Rains during peak winters are not welcome as they aggravates the miseries. But this year rains also brought Carnatic music to the Capital. Two popular vocal artistes from Chennai, N. Vijay Siva and Neyveli R. Santhanagopalan enthralled the music lovers with their scintillating performances. While Vijay Siva sang under the aegis of the Delhi Tamil Sangam as part of Pongal celebrations, Santhanagopalan performed during the Tyagaraja Festival organised jointly by the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts and Shanmukhananda Sangeetha Sabha. Inclusion of ragam-talam-pallavi by these two artistes brought the flavour of Madras music festival where ragam-talam-pallavi is an integral part .
Vijay Siva’s central item was Papanasam Sivan’s “Saravanabhava guhane” in the raga Madhyamavati. Taking full advantage of this beautiful raga which lends itself for detailed exploration, Siva brought out the nuances of the raga to the fore in a delightful manner. Apart from singing the song to a riveting kalaparamanam, Siva’s depth in creative music came to the fore when he presented the kalpanaswaras.
Earlier, Siva took up Papavinasa Mudaliyar’s composition “Nadamadi thirintha” in Khambhoji, a song not heard frequently in concerts, for detailed presentation. The detailed raga alapana that he presented was scintillating. Besides, he took the phrase “Shakthi sivakamavalli tanpadam nogumendre taraiyil adivaikka tayangi nindraaduvo” for neraval. Siva’s RTP session, in which he presented the Pallavi “Padamendru nambinen amma uma ninadhu pangayar”, composed in Charukesi raga and set to tisra jathi tripuda tala, was enthralling.
Veteran R.K. Shreeramkumar on the violin, Siva’s younger sibling N. Manoj Siva on the mridangam and young Sai Subramaniam on the morsing (all Chennai-based) teamed to provide excellent support to Siva. While Shreeramkumar’s takes of Khambhoji, Madhyamavati and Charukesi were captivating, the riveting percussion support of the duo was delightful throughout. The duo’s tani avartanam in tisra tripuda too was enjoyable. Vijay Siva’s disciple S.R. Vigneshwaran provided vocal support in an appropriate manner.
If Vijay Siva had enthralled the music lovers with an ‘all-Tamil compositions’ concert, Santhanagopalan enthralled with predominantly Tyagaraja’s composition in which he included some rare compositions of the legendry saint. Santhanagopalan’s central item was “Nagumomo ganaleni” in Abheri. He also took up “Siva siva siva yanarada” in Pantuvarali and “Rama nannu brovara” in Harikhambhoji for detailed presentations and delighted the music lovers while presenting these songs. “Sanatana Paramapavana” in Phalamanjari and “Tatva meruga tarama” in Garudadhwani, which are not frequently heard in concerts, were thoughtful and welcome inclusions.
Delightful presentation
Santhanagopalan’s RTP session too was an enthralling one in which he sang a Pallavi composed in Todi raga and set to Rupakam tala. The kalpanaswaras in Behag, Hamsanandi and Darbari kanada, besides in Todi both in forward and backward directions were skilfully and delightfully presented.
Delhi-based young G. Raghavendra Prasath rose to the occasion and provided excellent support to the veteran vocalist. His delightful takes of raga alapanas, tanams and swarakalpanas were greeted with thundering applause of the music lovers. Kumbakonam N. Padmanabhan on the mridangam and N. Hari Narayanan provided understanding percussion support. On the whole, a good beginning of enthralling concerts in the initial phase of the New Year.
