What a Legacy!

I normally write my reviews on returning from a concert when it is fresh in my mind but I slipped on 2 occasions recently.  Wanting to clear backlog on First in First Out basis, I had written the review of OS Arun’s Indian concert last night and kept the share of my experiences of attending Anil GJR concert for this morning.  When I checked The Hindu online, I saw that Lata Ganapathy had beaten me to release the review of the concert and had done a remarkable job at that.  Not has she taken the salient parts of the event but also the title that I had envisaged.  Be as it may, it forces me to bring out the other details in greater depth as below.

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Photo courtesy The Hindu

Anil Srinivasan had brought his brand new piano for the event and in the process had to get it tuned.  While it was being done behind the screen, the audience started fidgeting and I even saw a tweet about it in a different context.  And when the திரை lifted, there was indeed an ovation out of relief.  The artists expressed their apologies in a musical manner by playing the first few lines of தாமதம் தகாதையா a composition of Lalgudi Gopala Iyer (father of violin maestro Lalgudi Jayaraman) in the ragam MohanaKalyani.  That was a very smart repartee from the team and put everyone at ease.

The program featured Anil Srinivasan on Piano, Lalgudi GJR Krishnan on the Violin, Purushotaman on the Kanjira and Lakshmi Devnath on the vocals at the Krishna Gana Sabha.  Yes, Lakshmi frequently came to the mike to read excerpts from her biography on Lalgudi Jayaraman ‘The Incurable Romantic’.

On 24th Dec 2012 at the same venue, Anil and GJR performed together and were blessed by the Maestro himself in person.  He had remarked, while leaving the venue, that this should be done every year and hence they have come together out of deference to his wishes and also pay homage to the great artist who had passed away on 22nd April this year.  I was shocked to find a portrait of Lalgudi Jayaraman and his wife being garlanded because I was not aware of the demise of the lady.

I have heard Anil play the western classical at the MMB earlier and the Carnatic classical with SG last sunday but did not know that he could sing as well.  On Lakshmi’s request, he sang a few lines of Lalgudi’s Thillana admirably well.  A multi-faceted personality!

Lakshmi traced the origin of Lalgudi Jayaraman’s Tillana compositions to 1956, when the Vasantha Tillana was conceived and created.  He had composed 17 Tana varnams and 4 Pada Varnams during his illustrious career.

What followed this was a soulful rendering of a Saptha Ragamalika varna of Lalgudi Jayaraman with GJR and Anil vying with each other to seamlessly move from one raga to next and in the reverse order as well.  Starting in Charukesi, we were taken to a different world with a mellifluous rendering of Nalinakanthi (brought Ilayaraja’s masterpiece ‘nenjil endrum neengatha’ from the movie ‘Kalaignan’ in the same raga to mind), Valaji, Mohanam, Atana, Shanmugapriya and Bahudhari.  I am hearing it for the first time and so could have erred in the identification of the ragas.  Am willing to correct, when pointed.

GJR explained that  while we pay a lot of attention to the swaras in carnatic music, it is the presence of the unnoticed and un-notated anu swaras that lend the beauty to the swaras themselves.  He connected the dots by likening his mother Smt Rajalakshmi Jayaraman to the anu swaras and his father & guru LJ as the swaras.  He fought hard to control his emotions while talking about his parents.  Incidentally, he never referred to LJ as his father even once during the concert but always as ‘my Guru’. Anil added a snippet to the conversation by referring to Russian composer Arvo Pert who mentioned “if you want to understand the beauty of music turn to South India and specially TR Mahalingam and Lalgudi Jayaraman”.

The music continued with the rendering of கந்தன் செயலன்றோ in நாட்டைக்குறிஞ்சி and before that GJR mentioned that his guru LJ had always attributed all his achievements to the divine grace of their குல தெய்வம் being முருகன். He sang the phrase மலைமேல் தீபம் as if climbing the mountain and so when he played the kriti in violin, we were able to really appreciate the subtle nuances that went into it.

Lakshmi elaborated on how LJ was an ardent admirer of nature and was often inspired by it.  GJR explained a particular phrase in the பஹாடி தில்லானா where the swara pattern resembled the falling of autumn leaves and when he played it, we could visualize the leaf’s journey from the tree to the ground.  Anil embellished it by playing a progression from western music that conveyed the same effect.

More treat followed with the rendering of the மதுவந்தி தில்லானா where GJR explained the imagery of moonlight falling on a lake.  There was a raga malika at this time involving சிந்துபைரவி, மோகனம், த்வ்ஜாவந்தி (remarkable) & தர்மவதி (or was it மதுவந்தி?). Words fail me while I am trying to describe the rendering and really one has to experience it to appreciate the grand music that flowed.

GJR then played a few lines of the Tillanas in கர்ணரஞ்ஜனி, மோஹனகல்யாணி.  Lakshmi made a mention of how LJ had composed Thillanas specially on the requests of fellow artists like Voleti Venkateswaralu (பஹாடி) & Neduneri Krishnamoorthy (ஆனந்தபைரவி).

Those who have enjoyed LJ’s Thillanas would be thrilled to know about their origins and the inspirations.  The தர்பாரி கானடா தில்லானா was inspired by Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer’s rendition of a sloka in a concert, the one in துர்கா was after listening to Ajoy Chakraborty’s concert and the one in வாசந்தி (I hope i got the name right) when LJ listened to a ghazal in a flight, appropriately sending the listeners in a flight of fantasy!!

Lakshmi then made a detailed reference to the லால்குடி பாணி but I shall sum it in just 2 words “Singing Violin”.  GJR talked at length about how his Guru invested a lot of time and effort in embellishing kritis by paying close attention to the bhava, lyrical content and the raga lakshana.  He delighted the audience by playing the pallavi of தியாகராஜரின் நஜீவனதாரா  in பிலஹரி with multiple sangathis, each outdoing the previous ones.

GJR  also talked about how as a Violinist, his guru had popularized many kritis such as நாதலோலுடை (கல்யாணவசந்தம்), சபாபதிக்கு (ஆபோகி), நீ தயராத(வஸந்தபைரவி), மோக்‌ஷமு கலதா (சாரமதி) & மீனாஷி (பூர்வி கல்யாணி). It was so soothing to listen to these songs (albeit only in parts) in rapid succession.  GJR also recounted an incident when he and his Guru had recorded the மீனாஷி kriti in HMV and had literally sweated it out thanks to the lack of ac and the use of thick jamakaalams to cover the walls for noise reduction.

The concert ended with the தேஷ் தில்லானா.  The entire audience responded in unison when Shri Prabhu, Secretary of the Krishna Gana Sabha mentioned “While Lalgudi Jayaraman is no more physically with us, he has left behind a very prodigious and talented legacy in his son Krishnan” with a sustained ovation for the artists.

Anil Srinivasan, while excelling with his anecdotes, played ‘second fiddle’ (pun intended) to give more prominence to LG and to his compositions rendered majestically by GJR Krishnan.  Purushottaman on the kanjira was soft on the instrument to add finesse to the concert.

Great show and a fitting tribute to the late maestro shri Lalgudi Jayaraman.

PS: Some errors have been corrected and updated.

A (H)amsama Concert

This morning (15th Dec 2013), I went to the Russian Cultural Centre to listen to a trans-continental  (my description) fusion music of Anil Srinivasan on the Piano, Sikkil Gurucharan on the vocals rendering carnatic music and Sekar on the Cello.

Why Trans-Continental? Piano and Cello are instruments of European origin (and so is Violin), the vocal music was Carnatic, the percussionist being a tabla player, hence Hindustani and they also played ‘Swan Lake’ of Tchaikovsky (of Russia).

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The underlying theme was ‘Swan’ from beginning to end. Let’s now get to the concert.

The first was ‘Swan Lake’ of Tchaikovsky interspersed with the memorable ‘katrilinele varum geetham’ rendered so soulfully by Anil and Sekar.  Very soothing and calm.  I guess that Tchaikovsky had some influence on Ilayaraja because i could hear strains of Raja’s BGM while listening to Swan Lake.

Due to a commotion with a lady trying to get into the row (where I was seated at the end) and asking me ‘when did the concert begin?’, I could not follow Anil’s introduction to the next piece nor could i enjoy it.  Part of the game, I guess.  Thankfully, I did not hear even one mobile ringtone!! Either our audience have become so sensitive and hence put it on silent mode or there were no calls to anyone, being a sunday morning!!

It was time for Sikkil Gurucharan’s (SG) entree and Sekar left the stage (to join later).  Here is where Anil elaborated on the ‘Swan’ on different dimensions and how it resembles human potential.  When he made the connection of great people being called ‘ParamaHamsa’, there was a genuine and spontaneous appreciation from the audience.

The piece started with a verse from Vedanta Desikar’s ‘Hamsa Sandesham’ and then went on to Thygrajar’s immortal ‘Sujana jeevana’ in Harikhamboji.  Although Anil and SG have been performing together for 7 years now, I have never heard them and hence was quite curious how a piano will fare as a co-player (would not like to call it as an accompanist) in a carnatic music.  I must say that i was pleasantly surprised and even delighted given the tonality that is so inherent of the piano and Anil’s playing.  Was reminded of Vellore Ramabhadran’s accompaniments which used to be like caressing and flowing with the vocal music.

The next item really posed some challenges to me. It was a Ragam Thanam Pallavi (as it unfurled) and the artists really had me guessing about the Raga.  When Anil began, I thought it was Dharmavathi but as it moved on, I was confused because i thought i heard some different notes as well.  It was in the Thanam that both Anil and SG excelled with a Ragamalika.  I have often heard ragamalikas in the kalpana swaras post the pallavi and it was the first time i was hearing it at the thanam stage itself.  I was delighted as many in the audience by the seamless transition from Dharmavathi to Vasantha (am still awaiting Anil’s confirmation on that) to Hamsanadham to Hamsadhwani and i also thought i heard Hamsanandi.  I am not sure if they rendered the swarams in the same order though!

The pallavi went “Kesavam Madhavam Vasudevam – Gopika vallabham Bhaje” in Simhendra Madhyamam (an almost neighbouring raga to Dharmavathi).  I was perplexed by the choice of the tabla as the percussion instrument in a carnatic western music concert but the outcome was great.  The tabla player Jagjeeth really played in close consonance to the main players.  The kalpana swarams were equally mesmerising.

I was surprised about the selection of Andal’s ‘Chitram chiru kaale’ in Madhyamavathi at this juncture because Madhyamavathi is sung at the end of the concerts traditionally and wondered whether the concert was getting over.  Thankfully, it was not to be as Sekar joined the other two in rendering Lalgudi Jayaraman’s Desh Tillana sans the percussion support.  Sekar’s Desh was really moving and brought out the essence of the raga.  It was wonderful listening to the three players in unison.

Next was an arrangement in the ragam Suddha Saveri by legendary violinist VS Narasimhan that was followed by a rendition of Kulasekara Azhwar’s Pasuram (the first part of the famous ‘pavazha vaai kaanbene’ on Tiruvengadamudaiyan).  I could see how Ilayaraaja had brought out the essence of the Suddha Saveri raga in his ‘kadhal mayakkam’ song from the movie ‘Pudhumai penn’.

Anil brought the concert to a close and  thanked everybody for being there, when my friend Ramesh shouted from the audience asking for one more composition.  When this snowballed into a huge demand, Anil gracefully accepted and the artists rendered the well-known Swati Tirunal Tillana in the raga Dhanashree (also known as Abheri) in a brisk fashion. (I had learnt this Tillana from my guru Param Thillairajah at Sydney and we sang this at the Sydney Murugan temple performance and at Melbourne.  You can read my memories of my guru who passed away last year here, here and here)

I had earlier listened to Anil at the Max Mueller Bhavan recently when he played classical western music but today he was equally adept at carnatic music.  His introductions to the individual songs was bang on and he was quick on the uptake when there were some slight disturbances on the mike as well.

When I met SG after the event and asked him about the difference between Dharmavathi and Madhuvanthi (its equivalent in hindustani music), he quickly and clearly explained it with an instant short demo.  I think he can deliver led-dems as well (if he is not doing so already).  (A part review of SG’s recent concert at Bharat Kalachar can be read here)

What a wonderful way to spend a sunday morning?  Thank you www.sabhash.com and Tchaikovsky Music Club for the opportunity.