The screen went up and there was K.J. Yesudas dressed in impeccable white with his constant companion, the laptop that aids him with lyrics. He has no problem with it unlike some singers who try to be discreet about the bunch of notes tucked under the sruti box. He was in a buoyant mood as evidenced by his jokes on traffic jam that had caused the delay and about his kurta.
Listening to Yesudas, one cannot help being amazed by his repertoire that has expanded over the years and that includes some rare kritis.
Each of his new albums is a huge hit among his rasikas. Besides there is a magic in his voice that draws a full house every time he performs.
Mind occupied with these thoughts, this writer settled down to another concert of Yesudas and was not disappointed. After a grand start with the Kalyani varnam, he presented Preyasi, a rare raga of Chala Nattai janyam. At times he broke into swara phrases during the alapana, daring an ever smiling S.R. Mahadeva Sarma on the violin to repeat it. ‘Varamarulvai Vinayakaa’ helped him interpret the raga further during the kalpanaswara segment. It was effective too. A viruttam praising the guru in Ritigowla led to Oothukadu’s ‘Enna Punniyam Seidheno.’
‘Sree Pathey’ in Nagaswarali and ‘O Jagadamba’ (Anandabhairavi) at contrasting speeds lent colour to the concert. Sarasangi (‘Jaya Jaya Padmanabha’) raga essay saw Yesudas traversing down to mandara sthayi shadjam and the silent moments at this phase were meditative. The swara garland that he offered was more on a freestyle without any clichés in rhythm for this Swati Tirunal kriti. The anupallavi of ‘Mokshamu Galada’ was especially captivating. Close on its heels came ‘Varanaradha Narayana’ and ‘Telisi Ramachandra.’ A threesome Tyagaraja fare was enjoyable. A good 85 minutes gone and nine kritis were rendered all with telling effect. Is this packaging also a reason for the sustained interest of the rasikas? The Natakapriya alapana conjured up a clear vision of the raga. K.V. Prasad (mridangam) and Vaikkom Gopalakrishnan (ghatam) joined the vocalist to present an enchanting tanam. Mahadeva Sarma’s replies claimed attention.
Yesudas, midway through the pallavi execution, paused when he found Sarma trying to reach samam. He announced that once upon a time he too was averse to pallavis and arithmetic in music but changed his attitude after Pallavi Narasimhachariar taught him many pallavis and insisted that it should form part of every concert of his. Yesudas’s reverence for him was evident.
The swara segment again was an exhibition of youthful energy from this 75-year-old singer. An inspired Prasad and Vaikkom went on to produce a thani with brilliant rhythmic phrases. Two hours and twenty minutes had passed by.
And the next one hour he dedicated to his die-hard fans by singing almost all of their requests that included many of his devotional hits – ‘Kuzhaloodum,’ ‘Tirupaarkadalil,’ ‘Nerungi Nerungi,’ ‘Chalo Manu,’ ‘Enna Varam’ and ‘Harivarasanam’ – to name a few. He interspersed these songs with humourous exchanges with his rasikas.
Three hours past, his rasikas were still glued to their seats wanting more.
