A three-hour recital by veteran musician TV Sankaranarayanan (TVS) in Thrissur recently was an exposition of his inimitable style. The 12 numbers he rendered with verve embraced elements of devotion as many of them were prefixed with prolonged virutham. Especially notable was his proclivity to stay in the tara sthayi in all the compositions.
Jaya jaya Ganapathy mangalakari in Hamsadwani , the opening number, began with a virutham in praise of Ganapathy. The high-pitched delivery of Mangalakari towards the finale was worthy of applause. It was a composition of Ganapathi Sachidananda in Adi.
Swathi Thirunal’s Ma ma vasada janani in Kanada and Roopakam received a wide treatment as niravals were followed by a cascade of swaras that projected the intrinsic nature of the raga. The conclusion of the piece was enjoyable as Janani was repeated rhythmically, another hallmark of his style.
Papanasam Sivan’s Saranamayyappa in Mukhari and Misra chap was short but it seemed appropriate to the season.
T V Sankaranarayanan
TVS’ style of alapana is esoteric as he always builds up a raga on a solid foundation. This was discernible in Kalyani that he took up next. Once the shade of the raga was brought to the limelight, he went on ornamenting it with swaras and touched the tara sthayi to make it appealing. Pallavi Gopala Iyer’s Needu charana pankajamule gathiyani had innumerable swaras and the niraval at O jaga janani, was explored to the hilt. TVS’ penchant for Papanasam Sivan’s works was reflected in three more of the composer’s kirtanas, including Guruvayurappa, Karpagame and Saravana bhava guhane .
The first also had a virutham, TVS’ own creation beginning with Karmugil varnane. The other two were reserved for the post-main raga Kamboji. Tyagaraja’s Marugelara O Raghava in Jayantasri, Adi, which preceded Kamboji, evoked the mood of supplication effectively.Accompanying artistes were C Rajendran on the violin, Thrissur B Jayaram on the mridangam and Alappuzha G Manoharan on the ghatam. Their thani was noteworthy.
Saravana bhava guhane in Kannada , Adum chidambaramo of Gopalakrishna Bharati in Behag and Karpagame in Madhyamavathy were the compositions played before the musician concluded with Thiruppathi vasa Venkatesa in Hamsanandi.
The concert was held as part of Navarathri celebrations at Paramekkavu Temple.
