Sensitive sancharas delivered in haste

THERE ARE certain invisible characteristics of carnatic music which serve to enhance the aesthetic level of expressiveness. In the matter of raga alapana, proper spacing between sancharas holds the key to help rasikas appreciate to the full the beautiful facets. Bombay Ranjani and Gayatri, who gave the inaugural concert in the annual festival of Kartik Fine Arts imparted tonal intensity propelled by disciplined smoothness in rendering the songs, ``Bhuvini - daasudane'' (Sriranjani), ``Paridaanamichchite'' (Bilahari) and ``Kunram - Kudikondavelaru'' (Todi, a Papanasam Sivan composition). The song session gained distinction by the duo's sincerity to bring out the texture and colour of the items.

A rich and radiant tone lent lustre to the alapana of Bilahari by Gayatri. Though the vinyasa of Todi later was shared by the sisters, it was the Bilahari alapana that was studded with sensitively visualised sancharas. The raga was marked by a tracery of spiralling passages, deliciously fluent. Thereby Gayatri gently persuaded the raga to lay bare its beauteous form. If Gayatri had given proper spacing referred to earlier, her picturisation of Bilahari would have found an abiding place in the hearts of rasikas. The passages raced one after another in such haste, that before a listener could fully savour the elegance of a sanchara, the next one followed quickly. Ranjani's first movements of Todi was methodical and moved with modesty and when Gayatri took over from the Tara sthayi her contribution brimmed with qualities that made it attractive.

Quite sharp in absorbing the musical thinking of the vocalists. Akkarai Subbulakshmi's violin accompaniment was full of grace and elegance. There was a touch of tenderness in the delineation of Bilahari and Todi. The sancharas progressed tunefully mapping out the contours in depth. The control over the instrument was well embossed on the alapanas.

J. Vaidyanathan (mridangam) collected the percussive patterns in sheaves and made his accompaniment sumptuous. Fastening the rhythmic beats deftly, he spiced his support to add punch to the structural cohesiveness of the kirtanas. His method was vigorous without being aggressive. Hosur Venkata Subramanian (ghatam) was a modest follower of Vaidyanathan.

Lacking in mellifluity

A vibrant voice to the melodic has to resort to gana-naya touches, which in its absence makes for uniform sound level. Similarly, articulation of sahityas has to be softened according to the sentiment of the song. Vijaya Siva handled his concert with great competence, but lacked mellifluity because the two vital aspects mentioned at the beginning were lacking. For instance in the kritis ``Mayamma'' in Ahiri and ``Chakkani Rajamargamu'' the words have to be enunciated with great sensitivity, but at his hands they were assertively pronounced. He placed the raga version of Latangi and Karaharapriya with vividness and consistency.

In contrast to Vijaya Siva's vocal strength delicacy of melody formed the core of Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi's violin support. Her vinyasa of the two ragas brought out fully the consummate success of disciplined training. There was percussive generosity in Manoj Siva's mridangam, in happy association with B.S. Purushottman (kanjira) who sparkled in the tani with firmness of kanjira beats.

SVK

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