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Music Season
SRI KRISHNA GANA SABHA
Picture of amazing perfection
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It was quietude that M.S.Gopalakrishan and his team offered even as Bombay Jayashri’s recital was calming. SVK
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Photos: R. Shivaji Rao and R.Ragu
Of high quality: M.S. Gopalakrishnan, Narmada and Suresh Kumar
M.S. Gopalakrishnan, with his daughter Narmada and son Suresh Kumar (violin trio), provided peaceful music with the songs ‘Endaro Mahanubavulu’(Sri) ‘Manasa Etulorthune’ (Malayamarutham) ‘Ninnu Vinaga Mari’ (Poorvikalyani) ‘Ranganayakam’ (Nayaki) ‘Anupama Gunambudi’ (Atana) and ‘Samaja Varagamana’ (Hindolam).
Was it a matter of faith with them about the greatness of these kritis or just a habit? Was it their conviction that such kirtanas hold the heart of a concert? Was it their firm belief that only such a choice sets the status of a performance? Was it deliberate in preference to the environment of din and bustle in today’s recitals often vociferously hailed as ecstatic?
Whatever be the promptings of the mind of Gopalakrishnan, the music was a sheer luxury of quietude, picture of amazing perfection. The kalapramana and crispness of ‘Endaro Mahanubavulu’ was an acme of expressional delicacy. ‘Ranganayakam,’ appropriate on the Vaikunta Ekadasi day, was impeccable in devotional homage. ‘Ninnu Vinaga Mari” was strikingly rhythmic. How many times, how many hours, and how many days they would have devoted to their practice to gain mastery to make them poetic in presentation? That is the discipline that excellence demands. J. Vaidyanathan (mridangam) tuned his accompanying pattern to the workings of the mind of Gopalakrishnan. His play was measured to essentials. T. Raj Ganesh was the kanjira artiste.
Sangita is as ennobling as its exposition calms the mind. Personifying this ideal, born out of the harmony between introspection and exquisitely externalised manodharma and articulation of sahityas Bombay Jayashri’s concert awakened the ethereal dimensions of Carnatic music.
Jayashri presented herself as one on an eternal quest of the contemplative source. In the pursuit of this perception she struck a delicate balance between briskness of the recital and the brilliance of its contents. She kept her ears close to refined impulses – the core of her musical upbringing – to impart significance to her revered objective.
Kedaragowla (‘Tulasi Bilva’) was the crest jewel in her programme. The first few moments were in the nature of getting a feel of the intrinsic inspiration of the raga. Later development was regal. The richness of her manodharma, gentle gracefulness of the phrasings laced with elegant cadences threw open vistas of haunting experience. Her passionate involvement and the camaraderie between her creativity and feelingly composed expression reflected the matchless sparkle of Kedaragowla, blending melody and maturity. The raga orbited deep in the tara sthayi with sensitivity circling it.
Bombay Jayashri.
‘Tulasi Bilva’ was an immaculate interpretation of the song and Tyagaraja’s worshipful sentiment. She revealed her craving to link the niraval image of the line ‘Uramuna Mukha Muna Siramuna Bhujamuna’ with the sahitya sanctity. The ensemble of the raga, kirtana and niraval swelled with emotion suggesting that was where her music was located.
The other kirtanas were ‘Dharma Samvardini’ (Madhyamavathi, a composition of Dikshitar), ‘Ehi-Thrijagadeesa’ (Saranga) ‘Koluvaiyunnade’ (Bhairavi). The comfort of her voice conveyed the classical warmth the great vaggeyakaras had endowed on them. That made her performing style distinct.
Ragam, Tanam and Pallavi was in Kalyanavasantham. The rakti element in her alapana was somewhat of her self-discovery of its melting quality. Replete with friezes of picturesque sancharas of pleasing fluency though the raga was short in duration it was epic in appeal. The creation of an environment of tranquillity in this and the other raga essays and rendering of kirtanas gave reality to her mind’s desires. In every respect her profound concern was for nothing but the hold of reverie.
The violinist H.N. Bhaskar enlivened his raga versions with the same soft touch as the vocalist’s and richly worked out. Arun Prakash (mridangam) in association with K.V. Gopalakrishnan (kanjira) unfolded gentle rhythm in his percussive support.
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