Stress on aesthetics of ragas

THE VITALITY of the interpretative style of T. M. Krishna springs from a perceptive understanding of the range and reach of raga alapana and in the rendering of kirtanas. Observance of the grandeur of Carnatic music is nothing but the reinforcement of the fundamentals in the present day context when peripheral pursuits are mistaken for aesthetics of musical expression.

The music of that artiste is great who realises the total unity of sangita of the songs of great vaggeyakaras and the devotional content of the sahityas.

It was in this respect that T. M. Krishna's early part of the concert, for Nadopasana, consisting of the kritis ``Bhakti- bichchameeyave'' (Sankarabharanam), ``Sri Tulasamma maa-inta- nelakonavamma'' (Devagandhari) and ``Nenendu Vedukudura'' (Karnataka Behag), stood out for his insight into the sanctity of Tyagaraja's compositions. With sufficiently mellow tonal depth, he made a spontaneous offer of the Sankarabharanam song without raga alapana, which served to enhance the sentiment of the song. The enchanting Sankarabharanam facets at the beginning of the pallavi were well brought out and he garnished the piece with a few bars of lilting sarvalaghu swaras.

Sri Tyagaraja imparted some mesmeric and hypnotic touches to the Devagandhari song and Krishna rendered it with great delicacy of feeling. In the same way, the Karnataka Behag kriti, ``Nenendu'', was presented with due respect and reverence the item deserved. The appeal of Krishna's music during this section of the concert was overpowering with the sukham aspect dominating his musical objective.

The first raga alapana effort was Saveri. The special aromatic flavour of the raga was put before the rasikas by emphasising the moorchanas. In handling the exposition of Saveri, Krishna seemed to proclaim that he sought to please not so much by his voice as by highlighting the riches of the raga with finesse. It is at this stage that T. Rukmini, on the violin made her rich contribution in her solo version of Saveri. Her musical statements were elevated and precise. The song was Syama Sastri's ``Durusuga Kripajoochi'' and in his rendering, Krishna gently laid bare its aesthetic structuring. In the neraval for the anupallavi line ``Parama-paavani,'' he delineated the bhava aspect with great discernment.

The final segment was devoted to the elaboration of the raga, Bhairavi. He honed the raga sancharas with tonal felicity and nursed its development to the tara sthayi excursions with great care and expressional maturity. The raga throbbed with aristocratic dignity. It must, however, be said that Rukmini nourished and cherished the essence of Bhairavi and in her hands, the raga shone with manifold beauties.

The raga effort was well capped with the Tyagaraja song ``Koluvaiyunnade.'' Towards the end of this kirtana, after neraval and swaras, the tani avartanam by J. Vaidyanathan (mridangam) and Karthick (ghatam) followed. Vaidyanathan had a large share in bringing about the cutcheri's excellence.

With his style, rich in grace and maturity, he shed elegance and radiance in his percussive support while accompanying the song session. His tani was a grand illuminating spectacle of laya lavanya. The listeners were struck by the deep and true thrust of Vaidyanathan's accompanying technique with flashes of phrases and lullaby-like tekas and chapus. Overall he presented an impeccable monarchic picture of percussive support at its best. His inspiration infected the ghatam vidwan Karthick, who laid thick and thin his fingering prowess to provide enticing patterns.

Finally, Krishna rounded off the concert with a ragamalika sloka, the light classical pieces ``Marubaari,'' ``Smara Sundarangi'' and the Swati Tirunal Manipravala Kurinji padam, ``Aliveni-endu- seyya.''

Under the auspices of the Maharajapuram Santhanam Rasikas Trust in association with Swaranjali, the senior vidwan, K. V. Narayanaswami gave a concert that was characterised by his method of introducing subtleties in alapana-lines, neraval and swaraprastharas. He tailored his artistry in tune with the state of his vocal felicity. The recital began briskly with the songs ``Kripajoochutaku-veelara'' in Chaya Tarangini followed by the Pantuvarali piece, ``Vadera Deivamu'' with raga alapana, neraval and swaras. Dikshitar's Anandabhairavi kriti, ``Manasa Guruguhe'', and then the Sankarabharanam item, ``Manasu swaadeenamaina'', provided flesh and blood to the performance with brief raga alapanas. R. K. Sriramkumar, playing the violin, presented lively alapana lines of Anandabhairavi and Sankarabharanam. Manoj Siva, on the mridangam, took care not to be too prominent.

At a relaxed pace

For the Thyagaraja Seva Samiti, in its Bahula Panchami series, K. N. Sasikiran provided unhurried music, neither exciting nor dull. He preferred the slow-tempo marga to build his cutcheri in every aspect of musical expression with occasional charming passages.

Beginning with the Nattai Pancharatnam, the major items were ``Bhavanuta'' (Mohanam) and ``Rama Neeyada'' (Karaharapriya). The alapana for both these moved in patches at every segment of their development. The other songs were: ``Yagnadulu'' (Jayamanohari), ``Palukaveni'' (Poornachandrika), ``Karuna Elagante'' (Varali), ``Pariyachakama'' (Vachaspati) and ``Kanna-thandri'' (Devamanohari).

M. S. Anantaraman on the violin reflected truly the musical thinking of the vocalist in his contribution to the cutcheri. Karaikudi Jayaraman (mridangam) padded the vocalist's expository method with swift patterns tunefully. The tani was all too brief.

SVK

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