Karaikkudi Mani (Mrudangam)
V Suresh (Ghatam)
Navaragamalika Varnam – Adi
Teliyaleru Rama – Dhenuka – Adi – Thyagarajar (S)
Brochevarevare – Sriranjani – Adi – Thyagaraja (RS)
Ranganathude – Saurashtram – Rupakam – Ponniah Pillai (R)
Paramdhamavathi – Dhamravathi – Rupakam – Deekshitar (RNS)
Dandamu Bettanura – Balahamsa – Adi – Thyagaraja
Dasarathe – Thodi – Adi – Thyagaraja – (RNST)
The bhagavathars and scholars in the auditorium wore a dissatisfied look. “Bah! Hindusthani!” carped one. “A mutilated Kalyani”, caviled another. Others with less sensitive ears merely looked lost. Suspended between the purist’s unbending grammar and the layman’s discomfort with unfamiliarity, Seshachary’s pronounced Karvais on the Madhyamam and the Nishadam for his essay in Dharmavathi met with a rather unenthusiastic response. Except for a lone bloke whose vigorous applause seemed as odd as the alaapana that prompted it – yours truly.
As a source code for melodic programming, the Melakartha scheme ought to have been a musician’s dream come true. But that begins to sound a little hopeful when one considers the limitations of the average imagination. It takes a genius like St Thyagaraja, to catalyze a theoretical classification into some of the most original and haunting tunes known to man. Thus, where the greats have shown the path, a Kharahapriya or Keeravani does not unduly tax the musician’s Manodharma…but where he is left to grope with his own lantern, Dharmavathi being a case in point, he either risks venturing into a minefield that could blow up his concerts, or treats the non-standard scales as the proverbial elephant in the room. Most of us have a few births to go through before we can even begin to comprehend the magnitude of the Trinity’s greatness and Seshachary is probably no exception. But the duty of the honest musician is to chip away at the edifice of such ragas with the chisel of his imagination, irrespective of the Sisyphean unlikelihood of a recognizable structure emerging in the foreseeable future. It is to this spirit that the contrarians in the audience paid homage. The rasika emerged from the alaapana, none the wiser about Dharmavathi’s melodic structure but there were enough oblique hints and suggestions to equip inquisitive minds with some handy reference material to work with.
The “extraordinary rendition” of Dharnavati was just one of the examples of a typical Hyderabad Brothers presentation with creative juices at times tending to flood the pipelines to the soul. Thodi was a crooked affair and while Saurashtram was a more orthodox essay, Seshachary’s restless brain could not entirely resist the possibilities opened up by the two Nishadas. Actually it would have been quite interesting if he had tried to force open the devil’s door instead of merely knocking.
It is time for Narada Gana Sabha to emulate the good example of its more northern neighbor further down TTK Road. Karaikkudi Mani’s naadam was ravaged by the audio system and Suresh’ pot was barely audible. They soldiered on, however, to produce an enjoyable tani in which Mishram singled out for exploration and eventual reduction, laying the pitch for a classic KRM Korvai of four Avarthas in Chatushram and Tishram.
Manjunath had a fine day on the violin, hanging on admirably to Seshachary’s disorienting sorties before taking over the cockpit to ensure safe landings on familiar territory.
TM Krishna
Music Academy, 29 December 2007
Mysore Manjunath – ViolinKaraikkudi Mani – Mriangam
V Suresh - Ghatam
Sami Daya Judara - Kedaragowlai – Adi
Sri Nathadhi Guruguho - Mayamalavagowlai – Adi (S)
Ela Nee Daya Radu - Atana – Adi
Thillai Chidambaram - Purvikalyani - Misra Chapu (RNS)
Amba Paradevate - Rudrapriya - Khanda Chapu
Mari Mari Ninne - Kambodhi - Adi (RNST)
The pause on the rishabham during the Kambhoji alaapana was right out of Prof. Sambamurthy’s book. To be precise, Book 3 page 361, where the author holds forth on Kedaragaula. Refrains of PD2SN3, PD2SN3 that would have given Mysore Vasudevachar some nice ideas for the Pallavi of Sree Chamundeshwari in Bilahari. According to a friend who has an ear for these things, Khamas was invoked in the beginning. Krishna’s Khamboji may have been better without such grammatical bloopers. Hmmm…italicize “may”… add an inflection of uncertainty. Actually, abandon the thought altogether…A perfect Kambhoji is not too hard to find and I’ve heard a few this season – perfect, and perfectly boring. I prefer the imperfectly brilliant variety I heard that day…
This rasika has heard TM Krishna at least 50 times over the last few years. The wide eyes of disbelief that first greeted the cover drives and square cuts flashing forth from the stage now allow themselves to roll occasionally. With time, the student evolves along with his teacher which, in a sense, is the term that best describes my relationship with artistes of his stature. Ingenuous applause and unqualified praise give way to a pettifogging undercurrent of skepticism. Vocal slips are pompously pointed out, forgotten sahithya smirked at. But every once in a while the student’s attention is diverted from his trifling repertoire of nitpicks, and goes back to the wide eyes and goose-bumps of his initiation. The would-be critic finds his pen flushed of its acid and dripping, instead, with a fan’s unrestrained words of admiration. Thus transported, the rasika is in a state of indifference bordering on blindness, with respect to such matters as grammatical peccadilloes, sruthi lapses and running kalapramanam…All of which happened. And none of which mattered a whit.
Having already stretched the reader’s credulity, it would be unwise of me to attempt an objective assessment but if I were to triangulate the pinnacle of this Himlayan concert, Everest would lie in the vicinity of Krishna’s Mari Mari Ninne and its cascading avalanche of sangathis. I must mention here, that it must have taken an extraordinarily insensitive person to molest such a divine composition, as I believe was done by one of our “eminent” music directors.
Krishna’s awesome juggernaut owed its majesty, in no small measure, to the thundering rolls of Karaikkudi Mani’s Mrudangam and V Suresh’s Ghatam. The tricky vinyasa had my mind crunching numbers all the time but I could come up with nothing more complicated than Tisram. My overworked brain finally sputtered to a halt in the korvai but the concluding phrases appeared to be in Mishram.
Among the few troughs of the concert was Manjunath’s alaapana in Purvikalyani – hearing his scratchy patterns around the constants, the latecomer would be forgiven for identifying the rendition as a Jod in Sohni. His Kambhoji, although a tad lengthy, was a less tawdry display. The concluding section of the Neraval was also the usual bhel-puri of swara, sahithya and tala – a spicy high-calorie mixture with zero nutritive value for the soul. Substituting this Molotov cocktail with a measured koraippu could be considered to achieve a more aesthetic climax.
There was no time for an RTP. For once, this is meant as a compliment.
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