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Hindustani treat for Kochi folks
NO MIRACLES came from the `rain man' this time. When showers poured on his Megh Malhar in his last concert in the city, a section of the media hailed him whereas the skeptics attributed the rains to the season. Whatever, Ramesh Narayanan has come a long way in his musical pursuits. His style has achieved clarity of sur and energy from the days he started giving public performances in the mid 90's.
His concert at the Kerala Fine Arts Society, held by the Kerala Sangeeta Nataka Akademi on the first day of the Swati Tirunal Sangeetotsavam was appeasing with variety and expression compared to the other Hindustani concert featured in the festival. The amalgamation of the opulent and classic elements characterises the Mewati gharana to which Ramesh Narayanan is a strict adherent. Clarity of diction and sur, the right choice of the compositions, command in all aspects of laya and interplay of notes with words to evoke the desired feeling are other features of this school. All these aspects contributing to a lyrical quality forms the quintessence of the Mewati gayaki. One and a half hours allotted to the concerts in the festival was quite binding on the artistes. In this context Ramesh chose a full hour for the delineation of Miya Malhar a raga found by Tansen, with a popular bandish, `Baba Tore Darshan'.
Quite a few bandishes are resplendent with lyrical quality in terms of ideas and imagery and this one was one such. Kareem Raheem says to a cuckoo, "the lord's grace shines on you through the clouds. It comes to you as the cymbal beats of an ascetic maiden." The alaap was elaborate but at times the singer failed to hit the high notes in the upper octave. Ramesh tried to familiarise the raga to the listeners by singing lines from film songs, composed in these ragas, like `Innenikku pottu kuttan'.
The sargam was brief and did not match up to the alaap. The harmonium or sarangi in a Hindustani concert occupies the same role as a violin in a Carnatic concert, but gets just a supporting role and less scope for improvisation unlike the latter. Hence, Kamalakar Seth on the harmonium failed to reach to the audience. Whereas Rajendra Nakod on the tabla was a charming experience in all the items even in the lighter numbers like mriganayanee which belongs to the tradition of Haveli sangeet, a genre popularised by Pandit Jasraj.
The second piece `Gopala lal' in the same tradition was in raga Adi Basanth set to Deep Chandi taal of fourteen beats. In this genre the mirth and play of Krishna and Radha is celebrated.
Ramesh's popular film song, `Parayan maranna paribhavangal' in Jog was quite differently interpreted by Hariharan, the playback singer of the song, as quoted by Ramesh himself. Ramesh's rendition hence was a totally different experience. And the last was Ramesh's obeisance to his guru Jasraj in the latter's composition, `Guru agya main nis din rahiye' in bhairavi. The audience, which had a mix of Carnatic and Hindustani enthusiasts, appeared contented with what they got.
The third day of the festival had the Gundecha brothers, Umakant and Ramakant, giving a Dhrupad concert accompanied by Akhilesh Gundecha on the Pakhwaj. The disciples of the illustrious Dagar brothers, the duo are torch bearers of a fading tradition.
Unlike in other Hindustani styles, Dhrupad pays reverence to the literature and clear rendition of the same. The Gundecha brothers have made attempts to ease out the constraints of the form and brought out more improvisations. The alaap of the main piece occupies the major portion of the concert. Malkauns was chosen for the main delineation. A composition in chautal with 12 beats `Jayati jayati sree ganesha' was sung.
The alaap had little to offer in terms of improvisation. When even Carnatic musicians sang very few Swati kritis during the festival, it was indeed noteworthy when the brothers broke into `Bhaja bhaja manasa' in Malkauns; the bhajan is otherwise sung in Sindhu Bhairavi in the Carnatic style. The duo faltered occasionally as they advanced to the second and third speeds.
Once again Malkauns was sung in `Shankara Girija pati'. Raag Durga found better response with the audience as the brothers sang `Adi parasakthy'. It concluded with `Shiva Shiva' in raga Atana.
HAREESH BAL
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