First of all – full marks. Any group activity, irrespective of what it achieves, needs to be given a standing ovation. More so, when it involves 20 children, a celebrity musician, and a complex music form like Carnatic music. It means rigour and endless hard work. Bhoomija brought its second edition of the Carnatic choir last weekend, directed by Abhishek Raghuram, to a packed house.
This choir, different in arrangement from a conventional one, had children arranged in a sort of hierarchy, a familiar sight in a classroom. Brightly turned out, the kids were put into frames. Since stage design can hardly be read as mere aesthetics, these frames that perhaps tried to emphasise that ‘rules’ are limiting, seemed intriguing in many ways. It was a hindrance to the unity of voices that a choir basically tries to achieve. After a long theatrical prelude, with Abhishek Raghuram wielding the conductor’s baton, the choir began with a Shankaracharya composition set to music by Abhishek himself. This ragamala piece was lively and came with an inherent drama, as it switched from one raga to the other. With deft fingers and full blown imagination Vaibhav Ramani livened up the recital – clearly he was the star of the evening, and no doubt he was the director’s favourite too. Mridangam was by Adamya Ramanand and morsing by Smaran Haridashwa.
In what followed, was the English Note (Shankarabharanam) made popular by Madurai Mani and in fact, often played by the nadaswaram maestros like AKC Natarajan. It has been made memorable in the famous Tamil film, Tillana Mohanambal . The children sang the piece with gusto and pace and seemed to enjoy it for its sheer simplicity. Compositions that were clearly a highlight in this 70-minute presentation -- of which theatre (directed by Mallika Prasad) was a predominant part -- were the stunning Tanjavur Sankara Iyer’s kriti Ranjani Mala and Tyagaraja’s Shuddha Saveri composition, “Dharini Telisikonte”. When they embarked on the lovely Hamsanandi tillana, the colour of the recital changed. It acquired momentum and feel, and took one back to the stunning renditions of the maestros GNB and KVN. There was the Abheri magnum opus “Nagumomu” and “Rama Jogi” a Bhadrachala Ramdas composition sung often by Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer. In Sindhu Bhairavi, Abhishek even got the children to try their hands at the tough shruti bhedam.
From what was presented, it was very clear that Abhishek had given enormous time to train the children, and the children on their part had responded to the guidance with great enthusiasm. However, the concert clearly lacked structure. Everything that can be exciting and challenging in Carnatic music was a part of it, but the soul was missing. The voices didn’t have the desired strength and the shruti at many points was a major crisis with the tanpura conspicuously missing from the picture. The electronic device that kept pitch was so feeble that there was no reference point for the kids on several occasions. The idea of a choir is to identify the merits and demerits of every voice and choose compositions that can clearly tide over all deficiencies and turn it into strength. In that sense, there was neither a culmination of ideas, nor climax to the recital.
However, aspiration is higher than achievement; there was innovation and enthusiasm, and it does deserve encouragement.
