COMBINATION OF LALGUDI AND KARAIKUDI - ONCE AGAIN
Lalgudi Jayaraman and G J R Krishnan along with Karaikudi
Mani on the mridangam and T V Vasan on the ghatam, gave an over-whelming concert
for Bharat Kalachar on 25th December 2000. The evening started with Lalgudi's varnam in
Neelambari, 'Sethilmevum'. Then a crisp and brief outline of the raga
Sowrashtra followed by Purandharadasa's 'Saranu Siddhivinayaka' in Misra
Chapu was rendered. 'Sanatana', a rare kriti of Tyagarajar in the raga
Phalamanjari was the next item. A brief delineation of Begada was played and the
kriti 'Tyagarajaya namaste', composed by Dikshitar continued. The
kalpanaswaras for the charanam was good.
It was nice that he announced all the items, raga and composer in advance. But due to the bad
acoustics in the hall, most of his announcements went unheard and failed to
serve any purpose. The next item of the concert was another rare kriti of
Tyagaraja in the rare raga Suddhadesi, 'Raghu Nandana'. The audience was surprised
when they started a Tiruppugazh of Arunagirinathar in Poorvikalyani followed by
Oothukadu Venkata Kavi's 'Aadadu asangadu' in Madhyamavati, since the duo
hadn't rendered any raga elaborately until then. But it so happened that there
was a cassette release function of G J R Krishnan and Vijayalakshmi, entitled 'Tillanas
of Lalgudi Jayaraman'. Anyway, much to everyone's relief, the function concluded
soon and the concert resumed.
A lovely delineation of Khamas was followed by Tyagaraja's gem, 'Sujanajeevana'.
The main raga was Keeravani in which they rendered the popular 'Kaligiyunde',
another composition of Tyagaraja with neraval and kalpanaswaras appended
suitably and beautifully. The Tani avartanam by the percussionists was simply superb
and made the concert still
more lively.
The post-main items comprised
Lalgudi's old hits like Papanasam Sivan's 'Srinivasa' (Hamsanandi) and 'Ennatavam'
(Kapi) and Bharatiyar's 'Teerada vilayattu pillai', which took the
audience down memory lane. A Tillana in Jhunjooti and the mangalam brought the
concert to a close.
AUDIENCE VIEWS:
R Sridharan: It is a scintillating spiritual experience to hear Lalgudi Jayaraman and his son playing
in the concert.
G V S Narayanan: We have come with lots of expectations. It has not gone in vain, as most ragas
are rarely played by other artistes. The mike in which he announced the items, should have been a
better one.
N Krishnan: I am indeed thrilled to hear Lalgudi's live concert. May we all have this experience
for many more years to come.
K B Sivakumar: Sri Lalgudi Jayaraman is a genius, a great violinist and composer. Both he and his
son play divine music. The performance today was excellent.
J Susheel: It is a spiritual experience, to say the least, to listen to such a beautiful performance. The
acoustics could have been a little better.
Champaka Lakshmi: Wonderful experience to hear such sweet music.
R Vijayaraghavan: I am hearing the combination of Lalgudi and Karaikudi live after a long time. The
polish
has not diminished even a little. The devotion in his music has increased. I pray the Almighty
that their
contribution to music continue for many more years.
P A P Pillai and Taniya Nandakumar: It is indeed the ultimate musical experience to listen to Lalgudi
and Karaikudi in tandem or along with other great vocalists of yesteryears. Age has
not taken away their musical charm.
Ramani: A Lalgudi concert is an art in itself which never fails to raise one's thoughts to the Divine.
Nevertheless, all Carnatic concerts must follow the Western system of announcing (or better still
distributing) in advance, the items to be performed in detail - the raga, tala, composer and the starting line
of the Pallavi, so that every one in the audience will not only learn but also look forward eagerly to his
favorite pieces.
Rasikas who didn't want their names to be mentioned:
Fullest satisfaction on hearing classical music without any other mixture or influence. I
sense the depth of Carnatic music in him. He is a genius. Today's concert was excellent.
Music is peace, happiness and takes one nearer to God. I felt the Divine music very much in today's
concert. Long live Sri Lalgudi.
