MUSIC ACADEMY
Torrential flow of ragas
V. SUBRAHMANIAM
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T.N.Seshagopalan's rich knowledge came through in his recital; Sanjay Subramaniam presented a splendid portrait of Brindavana Saranga.
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Photos: S.R.Raghunathan.
FINE FETTLE: T.N.Seshagopalan
T.N.Seshagopalan is blessed with a facile voice, which cooperates splendidly to negotiate any manoeuvre, any sangati, which torrentially flows out of his musical manodharma (imagination).
In addition, it has also been well tamed through his vigorous sadhaka. His insatiable desire and drive to acquire and widen his knowledge in every aspect of music and allied arts and subjects is evident whenever he handles any discussion on the subject. He had as his accompaniments for the concert — M. Chandrasekharan on the violin and Guruvayur Dorai on the mridangam. He surprisingly opened the concert with the githam, `Sri Gananatha' in Malahari (Rupaka) tala of Purandara Dasa as a part of vocal exercise and to give the musical piece a concert stature. `Ninnukori,' (Mohana, Adi) varnam of Ramanathapuram Srinivasa Iyengar was the next one with kalpanaswaras for the charanam line, `Sannuthaanga.'
The first kirtana was, `Endaro Mahanubhavulu,' the Sri Raga Pancharatna of Tyagaraja.
Seshagopalan's voice was gruff and slightly out of control at the beginning stage but once he took up Panthuvarali alapana for the Muthuswami Dikshitar piece in Rupaka tala, `Ramanatham Bhajeham,' it progressively cleared and reached a fine fettle.
Thereafter, it dutifully obeyed the master's commands thrilling the rasikas. This is the characteristic of a well-trained voice, which would clear as the kutcheri progresses.
`Palayamam' in Nayaki in rupaka tala of Swati Tirunal which moves like the `Kanu Konu Sowkhyama' of Tyagaraja came up next. Seshagopalan chose as the next piece a rare Yadukula Khambodi kriti of Talapakkam Chinayya in khanda jati jhampa tala, which was pleasantly rendered.
A viruttam in Lalitha as a prelude to `Nannu Brovu Lalitha' in misra chapu talam of Syama Sastri featured.
Another rare kriti, `Emamma Vinave,' in Suratti, Adi tala of Cheyyur Chengalvaraya Sastri preceded the Ragam Tanam and Pallavi. The choice of the Ragam Tanam and Pallavi was an old `Chatur Ragamalika' which Ariyakkudi Ramanuja Iyengar handled in those days.
The words are `Sankarabharananai' (Sankarabharanam) `Azhaithodivadi' (Thodi), `Kalyani' (Kalyani), `Darbarukku' (in Darbar). Seshagopalan did the alapana in each starting with Sankarabharanam, and then Thodi, Kalyani and Darbar. He did the alapana in reverse order also. Tanam also followed the same pattern. A brilliant exposition of the Pallavi by Seshagopalan, which was equally matched by Chandrasekharan on the violin followed.
The kalpanaswara passages in all ragas one after the other in quick succession exchanged between the singer and the violin was a thrilling experience.
The ragas glided from one to another so smoothly that the listeners hardly realised the change.
Seshagopalan's virtuosity and craftsmanship was simply outstanding in this exercise. The thani avartanam of Guruvayur Dorai matched the quality of the vocalist and violinist.
The sloka, `Sayankala Vanathai,' was taken up for ragamalika and the ragas were Tilang, Chandrajyoti, Mohanam, Khamas, Shama, Ahiri, Bagesri, Hamsanandi, Mukhari, Kedaragowlai, Kadhanakuthuhalam, Neelambari, Bhoopalam, Kapi, Suratti and Sindhubhairavi. All of them, though in short phrases, were touching. With a tillana in Sindhubhairavi, the concert concluded.
The concert was astounding vindicating his selection for Sangita Kalanidhi.
Sanjay Subramaniam.
His voice may not be his best asset but Sanjay Subramaniam's music has verve and classical values.
Opening with a Kadhana Kuthukalam varnam of K.S.Krishnamurthy, the concert proceeded with `Parvata Raja Kumari,' Muthuswami Dikshitar's Sriranjani kriti in Adi tala. A fairly lengthy Begada raga alapana was presented with the kriti, `Anudinamu' of Ramanathapuram Srinivasa Iyengar (Rupakam). Niraval in the charanam line, `Kanakanaruchi' with kalpanaswaras as expected, was well rendered. This was the first kirtana in the concert prefixed with a raga alapana and rather too early for such a lengthy exposition even though quality-wise it stood high. But then the trend among artistes is to pour out all their manodharma before the kutcheri is built up progressively to the Ragam Tanam Pallavi the rasikas presumably have become accustomed to this pattern.
Under the present format, which I am tempted to term as `the post-revolution,' old timers feel that it tires out the audience before the piece de resistance, Ragam Tanam Pallavi.
Once the thani avartanam is over, the rasikas tend to feel that the major portion of the kutcheri is over and start slipping out.
`Ennadu Joothuno' (Kalavathi, Adi) of Tyagaraja came out before Kapali in Mohana, Adi tala of Papanasam Sivan. The raga alapana for the Mohanam piece was built up well. The kriti had a chittaswaram, which is not often heard. The kriti was rendered with passion and bhava. After the kalpanaswara treatment, thani avartanam by the percussion duo Guruvayur Dorai on the mridangam and Neyveli B. Venkatesh on the kanjira was an enthusiastic presentation of virtuosity.
After a short, very effective sketch of Sahana, `Oho Kaalame' of Veda Nayakam Pillai in Adi tala was rendered before Sanjay embarked on the Ragam Tanam Pallavi session. The ragam chosen was Brindavana Saranga. This raga has two versions. In the version of Muthuswami Dikshitar it is known as Brindavani in which he has composed `Sri Soundararajam' and `Rangapura Vihara'. This version of the raga has only very minimal usage of kakali nishada if at all a very suggestive anuswara touch. This raga has become known as Brindavana Saranga now.
The other version has liberal usage of both the nishadas, which is akin to its North Indian counterpart. It has been known here as Sohini. Sanjay took up this version and splendidly dealt with it including the tanam. The two nishadaas were sung in succession.
The same quality of rendition was matched by the violinist Nagai Muralidharan. The pallavi line was `Ranganathanai Dinam Ninai Maname - Brindavana Saranganai' set in tisra triputa tala, khanda nadai. The words in this line immediately remind one of `Sri Rangpura Vihara' version of Brindavana Saranga which perhaps would have been more appropriate. Sanjay announced that the author of this pallavi was Guruvayur Dorai. The whole execution was a brilliant piece of team work.
In the ragamalika viruttam, `Porumayodu,' the ragas Khambodi, Saveri, Shanmukhapriya and Kapi were sung. The recital concluded with a standing ovation from the audience.
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