Earnest effort

Despite many distractions, the music of Sajeev touched a chord.

December 27, 2012 07:05 pm | Updated June 15, 2016 01:03 pm IST

Chennai,20/12/12: C.S.Sajeev performing vocal concet at Anantapadmanabhaswamy temple in Chennai on Thursday.Photo: R_Vetri

Chennai,20/12/12: C.S.Sajeev performing vocal concet at Anantapadmanabhaswamy temple in Chennai on Thursday.Photo: R_Vetri

It was a different atmosphere at the concert of C. S. Sajeev at Sri Kanchi Mahaswamy Ananda Mantapam, Adyar. There were nine people on stage -- two mridangam artists, two disciples (?) sitting behind the vocalist, two others behind the violinist, and another person behind the mridangam artists.

The audience just walked in casually, greeted each other, exchanged pleasantries, and gesticulated to friends across the hall and also to those on the dais. The sound of the generator could be heard in the background. The mridangam volume was too high, so much so, the sahitya was undecipherable most of the time unless you knew the kriti, and the violin notes were completed drowned.

Notwithstanding all this, Sajeev began earnestly with ‘Chalamela,’ the padavarnam in Nattakurinji, sans the sahitya for charana swaras. This was followed by ‘Maha Ganapathim’ in Nattai with a several rounds of brisk kalpanaswaras and Swati Tirunal’s ‘Jaya Jaya Padmanabhanujesa’ in Manirangu.

The alapana of Anandabhairavi was presented in the tempo that’s suited for that raga. The hitherto inaudible violin of M. Chandrasekharan, the senior artist, could be heard only during his versions of the raga alapana, which were pure.

Dikshitar’s ‘Tyagaraja Yoga Vaibhavam’ was presented well. A fast paced ‘Bantu Riti Kolu’ in Hamsanadam, and ‘Rama Bhakti’ in Suddha Bangala with a short essay of the raga and kalpanaswaras, came in quick succession. A well structured Pantuvarali alapana was followed by ‘Sarame Gani’ with a few avartanams of kalpanaswara.

The main raga Khambodi was elaborate, presented in an unhurried fashion without any gimmick. ‘O Rangasayee’ was rendered flawlessly, with the only niraval of the whole concert at ‘Bhuloka Vaikuntam’; the kalpanaswaras were devoid of the much rehearsed theermanam.

Guruvayoor Dorai (mridangam) tried to give different arudis every time. The thani was a noisy affair, with both the mridangam artists, Dorai and Uzhavur K. Babu, playing with matching vigour. The tail-end pieces included ‘Alarsara Paritapam’ in Suratti and ‘Om Namo Narayana’ in Karnaranjani.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.