Artists
- V V Subaramaniam, V V S Murari - Violin duet
- Neyveli Narayanan - Mridangam
- K V Gopalakrishnan - Ganjira
- mAtE malayadhwaja - khamAs (R)
- <some song in sAveri>
- rAmabhadra rArA - Anandabhairavi (R)
- seethamma mAyamma - vasanta (R)
- vijayAmbike - vijayanagari (R)
- paridAnamichite - bilahari (N)
- janani ninnu vinA - reetigowla (R)
- <Some bhajan in dEsh>
- marukkulAviya - tiruppugazh - poorvikalyAni (R)
When it comes to reviewing concerts, as with most people, I too try to set down my thoughts as quickly as possible before they fade into the ether. But life has an annoying habit of getting in the way of getting some focused writing done, with the result that sometimes a considerable interval of time elapses before I sit down at my laptop with reviewing on my mind. Nevertheless, this concert remains fresh in my mind even though it occurred a week ago, and will be for years to come.
Taking a cue from the dance lec-dem that preceded the concert, VVS senior spoke briefly about the basic structure of music primarily meant for dance: swarams, followed by sahityam, and finally, the jati. And then announced the song he was going to open with, the well known mAtE malayadhwaja in the lovely ragam Khamas (khamAj?). After a succint alapana made doubly delightful by the presence of a second violin (VVS Murari), the father-son duo went all the way to the end of the song, and then looped back to the "shyAmE sakala bhuvana..." line and dwelt on it at length. I'm not sure if it was a neraval or a demonstration of the jati style, but there were many elements unfamiliar to a typical Carnatic style exposition in this song.
Since I'd never listened to Prof. VVS before, this first song was my personal litmus test of excellence, and I was thoroughly convinced of his vidwat. VVS Murari I've seen live quite a few times before, and I'm a great fan of his music. What was absolutely fascinating to observe throughout the concert was the difference in the body languages of both the men. While VVS senior was a lot more fluid in his bowing stance and movements, Murari maintained a more rigid pose with his bowing arm's elbow held high and outwards. VVS senior would frequently retreat into corners, so to speak, only to spring back explosively with bursts of pure inspiration and energy. Murari would always wear the same stoic and calm expression even while burning it up on the violin to go toe to toe with the genius of his father, who, in contrast, allowed himself some changes of expression and adjustments to garments.
As the Saveri alapana began, I began to notice the extremely evocative and highly emotional style in which they were going about it. Employing short, slow phrases punctuated by well-timed pauses, and passing the baton to each other, they together painted a resplendent canvas of the ragam using just a few deft brushstrokes. This would repeat for every subsequent song in the concert, much to my astonishment and joy. Unfortunately, this Saveri song was unfamiliar to me and no announcement was made, so I had to satisfy myself with just the correct identification of the ragam.
After a lilting Anandabhairavi alapana, they started with the kriti, and again, I was stumped as to what the song was. When I heard a few appreciative grunts and aahas emanating from behind me, I shot a quick glance at the originator of these sounds, and the guy looked legit, like he knew what was what. And so after the song was over I sidled up to him and inquired about the song, and he told me, and I was happy that I found my guy for the unfamiliar songs and ragams for the concert.
Both VVS-es really got into form during Seethamma Mayamma. There was something quite unique about their pATantharam - they added their own touches, frills and embellishments to the kriti, greatly enhancing the stern grandeur of the ragam. The tempo was quite fast too. I was amazed by how different their version sounded from the ones I'd listened to on Youtube until then.
My helpful co-rasika didn't know the name of the next ragam but he knew the name of the song, and we quickly Googled it and learnt that it was in the very exotic-sounding Vijayanagari ragam. I was luxuriating in the splendour of the alapanas - they were quite something.
I correctly identified the next ragam as Bilahari, but didn't know the song, so my new friend helped me again. I just sat back and marvelled at the sonorousness and harmoniousness of the dual violins operating in unison to deliver a watertight stream of high quality music direct from the source to myself, the listener. I realized that like any other form of music, Carnatic music can also greatly benefit from featuring multiple voices on stage to intensify the effects of the sounds.
Next was the main piece for the evening, the well-known and much-loved Janani ninnu vina in Reetigowla. Man, this slow-paced Reetigowla was gorgeous, second only to the superlatives-exhausting Reetigowla that Hemmige Srivatsan's son played in San Diego sometime last year. There was a neraval at "thAmasamu..." - free flowing riffing and jamming by all artists onstage, followed by a brilliant and thoroughly satisfying thani by KVG and Neyveli Narayanan.
A bhajan in Desh followed (that my friend couldn't identify), and then a snatch of glorious Thiruppugazh poetry which I sought help from my friend to identify, and that concluded the concert. We all gave VVS senior and the other artists a standing ovation, and I clapped extra hard. As I was gushing about the awesomeness of the concert to my new friend, I learnt that he was no ordinary rasika - he was a performing violinist, the young Kamalakiran Vinjamuri! He told me that he was going to perform with Sudha Raghunathan the upcoming weekend, and I backed away, slightly dazed.
This concert was a study in the crafting of alapanas and the effective conveying of emotion and bhava in music using the basic tools of sound shaping. I have read that the Carnatic community at large agree that a Trinity of Carnatic violin exists - TNK, LGJ and MSG - and I couldn't help but feel that this needed amending to a Quartet with the inclusion of VVS senior. I slowly shuffled out of the hall knowing that I'd witnessed something very special that evening.
glad you liked the review! The concert was around 2.5 hours long, if I remember correctly - from around 8 PM to around 10:30 PM.
) trying to do so and instead decided to just enjoy the music. The sole consolation was that I had Kamalakiran on hand to at least identify the song and ragam - otherwise I'd have forever rued my lack of knowledge that would have left me in the lurch with a lot of rich experience to write about but nothing to show for it.