Veteran vocalist and octogenarian R K Srikantan
provided music lovers of San Diego the wonderful privilege
of hearing him on May 31, 2003. His
reputation from earlier performances during this tour had preceded him, and
there was a huge turnout at the temple hall to witness this master
perform. Nobody was disappointed in the least. Right from the first piece
to the last, the audience sat through, thoroughly savoring every
moment and saving memories.
Sri R K Srikantan, accompanied by his son R S Ramakanth (vocal support), Anuradha Sridhar (violin) and Sriram
Brahmanandam (mridangam) rendered an all-Purandaradasa concert. Even the
cynics who entertained doubts about how an all-Purandaradasa would be, as
opposed to a regular concert with the usual popular mix of compositions,
left feeling that the concert was a top-notch success. The compositions
were mostly familiar ones, with a few rare ones thrown in now and then.
Some of the known songs like Gajavadana beduve (Dhanyasi) and
Innudaya barade (Kalyani) were also rendered in Srikantan's own tunes,
the reasoning being that Purandaradasa had used only 32 ragas that were
known in his times. Since the original tunes are anyway unavailable to us
now, Srikantan has made an attempt to tune them in the ragas indicated in
older sources.
This write-up is not a review, but only a
young musician's perspective of a veteran in action. One noticed several
things before and during the concert. He was at the venue well
ahead of time, and ready to start on the dot. He was by then totally
focused on the task ahead. This being an exclusively Purandaradasa
concert, he had planned the concert to the last detail. That showed
immense dedication and respect to the art and to the composer, especially
in a day when most musicians like to claim that they sing spontaneously,
without much planning. Srikantan didn't hide the fact that he had planned
the concert. His concert list was written down neatly on a piece of paper,
which he referred to after every song. At the same time, manodharma
aspects of the concert were rendered with great verve, abandon and creativity. The neravals in Vasanta (Kodu bega divya mati) and Kalyani were
especially soulful and brought tears to one's eyes. Also touching was the
fact that he took care to sing every charana in each song.
Sri. Srikantan didn't seem to need any time
to warm up nor did he tire down towards the end. He was in full flow all
through and sounded absolutely fresh. In fact, for the first 2 1/2 hours
of the concert, he didn't even take a sip of water!
It was apparent that throughout the concert
that
his attention was totally fixed on the music, the applause and audience
excitement being merely incidental to his perception. This is the stage
where every good musician secretly aspires to be. It was also obvious that
he was in complete control of his voice and mentally ripe to deliver
whatever he conceived of. This in turn freed him to enjoy every note and
every word that he sang. Instead of showing off his virtuosity, Srikantan
chose to use his skills and experience to present pristine emotive music
with an enviable sense of balance and proportion. That he accomplished it
without much ado is worthy of emulation. There was no need for a listener
to make concessions for his age. Nor did he try to exploit that fact at
any point of time. This total honesty and sincerity to the art was indeed
very moving. |
Purandaradasa. The Bhajana for the
unchavritti was led by Ramakanth. Following this, Smt. Alamelu Iyengar, a
pillar of the Kannadiga community in California, spoke very highly of Srikantan and presented a detailed talk on Purandaradasa's works
as well.
Kiranavali Vidyasankar
Date: June 4, 2003 |