Music lovers in Chennai need not wait for December alone for listening to regular and more dose of classical music. We get to listen to artists round the year now and then, here and there. It is like the rains in Chennai - occasional cloud bursts and summer thunder showers followed by brief visits (sometimes long spell!) of cyclonic depressions through the months of June, July and August bringing in their wake, the retreating and north east monsoon to complete the year- music programmes go on and slowly the tempo builds up and the city gears up for the season which more or less coincides with the much needed winter rains. (Can't help that input of Geography!)
Year after year, the more number of 'Sabhas' crop up and vie with each other to present the leading and popular artists to the people. Sometimes during the peak of the season, one would be faced with the problem of choice as which 'sabha' to go to.
Attending programmes almost daily for about a month, I cannot give individual account of each and every concert though I remember most of them rather the impact they had on me. I am not a great music scholar or critic to analyse the technical aspects. I merely want to express my thoughts and feelings.
It was like all the restricting chains came apart and I was a liberated spirit soaring high when I listened to the Sahana and Saveri essayed by Ranjani and Gayathri. That was during November, honouring Papanasam Shivan. Their Kamboji later during the season was a gem! Some times it sounded like the river in full spate, sometimes like a gentle mountain stream, its cool waters soothing the aching feet of the wanderer or at times like the gurgling sound of pebbles carried by the swift river.
Margazhi Maha Utsav with its thematic concerts is special as every artist researches and presents a programme with interactive moments in between. Sanjay simply excels in bringing out the beauty of ragas like Karaharapriya, Sankarabaranam, Thodi or Kamboji. His voice effortlessly travelled to the higher octaves and dipped down lower and kept the audience spellbound.His voice sounded sometimes like the trilling of violin and at other times like the flowing notes of nagaswaram. If his Karaharapriya and amirkalyani were like beautifully sculpted figures, it was Begada which was an emotionally uplifting experience.
With honey soaked voice, Gayatri Venkatraghavan spun a magic and ragas came alive when she dealt with them.My vivid imagination transported me to some place high up in the Himalayas with the snow clad, majestic peak looking down on me drawing and pulling myself into the unlimited vastness when she outlined Kamboji. When the 'aalapanai' brought before me 'Kailash' and the magnificent linga , the Krithi- 'O.. Rangasayee' took me in front of Ranganatha.
Year after year, the more number of 'Sabhas' crop up and vie with each other to present the leading and popular artists to the people. Sometimes during the peak of the season, one would be faced with the problem of choice as which 'sabha' to go to.
Attending programmes almost daily for about a month, I cannot give individual account of each and every concert though I remember most of them rather the impact they had on me. I am not a great music scholar or critic to analyse the technical aspects. I merely want to express my thoughts and feelings.
It was like all the restricting chains came apart and I was a liberated spirit soaring high when I listened to the Sahana and Saveri essayed by Ranjani and Gayathri. That was during November, honouring Papanasam Shivan. Their Kamboji later during the season was a gem! Some times it sounded like the river in full spate, sometimes like a gentle mountain stream, its cool waters soothing the aching feet of the wanderer or at times like the gurgling sound of pebbles carried by the swift river.
Margazhi Maha Utsav with its thematic concerts is special as every artist researches and presents a programme with interactive moments in between. Sanjay simply excels in bringing out the beauty of ragas like Karaharapriya, Sankarabaranam, Thodi or Kamboji. His voice effortlessly travelled to the higher octaves and dipped down lower and kept the audience spellbound.His voice sounded sometimes like the trilling of violin and at other times like the flowing notes of nagaswaram. If his Karaharapriya and amirkalyani were like beautifully sculpted figures, it was Begada which was an emotionally uplifting experience.
With honey soaked voice, Gayatri Venkatraghavan spun a magic and ragas came alive when she dealt with them.My vivid imagination transported me to some place high up in the Himalayas with the snow clad, majestic peak looking down on me drawing and pulling myself into the unlimited vastness when she outlined Kamboji. When the 'aalapanai' brought before me 'Kailash' and the magnificent linga , the Krithi- 'O.. Rangasayee' took me in front of Ranganatha.
Now, so many impressions, feelings vie with each other to be put in words, I do not know which to choose. I cannot but mention TMKrishna's concert which was exhilarating!. His raga essays were simply beyond words. More than anything, it was the dialogue he and Embar(violin) had through their sangathis that was the highlight of the concert. An uplifting experience at the same time, a brain teaser it was! Sudha's 'ragam-tanam-pallavi 'சங்கராபரணனை அழைத்தோடி வாடி கல்யாணி, தர்பாரில்' was scintillating with her voice smoothly gliding from one raga to the other. It was again, Embar on the violin who replied her with elan.When Sudha took up the theme, ஷ்யாமலனும், சாம்பனும்' for the Margazhi festival, she took us on a pilgrimage to Chidambaram, Thiruvananthapuram, திருவானைக்கா, Srirangam, Kanchipuram and Mayiladuthurai enabling us to have the Darshan of both Siva and Vishnu. A perfect blend of the typical krithis of Thyagaraja, Swathithirunal and Dhikshither with the hymns of தேவாரம் மற்றும் திவ்ய பிரபந்தம் it was!When she sang about Ranganatha swinging on the 'oonjal', it was as though He was listening to her, sitting right in front of her, gently moving the swing to the rhythm of her song!
I want to share about the perfectly classical concert by Hyderabad brothers, the soft soothing voice of Jeyashree singing 'Mandu', sangathis and briga of TV Sankaranarayanan bringing Mani Iyer alive, the brilliance of young AbishekRaghuram and Oh!.... many more such moving moments!
Before it gets too technical and exclusive, I think I should sign off. Let me pose a question here(one persistent doubt0 to whoever would like to respond to it:- why do I see river Kaveri on a moonlit night during early spring when I listen to a melodious piece of music? why a magnificent sketch of 'thodi'/ 'bhairavi' bring an image of a dark imposing silhouette of a fort or a temple tower in front of me?or why does the graceful rendition of Kalyani lifts me up to vast space along a mountain slope (in particular, the Himalayas)?
