It's spring time and parks and gardens are a riot of colours in the Capital. Nature regenerates and everything is fresh and new. Flowers bloom and trees sprout new shoots. In the Nehru park, Chanakayapuri, rich music flowed too. T.N. Krishnan and Viji Krishnan presented an enthralling violin recital as part of the ‘Music in the Park' series under the aegis of Spic-Macay this past weekend.
Though it was a short duration concert of around an hour, Krishnan and Viji did showcase the finer aspects of classical Carnatic music before a cosmopolitan audience. The evergreen and popular composition of Muthuswami Dikshitar, “Vathapi Ganapatim” in the raga Hamsadhwani was their opening piece. They rendered this composition in a synchronised manner. Aided with two tanpuras and a sruti box, the music that emanated from their violin was sonorous and had a telling effect in the park. Swaraprastaras rich in creativity flowed towards the end of this composition.
The duo's next item was the central item of their recital, Tyagaraja's “Mokshamu galada” in the raga Saramati. The duo took turns as they proceeded to delineate the raga. It was quite an elaborate affair in which they brought out the complete features of this raga. They also presented this slow tempo composition well and finished this item, again, with elaborate swaraprastaras.
Able accompanists
Krishnan and Viji were ably assisted by Tiruvarur Bakthavatsalam on the mridangam and Vaikom Gopalakrishnan on the ghatam. Bakthavatsalam's mridangam support was graceful. The percussionists played a captivating tani avartanam (percussion solo) in Adi tala.
Veteran T.N. Krishnan has been presenting violin concerts for decades and has been composing, teaching and promoting Indian classical music all over the world. Viji Krishnan is his daughter and disciple.
To mark their 33rd year, Spic-Macay has organised Fest 2010, a festival of classical music and dance, folk, theatre, film classics, yoga, workshops, talks, crafts, holistic food and heritage walks, spread over three months in over 300 towns in India and abroad. The series has been dedicated to Ali Akbar Khan, D.K. Pattamal, Gangubai Hangal, Habib Tanvir, Vishnu Prabhakar, Tyeb Mehta, Dinkar Kaikini and Palaghat Raghu.
