It was another eventful weekend in the Capital for music lovers and devotees. The national programme of music on All India Radio this past Saturday broadcast the recordings of the violin recital of veteran M. Chandrasekharan. In a brilliant recital of about an hour and half, Chandrasekharan delighted with some masterly renderings on this instrument.
Chandrasekharan started off his recital with an invocation song to Lord Ganesha, “Pancha Matanga”, a composition of Muthuswami Dikshitar in raga Malahari, which he concluded with creatively crafted sets of kalpanaswaras. Mysore Jayachamaraja Wodeyar’s “Sri Jalandhara Ashrayamyaham” in raga Ghambira Nattai added briskness to the recital. Chandrasekharan then took up Shyama Sastri’s “Marivera gati” in raga Ananda Bhairavi for a somewhat detailed rendition with a fine alapana of the raga and rendering of kalpanaswaras.
After emotively presenting Tyagaraja’s “Rara Mayintidaka” in raga Asaveri, Chandrasekharan moved to the central item, which was a Swati Tirunal’s composition “Pahi Jagajjanani” in raga Vachaspati. Here, he handled the improvisation techniques, namely the raga alpana, niraval of a phrase and kalpanaswaras very aesthetically. Umayalpuram Mali on the mridangam and Trichy K. Murali on the Ghatam had provided excellent support. Their tani avartanam in adi tala was both riveting and enjoyable.
The Sunday noon concert from the Delhi station of the All India Radio, in which the recordings of late Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer was broadcast, was another delightful concert that would have been relished by radio listeners. In the hour-long recordings (AIR has now restored their early time slot of one hour) the veteran vocalist began with an adi tala varnam in raga Begada, suffixing kalpanaswaras. The recordings included Iyer’s detailed renderings of Muthuswami Dikshitar’s “Siddhi Vinayakam” in the Shanmukhapriya and Swati Tirunal’s “Devadeva kalayamite” in raga Mayamalavagowla.
The violin, mridangam and Kanjira accompaniments were excellent in this recording. AIR, however, could have announced the names of these accompanying artistes too.
At the auditorium of the Delhi Tamil Sangam, the Chennai-based popular Harikatha exponent Vishaka Hari presented an enjoyable evening of Sangeetha Upanyasam, on the topic “Tyagaraja Ramayanam”, this past weekend. The programme was organised by Akhila Bharata Sadhu Samajam and Delhi Tamil Sangam. Vishaka skillfully intertwined the verses from Valmiki Ramayan by singing them in the form of viruthams and the compositions of Tyagaraja. Her eloquent narrations were punctuated with the required dose of humour and she frequently quoted her gurus.
Tyagaraja’s compositions that she sang included “Ninne bhajana” in raga Nata, “Rama nee Samana mevaru” in raga Kharaharapriya, “Manavi alakinchara” in raga Nalinakanti, “Rama katha” in raga Madhyamavathi, “Samajavaragamana” in raga Hindolam, “Bagayanayya” in raga Chandrajyoti, and “Eti janmamidi” in raga Varali. However, one felt that Vishaka needs to strike a balance between singing and narration.
A tilt towards the former resulted in a slower pace of the narration. Chennai-based B. Ananthakrishnan on the violin and Delhi-based K. N. Padmanabhan on the mridangam provided able support to Vishaka Hari in her Sangeetha Upanyasam.
