MUSIC ACADEMY
Pleasing modulation
P.S.KRISHNAMURTHY
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The audience lapped up whatever Aruna Sairam offered, M.S.Sheela's was an adequate presentation and the Hindustani recital of the Gundecha Brothers was a welcome change.
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Photos: K. Pichumani and K.V.Srinivasan
ENGAGING PATTERNS: Gundecha Brothers.
Aruna Sairam's rendering of Khambodi alapana, viruttam and kriti, `O, Rangasayee', with elaborate niraval and kalpanaswaras, was inspired and elevating in parts. Her 15-minute deliberation of the raga was laboured, covering all pitch ranges, descending to the manthara panchama audibly. H.N.Bhaskar responded in mature style on the violin with copious akara sancharas in durita kalam.
Beginning with a viruttam, Aruna introduced Tyagaraja's profound kriti `O, Rangasayee' at a slow measured pace which did justice to the kriti. The solemn mood was punctuated with equal emphasis through two avartanams of quiet sarvalaghu between the mridangam and ghatam at the pauses during pallavi, anupallavi and charanam. This song, in the context of Dwadasi on that day, following Vaikunta Ekadasi, produced a contemplative effect on the listener.
Aruna adopted a very pleasing pattern of amplitude modulation of her voice in her rendition, which was immediately caught up by Bhaskar on the violin, J.Vaidyanathan on the mridangam and Karthick on the ghatam, augmenting the effort at establishing an atmosphere of tranquillity. One felt this was an ideal point to launch a thani avartanam, both from aesthetic as well as scheduling considerations.
It is difficult to imagine what charm musicians find in minor ragas which have little scope for elaboration to select them for RTP. Madhyamavati is hardly a happy choice of raga for a rettai kalai mukkalida Adi talam pallavi. The sahityam too was contrived (`Amba, Ammamma, Sowbhagyalakshmi Paramma... '). Kalyani, Kurinji, Atana, Mohanam, Sahana, Ranjani, Bhairavi and Lalita did the catwalk, in succession, just as props for the `Ashtalakshmis' invoked each time. There is abundant glamour but hardly any aesthetic value in such gimmickry. The thani lasted for some 12 minutes, starting with durita kala sarva laghu, in syncopated beats (kaal idam) in every fourth, second and succeeding mathirai. The left side of the mridangam was articulate, with its own inflexions and modulation, while the ghatam sent out notes in powerful sprays of high-speed sollukattus — a joy for the ear.
Aruna is riding on a high wave of popularity. She needs to bring in more restraint and refinement in her singing and eschew ati durita vega and ostentation to rank as class. She could aspire for more genuine expressions and styles than aim at only pleasing the gallery.
M.S.Sheela's concert, with Nalina Mohan (violin), Anoor Ananthakrishna Sarma (mridangam) and Giridhar Upupa (ghatam) accompanying her, was an adequate presentation. She made the conventional opening with a varnam (`Eranapai', Thodi, Adi) in two paces for the first part and fast pace for the charanam, following it up with `Garuda Gamana' in Nadaswarali, Adi. Her sancharas in the alapana for Sriranjani were mostly in the higher octave and the song was Tyagaraja's `Sari Evare' in Adi. The alapana was neat and crisp.
Nalina too displayed confidence through her firm and deliberate bowing and finger-work (azhutham) and her essay paralleled the main singer'sPurvikalyani was taken up for elaboration. With her pleasant, flexible voice, Sheela built up gradually from the regions of the gandhara up to the tara stayi, with plenty of melodious brigas, echoed adeptly by Nalina, who also showed taste through resorting to several gamaka excursions on a single string (3rd and 4th).
M.S.Sheela.
The singer took up `Parama Pavana Rama,' in a deliberate, leisurely stride, in keeping with the gravity of the song. This was the highlight of the programme.
During the elaborate niraval at charanam, `Kanakambara,' voice, violin, mridangam and ghatam all went out as one melodic garland to the deity invoked and one more to the composer, Anoor Ananthakrishna Sarma who proved to be a master at bringing out a multiplicity of notes from the left side of the mridangam, in various degrees of depth and tone, right from the slow start; together with the sounds of Udupa's ghatam, the effect was sublime.
`Lalitambi Srimate' in Bhuvanagandhari, Adi talam and `Indakanne Kalama' in raga Kannada, Rupaka talam, were sung in tandem without elaboration, to make way for RTP in Hindolam — a raga hardly appropriate for this exercise. Barring this reservation, the alapana was impeccable, though not inspiring.
A raga without panchama gives little scope for tanam in madhyama stayi. Why promote such a raga to the exalted rank of RTP? However, inappropriate as the choice of raga was, Sheela did a good job of the tanam.
The pallavi, complicated with a misra gati, `Then Palani Vadivelane, Valli Deivanai Manavalane' was delivered faultlessly in the customary pattern, with Mohanam, Bhoopalam, Kapi and Behag in ragamalika swaras, before a thani avartanam of two minutes.
After a fortnight of ear-filling Carnatic music, listening to the 150-minute long vocal concert of Umakant and Ramakant, popularly known as the Gundecha Brothers, on the last evening of the year 2006, felt like being carried to a different world of music — a world strikingly different from what we had been in, till then, and yet possessed of the same ingredients of melody, rhythm, manodharma and dedication. Their only accompaniments were a pakhwaj, counterpart of the mridangam, played by Akhilesh Gundecha, two (stringed) tampuras and two (electronic) tampuras. The concert, it was announced was dedicated to the memory of Chandralekha, renowned dancer - choreographer, who had passed away in Chennai in the early hours of the day. The concert began with an alaap in the raag Multani. The stress on tranquillity was immediately evident. The sancharas were spread among the manthara and madhyama stayis, uniformly over the first 25 minutes. It is notable that the upper shadja was merely touched only after 17 minutes, and the introduction of the upper gandhara or rishbha never figured except in a brisk gamaka. The change to a different mood began with `nom-tam' close to the South Indian tanam in duritam. Each was unique in his presentation. One produced tones which resembled the morsing, while the other displayed a depth of voice which was unbelievably bass, reaching down to the anumanthara shadja audibly and effortlessly. Sahityam played a role only in the last 15 minutes (`Bansidhara, pinakadhara, Gangadhara Giridhara,... ') extolling Krishna and Siva with many more epithets, set to the 12-beat `chautal,, the total effort concluding after 75 minutes with a solo on the pakhwaj. A `dhama' in raag Behag followed (similar to the Carnatic raga, except that kaisiki nishada is not touched). This was set in 14 beats, and was free of any sahityam, being rendered only in brisk akara sangatis.
The concert concluded with `Sivastuti' in raag Adana, (similar to the Carnatic Durbari-kanada).
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