Anaiyampatti S. Ganesan treated the Carnatic music lovers of Vellore to a scintillating Jalatarangam concert at the Mini Hall of Annamalaiyar Residency here on March 4.
Organised under the auspices of Sahana Sangeetha Sabha, Vellore, as part of its 13 anniversary celebrations, the concert proved to be a refreshing Sunday evening for the limited audience, most of whom were listening to a Jalatharangam concert for the first time in Vellore.
Beginning with Muthuswamy Dikshitar’s ‘Vathapi Ganapathim,’ Anaiyampatti Ganesan went on to play Tyagaraja’s ‘Entharo Mahanubhavulu’ in Sri Ragam, accompanied by his son Anaiyampatti Venkatasubramaniam on the violin. The artist tapped the water-filled ceramic China bowls in his own inimitable style, at times striking through the edges of all the bowls in one stroke to produce a unique musical sound. He produced different musical notes by changing the volume of water in the bowls.
After the playing of ‘Sudha Mayi’ in Amritavarshini ragam set to rupaka talam by the main artist, the son took over to give a delectable solo performance.
Not to be outdone, Mathirimangalam S. Swaminathan gave able support (on the mridangam) to Anaiyampatti Ganesan.The jalatarangam artist ended the two-hour concert with Bharatiyar’s ‘Ninnaye Rathiyendru.’
Sahana Sangeetha Sabha was established by dedicated rasikas to promote Carnatic music in Vellore in February 1999. The first Sangeetha Sabha to be started in Vellore was the Vellore Sangeetha Sabha which was established by Vellore Gopalachariar, father of late mridangam exponent Vellore G. Ramabhadran in 1923. But it became defunct in later years owing to lack of patronage.
Beginning with an inaugural vocal concert by Mayavaram Sisters, the Sahana Sangeetha Sabha arranged concerts by eminent artists from Chennai, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh almost every month for nine years, and later once in two months. “It celebrated Saraswati puja and Tyagaraja aradhana and other festivals every year by giving opportunities to local musicians and encouraging local talent,” said S. Varadan, secretary of the Sabha. The vision behind the Sabha is M.R. Srinivasan, renowned musician and musicologist, who is its president. “With R. Santhanam as treasurer, the Sabha, which is hamstrung by absence of funds, is currently hoping to secure minimal funding to ensure that at least one concert is held every month, to provide access to quality performances to the connoisseurs of classical music in Vellore, without the need for them to travel to Chennai or Bangalore to listen to such performances,” Varadan said.
