Carnatica: Madras Music Mela 2002

MADRAS MUSIC MELA 2002

RASIKANUBHAVA 4

V Balakrishnan via email...

Madurai T N Seshagopalan has a strong voice with an easy reach from the Madhyama of the lower octave to the Panchama of the higher octave. He puts this gift and his extremely pliable voice to produce charming effects on the audience. This spell was very much in evidence in his concert at the Mylapore Fine Arts Club, on December 18, 2002.

The Navaragamalika varnam gave a flying start. "Sri Mahaganapati" (Gowla) of Dikshitar was sung next with a few avartas of swaras. A short outline of Sahana and "Eevasudha" (Tyagaraja)" was rendered movingly. Neraval and kalpanaswaras were taken up at an uncommon place "Dasavarada Tyagaraja" in the charanam. The tempo was painstakingly built up to a crescendo and the audience broke into a spontaneous applause. Mysore Vasudevachar's "Bhajanaseyarada" (Dharmavati) was presented after an interesting raga alapana. Manodharma sparkled in Seshagopalan's Kharaharapriya. The effortless forays in the higher octaves and the dives and smooth take-offs made the listeners sit up in awe. The time-tested "Pakkala nilabadi" in chowka kala, was already in the air and was given a royal treatment. A classic neraval and swaras at "Manasuna dalachi" were perfectly worked up. It was a brainy exercise. For the RTP, the emotive raga Subhapantuvarali was selected. The vocalist reveled in the alapana with the aid of his briga voice. The shades of Hindolam and Brindavanasaranga were revealed in the sruti-bhedam, to the delight of the audience. A brisk neraval and Pallavi followed. It appeared that the RTP took much time and Vellore Ramabadran settled for a very brief tani avartanam. An Ashtapadi in the Hindustani raga Shyamkalyan and a Tillana in Sindhubhairavi saw the end of the programme.

It was not a good day for violinist S D Sridhar. Vaikom Gopalakrishnan was supportive.

A software professional with a multi-national company and a disciple of Vaigal Gnanaskandan, young V Sankaranarayanan has a strong and pleasing voice. Starting with "Siddhi vinayakam" (Mohanakalyani) of Muthiah Bhagavatar, he moved on to Arabhi and sang "Anbekondenne", a rare composition of Dandapani Desikar, with a few avartas of kalpanaswaras. His Saveri alapana had all the essential ingredients and Swati Tirunal's "Anjaneya Raghuramam" was rendered with neraval and swaras. Kumudakriya is a bhava-laden raga and Dikshitar's "Ardhanareeswaram" is a classic composition in it, and never fails to evoke devotion. After rendering this piece, the vocalist then sang the popular kriti "Sri valli devasena pate" of Papanasam Sivan in yet another pleasant and emotive raga, Natabhairavi. Kalyani was the main raga taken up for elaboration. The raga alapana contained all the standard sancharas. The neraval and the swaraprastara were developed well. Sankaranarayanan's sruti alignment when attempting higher reach sangatis was also good. "Adum chidambaromo" (Behag) and "Parukkulle nalla nadu" (Valachi) gave a good finish to the concert. It gives a poor impression when the vocalist refers to the script on stage. Young and upcoming artistes should avoid this practice.

Posted on December 21, 2002