MUSIC ACADEMY
Steeped in soulfulness
P.S.KRISHNAMURTHY
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Bombay Jayashree's recital touched the heart, the Rukmini-Amritha pair provided pleasant music and Unnikrishnan presented an outstanding Khambodi.
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Photos: R. Shivaji Rao and K.V.Srinivasan.
MAKING A STATEMENT: Bombay Jayashree
Certain experiences need to be gone through, for one to get the proper impression. Jayashree's concert for Music Academy was one such. Whether it was the opening Tamil song in Saranga (`Gana Nathane, Guna Bodhanane'), the Telugu one in Durbar (`Muthu Venu Gana'), the short but heavy Dikshitar kriti, `Sri Matrubhutam' in Kannada and misrachapu talam, Tyagaraja's `Mayamma' in Ahiri or `Mara Vaira Ramani' of Tyagaraja in Nasikabhushani, what stood out was total genuineness — regarding tradition, musical grammar, composer, improvisation and above all, treatment and feeling.
Jayashree obviously felt deep within her whatever she uttered — be it the faintest, briefest akara sancharas prefacing a minor number or the well-enunciated Meera bhajan or sahityas of profound kritis; when she went through her elaborate niraval at `Agama Mula Avinaja Lola! Tyagaraja archita Raghuvara,' the words and tune stirred the very depths of one's heart and reached the entire audience. The Bhairavi presentation started with alapana in a dedicated manthara-stayi, flowed with masterful modulations into madhya stayi, and extended to bold excursions in tara stayi; powerful strokes of full avartana karvais everywhere on single notes led the essay to the kirtanam (`Sriraghuvara Suguna-alaya Rama') in Adi tala madhyama kalam. Niraval and swara exchanges added to make the total duration 35 minutes, putting the unmistakable stamp of sincerity, competence and commitment. Kalpanaswaras in the kritis were cut down to aesthetic proportions.
The concert was steeped in soulfulness. Without noticing how it happened, one became aware of the whole team of musicians having joined as one spirited divya-nadam.
The design of the RTP part, allotted a tidy 55 minutes' time (a third of the total kutcheri time), displayed a true appreciation of this part. It was a simple pallavi in a double-beat khanda jati triputa at half point take off (`Mohana Giridhara Gopala Mura-hara Giridhara Jagan Mohana... '). The innovative intertwining of Kalyanavasantam with Mohanam in raga alapana, tanam, pallavi and kalpanaswaras was a classic stroke.
The transition from Mohanam to Kalyanavasantam, like the dawn, was almost imperceptible and the re-entry of Mohanam equally unobtrusive. Aesthetics ruled the scene!
Mysore Srikanth drew applause every time Jayashree was appreciated and these were spontaneous. His performance was spectacular, fully meeting the demands of slow and quick switchovers between the ragas. Poongulam Subramaniam (mridangam) and Trivandrum Rajagopal (kanjira) proved that they were musicians first and percussionists next.
T.Rukmini gave a violin recital, switching dates with Sowmya. The organisers could help the audience by announcing details of the accompanying artistes too, whenever there is a change from the printed programme. The white board outside did not make clear that the programme would be a duet with Amrita Murali, with Neyveli Narayanan on the mridangam and Udipi Sridhar on the ghatam.
A varnam in Nalinakanti (Adi) opened the concert, at a slow-to-medium pace. With the notes `pa-ma-ga-ri-ni-ni-sa,' Rukmini introduced Ritigowla, leading on to Tyagaraja's `Sattvaguna Tarama' in Adi talam.
The choice of both raga and kriti suited the ambience, particularly as the raga is not heard often. There was also a little bit of pleasant kalpanaswara exchanges. The choice of Abhogi, immediately after, appeared odd, `Sabhapatikku Veru Deivam... ' appeared to be a hot favourite.
Tyagaraja's `Paramatmudu' (Vagadheesvari, Adi) was again an excellent choice, and with both the violins playing on bass first, and then one on bass, the other treble, received an added orchestral effect, which went well with the solemn nature of the composition.
Rukmini introduced the raga Ramapriya, to pass it on to Amritha, who did a soft and exquisite job of the alapana, stressing all three stayis. There was pleasant nadam, thanks to firm bowing and swara suddham at the fingerboard.
Tyagaraja's `Kolina Varamu' is a short and sweet composition in Rupakam and it came up as such in the rendition. Neyveli Narayanan and Udipi Sridhar sustained the ethos effectively with the mridangam and ghatam, through the transitions and passages, as well.
The main item in Thodi took 20 minutes, with an added 10 minutes for thani avartanam. In fewer than a dozen swaras, the lakshana of Thodi emerged at the deft hands of Rukmini. The smattering of panchamas in the madhya stayi sancharas sounded as pleasant as it is becoming rare in current practice.
For the second time in this slot this season at this sabha, Muthuswamy Dikshitar's `Sri Krishnam Bhaja Manasa...' rang through the auditorium. When both the violins started the charanam lines, `Sankha Chakra' on the bass string in total unison, they seemed to invoke the deity with their aesthetics.
Niraval and swaram at this point were performed with the same meticulous care. The thani avartanam was again an exercise in pleasant musical expression rather than an intricate scholarly challenge.
The RTP effort in Kiravani was a bit of a come down from Thodi, in musical impact, lasting just about eight minutes in ragam and tanam.
Unnikrishnan's 150-minute concert stood apart for his 45-minute Khambodi effort ("Evari Matta') and Kharaharapriya RTP following it, extending over 40 minutes till the end of the concert.
T. Rukmini and Amritha Murali.
The remaining time was taken up by `Eranapai,' varnam in Thodi, `Sivaloka Nathanai Kandu' `Mamava Meenakshi' (Varali, Misrachapu, Dikshitar) and `Sanandam Kamalamanoharinim,' and thani avartanam.
While the raga alapana in Varali was deliberate and steady in painting the raga sharply, the elaboration of a samushti-charana-kriti for 15 minutes, packing tempo in `Syame, Sankari' appeared to be an artifice to attract applause, which it did. While diction has not been a forte for this artist, one wished that the samasta-padam Karunyamrita was not split as `Karunya' and `mrta', which dents the meaning.
Unni's voice was in good shape all through and could easily negotiate the improvisations conceived by his mind into the actual rendition very well in the Khambodi alapana, which was done without rush. There were weighty sancharas at all levels of pitch with long karvais put to effective use.
R.K.Sriramkumar has time and again stamped his seal on the music stage. That day he responded with his own style of Khambodi in his solo part. Tiruvarur Vaidyanathan (mridangam) led the thani avartanam playing some eight avartanams, introducing Khandam and Misragati, to which V. Suresh responded with equal vigour on the ghatam.
One did not feel reluctant to listen to another long, weighty item in a weighty raga, when Unnikrishnan introduced Kharaharapriya with a brief `dha-ni-sa-ri-ga-ri sanidha... ', clearly hinting at RTP.
There were masterful diversions into Sankarabharanam, Kalyani and Thodi. The graceful slip back into Kharaharapriya at the end was delightful. Sriramkumar gave his own delightful exposition of Kharaharapriya in the upper sancharas.
The tanam session, commencing at `dha' was lilting, with both musicians excellently applying periodic stress on the notes. The pallavi could rank as one of the most pleasing — both in melodic value and lyrical appropriateness.
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