Even 11 years after her passing, M.S. Subbulakshmi’s presence looms large over Carnatic music and musicians. Some songs, so evocatively sung by her, bear her indelible stamp, some ragas are best imagined in her voice, there are varieties of musical improvisation totally owned by her, and why, even some saris and jewellery are associated only with her. So much has been said and written about MS in this centenary year of hers that the challenge for artistes performing a tribute to her in ‘Kaatrinile…’ at The Hindu November Fest was to ensure that they celebrate the legend and her music without getting mired in nostalgia. The concert more than overcame this trial.
For starters, the main vocalists, the Priya Sisters, S. Sowmya and Nithyasree, are all musicians who have their own well-established brand of music, and in every piece, they were able to bring their musicianship to the MS-bani.
‘Bhavayami Raghuramam’, and the other invocation, ‘Sriman Narayana’, are classics in the MS stable, and the vocalists rendered them faithfully. Even so, there were interpretative touches and small gamaka adornments that made this the music of the Priya Sisters, or Sowmya or Nithyasree, while still reminding you of MS.
A word about the Priya Sisters here — are there any two siblings in the Carnatic world who sing so perfectly in sync with each other? Every flourish, every brigha, every glide is identical. Even their heads shake and their hands move in unison. This comes from hours and hours of practice, yes, but it also comes from decades of singing with each other, and knowing, intuitively, what kind of embellishment the other might give to a particular phrase.
In ‘Meenakshi Memudam’, while demonstrating the MS style of niraval, the Sisters were so understanding of each other that each of their manodharma took off where the other left. M. A. Krishnaswamy on violin, proving why he is one of the leading accompanists in the circuit, played with a sensitiveness that never let the musical idiom dilute, accompanying the Sisters as if he had sat in on their practice sessions for years. The only false note was that the sangatis around the gandharam in the upper octave, an MS trademark, were not as free-flowing and arresting as MS herself.
To this unity, Sowmya and Nithyasree provided an interesting counterpoint. Here are two musicians separated by bani, with diverse musical sensibilities, different vocal textures, and different styles of vocalisation and different intonation. Either could fill up the Academy on their own during the season.
This was a different game, as evidenced in their ‘Nee irangayenil pugal yethu’ (Athana, Papanasam Sivan), an inspired choice of song for an MS tribute, bringing up her associations with the Tamil Isai movement. Here, Nithyasree sang the anupallavi, and Sowmya sang the last two lines of the charanam, and even though the lines had the same tune, you could see how two different musicians would handle it. Priya Sisters: point. Sowmya, Nithyasree: counterpoint. Both were brilliant.
The four vocalists then came together to sing ‘Rave Himagiri Kumari’, a song described by the narrator as “imposing” — the most apt word that could ever describe this composition. Full marks, again, for song selection. It is a song associated with Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, MS’ guru, and it was rendered in a manner that did more than justice to its weight. If the composition is imposing for the melodic musicians, it is even harder for the percussionists.
Skandasubramanian and Chandrashekhara Sharma on the mridangam and ghatam, played with great feeling and understanding, underlining the rendition with a solid foundation.
Next, Sowmya came up with a few phrases of Kharaharapriya (raga) that would have done MS, a master of Kharaharapriya, proud. This alapana was the highlight of the concert, Sowmya bringing all her musical radiance to the fore, with Nithyasree coming into her own with a glittering set of MS-inspired sancharas in the tara sthayi. They did, with that Kharaharapriya, what MS always wanted to do with her music — bring some peace and happiness to a difficult world.
The concert wound up with some MS favourites, ‘Brindavanathil’, with its beautiful, repeating ‘antha naalum vanthidaatho’ phrase, the restful ‘Nanati brathuku’ in Revathi, the ever-popular ‘Kurai onrum illai’, and finally, ‘Maithreem bhajata’. They say that if a cliché is dealt with freshness, it is no longer a cliché. The best example of that was this tukkada section.
As people left the hall, you could hear them humming the last line of ‘Maithreem bhajata’. ‘Shreyo bhuyat sakala janaanaam’ — an apt thought to end this concert on.
The concept and script for the narrative were by Gowri Ramnarayan.
