Naada Inbam recently hosted a vocal concert by Sunil Gargyan to celebrate the birth anniversary of Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer. Trained by P. S. Narayanaswamy, a prime disciple of Semmangudi, Sunil turned emotional when speaking at the beginning of the performance about his guru’s gurubhakti .
A short recording of Semmangudi’s alapana was played to show how the very first phrase of the elucidation would bring out the core of the raga. Sunil also spoke of Semmangudi’s deceptively simple sarvalaghu swaras, his Patanthara shuddham, and how brevity marked his music.
The songs selected for the evening were those that were rendered by Semmangudi. The first kriti was ‘Siddhi Vinayakam Anisham’ in Shanmukhapriya. The elaborate sarvalaghu swaraprastara at ‘Prasiddha Gananayakam’ had the Semmangudi stamp. This was followed by a neat rendition of ‘Vinaradana manavi’ (Devagandhari, Desadi talam), one of the Sriranga Pancharatna kritis composed by Tyagaraja.
Sunil then sang the Semmangudi version of ‘Rave Himagirikumari’, the Thodi Swarajathi by Syama Sastri, in a stately pace. This was followed by another Syama Sastri composition, ‘Marivere gati’ (Anandabhairavi) in Misra Chapu. The raga alapana by Sunil brought out his creative instincts. On the violin, M. Vijay stood up to every challenge of the vocalist in the ragavisthara and in the swaraprastara segments in the pallavi.
Unhurried alapana
After Tyagaraja’s bhavapriya kriti, ‘Srikanthaniyeda’, Sunil chose Semmangudi’s favourite Sriranjani kriti ‘Marubalka kunnavemira’, again by Tyagaraja. The swaras were at Dari Nerigi. The kriti was preceded by a leisurely alapana, which was endearing for its old-world style. Dikshitar’s ‘Balakrishnam bhavayami’, in Gopika Vasantham turned out to be an excellent choice. This kriti is in the second vibhakti.
The piece de resistance was the Kalyani composition, ‘Birana brova idi manchi samayamura’ by Tharangampadi Panchanada Iyer, set in Adi talam (tisra nadai), rendered after a detailed elucidation of the raga. Swaras were at ‘Ni paada pankajamu’. The thani by Kallidaikurichi Sivakumar (mridangam) and Madipakkam Murali (ghatam) was enjoyable. They elegantly brought out the innate beauty of tisra nadai.
Sunil wound up the concert with ‘Srinivasa thiruvenkatamudaiyan’ (Hamsanandi) by Papanasam Sivan and ‘Parulanna mata,’ the popular Javali in Kapi by Dharmapuri Subbaraya Iyer.
The concert is available on the Parivadinimusic YouTube channel.
The Chennai-based writer
specialises in
Carnatic music.
