Mohan Santhanam made his point. The alapana for Janaranjani showed his hard work and his choice of the less-sung Syama Sastri's ‘Nannu Brova Radha Amba-O-Jagadhambha,' signalled that he combined both boldness and industry. That applied to his search-and-sing choice that fell on ‘Igame Sugam Tharum Shanmugham' (Koteeswara Iyer, Gamanasrama) and Gopalakrishna Bharati's ‘Arivudaiyor' in Chakravakam. Internalising these songs from rarely available past renderings, demands close and unwavering attention. Mohan definitely possessed an abiding interest in this area and had focussed well. The niraval at ‘Shyama Krishna Sahodhari Omkari' (charanam of the Janaranjani number) was also detailed enough and sustained the tempo this song was built around.
The morning session's main raga Bhairavi (‘Balagopala', Dikshitar) did not see Mohan at his exceptional best, though it was “neatly executed.” The satisfying and exhaustive Janaranjani had possibly consumed his energy and imagination. Mohan's return to the aadhara shadjamam and its higher octave after a round of swaras or alapana phrases carried with it an element of uncertainty and hence inched towards misalignment of sruti.
Mysore Srikanth on the violin accepted the challenge of Janaranjani and carried the alapana and swaras with grace.
His Bhairavi had the sweetness of violin in full flow. The structuring was impeccable -- the step-wise order of the phrases was never in a hurried manner -- a violinist of the future.
Srimushnam Raja Rao on the mridangam and S.V. Ramani on the ghatam were the supporting artists on the laya front. The time-sharing during the entire concert between the mridangam and ghatam was well divided to show each one's ability and laya control. Raja Rao's filling of spaces with compact nadais, and the manner in which this duo landed gently on the songs at apt points were expressions of their mastery and the advantage they have derived from concert experiences.
Raja Rao took time to explain the special Mora of their thani that was worked out by him earlier, on Vijayadasami day. The measure of 64 (2 x 32 – Adi talam) was split into segments of 24 and 8, and of this “24” was further split into Tisrams followed by Chathusram, the juxtaposition and practical presentation done successfully without any margin for error. It was like treading a bed of thorns. Such enlightenment augurs well for rasikas.
Can one hope that the rather regular and regrettable exodus of rasikas during the thani will be curtailed if such regular short descriptions are done at concerts?
(sivakumar2004@gmail.com)
