyer.
B. Rajam Iyer's concert decidedly followed a pattern of his own. Characterised by capsulated alapanas it was interspersed with some quick comments on the kritis and their composers. He confessed that he was obliged to state certain facts `here and now.'
All kriti suites had their adequate allotment of kalpanaswaras. He rendered Bhairavi alapana in two bits and the kriti was Sivan's `Mayilapuriyil Vandha Mahadevan Malaradi' which expectedly was preceded by some anecdotal details on Sivan's life.
Singing `Ramachandrasya' (Dharmavathi-Dikshitar), Rajam Iyer mentioned that this raga though known familiarly as Dharmavathi, is referred to by Muthuswami Dikshitar as Dhamavathi. He also rendered the slokam, `Janathi Rama Thava' as a ragamalika in Purvikalyani, Dhanyasi and Kannada, and created another subset from nowhere by diverting to the virutham, `Kallaap-pizhayum' in Hamsanandhi to finally render `Pahi Jagajanani.'
Mullaivasal Chandramouli, content to play the role of an unswerving support violinist, repeatedly won praise from Rajam Iyer and gave a glorious alapana of Dharmavathi. Mannargudi Easwaran on the mridangam and T.V.Vasan on the ghatam chose to be subdued during the entire concert. However, they presented a noteworthy tani.
Unnikrishnan's concert, on observation, was more an instance of sound engineering than sound music. He seemed to have become a victim of the contraptions put in place to monitor the levels of sound, and their mixing so much so that his attention constantly wandered to non-musical areas.
P. Unnikrishnan.
Unnikrishanan began with the Saranga varnam and quickly followed it up with two Tyagaraja kritis, `Shobillu' (Jaganmohini) and `Dhinamanivamsa' (Harikhambodi), all with the obvious intention of setting the mood for himself and the audience.
His Saveri alapana produced shades of the soft yet gripping Unnikrishnan and he showed his labour when he rendered the song `Sabesan Sevadi' (S.Ramanathan) which is said to have been composed in praise of Sabesa Iyer. His alapana of Charukesi (`Adamodigaladhe' - Tyagaraja) was loosely knit, but the neraval and swara singing were done with adherence to fine procedure and professionalism.
The concert then entered into the thukkada phase, with the rendering of `Eppadi Padinaro,' `Bhavayami' and `Venkatachala Nilayam' in that order. Memory played truant as `Eppadi Padinaro' found Unnikrishnan singing the same lines repeatedly for two stanzas.
Akkarai Subbulakshmi showed immense class in the Saveri and Charukesi alapanas and competently answered during the kalpanaswara segment.
Neyveli Venkatesh (mridangam) and E.M.Subramaniam (ghatam), who provided laya support, tended to be noisy at times and gave an unusually short tani that directly began with the two avartanam round.
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