UNNIKRISHNAN AT SRI THYAGA BRAHMA GANA SABHA - STUPENDOUS
P Unnikrishnan who is a disciple of the late Dr. S Ramanathan, gave an exemplary performance at Sri Thyaga Brahma Gana Sabha on 27th December 2000. The accompanists were Embar Kannan on the Violin, Arjun Kumar on the Mridangam and S V Ramani on the Ghatam.
Unnikrishnan began
his concert with a rare Varnam. 'Tulasidala', a
Tyagaraja kriti, in
the raga Mayamalavagowla followed with neraval and kalpanaswaras at the charanam. The
kalpanaswaras fell like the flowers mentioned in the Pallavi line!
The hall, which doesn't often get filled to capacity, was almost full now. Next was the majestic raga, Atana, which
makes any concert lively. Unnikrishnan sang the popular 'Neeirangai'. His voice, which
until then appeared
a little strained, settled when he rendered an elaborate raga alapana in Kalyani,
followed by Dikshitar's 'Bhajare rechitta' in Misra Chapu tala. The
neraval and kalpanaswaras rendered at the usual point 'Devi sakti' was lively.
Before Unnikrishnan launched into the main raga of the concert, he sang
Tyagaraja's 'Kulabirudunu' with a few brisk rounds of swaras at the
charanam line 'Nigamagamachara'.
Kedaragowla was the main raga of the day. It was elaborated excellently and the familiar kriti 'Saraguna Palimpa' of Ramanathapuram Srinivasa Iyengar, was sung. The kalpanaswaras for the pallavi, sung in all the octaves fluently was wonderful. Embar Kannan's violin was remarkable both in raga alapana and in the kalpanaswaras. The Tani avartanam by Arjun Kumar was extremely good too. It was a good team of artistes who contributed to the success of the concert.
The post-main session of Unnikrishnan's concert, which the audience simply loved, consisted of such popular hits as 'Ma ramanan', a viruttam in ragamalika followed by 'Ododivanden', 'Jagajjanani', 'Radhasameta' and an Ashtapadi.
OPINIONS OF THE RASIKAS:
Lakshmi Ravindran:
It is believed that a performer's performance gets affected once they get into film music, but
Unnikrishnan has proved that a person can still be very good in Carnatic music in spite of their
deviation towards film music.
Sudha and Bharath:
Today's programme was very interesting. Although I am not an expert in
Carnatic music, I love all
music and would love to hear Unnikrishnan's music again.
K P Pramod Kumar: That Unnikrishnan has created his own style in Carnatic music,
at a young age, is to be
appreciated. I have lot of confidence that he will grow to greater heights.
V Sivalokanathan:
We came to hear Unnikrishnan with a lot of expectations but was disappointed
because the main raga
chosen was not the best.
S Gopalan: It was simply superb and tied us to our seats.
M Palani:
I enjoyed Unni's concert very much. He has an astonishing manodharma and excels in
raga alapana and kalpanaswaras. His music has matured and I pray that his
imagination grow.
Rasikas who did not mention their
names:
Stupendous performance making the audience spellbound. Especially the handling of Kalyani
kindled our memories and reminded us of the stalwarts of old times.
To say that this concert is excellent will be an understatement. His rendering of Kedaragowla was
out of this world and brought back memories of two decades ago, the era of master like Chembai
Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar, Maharajapuram Santanam and others.
