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Music Season
MUSIC ACADEMY
Journey northward
GOWRI RAMNARAYAN
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Meends, suddhaswaras and boltaan phrases, all lilting, floated among doughty Carnatic sangatis.
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Photo: V. Ganesan
Neyveli Santhanagopalan.
Love of Hindustani music has been nothing new to Carnatic musicians. From the diehard Dhanammal family to GNB there were quite a few examples in the past. Neyveli Santhanagopalan’s alapana of Pantuvarali, Kiravani and Hamir Kalyani at the Music Academy had something more. Meends, suddhaswaras and boltaan phrases, all lilting, floated among doughty Carnatic sangatis which refused to desert their mela and desya raga territories. The result was more collage than an indi
vidual stylistics evolved with northern glints.
Take the shortest - Pantuvarali. The madhyamakala alapana matched the same in the kriti ‘Vadera Deivamu.’ Melody reigned, weight was jettisoned. V.V.Ravi’s violin had no option but to follow the lane northward. The vocal niraval remembered Karnataka gamakas in long, well-varied rhythms, while swaraprastara plunged into resonant daattu and janta prayogas slatted by Vellore Ramabhadran’s steady tap-tappings in line with voice and strings.
Santhanagopalan’s Kiravani preceded ‘Vaananai’ and not Khansaheb’s ‘Tore bin Mohe.’ Since Appar’s Tevaram on the Tiruvannamalai deity was given the dignity of a major kriti by being cast in the traditional Kiravani mould, the alapana and the song were at odds with each other.
Taking on a longish passage for niraval (‘Dheeranai... Tiruvannamalaiyani’) testified to feeling for the verse that accelerates bhakti with each word. Odukkals and yatis swam in whenever summoned. The lower sancharas were vibrant. The violin followed the singer’s style but again, could not escape from Mylapore seasoning. Each alapana had a distinct format and pace in an effortless flow of ideas. Earlier the mridangam (Vellore G.Ramabhadran) and ghatam (Nanganallur S. Swaminathan) tani had missed out on exhilaration. But they made up for it with robust energy in fine accompaniment here. The mridangam underscored tanam with a subtext of tones. The pallavi was teamwork at its best. Ragamalika forays were brief but honeyed, whether Khamas or Hindolam, the violin adding texture to each.
Tailpieces such as ‘Gitadhuniku’ (Dhanashri), ragamalika (Arabhimanam), even the padam (‘Ini Enna Pechirukkudu,’ Sahana) could not produce any lingering effect. Perhaps the reason for this letdown was that the concert on the whole seemed adrift without the anchor of at least one major composition rendered in the grand style.
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Music Season
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