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Music Season
SRI THYAGA BRAHMA GANA SABHA
Vibrant, aural treat
LALITHAA KRISHNAN
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R. Sriram and his team demonstrated the value of consistent hard work directed by timely guidance.
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Excellent rapport: R.Sriram with Mambalam G.S. Shekar (mridangam) and Chandrashekara Sharma (ghatam).
When three talented, evenly matched young artistes with vibrant, tradition-bound playing styles perform together on stage, the result is a fulfilling aural experience that reassures you that the immediate future of Carnatic music is in safe hands.
The veena recital of R. Sriram (disciple of Revathi Srinivasan) accompanied by Mambalam G.S. Shekar (disciple of Kandadevi N. Venkatesh) on the mridangam and Chandrashekara Sharma (disciple of T.H. Subhash Chandran) on the ghatam made even the odd dozing listener sit up, all thoughts of siesta forgotten for the duration of the concert. Students all, with the youngest still in school and the oldest a year away from graduation, the artists demonstrated the value of consistent hard work directed by timely guidance, doing their respective gurus proud.
Onto a weighty start with Muthuswamy Dikshitar’s ‘Sri Mahaganapathy Ravathumam’ (Gowla), Sriram’s Khambhodi essay replete with solid pidis scored high on the classical scale. Tyagaraja’s ‘Maa Janaki’ with ragatva-affirming kalpanaswaras proceeded to confirm the adage that well begun is half done. Tyagaraja’s ‘Nenarunchara’ (Simhavahini) highlighted the significance of patanthara. The main raga, Kalyani served as a barometer of the artist’s musical leanings. Thankfully, still young enough to believe that his guru knows best, the artist’s dexterous artistry on strings eschewed the featherweight and flashy, pledging allegiance to solid classical content instead. The varying approaches to and emphasis on the gandhara, smooth sthayi-spanning glides, panchama-varja phrases issuing from the nishada and gamaka-rich vocabulary spoke of a young mind attuned to lasting musical values. In true blue tradition, a tanam followed, its resonance projecting the tonal richness unique to the vadyam. A rarely heard Tiruvotriyur Tyagaraja kriti ‘Saraswathy Nannepudu’ supported niraval and swaraprasthara in two speeds graced by vadi-samvadi devices and poruttams.
The veena’s tonal quality deserves particular mention. Uniformly pleasing with none of the underlying aggression that invariably results from pushing the envelope to electronically achieve a dominant sound, the tone came very close to the instrument’s natural timbre despite the use of the contact mike.
Sharing an appreciable rapport with the main artiste in the accompaniment segments, G.S. Shekar and Chandrashekara Sharma presented a thani fingerprinted by crisp, sparkling rhythms. Crystal clear sollus and consistency in kalapramana constituted the USP of both percussionists.
With such undeniable talent, these three young artistes deserve to be heard far more often and by much larger audiences.
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Music Season
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