‘Carnatica Brothers’ K. N. Shashikiran and P. Ganesh, belonging to an impressive lineage of musicians (grandsons of legendary gottu vadyam player Narayana Iyengar), presented their concert on the ninth day of the 66th anniversary celebrations of Sri Sathguru Sangeetha Samajam in Madurai.
They were accompanied by Nagai R. Muralidharan on the violin, Srimushnam V. Raja Rao on the mrudangam and S. Karthick on the ghatam.
The brothers started off with a varnam, a composition of Swathi Tirunaal in Kamboji, set to Khanda Jathi Ata talam. This varnam set the tone for the evening. Their next selection, ‘Jaya jaya jaya jaanakikaanthaa’ in Nattai, by Purandara Dasar in praise of Rama, was in quick succession.
Tyagaraja’s ‘Cera ravademi’ in RItigaula came as their third choice. They sang ‘Pasupatisvaram pranaumi satatam,’ a kriti in praise of Lord Siva in Kathmandu in the amazing raga with a few compositions, Shubhapantuvarali. It is called Shivapantuvarali in Muthuswami Dikshithar school of Carnatic music. The song was preceded by a wonderful alapana in the ragam, touching salient features of the melody, and thoroughly enjoyed by the rasikas. There was high quality swarakalpanas in the song.
Composer Ramasamy Sivan’s , ‘Ekkalattilum maravene ini nane’ in Nata Kuranji, set to Rupakam, in which he promises the Lord of Thillai that “I shall not forget you at any time" was well received by the audience.
Muralidharan’s violin support was uniformly good and his raga and swara responses were interesting. Kalpana swarams of the brothers in Tyagaraja's ‘Varada navaneeta’ were appreciated with applause. The alternate singing allowed Sashi to explore the lower sancharas leaving the upper to Ganesh.
The tani by Raja Rao on the mrudangam and Karthick on the ghatam was outstanding.
As the audience preferred ‘thukkadas’ instead of RTP or long alapanas, the brothers sang ‘Ninaikkada neramillai Muruga’ by Madurai Somu in Bageshri; ‘Jagajjananee’ in Ratipatipriya by Ghanam Krishna Iyer; ‘Narahari Vesha’ in Surya (a rarely heard composition on Lord Narasimha), an attractive piece composed by Rukmini Ramani; ‘Rayane Guru Rayane’ on Saint Raghavendra; a thillana, ‘Va Muruga’ in Sivaranjani and a bhajan on Anjaneya.
Brief intros to the kritis helped audience to appreciate the music better. The mangalam was a remarkable song by Purandara Dasar, involving all the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu.
The 10-day celebration came to an end with a ‘sangeetha pattimandram’ moderated by Solomon Pappiah. The unique ‘pattimandram’ debated whether the artiste or audience important to uplift art. The moderator concluded that the audience were responsible for the survival of art.
S. Padmanabhan
