MUSIC ACADEMY
An experimental combination
V. SUBRAHMANIAM
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The tavil's incongruity showed up during Ravikiran's chitraveena recital and T.M.Krishna's new approach did not go down well with the rasikas.
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Photos: V. Ganesan and R. Ragu.
DIFFERENT: Ravikiran
Gottuvadyam or as it is called now, chitraveena, is a very soft, pleasant, stringed musical instrument. And Ravikiran has perfected the art of playing it. At his concert, he had as his accompanying ensemble Akkarai Subbulakshmi on the violin, Haridwaramangalam A.K. Palanivel on the tavil, instead of a mridangam and Bangalore Arun Kumar on the rhythm pad, an electronic device, which sounded as a drum or a ghatam or a chendai in accordance with the player's choice, an experimental combination presumably. The tavil is an instrument most suitable for the nagaswaram, a very powerful open-air instrument, whereas for a soft pleasant instrument of the nature of chitraveena a tuneful mridangam would have been the best choice. In the place of a rhythm pad a ghatam would have served the purpose better and would have given an opportunity to a ghatam vidwan and/or a kanjira vidwan.
In fact, Tavil A.K.Palanivel, a maestro, would have played with great restraint to suit a kutcheri of this kind.
Another observation was that the chitraveena of Ravikiran used to be tuned to five-and-a-half kattais or G sharp and he has now dropped to one-and-a-half or C sharp. The tonal quality, therefore, is affected and it sounds like a mandolin or guitar. The sweet natural tonal quality of a chitraveena is absent. The instrument could have been reshaped for this purpose.
Ravikiran started the concert with an Adi tala varnam in Ritigowla, his own composition. `Mariyada Gadayya,' the kriti in Bhairavam, in Adi tala, of Tyagaraja was next with an excessive dose of kalpanaswaras.
The raga of the season, Varali, made its appearance in this concert also.
After an alapana, the kirtana was `Mamava Meenakshi' in misra chapu tala of Muthuswami Dikshitar with niraval and kalpanaswaras at `Hema Ratnabharana Dharini.'
With a raga prelude, the Ananda Bhairavi kriti of Oothukkadu Venkatasubbier, `Prema Swaroopa,' was presented. Ravikiran pointed out that this piece has a speciality. Usually, a chittaswaram is attached at the end of the anupallavi but in this kriti it is at the opening of the charanam. Did it get shifted from the end of anupallavi to the beginning of the charanam? A Sahana padam of Sarangapani in misra chapu tala followed where the incongruity of the tavil was clearly apparent. Shanmukhapriya was the raga chosen for Ragam, Tanam and Pallavi. The pallavi was of twin nadai, set up in Adi tala with eduppu in samam.
The first half was in chatusra nadai and the second half was in tisra nadai. Ragamalika kalpanaswaras in ragas Saveri, Valachi, Begada and Kapi were presented. Then the thani avartanam in tavil and rhythm pad-generated drum, ghatam and chendai went on for almost 25 minutes.
With a tillana in Kalyana Vasantham in khanda chapu tala, the concert concluded with mangalam.
Trying out experimentations in music is not objectionable. But this should be done in such a way as not to mar the musical values.
T.M.Krishna.
T. M. Krishna can be counted as a vocal musician possessing classic values and perception. Accompanied on the violin by S. Varadarajan, on the mridangam by Poonkulam Subramaniam and on the kanjira by B.S.Purushottaman, he opened his concert with a rarely sung Gowla raga varnam of Veena Kuppier, a bright rendition, which gave the concert a good momentum. `Alakallala' in Madhyamavati, Rupaka tala of Tyagaraja was the first kirtana after the varnam. This was embellished with kalpanaswaras. `Brochevarevarura' of Mysore Vasudevachariar in Adi tala was taken up after a very brilliant and touching alapana of Khamas. Krishna left the Kirtana with only vilambakala kalpana swaras. Perhaps he felt that the second speed swaras would be redundant as the piece itself had a grand chittaswaram, which was rendered in two paces.
Anandeswara in Ananda Bhairavi, chapu tala, is a monumental creation of Muthuswami Dikshitar on Advaita and ultimate Brahmanandam. Krishna, perhaps wanting to enjoy himself and convey it fully in the same spirit to the listener, rendered this in a very slow tempo so much so that the concert sagged. This effect was immediately evident as there was an exodus of rasikas from the hall, which is a rare occurrence in Krishna's concerts. The concert artiste should through discretion choose the right `kalapramanam' when he sings to an audience, ninety percent of whom may not know to enjoy the beauties of the sahitya or the spirit of the composition. These aspects are learnt from the concert craft of giants. `Garuda Gamana' in Nagaswaravali, (Rupakam) of Patnam Subramania Iyer was rendered as a relief piece.
The Thodi raga alapana was commenced grandly and it proceeded up to madhyasthayi madhyamam. Krishna took off at this point on a new, fresh approach to the rendition avoiding oft-repeated sangatis even though they bring out the essence of the raga.
While fully agreeing that new approaches have to be explored always, especially by young artistes, the rasika has to be kept in mind. Krishna's new approach had the full Thodi flavour but lacked the usual sangatis of depth. Another exodus of the audience took place.
The kirtana, `Dasharathi' of Tyagaraja in the raga in Adi tala, with niraval and kalpanaswaras in the second line of the anupallavi, `Prakasa Jesina Rasika Sironmani' which has an Anahata eduppu, was expertly rendered. After thani avartanam by the percussionist, Krishna proceeded to Ragam, Tanam and Pallavi in Saraswathi, Tisra Jhampa tala. `Uma Rama Saraswathi Sevitha Shivayuvathi' was a brief, good presentation.
A ragamalika viruttam in the ragas Mayamalavagowlai, Yadukula Khambodi, Varali and Kharahapriya was a sweet rendition. `Navasidhhi Petralum' in Kharaharapriya, Misra Chapu tala of Neelakanta Sivan, which has become a rarity in concerts, was a pleasant surprise. With Dharmapuri Subbaraya Iyer's Yamuna Kalyani javali, `Athi Nee Pai,' the concert concluded.
S. Varadarajan on the violin toed the line of the main artiste in his raga renditions and the mridangam and kanjira accompaniments offered their full support.
The wholesome effect, which is normally expected in a concert of Krishna, did not blossom fully in this concert even though the piece-by-piece presentation was good.
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