Artists
- Vijayalakshmy Subramaniam - vocal
- Shreya Devnath - violin
- Vaikkom Gopalakrishnan - ghatam
- Raamkumar Balamurthi - mridangam
- chalamEla varnam - nattakurinji
- jaya jAnaki kAntha - nAttai
- manavyAlakincharAthate - nalinakAnthi
- madhurAmbikayam sadA bhaktim karOmi - hEmAvati
- kanakangaka shuka guha - kanakAngi
- pAlinchu kAmakshi pAvani - madhyamAvati.
- niddiraiyil vanthu nenjinil idam konda uthaman yarodi - jOnpuri
- sarvam brahmamayam - madhuvanti
At the very outset I must confess that I have not heard much of S. Rajam's music - the little I know of him is that he was the elder brother of the eccentric genius Veena S. Balachander, and that he was a fantastic and much revered painter of universal renown. That last bit I gleaned from the excellent Facebook page, Rajam 100 that's been posting audio recordings of his music as well as his gorgeous, gorgeous paintings online in honour of his centenary.
Vijayalakshmy began with a medium-paced Chalamela. Opening with a Nattakurinji was a great idea, I thought, as it is such a lovely and feel-good ragam. This was followed by the sedate nAttai and everyone's darling, the nalinakAnthi kriti. These were executed in quick succession, almost like thukkadas. I was beginning to worry if this was how it was going to be for the entire concert.
She was gracious enough to announce the next song as "the sister" of the well-known Sri Kanthimathim in ragam Hemavati. Apparently S. Rajam was a huge fan of Dikshitar, which instantly caused me to like this Colossus of the arts that I'd never heard of until this year. I am partial to Dikshitar kritis as opposed to Tyagaraja's, mostly because the former composed mostly in stately Sanskrit, and he went about his business of bhakti in a very matter of fact manner - straight flowery descriptions and astutely crafted poetic encomiums - as opposed to the over-the-top mawkishness and possessiveness-based approach of the latter, which I do not care for as much.
Anyway, the Hemavati was elaborate, with a proper alapana and violin alapana. I rejoiced in discovering a second song in that ragam.
Up until this point, Shreya did nothing spectacular - her violin playing was very good, and she had adopted a style of closely following the vocalist's flights of inspiration. I was not particularly moved by Vijayalakshmy's singing either; the real treat was listening to Raamkumar's mridangam and Gopalakrishnan's ghatam and the excellent on stage chemistry they evinced. It was almost like they both knew every korvai and pattern that the other was going to play every step of the way. It is such a wonderful thing to see when this thing happens - it was like they were finishing each other's sentences! I can only stare and gape in wonder at the level of preparedness and training they must have undergone in order to recognize instantly the hint of a particular nadai or pattern, however arcane or complex (or simple!).
All that changed from the next song onwards, and I eventually left the hall feeling like Vijayalakshmy had earned my respect (ha! yes, me who knows literally nothing).
The main piece of the afternoon was the Madhyamavati kriti, which was handled quite well with an unhurried alapana, a violin response, a neraval at "... kAntamagu ponthithivi..." followed by swarams. Again, the percussionists showcased a very enthralling thani full of artistic sensitivity. By the way, Raamkumar is a local guru whom I've had the pleasure of listening to on multiple occasions - he's VERY good. I was actually wondering how the thani was going to be, for such a song which didn't really offer any room for thundering thani finishes (in my opinion), and Raamkumar surprised me by finishing his opening salvo quite early, sans any building up of tempo. Vaikkom Gopalakrishnan ("A Malayali! Yes!", I cheered him on mentally) was ON POINT with his playing that went into a few more rounds of call-and-response which ended in some slight kanakku-based but very accessible patterns and koraippus. I thoroughly enjoyed the thani. It was very measured, restrained and calculated in its effect.
As I was trying to figure out the ragam to the subsequent Tamil song, it hit me - Jonpuri. "Aha, a new jOnpuri song!". I couldn't have been happier. Few ragams transport me so instantly to a state of emotionality like jOnpuri. And the fact that it was a Tamil song was just the icing on the cake.
But she had a final trick up her sleeve. As she started the raga alapana, it struck me that this was a rare raga, and one that I'd loved and remembered as a Tanjore S Kalyanaraman staple (uruppadi). I immediately searched my Youtube history and found the song that was redolent of the raga - Kanda naal muthalai, in ragam Madhuvanti. Dr. Venkatachalam, who was in the audience, was beside himself with delight, with very animated hand gestures as he also enjoyed this rare raga and rarer kriti. I shared his joy at identifying the raga, and noted down "Sarvam brahmamayam" for revisting later on Youtube. Vijayalakshmy mentioned that this was a Sadasiva Brahmendra song that S. Rajam had himself set to tune, so that was great to know.
Overall, a rollicking start to this year's Festival. A fine tribute to a Carnatic great by a well-qualified and deserving disciple.
