Fifty years ago, and well into the 1970s and ’80s, the violin side of Carnatic music was totally dominated by an undisputed triumvirate of great masters, T.N. Krishnan, Lalgudi Jayaraman, and M.S. Gopalakrishnan. They had grown up accompanying the towering vocalists of that era, such as Ariyakkudi, Musiri, Chembai and Semmangudi -- who had all whole-heartedly encouraged them to develop their full potential.
The three violinists were still dominating the scene when the next generation of great vocalists such as, M. D. Ramanathan and Maharajapuram Santhanam, emerged. They were formidable masters in their own right, and could afford to let their accompanists shine brightly. But some of the children of those legendary violinists, who have totally absorbed the respective styles of their fathers, tend to face a certain resistance when performing as accompanists, because many of the leading vocalists today seem rather self-conscious and uncomfortable in the face of their superior styles which are so strongly reminiscent of their parents’. There are, of course, a few exceptions.
For example, when MSG’s daughter Narmadha accompanies vocalist Geetha Raja, she feels free to play the violin exactly like her father -- which sets a very high standard for both of them, and invariably results in a wonderful performance. Thus, in their recent concert at the Narada Gana Sabha, the raga alapana of Thodi, the repetition of the phrase ‘Kaalgalil silambu konja, kaivalai kulunga....’ in the popular Oothukkadu kriti ‘Thaaye Yashodha’ -- and the improvised swara sequences in ragamalika which followed (Thodi-Anandabhairavi-Behag-Revathi-Thodi) -- were all exquisitely beautiful, the vocalist sounding almost like some leading old-world vidushi accompanied by MSG himself!
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Earlier, raga Poorvikalyani and Tyagaraja’s kriti ‘Paripoorna Kaama’ were also given fine treatment. In the post-tani phase, the concluding song, ‘Kaantamaam’ in Sindhubhairavi (composed by Mayavaram Viswanatha Sastri) was outstanding.
The percussion artists were Mannarkoil Balaji (mridangam) and Nerkundram Shankar (ganjira). Their simple and plain performance couldn’t do justice to the rather lengthy solo effort; but Balaji’s mridangam has a fine ringing tone, which suited the kritis extremely well.