When I attend a Carnatic music concert, I get part mental and spiritual satisfaction, part peace of mind and part entertainment. I have attended a number of concerts and in almost every concert, I have found a few minutes of performance which cannot describe what happens except that the audience becomes irrelevant at that point. The musician sings for himself/herself or to God so to speak, and we, the audience, become just voyeurs of some sort enjoying the music. This article which covers the first kutcheris and dances that I attended in the beginning of this season between 2nd and 8th December is about the musical experience that moved me. Tanam singing which has a beautiful rhythmic pattern is rarely sung by musicians nowadays. In the large number of concerts that I have attended in the last two years, I have heard Tanam singing only a few times. Perhaps it is difficult or the musicians prefer Tillana to Tanam. Tanam sung by Priya sisters (Kartik Fine Arts-2nd December) was part of their main piece which was in the second most popular �Priya�, viz., Shanmukhapriya. (In the list of compositions that I have, Kharaharapriya leads with 341 compositions with 247 in Shanmukhapriya). It was very melodious to hear and I felt transported to a different plane. Sabha-hopping is not done only by Mylaporeans. As soon as Priya sisters sang their last piece in Yadukulakambhoji, yours truly along with my better half rushed from Narada Gana Sabha to Egmore to listen to Chinmaya sisters (Kalakruthi-2nd December). We were not disappointed. Sahana is an appealing ragam and is said to have been created combining three ragams viz Athana, Darbari Kanada and Malhar. Though there are over 300 compositions in this ragam, only those of Tyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar, Papanasam Sivan and Patnam Subramonia Iyer get repeated. Chinmaya sisters sang the ever-popular �Chittam irangadenayya sendil velaiya� in this ragam in their concert. There was a moment when I felt they were singing directly to Lord Subhramanya. I am also sure that He came to them. Khamas is a popular ragam and is famous for the composition of Mayuram Vishvanatha Shastri �jayati jayati Bharata mata� which was rendered by Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer on India�s Independence Day on August 15, 1947 over All India Radio. One of the earliest available pieces of composed music in Khamas is the Tamil Padam by Seerkazhi Muthu Thandavar (17th century), �Teruvil varano ennai satre tirumbi parano�. Vijay Siva (Kartik Fine Arts-3rd December) chose �Marubari talalenura ora na sami� by Dharmapuri Subbaraya Iyer. Vijay Siva is a singer who sings with emotion and was able to transport me to heaven during this song. The very name Anandabhairavi conjures up a picture of bliss and divinity. This very beautiful ragam has been a medium for many melodies. Tracing its roots from folk music it has evolved into its present state just by the sustained usage and handling of innumerable musicians. An old Ragam, especially suited for singing Slokams, lullabies, marriage songs and folk tunes. Though Mathrubhoothayya, who lived during the pre-trinity days had already popularized Anandabhairavi through his beautiful composition- �Ni Mathi Challaga Nanu Brochute�, Ananda Bhairavi as it is rendered now can be said to be the contribution of Shyama Sastri. Anandabhairavi typifies Carnatic Music in its essence and brings forth the grandeur and beauty of the gamaka system. A combination of Anandabhairavi and O.S.Tyagarajan (Kalakruthi-3rd December) is a sure recipe for happiness. Add in the bhakti of Bhadrachala Ramdas in his krithi �Ramabhadra ra ra shri ramachandra rara� and the result is pure bliss. Who are the singers that can draw capacity crowds? Opinions may vary but the list would definitely include Yesudas, Aruna Sayeeram, Nityashree, Sudha Raghunathan, Bombay Jayasree, Unnikrishnan and of course Sanjay Subramanian. His concert (Kartik Fine Arts - 4th December) in front of a capacity crowd was the best I have heard and would rank as one of the all-time best by anybody. People comment about the unnecessary body movements of Sanjay. But I am all for it because whenever he shakes his body, glorious music seems to fall out of it like goodies dropping out of Santa Claus. Though there were a number of magical moments during the concert, I am selecting his rendition of �Ettanai sonnalum teriyadavarudan� in Saveri. The adage goes in Thanjavur district that the banks of the Kaveri and melody of Saveri make one equally ecstatic. Muttuswami Dikshitar justifies this by saying �Kaveri tathasthitham, Saveri raganutam� while praying to Lord Ganapati in the krithi �karikalabha mukham� In this ragam. When Sanjay sang, I could feel the beauty of the ragam and why it is compared with a beautiful river. Sanjay Subramanian�s singing reminded me of the immortal lines of Lord Tennyson- I come from haunts of coot and hern, I make a sudden sally, And sparkle out among the fern, To bicker down a valley. ��. For men may come and men may go, But I go on for ever. I am sure Saveri ragam and Sanjay�s music will go on for ever. I have never been very fond of dance, which is really surprising. With the same Carnatic music and with the added appeal to the eyes, dance should be enjoyed by all music listeners. But even when young and going to great lengths to watch �two-legged non-flying birds� with friends, I rarely went to dance performances. And I now know I am old as the music appeals to me much more than the dancer. Though I am still not very fond of solo dancing, I have added dance dramas to my list of �must-attend� after seeing Navagraha Ula (Kartik Fine Arts � 5th December). This multi-media grand spectacle was riveting in its entire 150 minutes. Before starting the dance performance, the geographical and the puranic aspects of each of the nine planets was projected on the screen. The dance which followed was awesome. With 82 girls of all ages taking part it was the grandest show I have seen. As a boy I had come away from the theatre tremendously impressed after seeing Spartacus and Ten Commandments. But they were mere shadows before this show. Thank you, Krishnaveni and Abhinaya for a wonderful experience. The scene depicting moon-god moving in his chariot was a magical moment as it was a delight to the eyes as well as ears. On 8th December, which was a working day, we reached Narada Gana Sabha Main Hall a good 20 minutes before start and were pleasantly surprised to see that the hall was already nearly full and people with VIP tickets were the only ones coming in. We overheard one of the organisers saying,"I don't know where from such a crowd comes for Aruna". Yes, it was Aruna Sayeeram's (Kartik Fine Arts � 8th December) day out. She has an interesting pedigree- student of 'Sangeeta Kalanidhi' Brinda who was heir to the celebrated Veena Dhanamal style of singing and having lived in Bombay, a meeting point of Hindustani and Carnatic music, Aruna has developed her own style.She has been able to combine the fantastic rhythmical and melodic precision of Carnatic music with the balance and the aesthetics of Hindustani music and is a top crowd-puller. She did not disappoint us and there were many magical moments in her concert. But the one that I am choosing to write about is the abhang. Aruna and abhang are as famous and as inseparable as... Veerappan and his moustache. As soon as she started 'Rajasa Sukumara' it was clear that her bhakti for Panduranga Vittala would pour out. Sometimes she tends to overdo it and the piece ends up as a bhajan. But not that day. It ended at the right time and I was so involved that for a few seconds I forgot to clap and was brought back to the world only by the clapping of the audience. I thought I would cover the first ten days of the season. But there were so many magical moments that I could cover only seven events. Hopefully there will be more articles in future. Bye.

BACK to the Main Page