On the inaugural day of the annual Veenotsav ‘21, senior veena artiste Mudicondan Ramesh was honoured with the ‘Vainika Mudhra’ title in the presence of vainika Prof. R.S. Jayalakshmi. Veteran violinist A. Kanyakumari presided over the award function, which also featured a concert by Ramesh.
His song selection, sense of timing, and the imaginative swarakalpana segments proved his flair for the gayaki style.
A highlight of the performance was the challenging Chaturdasa Ragamalika by Muthuswami Dikshitar, ‘Sri Viswanatham’, set in 14 ragas — Sri, Arabhi, Gowri, Nattai, Gowlai, Mohanam, Sama, Lalitha, Bhairavai, Saranga, Sankarabharanam, Kamboji, Devakriya and Bhoopalam.
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This wonderful Dikshitar composition is divided into two parts, denoting the chaturdasa bhuvanas or 14 worlds, excluding the Earth in the middle (seven lokas above and seven below) that are mentioned in the puranas.
Swara patterns
The other notable presentation was Kiravani. Ramesh managed to convey the vibrancy of the raga through Tyagaraja’s ‘Kaligiyunte gada’.
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The exhaustive swara streams in ‘Bhagavatagre’ reaching the finale with shadjam as the landing note showcased the vainika’s understanding of the complexity of swara matrices. In ‘Vinayaka ninnu vina’ (Hamsadhwani; E.V. Ramakrishna Bhagavathar) he came up with swaras in varied nadais.
The concert, which began with ‘Viribhoni’ (Ata tala; Bhairavi varnam), also included ‘Ananda natana prakasam’ in Kedaram with a fleeting raga essay, ‘Ardhanareeswaram’, in Kumudakriya (both by Muthuswami Dikshitar) and ‘Bogeendra sayeenam’ in Kuntalavarali by Swati Tirunal.
Crisp tani
Mannargudi Easwaran on the mridangam and Tiruchi Murali on the ghatam were impressive, especially with their repartees in the swara segments. Their crisp and sharply etched tani avartanam was a treat.
The tail-enders included ‘Manadirkugandadhu’ in Sindhubhairavi (Thanjavur Sankara Iyer), ‘Emani teliche’ by Annamacharya in Seshadri (a raga created by A. Kanyakumari) carrying great semblance to Madhuvanti, and a thillana in Manirangu by N. Ramani.
The six-day programme (September 5 to 10) was organised by Mudhra in association with Radel Electronics, which has introduced the Sunadavinodini, a portable, electronic veena with built-in amplispeaker. Ramesh presented his concert on this veena. The concert was streamed through Paalamtv.
The Chennai-based author writes on music and culture.