Music patterned on laya

REMEMBER HOW Mandolin Srinivas burst upon the scene as a child prodigy? How he introduced a new instrument to Carnatic music? How he enchanted and stunned listeners with his technical expertise and raga conception? There were people who predicted that the mandolin would be a mere nine days wonder. Some declared that Srinivas' precocious talent would burn out like a Roman candle. Well, he has proved them wrong. He is still going strong, and has schooled a gifted brother along the same lines, to play solo or in tandem. He continues to top the charts in popularity. The crucial question is: How far has Srinivas himself progressed as a musician? And how much more has he developed his instrument to play a system of music that is alien to it?

At his recital in the Tamil Isai Sangam festival, it was clear that Srinivas had not scaled new heights in musicianship. He was astonishing ten years ago. He continues to show the same virtuosity today. The fingers moved like magic over the strings and play combinations in allspeeds, effortlessness accented by the calm and pleasant expression onhis face. But there seemed little growth in terms of mellowness. Fortunately, the artiste does not go in for blaring levels of sound, andon that day, there were some sweet touches, even moments which tugged at the heart- strings. But they were all too brief. Most of the concert wasgiven over to exhibitions of a jazzed up velocity.

Take the Sriranjani in the early part of the recital. The raga flash was followed by `Gajavadana', Adi, which was teased into cascadingpatterns modulated to emphasise their beats rather than melodic values.Whatever musical sheen it had was obscured by the dazzle of rhythm. In contrast with the violin (S. D. Sridhar), the mandolin sounded synthetic,and that despite the fact that the badly aligned mikes caused themorsing (Srirangam Kannan) to drown the violin in the swara prastara.Lots of repetitive bangings later, the mandolin hit the high shadjam.This worked like Pavlov's bell and brought echoing ovation. Latangi was treated at length. True, the raga does not offer much scope for gamaka graces, but Srinivas chose to accent its sharpness, and its potential for torrential flow. There were some glides, but with little continuity, they could not but be obscured. The raga seemed to be conceived of as permutations and combinations of the notes, rushing past in such haste as to leave no time to recognise their repetitiousness. Some of the tinkling prayogas brought the piano and the Indonesian gamelan to mind. This method makes for tedium because it makes every raga and every composition sound alike.

Fortunately, `Balakrishnan paadamalar', Rupakam, brought the relief of a honeyed Dhanyasi which showed that the instrument was capable of attempting another kind of music altogether. The major essay inKamboji had some cool, tranquil phases, and alternating the stringsproduced a sense of plenitude. But here too the conception was in fragments, chaste and impeccable, but without profundity or grandeur. The violin provided a tidy alapana before both performers launched into the old favourite `Tiruvadi charanam'. As expected, the mandolin showed no feel for the mood inherent in the lyric, though there were some poignant touches in the neraval.

The swaraprastara did no more than offer sizzling entertainment,building up tiers upon tiers of laya patterns with pauses for effect,after which the resumption was greeted with applause. The violin toobecame rather staccato here. But the ragamala frills had a fragilebeauty of their own. The Varali made you yearn for more.Mridangam (Vellore Ramabhadran), ghatam (T. V. Vasan) and morsing offered nothing more than regular, repetitive beats in accompaniment. The kritis and neraval-swara essays were not highlighted by imaginative drumming. The tani, however, had the finesse of soft fingering, and an interesting kuraippu. It was over before it could satiate listeners who had been treated all through to music patterned on laya rather than raga.

On the whole, the recital provided forgettable music.Jayanthi Mohan's afternoon concert in Tamil Isai Sangam proved that thepurpose of that organisation's insistence on Tamil compositions alonebeing sung at the festival, serves little purpose if they are renderedwithout some special effort at understanding the lyrical component, andinvoking the mood it connotes. Jayanthi's lacklustre enunciation andsinging could not reflect the soulful longing of `Sivaloka nathanaikandu ' (Mayamalavagaulai, Rupakam) with which she commenced her recital,any more than the prideful wonder of the query `Samikku sari evvare?'(Who can equal my Lord?). The unfamiliar kriti `Varavendum varamarul' inNagavalli was underpolished.

The Bhairavi alapana began well, and developed through rakti prayogas before touching the upper shadja. The rishabha refused to align itself with the pitch. Phrases in the ascending scale were competent enough, but the descent was enfeebled by the notes sliding off their slots in fast deliveries. Nor could the violin (S. Ramakrishnan) help much here.Better modulation might have reduced its unmelodic shrillness. The song to follow was `Vazhiya Ezhisaiye' in praise of the seven swaras whichhave shaped traditional music. Latangi was weaker in execution, andstill unable to achieve total sruti alignment. `Venkata ramana,' Rupakam, had some good moments with the neraval in the delicate line `Alarmel mangai manala, Ambujanabha dayala.' Kalakkadu Srinivasan supported the recital on the mridangam.

GOWRI RAMNARAYAN

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