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Music Season
NUNGAMBAKKAM CULTURAL ACADEMY
There was nothing light about it
M. RAMESH
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Yesudas’s exposition of the ragas was moving and brilliant.
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Photo: R. Shivaji Rao.
K.J.Yesudas.
Although Yesudas’s lively Kalyani (‘Etavunara’) was the main piece of the concert, it was the previous two numbers - Subhapantuvarali and Nagaswarali - that rung in the ears for a long time. Hardcore connoisseurs are often disconcerted by Yesudas’s proclivity to ‘turn light,’ but there was nothing ‘light’ about the Subhapantuvarali (‘Ennallo’). The renowned singer had no difficulty in bringing out the melancholy mood of the raga.
Violinist B.U.Ganesh Prasad’s response to the alapana was equally good, as indeed was the case throughout the concert. If there was one thing that conflicted with the sense of pathos that the raga evoked, it was Yesudas’s jolly demeanour, always smiling or exchanging a whisper with the mridangist, Thiruvarur Bhaktavatsalam.
Brand Yesudas sells. On two occasions the vocalist won a round of applause just for the selection of the song — first time for ‘Paavanaguru’ (Hamsanandi) and ‘Ksheera Sagara’ (Devagandhari). But ironically, there was no applause to the brilliant alapana of Dhanyasi (‘Shyama Sundara’ of Tyagaraja).
The opening piece of the concert, ‘Vatapi Ganapathim,’ was adorned with a long plume of swaras (at ‘Pranava Swaroopa’), but there were ‘light touches’ here and there. In contrast, in the subsequent Dhanyasi there was nothing that could even remotely be termed as light. ‘Shyama Sundara’ is such a bhakti-soaked kriti and one wonders why it is not as popular as its sister, ‘Sangeetha gnanamu.’ Jesudas, who sang it brilliantly, could help popularise the kriti.
The other noteworthy component of the concert was a superb Nagaswaravali. Tyagaraja’s ‘Sri Pathe’ followed the brief alapana and here mention must be made of the classy way violinist Ganesh Prasad played the opening lines ‘Sri pathe.’ At that point he was one-up on the great vocalist he was accompanying.
Thiruvarur Bhaktavatsalam did nothing to lift the concert. He was not too loud, but showed little variation in strokes, placing emphasis on speed rather than aesthetics. Except in patches, such as during ‘Paavanaguru,’ the mridangam could have adhered to the music better, as indeed could be expected of an artist of his stature and experience.
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Music Season
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