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Of rare vintage
THE CHARISMATIC vidwan of the 20th century, GNB, who was blessed with a magnificent Srikanta, mesmerised and captured the hearts of thousands of rasikas. His concert was relayed on AIR Chennai on April 19. That he was cent per cent a thinking musician was obvious in the manner in which he sang the chittaswaram for Shyama Sastri's ``Marivere" in Anandhabhairavi. It has become customary for the chatusruti dhaivatam to be articulated in the first avartanam of the chittaswaram, whereas, the actual swarasthanam is kaisiki nishadam. GNB was arguably the only vidwan to sing the kaisiki nishadam instead of the dhaivatam.
The Kalyani alapana, studded with prayogas of rare vintage, took one's breath away. ``Sivakameswarim" of Dikshitar and the sparkling swaraprastharas were bright purple patches in the programme for which V. Sethuramiah and Palghat Raghu were the accompanists on the violin and mridangam while T. S. Balasubramaniam provided vocal support.
The vidwan's remarkable success in the performing sphere does lie in hard work but also his keen perception to recognise the tastes of various rasikas and cater accordingly.
In the broadcast of Maharajapuram Santhanam's recording broadcast on April 20 through the medium channel of AIR Chennai, his Lathangi alapana with his voice in mint condition, was quality fare. The late Thirupparkadal Veeraraghavan's response on the violin was compact and dignified. Patnam Subramania Iyer's ``Aparadhamula," was embellished by gripping sprightly sarva laghu swaras in the Pallavi. Santanam's home turf is raga delineation and his Sankarabharanam expansion in the various sthayis with perfectly sruti-aligned prayogas did touch a deep appreciative chord. In Tyagaraja's ``Endukku Peddala," the expansion of the lyrical sequence ``Veda Sastra," the soothing swaras in the lower tempo and the lively dhurita kala solfa chains totally arrested listening attention.
The concert came to a close with a meticulous tani avartanam by Vellore Ramabadran on the mridangam and E. M. Subramaniam on the ghatam.
BY A CORRESPONDENT
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