‘Tis The Season – 2018 : Days 11 to 15

Part 1 can be found here. Part 2 can be found here.

27^th December began on a grand note with a vocal concert by Maharajapuram Ramachandran at the Music Academy. He was accompanied by C. N. Chandrasekar on the violin, Tumkur Ravishankar on the Mridangam and Coimbatore V. Mohanram on the ghatam and was assisted by his student Abhinav. The concert began with an Ata tala varnam in Kanada – one I remember only too well. The next song was Papanasam Sivan’s Mooladhara Moorthi in Hamsadwani – another favourite. This was followed by two compositions of Muthuswami Dikshitar – Sri Dum Durge in Sriranjani and Chetasri Balakrishnam Bajare in Dvijavanti. Next came an elaborate and awe-inspiring rendition of Nilakantha Sivan’s Karunai Puridu in Varali, a raga which was explored in detail. Tyagaraja’s Enduko Peddala in Shankarabharanam came next and was followed by Muthuthandavar’s Sevikka Vendum Ayya in Andolika. The Ragam Tanam Pallavi was in Shanmukhapriya.

The evening took me back to Narada Gana Sabha, this time to the mini hall for another violin concert – a solo by Lalgudi G. J. R. Krishnan. He was accompanied by R. Sankaranarayanan on the Mridangam and B. S. Purushothaman on the Kanjira. This concert was full of Sanskrit compositions – starting with Annamacharya’s Vandeham Jagadvallabham in Hamsadwani. The next was in Natakapriya – Mara Jananim by N. C Krishnamacharyulu. The third song was an old favourite – Muthuswami Dikshitar’s Sri Matrubhutam in raga Kannada and it was followed by a rather unusual song – Shimogha Srikantiah’s Shankarabala in the raga Bhavani. A Tyagaraja composition came next – Sri Raghuvara in Kamboji, after which we were treated to Narayanatirtha’s beautiful Mrigayata Radha Madhavam in Behag. The concert ended with Lalgudi G. Jayaraman’s thillana in raga Durga.

I spent the next three mornings at the Music Academy. The morning of 28^th December was devoted to two instrumentalists. One session was a centenary tribute to Vidya Shankar. Her students Ram Naidu and Nithya Balaji conducted it and for that brief hour, we felt as if Vidya Shankar had come back to us. Indeed, in a way, that was true – the veena used to demonstrate her style of playing was her own concert veena carefully preserved over the years. The other session was by Tanjavur Ramdas and was on the mridangam techniques of Palghat T. S. Mani Iyer. With deft strokes on his mridangam, Tanjavur Ramdas took us through the different aspects of Palghat Mani’s mridangam playing, from practice to performance. We also had the inputs of Palghat T. R. Rajamani (son of Palghat Mani) who was present for the session. The next morning consisted of two interesting sessions. One was by Kalyani Ganesan (with some of her students) and she gave us an outline of Chittaiswarams composed by vainikas. Many interesting things emerged from this session – such as chittaiswarams added to songs long after they were composed and chittaiswarams which are musical palindromes! The other session was by Aruna Sairam who explained – and demonstrated – the role of Bhajana Sampradaya in Carnatic Music.

The morning of the 30^th of December began with a session on Marathi Natya Sangeet by Shashi Vyas and Aditya Oke who enthralled us with their descriptions of the art peppered with anecdotes from the lives of stalwarts such as Bal Gandharva and a great deal of humour. The second session was by Ranjani and Gayathri. They dealt with the tukkada or the latter section of a concert, and explained with a series of demonstrations how there is a lot of scope for creativity even there. The evening took me to Lakshmi Giri Convention Hall in Mylapore for another concert by an old friend. This time, Eshwar S. R. was accompanied by Akash Gururaja on the violin and Chandrashekar Karthik on the mridangam. The concert began with Muthuswami Dikshitar’s Gajananayutam in Chakravakam. This was followed by a rather unusual song – Paripalinchu  in Shuddha Saveri, composed by Tiruvisainallur Venkatarama Iyer. Then came a Kotishwara Iyer composition – Malayadhe Maname in Sarasangi. Tyagaraja’s Paramathmudu in Vagadishwari was followed by a strong and confident rendition of Mamava Karunaya, a Swati Tirunal composition in Shanmukhapriya. The next song was in Madhuvanti – Kandanaal Mudalai by N. S. Chidambaram. The concert ended with Bharati’s Chinnan Chiru Kiliye and a Mangalam.

The street sign at the entrance to Musiri Subramaniam Road, on the way to Mylapore Fine Arts Club. Photograph by Mythili on 1^st January 2019.

2019 began with a long concert by the Lalgudi duo at Mylapore Fine Arts Club. They were accompanied by Trichy Sankaran on the mridangam and Suresh Vaidyanathan on the Ghatam. The concert began with Lalgudi Jayaraman’s varnam in Kalyani followed by Tyagaraja’s Giriraja Suta in Bangala. The surprise in the second song was that it included a chittaiswaram composed by Lalgudi Jayaraman, played in public for the very first time. The next song was also one of Lalgudi Jayaraman’s compositions – Kandan Seyalanro in Nattakurinji. This was followed by Tyagaraja’s Vaddane Varu in Shanmukhapriya and by popular request, Mysore Vasudevachar’s Brochevarevarura in Khamas. Papanasam Sivan’s Srinivasatavacharanam in Kharaharapriya was followed by a long and exquisite Ragam Tanam Pallavi in Behag. A series of short pieces came next, most notably Baro Krishnayya by Kanakadasa and a Tiruppugazh in Bhimplas. The concert ended with Lalgudi Jayaraman’s thillana in Karnaranjani.

The evening of 1^st January 2019 took me to Krishna Gana Sabha for a saxophone concert by Kadri Gopalnath, accompanied by A. Kanyakumari on the violin, Patri Satish Kumar on the mridangam, Rajendra Nakod on the tabla and Bangalore B. Rajasekar on the morsing. Though shortened for unavoidable reasons, the concert was full of favourites. It began with Sri Ganesha Charanam in Tilang – a song I remember only too well from my days in school – followed by Shyama Shastri’s swarajati in Bhairavi. The rest of the trinity got their share of the concert with the next two songs being Muthuswami Dikshitar’s Akhilandeshwari in Dvijavanti and Tyagaraja’s Gnanamosagarada in Purvi Kalyani. The musicians then launched into a lively rendition of Patnam Subramania Iyer’s Raghuvamshasuda in Kadanakuthuhalam, a personal favourite of mine. The Ragam Tanam Pallavi was in Surya and featured a fabulous three-way thani avarthanam with mridangam, tabla and morsing each outdoing the others. It was followed by three short pieces – Vyasatirtha’s Krishna Nee Begane Baro in Yamuna Kalyani, a thillana in Dhanashri and Kurai Ondrum Illai. The concert ended with Purandara Dasa’s Bagyada Lakshmi Baramma – a song with which I have a close personal connection, and also the very first song I ever heard. This was definitely a wonderful end to a wonderful musical fortnight.