The programme aptly titled ‘Mukti –Voicing Freedom, a centenary tribute to M.S.Subbulakshmi, was a class apart. What an offering to the ‘Nightingale of India’ whose voice continues to enchant both the learned and uninitiated! The ambience at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, , Mylapore, Chennai, was inspiring with two lamps on stage decorated with flowers depicting the Indian tricolour and a silk sari forming the backdrop. And topping it was N. Vijay Siva’s concert interspersed with interesting narrations by Gowri Ramnarayan.
A consistent performer, he took the rasikas through a meditative journey. Gowri’s brief notes sounded musical, and her brilliant expressions added colour. It was interesting to know that MS stuck only to Tamizh kritis during her concerts in the early 1940s, for about five years, as part of the Tamizh Isai movement. Even during that period, she did not omit either Tyagaraja, who was closest to her heart, or Dikshitar and Syama Sastri, whose kritis she would sing at home in the morning. Her repertoire of the saint-poet’s kritis is well-known.
Vijay Siva’s Hamsanadham alapana was dignified. Niraval at ‘Ramanamamaney’ of the anu charanam of ‘Bantureethi’ (Tyagaraja) gave scope for the singer to delve deeper into the raga with elongated notes. It was interesting to note that the gurus of all the three accompanists that morning had accompanied M.S. in several of her concerts; Amritha Murali (Guru -T. Rukmini), J. Vaidyanathan (T.K. Murthy) and Anirudh Athreya (V. Nagarajan).
M.S. considered Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer as her guru but he was not willing to accept that status considering the fact that she was already a star. Gowri informed the audience that M.S. did learn from him the importance of musicianship, patanthara suddham, kalpana swaras and kala pramana. Semmangudi was her role model in all aspects of classicism.
He had openly praised the swarasthana suddham of M.S. and had said that she should be preferred over him to present the mela ragamalika varnam. M.S. often played the veena when Semmangudi sang at home.
Siva’s essay of Todi included phrases centred on the panchamam. He must have been inspired by Gowri’s anecdote about Semmangudi’s mentioning the importance of panchamam in that raga.
Gems of phrases with symmetrical step notes marked his alapana. Amritha Murali who has carved a niche as a violinist toed Siva’s line to keep the mood intact. Clean bowing gave the added impetus. And what followed was the brilliant swara jati of Syama Sastri, ‘Raavay Himagiri Kumari Kanchi Kamakshi’ movingly sung by Siva. Vaidyanathan’s crisp tekkas, pauses at poignant moments added to the mood.
Vijay breaking into tara sthayi at times with his disciples in the lower and normal registers re-captured moments of M.S.’s concerts when she, along with her daughter, Radha Viswanathan, would create that effect by singing at different octaves. This was followed by Swati Tirunal’s Kuntalavarali kriti ‘Bhogindra Sayinam’ popularised by M.S.
Gowri described how Sankarabharanam was M.S.’s favourite and how she mastered the raga by learning more than 10 kritis by different composers in it. She did not dilute the raga even a bit when she presented it to the audience abroad, be it U.N. or London.
The Sankarabharanam raga sketch that followed showcased Vijay’s aesthetic impulses. His distinctively assertive style of singing was an exhibition of raga gnanam. Spirited replies from Amritha then led to the highly ornamented ‘Akshaya Linga Vibho’ that was further embellished with niraval in ‘Badari Vanamula.’
He sang it with élan and the kalpanaswaras sans any mathematics was a further exploration of the raga in rhythmic fashion. Vaidyanathan and Anirudh Athreya collaborated intelligently to present a thani that went well with the mood of the concert.
Gowri mentioned M.S.’s apprehension in learning the padams from T. Brinda. Although, she did learn from her she never sang them often in her concerts. On the occasion of Brinda’s 80th birthday celebrations Subbulakshmi presented the padam, ‘Kuvalayakshiro.’ A half smile from Brinda was all that she received as an acknowledgement and that was enough for M.S. The same was presented by Vijay Siva.
A special mention must be made about the camaraderie that existed on stage throughout. Kalki’s Vennila Kanni in praise of Bharati, Meera bhajan, Annamalai Reddiar’s kavadi chindu and ‘Maithreem Bhajatha’ were the other pieces. On the whole, it was a sublime experience quite like the concerts of M.S. Subbulakshmi.
