Anyone who has been following veena B. Kannan’s career knows for sure that he will play vivadi ragas in his concerts. After a brief Jaganmohini ( Thyagaraja’s ‘Sobillu’) and Ritigowla (Subbaraya Sastri’s ‘Janani’), Kannan dived into Nasikabhushani. The veena is capable of a variety of enchanting bass notes and Kannan exploited it to the hilt. The result, Thyagaraja’s mesmerising composition ‘Mara Vairi Ramani’ that sprang out of the strings like a blessing, deep and peaceful. Regrettably, Kannan played no swaras — he shall have to answer for it on Judgement Day!
Then came the RTP in Pavani, (Chandrajyoti is a janya ragam that is associated with it). The raga choice was thoughtfully made, one vivadi from the lower numbers of the melakarta table and the other from the higher. Kannan presented Pavani elaborately.
In his answer, violinist Bombay Anand, who otherwise played brilliantly, couldn’t avoid touches of Kalyani when he played ma-pa-da-ni-sa, something notably absent in Kannan’s raga essay.
After the alapana, Kannan played a brief tanam and then a pallavi composed in praise of Maha Periyava of Kanchi. But, disconcertingly, there was no niraval. An RTP without niraval is like all food but no water. Sankaranarayanan on the mridangam and Subbha Rao on the ghatam provided percussive support.
Kannan’s prowess proved again that if he is not a crowd-puller, the fault does not lie with him.
