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MYLAPORE FINE ARTS CLUB

Extraordinary: T.N.Seshagopalan and T.N.S.Krishna

T.N. Seshagopalan’s evening concert turned out to be an experience of a wonder drug which might have prompted a lay listener to exclaim: “Stupendous! Unimaginably imaginative!”

The tradition spoke vividly in the way he handled the compositions and vrittams. The ragas evoked their bhavas with quick and precise statements through appropriate phrases.

The swaras with elongated karvais (pauses) where necessary, brought a contrast from the preceding swara-clusters. In general, the effect-giving scintillating brigas were used less.

The oft criticised non-alignment of sruti in crucial moments seemed insignificant in the context of the overall grandeur that was TNS. Certainly one could see a different facet of TNS.

The raga elaborations transmuted into sangatis in each composition. His normally robust and resonant voice quality deliberately seemed softened and made the renditions simply extraordinary. From the performance it is obvious that tradition is not rigid but rather gives large allowances and is ever new with a creative genius like TNS. In fact his innovations came from a deeper experience and understanding of the tradition itself.

‘Abhimaana’ (Begada-Adi-Patnam Subramanya Iyer) came out through a very short but poignant characterisation of the raga as if it were a chiselled sculpture. The concert seemed deliberately different from his usual presentations bringing a new dimension of his artistry. A great artist is both emotional and intellectual. In fact, the right emotions spring from a sensitive and intellectual understanding of the raga in its many dimensions through the compositions. A thorough understanding of the compositions of our vaggeyakaras and the divinely inspired composers with the richness of devotional poetry soaked in ragas, naturally lead the artist to the inner most recesses of his very being, wringing the right emotions.

It is obvious that TNS’s expositions come from a deeper understanding of the text, tradition and music. The pithy swarakalpana turned out to be a highly charged, encapsulated essence of the raga itself in several dimensions and in its splendour.

‘Kolamkandu’ (Shanmukhapriya-Adi-Ambujam Krishna) followed an elaborate Shanmukhapriya which expanded spatially to proportions which brought the quality of the music of Nagaswaram with its grandeur.

The swarakalpana which followed was most ornamented and elaborate. The slow paced gait brought out the contrasting poise. The father and son exchanged swaras with great grip over laya. At this point Master T.N.S Krishna surprised the audience with a beautiful cadence which brought a standing ovation from a section of the audience.

In ‘Janani Ninnuvina’ (Ritigowla-Misra Chapu-Subbaraya Sastri) the niraval was at ‘Neranamminanaato.’ One could see a different facet of TNS in unhurried interpretive bhava laden sangatis with reflective pauses and multi-coloured interpretive and aesthetically fulfilling variations.

RTP-(Sruti Laya Bhaava Sangitam, ‘Adai Yen Vasam Thaa,’ Bhairavi, ‘Paavani’-Khanda Triputa-Rendu Kalai-Atita eduppu) was in ragamalika intelligently coined from the syllabic elements of the raga, Vasanthabhairavi (Vasantha+Bhairavi+Vasanthabhairavi). It is rather a difficult task to do full justice to writing about any raga TNS chooses to sing, be it an alapana preceding a kriti or as part of a Ragam Tanam Pallavi.

The raga delineation with the commitment of sequencing three differently structured ragas demands mastery par excellence. It was no wonder that TNS showed his brilliance in letting loose one by one the ‘raga damsels’ Vasantha, Bhairavi and Vasanthabhairavi, ornamenting them throwing fragrance of every kind befitting the status of each raga.

To cite an example, at the start of singing Vasanthabhairavi, TNS’s quality of ‘dha’ was so pregnant with the ragathva that it was instantly followed by the appropriate phrase on the violin by Chandrasekaran. His presentation of Bhairavi was so complete that the right tribute spontaneously came from the veteran vidwan Chandrasekaran, “What is there to play after this?”

With most artists tanam would sound a ritual rather than a special feature. But TNS’s tanam sounded exactly like veena (noted for thanam) especially in the melkaalam (higher speed) with the characteristic swaying jaarus, odukkal, chedukkal and tinkling spuritas.

The swarakalpana which followed had mathematical features of kuraippu, creating spontaneous varieties of sankirna in elegant proportions suiting the chosen Khanda Triputa tala (nine aksharas).

It was followed by ‘Aanirai Meithu’ (Periyaazhwar paasuram- raagamaalika) in which Krishna matched his father in his moving exposition.

The following piece ‘Kannanallavo Ensaami’ (Surutti-Oottukkaadu Venkatasubbaiyer) heralded Margazhi, in all its devotional fervour.

Chandrasekaran (violin) gave excellent support to the whole performance with his musical brilliance along with his enjoyment of the main artiste.

Hariram (mridangam) followed the imagination of the main artist at every turn enriching the concert with rhythmic counter points enhancing the effect. Sivaramakrishnan (ghatam) faithfully journeyed through the concert along with the mridangam contributing to the totality.

What was remarkable about the concert as a whole was the tribute which came from the audience at the end. The grandeur of yesteryear captured through TNS’s matured musicality impacted the audience tremendously.

The audience was a motley mixture of different age groups, the young, middle aged and veteran listeners who gave a standing ovation. The concert was an example of how great music, can transcend barriers of any kind.

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