The title “Raaga Pravah” was attractive and kindled one’s interest to make it to the hall. Violin duo Ganesh and Kumaresh who have grown up with the instrument have attained a natural proficiency in it. The suite they offered that evening cannot be classified as a kutcheri for it was bereft of any compositions with lyrical content . The songs of Dasar, Tamil Moovar, The Trinity and the host of vaggeyakaras were all given a go by.
The presentation had its share of raga alapanas that were followed by a tune composed by the duo in the raga, which had no lyrics but set to a talam. The sandham could be anything, say thanna na… or dada dee… or thuthu thoo. But then, ragas and their aesthetics came to be understood more through the immortal kritis. Sahitya, be it a vocal presentation or instrumental, is the back bone of Carnatic music.
Ariyakkudi Ramanuja Iyengar knew more than 60 kritis in Thodi , yet he would state about his ongoing search for more number of kritis in that raga only to understand it better. The brothers went on a lecture mode about sahitya bhava vis-a-vis an instrumental presentation.
The raga alapanas that included Gambheera Nattai, Ritigowlai, Dharmavati and Sankarabharanam showed the brothers’ dexterity in the instrument. They even played kalpanaswaras for the lyric-less compositions. Anantha.R. Krishnan’s approach to his mridangam was power-packed.
True, it was something different that the duo was trying. Perhaps, a classical arts festival is not the right platform. A full-fledged recital of only ragas seemed rather incomplete without words, at least to this writer.
