Music in memory

By broadcasting concert recordings of the late Carnatic vocalist R.K. Srikantan who passed away recently, All India Radio made a fitting gesture.

February 27, 2014 04:29 pm | Updated May 18, 2016 11:09 am IST

Rudrapatna Krishna Sastry Srikantan popularly known as R.K. Srikantan, a vocalist considered a doyen of Carnatic music, passed away on February 17. He was 94. Born on January 14, 1920, at Rudrapatna village in Hassan district of Karnataka, Srikantan belonged to a ‘Sanketi’ family steeped in music and Veda, and his three elder brothers too were performers during their time. Though his father and brother were his initial tutors, Srikantan evolved a style of his own over the years. Blessed with a resonant and energetic voice, Srikantan was a follower of a chaste tradition. He received several awards and honours, including the Padma Bhushan, the Sangeet Natak Academy Award and the Sangeetha Kalanidhi of The Music Academy, Chennai.

In a thoughtful as well as quick gesture, All India Radio took out the veteran’s recordings from their archives and broadcast these in their National Programme last Sunday. These recordings were earlier broadcast in 1993. In the recordings that lasted for an hour and a half, Srikantan begins with a Swati Tirunal composition, “Pahi taraka” in raga Jaganmohini. One does not come across many musicians who take up kalpanaswaras in this rare raga in which not many songs are known to have been composed. But Srikantan sings the kalpanaswaras in this raga, rather effortlessly. He then renders aesthetically Muttuswami Dikshitar’s “Diwakaratanujam” in raga Yadukulakamboji. Srikantan then takes up two kritis of Tyagaraja, one in aSuddha Madhyama raga and the other in a Prati Madhyama raga for detailed rendition. His renderings of “Koluvamaregada” in raga Todi and “Bhajana seyave manasa” in raga Kalyani are a treat. While in the former song, the raga alapana, neraval and kalpana swaras are elaborate; in the latter the raga alapana is brief. After singing an emotive Devarnama in raga Sindhubhairavi, Srikantan concludes with a tillana in raga Suruti. S. Seshagiri Rao on the violin, Palghat R. Raghu on the mridangam and M.A. Krishnamurthy on the ghatam provides their support to Srikantan in the recordings.

Homage to Saint Tyagaraja

The legendary composer Saint Tyagaraja occupies the mindspace of Delhi’s Carnatic musicians, students, devotees, admirers of the art and also organisers. “Tyagaraja Aradhana” festivals — events to pay homage to Saint Tyagaraja have been taking place continuously weekend after weekend in different parts of the Capital and satellite towns. The festivity is not yet over, but slated till early next month. At most places it has been heartening to see not only young students of music being given platforms to sing a few kritis of the composer, but also to see these students singing admirably well. These homage festivals invariably culminate with group singing of Tyagaraja’s Pancharatna kritis. Another noteworthy feature that has emerged in the Capital in recent years is that a large number of students are being trained by Delhi-based gurus to sing the pancharatna kritis in a synchronised manner. Notable among these gurus are Dr. Vasanthi Krishna Rao and Chitra Gopalan.

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