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Well-crafted Kalyani
N. C. Soundaravalli... Valaji well-delineated.
THERE IS a consistency in his commitment to convention and improvisation without offending sampradaya. That is Neyveli R. Santhanagopalan, who sang for the Indian Fine Arts Society on December 24 in its 69th SIMCF held at German Hall, in T. Nagar. Among over half a dozen kritis he rendered, Tyagaraja occupied a major portion. ``Saadinchene'', a ganapancharatna gem in Aarabhi and ``Enthuku Peddalavala'' in Sankarabharanam stood out paradigmatic of the poetic grandeur of the former, truly reflected in the rendition and the Saint's own acknowledgement of his understanding of the mysteries of Naadha Vidya. The brief alapana of Sankarabharanam brought out the finer points of the raga. Bangalore Balu Raghuraman presented a lucid picture of Hindolam (``Samaja Varagamana'') and Sankarabharanam. The veteran Thanjavur T. K. Murthy sang with his hands on the mridangam, including a refreshing tani. For health reasons, he had an additional mridangist, B. Sivaraman, who also did well.
An engaging alapana of Kalyani for Tharangambadi Panchanatha Aiyar's kriti, ``Birana Brova Iti'', now in eclipse, in tisra nadai, gave N. C. Soundaravalli her well-merited appreciation from her listeners. Her description of Valaji was a well-grounded appraisal of the properties of the raga. The keertana that followed was ``Jaalandhara'', of Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavatar. Earlier, she rendered Tyagaraja's ``Melukoviah'', in Bowli, rounded off with an elaborate session of neraval and swara contributions on ``Bhavaroha Nivarini...'', in which words came revolving and swaras rolled by V. L. Kumar gave a picturesque analysis of Valaji and Kalyani, on the violin. Neyveli Skandasubramaniam (mridangam) and Adambakkam K. Sankar (ghatam) extended substantial rhythmic support.
``Kalikiyuntegatha'' (Tyagaraja) in Keeravani gave an opportunity to Prasath Venkataraman to offer himself as a candidate for consideration. Though there was nothing flashy about him, he proceeded on the path laid by tradition, marking his steps methodically. He also rendered two of Papanasam Sivan's creations, ``Nee Irangaayenil'' (Atana) and ``Saravanabhava Guhane'' (Kannada) and one of Dikshitar (``Paahi Maam'') in Mohanam. Tiruvallur Parthasarathy gave a good account of Keeravani and Mohanam on the violin. Nagai S. Narayanan was good on the mridangam.
Sage Narada occupied a special place in the life of Tyagaraja and the Saint has rendered a few keertanas on the sage. One of them, ``Sri Narada Naatha'', in Kanada found a place in K. J. Yesudas's performance on December 25.
A full house witnessed him depicting the raga earlier and dwelt on the intricacies of Suryakanti later for ``Muddumomu'', also of Tyagaraja.
The battery of accompanists — Nagai R. Muralidharan (violin), Tiruvarur Bhaktavatsalam (mridangam) and Tripunithura M. Radhakrishnan (ghatam) were content to go by the book in their specific areas with unremitting attention to details within metes and bounds.
The splendour of Rama Rajya, as pictured by Tyagaraja in his famed Mukhari kriti, ``Kaarubhaaru'', not bestowed much attention on, was well presented by Bombay Sisters, Lalitha and Saroja in their concert on December 26. Saroja's short, but substantive explanation of this bhashanga rakhto raga in the earlier part of their programme was well received. A fairly enlarged exposition of Pantuvarali by Lalitha got its contours definitely defined. Swati Tirunal's ``Saaraksaksha Paripalaya Maam''in Pantuvarali was sung by both in an inspiring manner. The neraval and swaraprastaras on ``Paalaya Mohana Padmanabha'' were competently handled. Arjun Kumar (mridangam) and N. Govindarajan (ghatam) made the rhythmic session quite enjoyable. H. N. Bhaskaran's description of Mukhari and Pantuvarali was pedestrian, but passable, as he could not match the standard of the main artistes.
Fluent expression
Iyer Brothers' veena duet (3.15 p.m. slot) was a study in synchronised harmony. There was no separate compartmentalised version: One starts and the other takes over after a while. Their conceptualised expression of Kalyani was just fulgent. They played Gopalakrishna Bharati's ``Sabhapathikku'' in Abhogi, with swara avatis on the pallavi line, Tyagaraja's ``Nagumomu'' in Mohanam and a brief in Karaharapriya after raga vinyasam.
The percussive assistance was in charge of Calcutta K. Mohan (mridangam) and Pudukkottai N. Ramachandran (ghatam), who gave of their best without reservation.
Measured blow of air through an orifice near the upper end of the flute produces melodic sound which is converted into musical notes of varying intensity.
And S. Shashank, the young flautist, blew to an appreciative gathering on December 27. Starting with a short sketch of Revagupti, he played ``Gopalaka'' of Maharaja Swati Thirunal. A calculated calibration of Purvikalyani preceded ragam, taanam and pallavi.
After a next presentation of ``Dharma Saravane'' by Purandara Dasa, in Durga, he wound up with the Sindubhairavi piece, ``Chandrasekhara'' by Ana Vaidyanathan, a composer not widely known.
The battery of accompanists going with him comprised B. V. Ganesh Prasad (violin), P. Satishkumar (mridangam), S. Karthick (ghatam) and Mysore Gururaj (morsing), who kept up the tempo of the programme till the end.
Wide repetoire marked the veena performance of Shanti Rao, of Bangalore, later. Beginning with the Ata tala varnam of Swati Tirunal, in Sankarabharanam, she concluded her exercise with a tillana in Dhanasri, of the same composer. ``Anudinamunu'' (Begada - Patnam Subramania Aiyar), ``Ksheera Saagara Sayana'' Devagandhari - Tyagaraja) and ``Brochevaarevaru'' (Khamas, Mysore Vasudevachar) commanded the attention of the listeners.
The way she worked the frets fixed across board to form interlaced designs was noteworthy. Shanti Rao was accompanied on the veena by Saraswati Viswanathan, who was screened by the ghatam vidwan Tiruchi Murali, who, with Thanjavur R. Kumar, however, contributed to a fairly high level of rhythmic delight.
TPR
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