Artists have to be prepared to make compromises when they perform at temples these days. Ambivalent devotees and make-shift audio systems have to be accepted as limitations. Such thoughts occurred while listening to the saxophone concert of Kadri Gopalnath on the first day of the Vidayatri Utsava music series at the Arulmigu Parthasarathy Swami Temple, Tiruvallikeni. The concert was held in the presence of the aesthetically decorated Utsava moorthy in the nearby mandapam.
Kadri can make the masses swoon over his gymnastics on the sax and at the same time beguile the connoisseur with his impeccable understanding of the Carnatic idiom. He always forms a formidable alliance with violinist A. Kanyakumari and they enthral the audience thoroughly with their extravagant musical excursions.
That day, Kadri opened with the Kalyani raga composition, ‘Vasudevayani' which had a few powerful strokes; the swara section was an extended exchange between the sax and the violin. Tyagaraja's ‘Ganamurthe' in Ganamurthi was sober and so was the Sriraga Pancharatnam, ‘Endaro Mahanubavulu.'
Dramatic finale
For Kalyana Vasantham and ‘Nadaloludai,' both Kadri and Kanyakumari played complex swaras, extended them beyond their tensile strength, dissected them into mini and micro bits and collated them in all possible permutations and combinations, leading to a dramatic finale. The success was a resounding applause, and the casualty was melody.
Later, the main slot went for Mohanam and ‘Mohana Rama' of Tyagaraja. Kanyakumari effortlessly traversed through the nuances, both the raga and swara segments matching Gopalnath's intelligence and idiosyncrasy.
The percussionists were slightly different from the regular combination -- Rajkumar on the thavil, Rajendra Nakod on the tabla and Rajasekar on the morsing. Luckily, they maintained restraint through the major part of the concert.
In spite of all this, the audio was fortunately not an assault on the senses and the decibel levels (if not close to the amplifiers) were of acceptable limit. It is wise to induct solemnity at least in temple concerts where devotion needs to be the central aspect rather than showmanship. So, why not dispense with the audio for such sound instrumental music? After all, the main listener, Lord Parthasarathy was seated quite close.
