MMS2019-03 - Melodious soulful music - Vidwan Saketharaman at MFAC

Vidwan Saketharaman gave us a thorough musical treat on 20 December, 2019, at Mylapore Fine Arts Club (TAG-MFAC Auditorium). He was accompanied by Vidwan Nagai Muralidharan on violin (from whom he is continuing his learning now), Vidwan Trichy Harikumar on Mridangam and Vidwan K V Gopalakrishnan on the kanjira. As this is the first concert I am attending in this season at TAG-MFAC, I was happy to note the pleasing backdrop colour choice. Also, in this concert the audio seemed to have been set well by the engineers and artists, and volume was also set to reasonable medium level, instead of usual blaring speakers. This added to the serene quality of the two and half hours of brilliant exposition by the stalwarts.

Saketharaman began the concert with the nATTa kriti 'rE rE mAnasa bhajarE' composed by Shri Cheyyur Chengalvaraya Sastri, set to rUpaka tALam. This set the mood for the entire evening. If that was not enough to indicate, he quickly moved on to Thiruppavai portion 'Azhi mazhai kaNNA' in varALi rAgam (we won't mind the rain, more rain and rain again anytime in Chennai - so bring it on please).

Saketharaman and Team - AlApanai in progress

The first elaboration for the evening was khamAs. Though some may consider this as a lightish rAgam, both Saketharaman and Muralidharan brought out the various possibilities of this rAgam, especially with guidance of Dikshitar kritis. The Shri Muthuswami Dikshitar kriti 'santAna gOpAlakrishNam upAsmaHE' was sung in leisurely manner. These choices and those to come were all contributing to the tone for this concert. Another detail presentation of AlApanai followed, in the rAgam yadukula kAmbhOji. When Saketharaman had completed a good essay, Muralidharan took off and showed a few extra facets in his compact rendition. The Shri Subbaraya Sastri kriti in misra cApu tALam, 'ninnu sEvinci' was sung & played with aplomb.

At this time I have to mention that Harikumar and KVG played quite softly all through the concert, especially for khamAs and yadukula kAmbhOji kritis, beautifully aligning with the choices of songs as well as the mood of the concert. The volume for the percussions were also a tad lower than for vocal and violin - this also helped. Maybe many sabhas and auditoriums can learn from this setting. It was really soothing for the ears and the artists made it soothing for the soul. Saketharaman announced that he had learnt this kriti from Muralidharan - no wonder both worked in tandem to present this superb composition. A medium paced 'rAkA sashivadanA' in rAgam takka was presented next, after which he announced the rAgam and sang the ArOHanam-avarOHanam. Possibly he saw a few quizzical looks, which augurs well too, in the sense that not many are searching the internet on their mobile, but trying to figure on their own.

Then came the main item for the evening in bhairavi. After the first phrase, he seemed to be motivated into a higher level, that the gloves were off... eh, I mean he took off his spectacles. Maybe he wanted everything to just flow freely. Manodharma unfettered! This was followed by sari evvarammA of Shri Shyama Sastri in kanDa jAti jhampa tALam. The neraval and kalpanaswarams were followed by a brilliant tani avartanam by Harikumar and KVG, where lot of nuanced korvais were played (though I don't understand much), as thoroughly appreciated and enjoyed by all the 4 artists! The two also ensured that after 2 exchanges, they did not go into regular kuraippu exchanges, but played the closing laya vinyAsam together, before Saketharaman continued with repeat of caranam 1, followed by the svara sAHityam in two speeds. A complete rendition of bhairavi and combined with laya vinyAsam - total satisfaction.

Of course, this is not enough for us, right? Clock said we had 50 minutes to go - giving lot of comfort that a rAgam-tAnam-pallavi is definitely in store for us. He presented a short sArangA composition 'kaNmaNiyE shollaDi' of Shri Mazhavai Chidambara Bharati, before the spectacles came off again (to stay off till end of concert). The ghana rAgam Arabhi was chosen for the rAgam-tAnam-pallavi, the entire AlApanai for which was presented in one stretch. The tAnam was presented in four parts - after the first part in Arabhi, Saketharaman chose kANaDa and shubhapantuvarALi for the next two parts, before returning to Arabhi to close it. The pallavi was set to tisra jAti jhampa tALam in kanDa nadai - ArabhimAnam vaittAdarippAr angayarkanni. They made it look so simple! After singing in different gaits, Saketharaman started the kalpana swarams in rItigowLa, sUryA, and bAgEshri, before the final set in Arabhi. With all these variations & detail presentation, he still managed to finish it leaving time for couple of tukkaDAs.

The rAgamAlikai 'kaNNanai kANbadeppO' in HamsAnandi, nATTakurinji, shuddha dhanyAsi and AbhOgi was followed by the paras tillAnA before the mangaLam. Melodious music, good setting of acoustics, free flowing manOdharma, all 4 stalwarts - everything contributed to a very happy evening! Look forward to listening to them for many more years to come.

December Music Season 2018 - Tidbits - Part 2

(Few hits, but a lot more misses in this part) 

Vidushi Gayatri Girish

The season brings not only music, but our enjoyment of others’ behaviour in social encounters as well. Or suffer a sting, if we falter in sticking to the high expectations of the rasika fraternity these events.

Let me start with a heartening thing that we noticed. 6 or 8 or 10 year olds sitting on the dais, taking notes and more importantly keeping the tALam impeccably throughout the concert indicates that we can be assured a continued lineage of interest in Carnatic Music. The music will be handed down and carried forward with interest generation after generation, I am sure. See below picture from Shri Abhishek Raghuram's concert at Narada Gana Sabha. Someone had posted on FB, of a boy playing a phantom Mridangam, in the Music Academy, while seated behind the Mridangist.

Vidwan Sruthi Sagar Flute, Vidwan Abhishek Raghuram Vocal and Vidwam Anantha R Krishnan mridangam

The joyful season it is in Chennai. It is the time to dress up in choice attire, just like we do for an important function in the immediate family. Deck ourselves in neatly creased dresses, jewellery to match, other accoutrements that synchronize, etc. Having said this, I unfortunately did not notice anything significant to report. Somehow eyes and the brain of the beholder did not behold properly.

One of things I loved is that many artists attended others' concerts. Wait. Or was it always the norm - and only now I am able to identify a few artists in the crowd? Having attended very few concerts in first 15 years of this century, maybe I cannot come to conclusion - I would like to know the inputs from our fellow rasikas on this aspect.

Why not some change to attend some dramas, we thought. Dramas and dances are also on the cards for December season. We enjoyed a sparsely attended 3ji of Shri Y G Mahendran, and decently attended Crazy Premier League of Shri Crazy Mohan. The former probably does not see patronage due to a political stance being taken in this political-comedy. As the actor himself announces, comedy in politics and politics in comedy. The ideas as well as the comedy are good and we enjoyed (3ji). CPL was obviously a block-buster. However it makes us think about patronage to dramas. Isn't it cheaper to watch comedy dramas and even historic / fiction based dramas, rather than watch Television serials for free. Through TV people learn all the bad things about relationships, or get into depression with negativity, finally ending up paying hefty charges to A or C Hospital, don't they?

Official photographers and those with special permissions move around the concert hall, auditorium or sabhas to catch some outstanding freezes in time of the performers. It is only a minor irritant if they decide to do so conspicuously instead of by stealth. But here was an official photographer who decided to use the flash in all his clicks at the concert. In my opinion, it is a major disturbance to not only the rasikas, but also all the performers. I wonder whether he got a good set of choice words in his ear. I cannot know the results, if such an event occurred, as I did not go to that sabha again this season. I hope the artists can give their views as well. A regular reader of this series should be able to see a click of the photographer in one of the previous posts!

Vidwan Yazhpanam Balamurugan

Chamber concerts are definitely in a different league in terms of ambience. During the music season, there is added advantage of a slightly sparser crowd. We can have a seat with lot more freedom, relaxation (less cramped postures), and adds to intimacy with the music & the performance. Here is a click from a mesmerising smile of the co-performer (nagaswaram) of Yazhpanam Shri Balamurugan at Musiri Chamber, that I felt like including here. He played very well along with the maestro to lift the concert on that day (and earlier day at Sivagami Pethachi Auditorium).

Reading newspapers in some obscure corners of the auditorium is likely okay. The earlier report mentioned one person being admonished as he was reading it noisily in the second row of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. That was outclassed by this person in the first row of the Music Academy. He was reading a tabloid type newspaper - maybe a Mylapore Times or a T Nagar Talk. I wonder how it affects the musicians. Just because it is a free concert, can we do this in the front row, at the "Kailash" of Carnatic music?

Random question, triggered by the snow white top of Kailash. Shouldn't the rasikas of Shri Sanjay Subrahmanyan dress up in white on 1st January?

Vani Mahal concert of Vidwan Sanjay Subrahmanyan

With respect to canteens, which is the main topic for many, I did not sample much, nor have the expertise to provide reviews on that aspect. I may not notice even if someone missed adding salt to the sambhar at times. Snacks at Sivagami Pethachi auditorium and Mylapore Fine Arts club were the ones sampled. For the first time in my life added a lunch at a sabha canteen - this one at the Music Academy - enjoyed the banana leaf lunch of Pattappas! I plan to hold on to the promises by dear friends for the filter kapi - but likely will happen only in December 2019 - see you then.

Excellent concert of Vidwan Prasanna Venkatraman in MFAC

21 December, 2019, Friday

Accompanied by Vidushi H M Smitha on violin, Shri Manoj Siva on mridangam and Shri B S Purushothaman on kanjira

Having heard quite a bit about this artist, who is currently mentored by Sangitha Kalanidhi Sanjay Subrahmanyan, we decided to attend his concert at the Mylapore Fine Arts Club, TAG Auditorium. Shri Prasanna Venkatraman started the concert with a nice warmup rendition of the darbAr varnam, calamEla, a composition of Shri Thiruvottiyur Thyagayya. Shri Prasanna's voice was well settled right from the word go. He then took up the Shri Gopalakrishna Bharathi composition sivalOka nAtanai in mAyAmALavagowLa. He unfurled his vidwat in the neraval at 'arpa sugattai' and followed it up with very good kalpana swarams. Vidushi H M Smitha accompanied very well in both the neraval and kalpana swarams.

Prasanna Venkatraman and team in full flow

The first rAgam taken for detail exploration was udayaravicandrikA a.k.a. shuddha dhanyAsi (as known in the current trend). Shri Prasanna gave a very good sketch of the rAgam followed by Vidushi Smitha's nice follow-up. Saint Thyagaraja's statement of the eternal truth - 'How much ever one has learnt, whatever places one has visited and seen; every single man among them is still a slave to the one wearing bangles' - was the composition sung in this rAgam. Yes, it is enta nErcinA that was sung, followed by very brisk kalpana swarams. One tidbit about the translated version of this song in thamizh - Dr. M Balamuralikrishna has presented about 12 Saint Thyagaraja kritis in 2 CD set. This song's lines in that set, (enta nErcinA) in thamizh as sung by the Maestro are - ettanai kaRRALum ettanai kaNDAlum; attanai AnROrum aRangin adimayE.

kalAvati kamalAsana yuvati of Shri Muthuswami Dikshitar was the next item that Shri Prasanna sang, which we thought would be the filler before the main song. However, he sang another fast paced composition, vararAgalaya of Saint Thyagaraja in cenjukAmbhOji following the kalAvati song. Shri Prasanna took up mukhAri for the main fare of the evening. It was very well elaborated in a steady build up. He has a style of his own, but at one or two points, there was a bit of influence of Shri Sanjay's mannerism and some phrases. Vidushi Smitha also presented a melodious mukhAri after which kArubAru of Saint Thyagaraja was rendered in a relaxed speed. The kalpanaswarams in mukhAri were also well covered before a superb tani avarthanam. Both the stalwarts Shri Manoj Siva and Shri Purushothaman enjoyed the exchange, which was a nice treat to watch.

Shri Prasanna immediately took up a rAgam tAnam pallavi exposition in mOHanam. It is quite difficult to pack all these into two hours and fifteen minutes and hence the AlApanA was a nice crisp one from both him and the violinist. The tAnam was also a nice show of his voice and skill, followed by the pallavi 'kanaka sabEshA jagadIshA nataNa prakAshA' set to Kandajati Triputa Talam in tisra naDai. He sang kalpanaswarams in HindOLam, nATTakurinji and bEHag.

The final song rendered was composition of Kanakadasa 'bArO krishnayyA' in a rAgamAlikA beginning with mAnD rAgam. A flawless concert we enjoyed.

If one were to point out any shortcoming, we can say that there was not enough neraval on the mOHanam pallavi. Maybe that could not be fit into the short time, but in my opinion neraval can be given priority over rAgamAlikA kalpanaswarams. Shri T N Seshagopalan, in his lecture demonstration on Pallavis at the Pallavi Darbar of 2018, had mentioned that the most important part of a good rAgam tAnam pallavi is the extended neraval on the pallavi. I agree with this thought, and hence hope that all artists give more weightage to the neraval. They can trim other parts of RTP when their is paucity of time.

Shri Prasanna Venkatraman has a very good voice and superb control over it. We will definitely show our patronage to his concerts as it is very much worth enjoying his good music.