Sri S Shashank - Flute
Akkarai Subhalakshmi - violin
Sri Parupali Phalgun - mridangam
1. Era nApai - tOdi varnam
2. ninnAda nEla - kannadA - T (short sketch, S)
3. Evarani - devAmrutavarshini - Tyagaraja (S)
4. BhajanasEya rAda - dharmavati - Mysore Vasudevachar (R,S)
5. pAlincu kAmakshi - madhyamAvati - SS (R, S, T)
6. RTP - bagEsri (misra chapu; followed by Adi talam 1 kalai) with swarams in ragesri, subhapantuvarali, kApi, desh, ranjani, aberi, kamas, hindolam, kannada, bhairavi, varali.
7. ViswEswara - sindhu bhairavi - ST
9. taruni nyan - dwijAvanti - ST
10. tillAna - poornachandrikA - poochi
I had the pleasure of listening to Shashank for the first time at a concert at the Berklee school, where he floored the Boston audience as a young pre-teen. Although, I had seen him on a number of sporadic occasions since, I have not kept up with his classical/carnatic concerts. Shashank is quite regular on the jugalbandi circuit and his music (like Ravikiran/Mandolin Srinivas) has an appeal for people well outside the mylapore expat community.
Today, Sri Shashank's classical music has matured immensely; he exudes the confidence and "measured ease" that you see in only amongst the titans of the field. He has seamlessly integrated his guru KVN's vocal style and the Chaurasia-esque blowing techniques (both the deep gamaka oriented ones and the more impressive rapid fire staccato ones). This concert was an example of how classicism, technical perfection and spontaneity can come together to create an unforgettable experience.
I am very fond of kannadA and especially the kriti NinnadA, after having heard it in a Ramnad Krishnan album (nonesuch, 1967?). Shashank's handling of Kannada, even in the short sketch, led beautifully into the gait of this beautiful kriti. The dharmavati was exceptional, despite all the Chaurasia influence on his technique, there was no hint of madhuvanti or hindustani-pidis here. The Madhyamavati was very unique. After his raga essay, he asked the audience if we wanted Rama katha sudha or Palincu kamakshi. I was one of those that yelled loudest for the latter; and being right up front (where I always sit, next to the lovely eager-beaver students diligently keeping talam) this opinion seemed to prevail in Shashank's decision. I was very happy with the choice; also because that Ramnad Krishan album I was talking about earlier also has a beautiful palincu kamakshi. Somehow it made for internal consistency in my head. The swarams in Madhyamavati were slow, then brisk and then on the intensely algebraic side. After a long khanta nadai exercise, ending in a complex koraippu Sri Phalgun began his tani.
Sri Phalgun reminds me of many of the present generation Andhra mridangists. Patri, Ramanamurthy, MLN Raju (PP's guru). There is a lot of tabla influence in their style, a gratuitous use of gumkis (which is great for accompanying instrumentalists) and a reduced usage of the arrai chappu. Quite different from the earlier generation of Kamalakar Rao, Dandamudi and Yella; who were more influenced by the traditional Tanjore and pudukkottai schools. Phalgun is a very competent mridangist. I rate him very highly; I hope I am not taking anything away by calling him Patri-ish. The tani he played yesterday was crisp and followed the khanta nadai grammar set up by Shashank, and ended with a perfect korvai so it was easy as pie to merge back with "kAntamaku peru ponditivi".
Shashank polled the audience for what ragam we wanted for the RTP. From the 300+ people that had turned up, there were a number of motley responses. Bhairavi, Khamboji, Brindavani.... Unable to identify a modal choice, Shashank gave the audience the choice of bindu malini or bagesri, and the straw vote went for the latter. Bagesri lends itself quite nicely to elaboration. Here, all the Chaurasia-isms helped him greatly, both with the tone of the instrument and the execution of Bagesri. His raga essay reminded me of KVN's sagara sayana vibho (MDR's masterpiece), rather than a hindustani alap. The pallavi ragamalika swarams were brisk and came pouring down rapidly. They changed gait midway from misra chapu to adi (almost like the change of a bandish from vilambit to a faster tempo/meter).
Akkarai Subhalakshmi was extraordinary, I mean exceptional. I would put her as one the best violinists of her generation. She can handle the pressure of complex kanakkus like Lalgudi, has the bowing sweetness of TNK and the intense training that has come from Ravikiran's tutelage. Her performance shone through the entire evening. And she made it all appear effortless.
Overall a very enjoyable evening, the start of the local Tyagaraja festival.
CML, you are in for a treat. I think they are headed Ottawards...