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Music Season
NAADA INBAM
Soft, steady and soulful presentations
G.SWAMINATHAN
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Jayaraj and Jayashri synchronised so well that only one instrument was heard.
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Photo: R. Ragu
Serene and subtle: G.M. Jayaraj and Jayasri
One cannot but feel disheartened about the lukewarm response to veena concerts. This feeling deepened while listening to a chaste, sumptuous, highly melodic veena duet by Jayaraj and Jayashri. The morning concert was a serene experience as the Jayaraj-Jayashri duo is traditional to the core. Their concert had assumed special importance since it had been the eightieth birthday of their illustrious guru the late Anantharama Iyer (a direct descendant of Muthuswami Dikshit
ar family) who taught them music at Kolkata.
Starting the concert with the ‘Viriboni’ varnam in Bhairavi, the couple entranced the limited audience for two-and-half hour with soft, steady and soulful presentations. Dikshitar, being their favourite, the main item was an archaic Sankarabharanam strongly structured by Jayaraj with special and subtle touches even in the higher notes. ‘Akshaya Linga Vibho’ was the apt preference. The niraval and swaras were shared between the duo at ‘Badari Vana Moola’ synchronised well with time and length.
Earlier, it was Jayashri who delineated Sriranjani (‘Brochevarevare’ by Tyagaraja) and later the main raga Thodi for Ragam Tanam Pallavi. She showcased brilliant phrases of the raga emphasising on the gamakam, a very vital aspect of veena playing.
The tanam seamlessly integrated Sahana, Bilahari, Behag and Brindavanasaranga in the ragamalika segment by both. The pallavi set in Adi talam- tisra nadai (‘Velavane Ninadhu Paadame’) was vocally demonstrated with parallel presentation on the veena with the testing exercise of anulomam and prathilomam.
The perfect understanding between the players made one feel as if only one veena was playing. The subtle difference surfaced only when they exchanged swara sallies or niraval interludes. The swara exchanges between Jayaraj and Jayashri with the rishabam as landing point in Sriranjani with upper note for one and the lower ‘ri’ for the other was perfectly timed and extremely enjoyable.
For novelty there was Santanamanjari raga and composition of Dikshitar, ‘Suryamurthe’ in Sowrashtram, ‘Annapoorne’ in Sama and a fast set ‘Bantu Reethi’ in Hamsanadam.
With his soft but specific rhythmic patterns veteran Vellore Ramabhadran embellished the duo’s veena concert and his varying sheaves of rhythm unobtrusively integrated and elevated the performers’ playing. The concert concluded solemnly with the poignant ‘Vande Mataram’ (a listeners’ request).
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Music Season
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