R ajhesh Vaidhya ’s veena recital was an orchestral ensemble of percussion instruments to be precise. Today, when every instrument player is searching for an offbeat technique to draw the attention of the audience, Vaidhya has decided to make his veena adaptable to rhythm rather than melody.
He began with a sloka in praise of the Kanchi Saint followed by a musical offering composed by him and his percussion band in Karna Ranjani. The main item in Kalyani, which was also his creation, was prefaced by a formal ragam and tanam. There were some well known kritis such as ‘Sudha Mayi’ in Amritavarshini with a bunch of striking swaras, ‘Telisirama’ in Poornachandrika and the flashy ‘Raguvamsa Sudha’ in Kathanakuthoohalam. Vaidhya proved to be a wizard with his instrument and made it dance to his tunes. His creations were fancy and stylish, with strong touches from the light music genre.
Though some parts turned out to be a bit noisy, most of the presentation was not too raucous or jarring notwithstanding the fact that the foundation was more on pulsating patterns. He was supported by Mohanraman on the mridangam, Chandrajit on the tabla, Karthik on the keyboard, Sai Hari on the ghatam, Paramasivam on the ganjira and Subramaniam on special effects. The tail-end of the concert constituted popular kritis including ‘Jagadoddharana’, ‘Maitreem Bhaja’, ‘Chinnanjiru Kiliye’ and a clamorous closing number in Suddha Dhanyasi. His associates were quite alert, active and adept in their performances but Rajesh Vaidhya led the band.
T.V. SANKARA NARAYANAN ’s concert was suffused with robustness typical of masculinity. He was supported on the vocals by his son Mahadevan.
A varied choice of kritis authored by different composers created an interesting brew. Though TVS kept the tempo of the concert in absolute control and in full spirit, it did not undermine the quality or the bhava aspect of the presentations.
The recital included ‘Guruvayoorappa' in Chakravaham by Papanasam Sivan, ‘Enthavedukondhu’ in Saraswatimanohari and ‘Koluvaiyunnade’ in Bhairavi, both by Tyagaraja. Among these three, the swara section of Chakravaham, handled by Mahadevan, was appealing. After the initial swara exchanges between the father and the son, the final part was carried by him. His ascends, descends, kuraippus and final korvai of swaras were done with grace and dexterity. Mahadevan, therefore, was not just a vocal support but enjoyed a fair share in the niraval and the swaras of the main items. He showcased his approach with youthful ingenuity and at the same time, took care not to tread on his father’s toes.
In ‘Enthavedu,’ Sankaranarayanan introduced a cascade of swara combines on ‘Chintatheerchuda’ which was, indeed, his forte. His Bhairavi’s alapana explored the depth of the raga and it was amazing to hear the veteran scale the upper region excursions with ease and perfection.
There were refreshing inclusions like ‘Pranathosmi Devam’ in Nattai, (Thulaseevanam), ‘Yochana’ in Darbar (Tyagaraja), ‘Mantrabalam Adainthaen’ in Hamsanadham (Madurai T. Srinivasan) and ‘Sarasamukhi’ in Gowdamalhar (Muthiah Bhagavatar).
In fact, Sankaranarayanan dominated the concert and H.N. Bhaskar on the violin followed him deftly. R.Ramesh on the mridangam and Madipakkam Gopalakrishnan on the ganjira extended commendable support to the veteran musician.
It has to be accepted that artists, at times, perform for self fulfilment.
SANGEETHA SIVAKUMAR'S concert looked as if it belonged to that category. If one looked at the ragas and kritis rendered by her individually, they were fine. But, as a collective concert list, they sounded languorous. The opening kriti was ‘Nadhupai’ (Tyagaraja) in Madhyamavati with a niraval at ‘Aajanubahu’. This was followed by Dikshitar’s ‘Cheta Sri Balasubramaniam’ in Dwijavanti which was rendered at a leisurely pace.
The Lathangi raga exposition came as an energiser and Sangeetha infused liveliness through ‘Aparadhamula’ (Patnam Subramania Iyer), adding sprightly kalpanaswaras on ‘Jaaguseyaka.’ The tempo slumbered into the detailed expansion of Bhairavi. Well, no complaints; Sangeetha scrupulously explored the nuances. The choice of kriti was Syama Sastri’s ‘Kamakshi Amba’ swarajati. Here, as a part of the swara sahitya, R.K. Shriramkumar, on the violin, played the swaras and Sangeetha rendered the sahitya. Thereafter, she picked up momentum and attempted aa tame swaraprastara at ‘Paavanikatha’. With due respect to Sangeetha Sivakumar’s vidwat, adding swara sequences to this swarajati is akin to embellishing Goddess Kamakshi with more insignificant ornaments. Is it not preposterous?
Perhaps, Sangeetha wanted to replace the fast-and slow-style ennui by opting for another mode of tedium or the idea was to keep the audience consistently in a serene state. Whatever was her objective, she was skilfully supported by R. K Shriramkumar on the violin, Manoj Siva on the mridangam and Chandrasekara Sarma on the ghatam, almost in the same tenor.
