As I perceive the actual Carnatic tradition prevailing today in terms of performances and styles, I tend to look back into the past century. And as my listening experience stretches to the mid-20th century or earlier, my memory is saturated with indelible impressions of the original masters and I am reminded of them oftenespecially when I hear an actual echo from the past.
So when vocalists Sashikiran and Ganesh, (Carnatica Brothers), rendered an unusual Ragam-Tanam-Pallavi in the secondary raga Vasantha at their recent concert at Hamsadhwani, I couldn't help instantly recalling the great maestro M.D. Ramanathan's Vasantha RTP at the Music Academy in 1969-70.
A deviation
It was an unprecedented deviation from the much stricter norms that governed the art of RTP in those days, calling for prime ragas only.
I was so carried away by the old memory that I almost thought it was perhaps only in my imagination that I heard MDR's solid, marble-like voice in some of Sashikiran's vocal inflections in the tanam phase. But I knew my impression was true, and it was confirmed when I came to know later that young Sashi had actually heard a recording of MDR's version, which had probably inspired him! Other highlights of the concert were Shyama Sastri's Telugu song ‘Marivere Gati Yevaramma' in Anandabhairavi, and Papanasam Sivan's evergreen song in the classic Tamil movie, ‘Savitri' (1941)—‘Maname Kanamum Maravade' in Bhimplas.
Outstanding accompaniment, which created a vibrant backdrop for the twin voices, was provided by S. Varadarajan (violin), Neyveli Venkatesh (midangam), and E.M. Subramaniam (ghatam).
