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[Editor's Note: The concert reports published here are voluntary
contributions of a rasika, Balaveenai Sri. T. R. Balakrishnan of
Chennai. Any views and opinions expressed here are entirely his own]
Pallavi Navaham - a nine day concert series with
RTP. Concert duration of 2.5 hours in two Parts: one Carnatic and one
Hindustani oriented raga. The series was inaugurated by Dr V. V. Srivatsa and
organized by the Music Education Trust, Chennai Chapter at the Bharatiya Vidya
Bhavan Mini Hall, Mylapore, Chennai.
The credit goes to Sri. T. R. Subramaniam and
Dr. Radha
Venkatachalam for successfully organizing this RTP festival. It was educative
and entertaining. "Vocal singing is just a vehicle on road and one can
steer safely when in trouble but pallavi singing is just like a train and it
may derail with a small slip”, is what Sangita Kalanidhi Sri. K. P.
Sivanandam said about RTPs!
1. Saturday 2nd Oct., 2004
Miss Nirmitha Narasimhan -Vocal, T. Hemamalani - Violin, Smt. Jayamangala - Mridangam.
The Ragas taken were Kedaragowla and Madhuvanthi.
Nirmitha started with the varnam 'Samidayajuda' of Tiruvottiyur Tyagayyer
briskly in two tempos. She then elaborated Kedaragowla in two phrases. The
poorvangam had weighty sancharas and the uttaranga was laden with brigas. The
pallavi was in tisra triputa and the start at 6 beats off. T. Hemamalini’s
version of Kedaragowla was precise. Nirmitha then took Madhuvanthi in
Hindustani style, with apt sruti alignment. The pallavi was in Khanda Triputa
Chaturasra Nadai. It was well executed with anulomam and pratilomam. Smt.
Jayamangala Krishnamani, a good vocalist and dancer herself,
played excellently throughout and had little difficulty in
following the intricate pallavi set by Dr. Radha Venkatachalam. She concluded
with the Madhuvanthi tillana of Lalgudi Jayaraman.
2. Sunday 3rd Oct., 2004
Dr. Radha Venkatachalam, Reader of Music, University of
Delhi was accompanied on the violin by Dr. Hemalatha, on the mridangam by
Manoj Siva and on the Khanjira by Trivandrum Rajagopal. The ragas taken were
Kannada and Bhimplas. The concert was highly educative and scholarly. The Adi tala
Khanda Nadai had tricky formulations and the swara singing took us back to
the heydays of TRS!.
3. Monday 4th Oct., 2004
Sri. S. Vasudevan (Delhi, a professional dancer of Smt.
Vyjayantimala's troupe), student of Dr. Radha Venkatachalam was accompanied by T. K. Padmanabhan on the violin and Kumbhakonam Krishnamoorthy on the mridangam.
Ragas taken were Ranjani and Darbari Kanada. The Ranjani raga exposition was
good and the tanam was striking. The Darbari Kanada raga essay had
Hindustani influence but the tanam was well built with some appealing new prayogams.
4. Tuesday 5th Oct., 2004
Sri. K. Venkatesh of Delhi, a disciple of Radha
Venkatachalam was accompanied by T. Hemamalini on the violin and Kumbhakonam K.
Ramakrishnan on the mridangam .
Ragas taken were Dhanyasi and Dvijavanthi. He handled
Dhanyasi well with all sancharas and specially the modulations enhanced the
beauty of this raga. The Tisra Rupaka pallavi in khanda nadai, four kalai
with a tricky eduppu at the first half in three tempos was striking. The
Dvijavanthi was nice. The tanam was in Hindustani Dhrupad style. The pallavi
was in khanda triputa khanda nadai off 2.5 beats. Hemamalini and Ramakrishnan
followed the pallavi and were good in their solo versions.
5. Wednesday 6th Oct., 2004
R. Suryaprakash with Avaniswaram Vinu on the Violin,
Trivandrum Vaidyanathan on the mridangam, Trivandrum Rajagopal on the Kanjira.
Ragas taken were Nalinakanthi and Ahir
Bhairav. He
started with the kriti, 'Manaviyaala' of Tyagaraja building up sangatis
nicely. The poorvangam alapana of nalinakanthi was well done and the uttaranga
alapana was touching tarasthayi panchama. The tanam was remarkable. In the
swaraprastara he did kuraippu with vakraprayoga neatly and Vaidyanathan gave
splendid anticipated accompaniment.
Suryaprakash then took Ahir
Bhairav in 'ustad' style
maintaining a good sruti base. The thanam in Dhrupad style was beautiful.
Vaidyanathan played splendidly for thanam in chaturasra gati filling up the
gaps nicely, which was unique in this RTP series. D. Rajagopal on the Kanjira
too was contributing competently. After singing a swaraprastara in Madurai
Mani style with intricate mohra, the anulomam and pratilomam was executed
precisely without blemish. Vaidyanathan and Rajagopal played a vibrant tani.
Vinu on the violin was at his best.
6. Thursday 7th Oct., 2004
Master Balamuralikrishna had the same accompaniments
that of the previous day.
Ragas taken were the vivadi raga Chandrajyothi and
Chandrakauns, both being rare for RTP. The Chandrajyothi alapana was excellent
and the pallavi was in Khanda Jhampai chaturasra nadai in four kalai.
Balamurali is an accomplished mridangist and his guru is none other than
Karaikudi Mani and this helps him to maintain an unimpeachable laya sense. The
next raga Chandrakauns is not much popular. To explain in simple terms,
Chandrakauns is Hindolam with kakali nishadam. It is difficult to sing this
raga without occasional shades of Hindolam. But Balamurali had no difficulty
and unlike some others he sang Chandrakauns in Carnatic style of alapana. The
pallavi too was well executed in khanda Triputa. The whole concert was a
challenge to the accompaniments and they excelled. Young Vinu on the violin is
new to Chennai and is promising.
7. Friday 8th Oct., 2004
Sri. Mohan Santhanam was accompanied by T. K. Padmanabhan
on the Violin and Madipakkam Suresh on the Mridangam. He took up Vasantha and
Sivaranjani. He started with the popular varnam ‘Ninnukori’ in Vasantha. TRS
said that his Vasantha is free from an iota of panchamam mix as Vasanta is a
panchama varjya raga.The pallavi was in Adi Khanda nadai. The Sivaranjani raga
was well sung and the tanam in a orthodox style. The pallavi was in Misra
Triputa chaturasra nadai. The tani avarthanam by Suresh was remarkable.
8. Saturday 9th Oct., 2004
Smt. Pantula Ramaa
accompanied by her husband Sri. M. S.
N. Moorthy on the Violin and V. Ramanamoorthy on the mridangam. This was an all Andhra
Pradesh concert! Ramaa first sang one of Tyagaraja's kritis in Anandabhairavi
(Tyagaraja has
coined only two kritis in Anandabairavi), 'Niketeleyagale'. The ragas taken
for RTP were Anandabhairavi and Durga. She sang Anandabhairavi raga alapana
nicely in one go and adhered to the rule not to go below mandhara nishada. Her
occasional prayoga of kakali nishadam added flavour. After a brisk thanam
she took an intricate pallavi in Khanda Triputa with poorvangam in Tisra gathi
and uttarangam in chaturasra gathi. Nobody in this Pallavi Navaham had attempted a double nadai pallavi. Ramanamoorthy took the correct
edge to follow it with vibrant solkattus on mridangam. M. S. N. Moorthy too was
not lacking in competence. Next she took the raga Durga, a download from Hindustani style. It
is our Shuddhasaveri but the gamaka and karvai prayogams are different. After a
striking thanam she undertook the pallavi in Chaturasra Rupakam Khanda
Nadai
with a start at the second drutham. Both the RTPs were challenging. Late GNB
used to sing Durga pretty well. The taniavarthanam was one of the
best with sublime nadam. This pallavi concert of Ramaa was probably the best
of the series.
9.Sunday 10th Oct., 2004
There were two RTP concerts. The first one
was by the
veteran A. R. Kannan accompanied on the violin by Kalyani Sankar,
Mridangam by his son K. Ramakrishnan and Ghatam by Guruprasad. After the
Saveri varnam 'Sarasuda’, Kannan briefly sang Kanakangi and the kriti was 'Srigananatham'
of Tyagaraja, a rare piece. He then took up the rare raga, the
50th Mela raga, Namanarayani for RTP. This is the prathimadhymam equivalent of Vakulabharanam.
In simple terms, it is Panthuvarali with kaisiki nishadam. Though
this is not a vivadhi, it is rarely sung. There is only one krithi in this raga by
Dikshitar and he called this raga as Namadesi. The pallavi was in Tisra Jhampa
four kalai khanda nadai and the eduppu was at the drutam second beat. His
style was orthodox and he took us in time fifty years back. Smt. Kalyani
Sankar gave her best faultlessly.
The second
concert was by the Rudrapatnam Brothers, R. N. Tyagarajan and Dr. R. N. Taranathan, accompanied on the violin by M. S. N. Moorthy and on the
Mridangam by
Ramanamoorthy. They started with the rare varnam 'Pagavari' in Hamsadhvani
in Adi talam. Then they gave a detailed alapana in Hamsadhvani with Taranathan
singing the poorvangam and Tyagarajan the uttarangam. The tanam was well
built up. The pallavi was simple in Adi talam. The ragamalika swara singing
in ragas starting with the word Hamsa was interesting. They song Hamsabhramari, a
rare raga in which there are no compositions. The ragas sung in order were Hamsanandi, Hamsanadam, Hamsavinodini and Hamsabhramari. The second raga was
Manirangu elaborated by Taranathan. The tanam was short
and the pallavi was in Adi talam. M. S. N. Moorthy and Ramanamoorty had their
contribution in the elevation of this concert.
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