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O S THYAGARAJAN AT KRISHNA GANA SABHA - AN UNANIMOUS HIT
   
The concert of O S Thyagarajan on 18th December 2000 at Krishna Gana Sabha started majestically with a kriti in Gambheeranata. He was accompanied by Embar Kannan on the violin, K V Prasad on the mridangam and V Nagarajan on the khanjira. The concert hall was filling up with OST's fans. ‘Evarani nirnayincherira’ was the next song in the raga Devamritavarshini (also known as Nadachintamani) and set the mood for the evening. OST then took up Pantuvarali for alapana. The kriti that followed, 'Ninnunera namminanura', a composition of Tyagaraja took the audience to great heights of ecstasy. The neraval and the kalpanaswaras, which had a sprinkling of sarvalaghu swaras as also the final korvai were very good.

OST then sang a not-so-oft-heard kriti in Arabhi, 'Palimparavadelara’. Owing to the lovely pace and gait of the tala (Adi, Tisra gati), it brought a totally different tempo to the concert. After a good rendition of Muthiah Bhagavatar's creation ‘Vijayambike’, a favorite of the late MLV in raga Vijayanagari, OST moved on to 'Dasaratha nandana' in Asaveri. It seemed a trifle disappointing to see a good artiste like him sing kriti after kriti without indulging in much creativity. 

However, he soon came to the main raga of the evening, Kalyani. The alapana was handled elaborately, thus dissipating the earlier disappointment. Embar Kannan also handled the raga beautifully and one could see the smooth flow of moorchana and sphurita gamakas in his technique. Patnam Subramanya Iyer's masterpiece, once again popularised by the late MLV, ‘Nijadasa Varada’ was the kriti he took up. The neraval and kalpanaswaras for the anupallavi line, 'Bhujagadhipa' were sung beautifully. It was once again time for the Tani Avartanam, the time for the laya vidwans to show their prowess. One must say that both the vidwans utilised their time very well and won a lot of appreciation from the audience. OST wound up with the popular Khamas javali, ‘Marubari’ and Tyagaraja's 'Vinayakuni’ in raga Madhyamavati.

Mr. Sem, a foreigner who learns the violin and who has come down to India just to attend the December music festival wondered why most of the musicians used electronic Tamburas, when the sound of the actual Tambura is so unique.

I then saw a group of ladies congregating outside the hall after the concert and quickly went up to them to ask them what they felt about the concert. Their unanimous opinion was that it was a good concert. Mrs. Ganesan, one among them, said that OST’s concerts are always good. Another rasika Sekhar said, “OST is a traditional singer who neither reaches the topmost height, nor goes down in his singing, unlike some vidwans. He maintains his standard and his concerts are usually good". 

The vidwan, evidently happy about the success of the concert, was talking to his team-mates on the stage. I went up and asked him how he himself felt. He expressed his satisfaction with the way things went. 

Back down, I spoke to a couple of people more. Chaitana Prasanna, a Kalakshetra student felt that it was a good concert, as also her mother Shashikala. They had apparently come all the way from Tiruvanmiyur to T Nagar just for this. As I was leaving, I saw another couple, Mrs. Savitri and Mr. Venkataraman, emerging from the canteen. They'd just had ‘Tiffin’ and said that both their ears and stomach had had a good feast. I then changed my mind and went to the canteen instead!

Pushkala Ramakrishnan
   

Posted on 21st December 2000

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