Every concert is a conversation between the artiste and the audience. This is stating the obvious. What is less conspicuous perhaps is the influence of a host of other factors on the performance. The devotional essence of compositions is a given in the Carnatic genre . It thus stands to reason that artistes should be guided in their selection of songs by the religious significance of the day and month, or other similar factors.
A case in point was the choice of at least two kritis in the performance of Amruta Sankaranarayanan, daughter and disciple of veteran musician T.V. Sankaranarayanan. The venue of the event, sponsored by Chennai Cultural Academy Trust, was the Rama Rao Kala Mandap on Habibullah Road. Adjacent to the auditorium stands the Moolaprakrutiyamman Koil. And the artiste spontaneously launched into ‘Sridum Durge,’ in Sriranjani, for the second kriti in her engaging 90-minute performance. The opener was the customary invocation, ‘Karunai seivay Gajarajamukha,’ in raga Hamsadhwani. The improvisations appended to both these kritis, as it turned out, set the pattern for the rest of the morning’s recital.
Omission risk
Harikesanallur Muthaiah Bhagavatar’s ‘Valli Nayaka nive,’ in Shanmukhapriya, was an early encounter with a pratimadhyama scale. I have always wondered whether artistes ran the risk of omitting the charanam when they sang a niraval in the anupallavi. Amruta’s answer from the stage was as though to say that musicians ought to be credited with a greater presence of mind than was implied in the question.
At the end of a beautiful essay of Sankarabharanam by the vocalist and her violin accompaniment, there was a moment of anticipation over the kriti that was to follow. Could it be a Tyagaraja? It was and ‘Enduku peddala,’ was a lovely presentation, the artiste reaching for the upper panchamam at least on a couple of occasions. The niraval in this instance was in the charanam. ‘Veda sastra purana tatvarthamu telisi,’ is as perfect a line to pick for the exercise and the melodic spells flowed with ease and control.
Madurai Mani bani
‘Sevikka vendum ayya’ was a lilting number and the musicians from the Madurai Mani lineage make it sound every bit more enjoyable. The next song, ‘Pahi Rama dhoota Jagadpranakumara,’ in the 46th melakarta raga Shadvidamargini was the other piece that again could have been prompted by Anjaneya in the temple nearby.
The concluding song was Annamacharya’s ‘Ni namame maku nidhiyu nidanamu.’ Pappu Gyandev on the violin pitched in for S.P. Ananthapadmanabha and Kumbakonam Swaminathan on the mridangam presentated an enjoyable solo percussion.
