Sri. S.V. Krishnan of Naada Inbam was to have come along with me to this concert. Destiny had willed that it should become a musical homage to him.
Sri. Ramachandran of Hamsadhwani in his opening speech extolled the services of SVK to Carnatic music and his continuous search for fresh talent and his all-out efforts in continuously projecting music that he considered to be good.
It was Sivarathri. Naturally, Gayathri Venkataraghavan's
homage was through the following krithis:
Sivalokanathanai Kandu, Nadha thanum anisam, Sarasaksha, a Virutham Vinnorkum (Manicka Vasagar) followed by Vaananai, Jambupathe, E Vasudha, Andavane unnai Nambinen, Thiruvadi Charanam, Paninaindhuttum and Masil Veenayum followed by Varuvaro, Moule Ganga followed by Visweswara, Aadum Chidambaramo, and in conclusion Dharsanakaro
.
Needless to say that eack krithi was sung with the greatest emotional involvement. Midway through the concert, she said that but for SVK’s encouragement many of the first generation artistes like her would not be singing on the stage .
It was , in short, the epitome of how a musical homage should be. What else to say. One cannot but mention the heart-rending pathos she infused to the phrases Jiva Dhayakaro in Jambupathe and Marupadiyum in Thiruvadi Charanam.
The accompaniment by Charulatha Ramanujam and Ganapathiraman were on the same wavelength. Ganapathi said later that he just could not bring himself to play Sollus and just felt content to keep the layam.
Music that will linger in the memory of the listeners for more than one reason.