Celebrating Tyagaraja

While V. Sankaranarayanan was impressive in his recent concert in Delhi, P. Unnikrishnan paid less attention to clarity of lyrics.

April 10, 2014 04:07 pm | Updated May 21, 2016 10:12 am IST - Shanmukhananda Sangeetha Sabha, New Delhi

During P. Unnikrishnan's concert, the vocalist’s announcement of the pallavi, “Ka va va Velava, Shanmuga, Pazhani malai uraiyum Muruga”, came as a relief to the music lovers.

During P. Unnikrishnan's concert, the vocalist’s announcement of the pallavi, “Ka va va Velava, Shanmuga, Pazhani malai uraiyum Muruga”, came as a relief to the music lovers.

In instrumental concerts it is not unusual to announce the pallavi while executing it during the ragam-taanam-pallavi rendition. By doing so, the audience get a feel of what the pallavi is. But in vocal concerts, it is unusual to hear such announcements. During the concert of P. Unnikrishnan, the vocalist’s announcement of the pallavi, “Ka va va Velava, Shanmuga, Pazhani malai uraiyum Muruga”, came as a relief to the music lovers. Otherwise, they would have been grappling with the pallavi as they were with the other compositions which Unnikrishnan was singing with poor diction. Even the lyrics of the neraval that he presented towards the end of the opening composition were not quite clear. Unnikrishnan sang on the last day of the three-day Tyagaraja Music Festival organised by the Shanmukhananda Sangeetha Sabha recently in the Capital.

After singing Tyagaraja’s “Siva Siva Siva yanarada” in raga Pantuvarali, Unnikrishnan took up another Tyagaraja composition, “Ni daya rada” in raga Vasanta Bhairavi with a detailed alapana of the raga. This was followed by a Tamil song composed by Achutadasa, “Sada nanda tandavam” in raga Bahudari with once again a detailed alapana of the raga, which however, was not impressive. Having sung only these three compositions in some detail, Unnikrishnan then moved to his central item, the ragam-taanam-pallavi. The pallavi was in raga Shanmukhapriya and set to Khanda jati Triputa tala. Besides Shanmukhapriya, the swaraprastaras were in Hamsanandi, Kalyanavasantam and Varali. The support of Vittal Ramamurthy on the violin, K. Arun Prakash on the mridangam and H. Sivaramakrishnan on the ghatam, nevertheless, was excellent.

V. Sankaranarayanan, whose vocal recital preceded Unnikrishnan’s concert, was very impressive. He began his recital with a neatly presented daru varnam “Maate malayadhwaja” in raga Khamas and Adi tala, composed by Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavathar. (Daru varnams are similar to pada varnams, but additionally have jatis in them and are suited for dance choreography). Sankaranarayanan then took up Tyagaraja’s “Evarikai avataram” in raga Devamanohari. Creative swara formats flowed towards the end of this song. He sang the slow tempo composition of Muttuswami Dikshitar, “Sree Ramam” in raga Narayanagowla in a riveting tempo. He then took up another Tyagaraja composition, “Etavunara” in raga Kalyani for detailed presentation. Here, while handling the raga alapana, neraval of the phrase “Sita Gowri Vageeshwari” and the subsequent kalpana swaras, Sankaranarayanan’s depth in creative music came to the fore.

Sankaranarayanan’s central item was ragam-taanam-pallavi. The pallavi “Samaganalolane sadasivane” in raga Bageshwari was set to Khanda jati Triputa tala. Sankaranarayanan earlier sang a scintillating raga alapana. The taanam he presented was delightful. Besides, Bageshwari, the kalpana swaras were in Behag and Kapi. Vittal Ramamurthy on the violin, K. Arun Prakash on the mridangam and H. Sivaramakrishnan on the ghatam provided excellent support. While Ramamurthy’s delineation of ragas Kalyani and Bageshwari was delightful, the brief tani avartanam of the percussionists in Khanda jati Triputa tala was enjoyable.

Correction

In the review on AIR’s national broadcasts of live recordings from the 167th Tyagaraja Aradhana at Thiruvaiyaru, the sentence “Unlike in other regular concerts, the emphasis is also on the mathematics in swara singing” should have read “Unlike in other regular concerts, there is no swara singing in these concerts.”

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