The onset of monsoon, the dense clouds thundering and wind rushing through as if on a war cry – the pitter patter of the rain, and after a torrential downpour, there is silence, that is beautiful. There is music and there is silence – in, fact it is this silence that is at the heart of music. If not for the rightful pauses, we may not be able to realize the beauty of music. An exploration of this sound and silence, this voyage was set up under the auspices of Bhoomija on June 21, Sunday in Bangalore. This voyage was led by the talented duo Abhishek Raghuram and Anantha R. Krishnan. An interesting and offbeat experimentation in itself, the ensemble consisted of minimum accompanists. The primary accompaniment was provided by the quintessential tanpura alongside Anantha R. Krishnan on mridangam as well as tabla. While the vocal mastery of Abhishek Raghuram is a well-known fact, he also displayed his exemplary skills on the khanjira. The concert provided a musical feast, resplendent with the young masters’ skills. Abhishek’s strong and reverberating voice was in its full glory and well accompanied by Anantha on mridangam and occasionally on the tabla. Eliciting the underlying bhava on some of the renditions, Abhishek was a sight to watch – self contented and thoroughly enjoying the melody, like a master chef brewing a fantastic recipe – creative, self-satisfied and bursting with confidence that his preparation will satiate the artistic palates of his admirers.
The varnam – “Varuvaayo Arul” set the pace for the evening, giving a prelude and warming up the audience for the evening. This was followed by a wonderful composition of Tyagaraja – “Dandamum pettenura kodandapaani” in the rare Balahamsa Raaga. This composition is by itself one of the most beautiful compositions of Tyagaraja and was well rendered. Particularly the rhythmic gati in the composition was well augmented and used to make the rendition particularly appealing of the rest that day. This was followed by a duet performance of Abhishek on khanjira and Anantha on mridangam. A veritable tango, the contours of the tala exposition were well presented. For the ragam-tanam-pallavi, Abhishek presented Shanmukhapriya generously meandering through the aspects of the raaga before rendering Swati Tirunal’s “Maamava Karunaya Manukula Lalaama”. For the neraval the choice of the phrase, “Kaamita daana lola kamaneeya susheel a ” was very appropriate. Peppered with creative kalpana swaras, he deftly presented the ardent feeling of a devotee desirous of his wishes in the rendition of “Kaamita daana lola … ” immediately following it up with a loving “Kamaneeya Susheela ... ”
The virtuosity of the RTP was followed up with a well-chosen string of padams – beginning with Annamayya’s “ Muddugaare Yashoda ” in Kurinji, wherein the composer has compared the Lord to the many gems, the rendition also brought out the poignant “Allide nammane, illi bande summane” by Sri Purandaradasa. The latter was rendered in a ghazal mode. While vocally captivating, the underlying bhava seemed lost in the calisthenics of the rendition. The dasara pada by its sheer simplicity gives more scope for eliciting the bhava rather than provide a platform for showcasing one’s virtuosity. A similar feeling presented itself in the rendition of Tyagaraja’s “ Sompaina Manasuto ” – in Aahiri. Maybe because this is a song that I have been listening for years nowthere was a nagging feeling that the sheer beauty of the sahitya was lost. The simplicity that underlies the magnificent message of this composition was masked by the razzle-dazzle of the rendition. The evening drew to a close by the thillana and mangalam – the latter being another composition of Tyagaraja – “Nitya Jaya Mangalam”.
The tagline ‘salpula salapola salpula salapala’ gives itself to myriad meanings – just like the musical aesthetics of that evening. While Abhishek’s musical calibre is unquestionable and Anantha’s impeccable accompaniment was a joy to experience, it seems that fiery presentations has become the trend of Carnatik music concerts off late. Should music be an experience or a spectacle to behold remains a question. In this voyage of sound and silence, I was left searching for the conspicuously missing silence.
