For decades, the vocalist has dominated the Carnatic music stage.It’s time for the rasika to realise that classical music can be savoured in other forms too. It was timely that Sangeetha Ksheera Sagaram’s annual music festival commemorating the 106th anniversary of musician Uppalapati Ankaiah commenced with a series of instrumental concerts.
Paying an ode to the late Anakaiah’s musical beginnings, (he had learnt to play the dolu and mridangam for many years), the festival had begun with a nadaswaram concert. Veteran nadaswaram artiste A Purushottham headlined the evening alongside Venugopal in which they provided a taste of the denseness that the instrument could provide in terms of sound.
With the nadaswaram being an instrument that’s more or less restricted to private events and its presence being restrictive on the concert stage, it was heart-warming to see the artistes being given their due. The rasika got to hear a lively set of numbers performed with gusto. Though they took time to come into their element (especially during Thyagaraja’s Sri Ganapathini and G N Balasubramanian’s Saraswathi Namostute ), they hit a purple patch for the rest of the concert.
Sonorous sounds Komanduri Anantha Sowrirajan, Komanduri Seshadri, Komanduri Venkata Krishna (violas); Vivekananda Suri; A Purushottham (third from left) By arrangement
The haunting rendition of Raghuvamsa Sudham was their best in the evening and the artistes, through Endaro Mahabhanuvulu , navigated through the challenges of playing the lower notes on the instrument effortlessly. Chandana Charchitha ’s healing effect, primarily due to the simplicity in the Mohana ragam, was multiplied manifold on the nadaswaram. The RTP was set in Kalyani ragam – the exchange of musical energies between the nadaswaram artistes who played at different scales gave it a unique touch. The brief yet lively musical passages on the dolu by Nagaraju and Anjaneyulu presented the ragam in a new light.
It was a fair choice that the musicians later went ahead with numbers that are in the musical memory of most connoisseurs – namely Marugelara , Enna Thavam Seithanai and Muddugare Yashoda . They ended the evening with a rendition in Ananda Bhairavi ragam. The rare occurrence of a concert with a homegrown instrument in focus during a music festival was well-utilised by the artistes.
Focus on the veena
The second day featured a veena concert by Vivekananda Suri. A popular figure in the classical circuit, known more as an organiser and less as a well-accomplished disciple of veteran Duddu Seetharamaiah, he held the audiences sway over two hours in what was probably his first full-fledged concert for a recognised sabha. He brought back the near-forgotten tradition of starting a concert with a varnam, as he played Viriboni in Kedaragowla ragam.
Vivekananda Suri
The pleasantness in the Hamsadhvani ragam was traced in the musician’s rendition of Raghunayaka later. Thyagaraja’s melody-rich compositions like Ksheera Sagara Sayana , Brova Bharama , Sambho Mahadeva were equally arresting on the veena, as the crowd hummed along to its lyrics. That the artiste captured the essence of the compositions in their true flavour without overt personalisation made the listening experience purer. The several variations in Tera Teeyaga Raada in Gowlipantu ragam could have been a daunting task to unravel on the veena, but the performer remained unnerved about the challenge and came up with a terrific rendition.
Swara Raga Sudha in Shankarabharanam ragam was his choice of the main item, which he had preceded with an intense and elaborate ragalapana that presented the varied texture of ragam intriguingly. The Yadukula Kambhoji ragam composition, Heccharikaga Ra is a unique work known more for its sahitya but the artiste’s performance to piece showed the amount of musical value it possessed. The youngster Kasturi Bhargav on the ghatam maintained a buoyant atmosphere through the concert, along with his mridangam counterpart P Vidyasagar.
Memorable viola concert
The third day was more or less an ode to versatility among the classical musicians in the city. The evening featured a viola concert by two generations of the Komanduri clan, bringing together the veteran Komanduri Seshadri and his sons Ananta Sowrirajan and Venkata Krishna on the same stage. Prominent vocalist, instrumentalist Shyam Kumar on the kanjira and Srinivasa Gopalan made for a strong lineup that delighted with a wide range of numbers.
The mellowed, refined sound of the viola gives a musician to tap into the niceties of a composition and a ragam beautifully. The leisurely-paced Kambhoji-ragam varnam eased the audiences into the concert well, before the performers unleashed their prowess on the instrument through Sri Maha Ganapathi in Gowla ragam. The complexity in the composition gave their rendition an exhilarating quality – the briskness was largely a result of the reactiveness of the mridangam and the kanjira artistes. Evvare Ramayya in Gangeyabhushani ragam, a rare kriti where a few of the swaraksharas also match the sahitya (for the words ‘nee sari’) was memorable for its swarakalpana.
A masterly delineation of the Dharmavati ragam through Bhajana Seya Raada had a calming effect on the listener, with the delicate bowing of the veteran thoroughly elevated by Shyam Kumar’s receptive responses. A compelling sketch of the Anandabhairavi ragam through Syama Sastri’s Mari Vere Gathi followed, after which they chose Nannu Palimpa in Mohana ragam for their main piece.
Fleshing out the various facets of the ragam and coming up with many attractive swara patterns in a rendition that lasted about 45 minutes, the tani avartanam was replete with devotional fervour. A pensively-composed Deva Devam (by Narayana Theertha) in Sindhu Bhairavi ragam besides Annamacharya’s Narayanathe Namo ended an evening of uncompromised musical bliss.
