Preamble

Carnatica's Bharat Sangeeth Utsav is a perfect preamble to the yearly tamasha that will happen in Chennai during December and spill over till the 1st week of January. As a shrewd businessman Sashikiran started the concert series even before The Hindu's Music Festival. Though Hindu's Festival, born out of the identity crisis the media moghul (if I can call them one) is running under now, doesn't serve a wee-bit to the art form, manages to fill the wallets of the performers. More a fad for the Page3 community flaunting around the arena.

Coming back to Sashikiran & Co., the intention of the music festival and the way the programs are woven seem to drive across a strong message of commitment. But over ambitious thoughts digresses the value of the performers. Take a look at the inaugural day (October 31, 08) schedule - 2 concerts of eminent artistes: Sanjay and TNS. Both of them are as ambitious or even more than Sashikiran in performing on the stage. Innovation is the way they drive their performances. Having this in mind Sashi's team should have planned the schedule of concerts.

On October 31st Sanjay's was the first program and he kick started the BSU in style with the time tested Viriboni varnam. But Sanjay made everyone sit up in the 30th second. He sang Viriboni in a totally different style. Rasikas could have appreciated it more if he had explained what he did differently. I for one feel that in programs like these, the artistes can give a brief of what they are performing for the rasikas to understand and appreciate better. Sanjay ofcourse told the audience the name of the raga he elaborated, its gAngEya bhUshaNi. Don't get paranoid, am not reviewing the concert as in the newspapers. Am only going to share my thoughts on the concert, the ambiance, what i liked and disliked.

I expected Sanjay to briefly say about Viriboni only because he announced gangEya bhUshaNi after singing the alapana.

I personally liked the choice of kritis Sanjay sang in this concert. My only concern is the time he took for the raga alapana. And the sanchAras he made in gAngEyabhUshaNi. Some sancharas would have been technically correct meaning confirmed to the raga's arOhaNam & avarOhaNam but they weren't aesthetically appealing. Atleast those sanchAras lacked finesse in Sanjay's voice. Sanjay is a very brilliant, smart individual. Knows his strengths and weakness. For me he comes across as a head-above-shoulders guy. Based on these qualities of Sanjay I wish to suggest that he also listens to his own concerts and as a rasika evaluate it and avoid the burs in the future performances. It'll not only enhance the rasikas turnaround, will also enable him to be in the arena for long. The artistes in the pre-1975 era didn't sing certain ragas elaborately only because those ragas lacked the scope and finesse. Just in the name of innovation and the capability to mathematically arrange the arOhaNa & avarOhaNa swaras one can't produce pleasant music. The produced sound may be technically correct but definitely not tolerable to my ears at least. I enjoy raga alapana more than the kriti but not all ragas are enjoyable in long alapanais. The Thamizh adage 'even nectar is poisonous if taken more than the prescribed portion' is also applicable for raga singing too. And my opinion why yesteryear artistes didn't sing elaborate raga alapana for certain ragas is that

1. There is no scope for singing without any repititions
2. After a some time the alapana will start boring you.
3. The performer may not know where to stop ending up confusing himself

Sanjay, I felt, did that in Sahana alapana.

But the indisputable fact is that Sanjay works very hard with utmost commitment towards his chosen profession. This one attitude I find missing in most of the front runners today. And am puzzled at it too!!

I also want to mention about the accompanists of the day.
Varadarajan on the violin has emerged as the best violinist in that age & experience group. His virtuosity is amazing as much as his skills in reproducing the swara patterns, neravals, raga sanchAras. Keep the good work going.
Harikumar on the mrudangam. Though he showed signs of knowing about the different patterns Sanjay had planned to sing in Viriboni, didn't pick them up in the 1st instance. He managed slowly and played well. But to me he dint fit the bill perfectly. At places he was more a hindrance to the listener, I don't know what Sanjay felt, than a support system. I would have preferred to listen to Sanjay without the mrudangam at some sancharas. I have heard many say that silence is music. I wish the accompanists of this and future generation learn music and practice silence where required. It actually embellishes the concert. In one of his speeches on Layam, late Palghat Mani Iyer has said that its not important to know too many sollus and ragas. Its very important to sing / play atleast 2-3 of them excellently.
Guruprasad on the Ghatam. I have heard his father and father's elder brother play. His father used to accompany MLV a lot. I can hear you all say why am talking about his father. Am coming to that point now! Guruprasad is showing promise in developing himself as the new age upa-pakkavadhya artiste. He has a good fingering technique, as a listener am able to hear the sollus distinctly which I consider as good fingering in mrudangam and other instruments. He also showed his dexterity and played some mathematical combinations which drew the attention of Sanjay and made Sanjay nod his head more than couple of times. As a lay listener am not worried about the mathematics or grammar. My only expectation is that the playing should be pleasant to hear. And Guruprasad just did that.

My thoughts on TNS concert will be up soon.