The concert of Maharajapuram Ganesh Viswanathan at Kamakoti Gana Mandir Hall, Sri Krishna Gana Sabha on Saturday afternoon, was a mixed bag. While there is no doubt that this young musician shows a lot of promise with his resounding voice added to the rich lineage of Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer, he will do well with some more concert experience under his belt.
He began his concert with a beautiful varnam of N.S. Ramachandran in Sunadavinodini, and presented it briskly.
Following in quick succession were simple renditions of Dikshitar and Shyama Shastri kritis , without much elaboration, but clean paathantaram — ‘ Pavanaatmaja agaccha ’, a Dikshitar kriti in Nattai, ‘ Maayamma nannu brova ’ in Nattaikurinji and ‘ Nagagandhari raga nute ’ in Nagagandhari.
Nattaikurinji, in particular, was lilting and sung with a lot of emotional involvement.
The alapana in Bahudari that followed was crisp and had the right proportion although Viswanathan did not create much of an impact with it.
The lyrics in some parts of the kriti ‘ Sadananda tandavam ’ by Achyutadasa were muffled and lacked clarity. The swara -s were short, sweet and neat.
Another Shyama Shastri kriti , ‘ Tarunam idamma ’ in Gowlipantu, was wholesome. The next kriti — Neelakanta Sivan’s ‘ Oraarumugane ’ — was preceded by a short sketch of Reetigowla.
It is an earnest suggestion that this young musician work on his diction, in general. The words were smudged and unintelligible for a large part.
Viswanathan took up an elaborate raga exercise of Shanmukapriya with a short tanam that lacked in verve and experience, and followed it with a pallavi in KhandaTriputa , which was unremarkable.
Though it was a clinical and clean execution, with trikalam and the usual bells and whistles, this was an ambitious undertaking for a concert of this duration, especially as he had packed it with kriti -s back to back.
A few tail-enders in Mand, a bhajan and a tillana (popularised by KVN) in Purvi were truly enjoyable. However, the last piece in Chandrakauns again suffered from word-mutilation.
This rasika feels that Viswanathan ought to be aware of the responsibilities that come with his lineage. These easily remediable problems should be addressed immediately.
Supportive accompanists
M.A. Sundaresan, the violinist, never fails the audience. His expert and encouraging support uplifted the concert and his raga sketches were clean and aesthetically appealing.
M.S. Varadhan’s mridangam was a boost too. Both his support to the vocalist as well as his solo sketch were pleasing.
It is the hope of this writer that Viswanathan will stand true to his lineage.
(Ashok Subramaniam is an engineering professional, a musician and teacher, based in California.)
