A delightful experience for rasikas

It is not merely the knowledge of the theory of music, nor long and arduous training that produces a good artiste. There are certain factors that go into making beautiful music.This came to my mind, while listening to violinist Lalitha, who gave a presentation “A Musical Sambhashana”, along with PV Shanmugam (Nadaswaram) and US Umpathy on special Thavil, in addition to Mridangam and Kanjira -- a rare combination indeed, with different base srutis. The novelty was well received by the rasikas present at Bharat Kalachar, when the artistes exhibited the commonality of the ‘scales’. The conversation between the violin and nadaswaram along with the support of Thavil, Mridangam, Kanjira and Konnakol was notable. The first session of the concert was a solo violin recital by Lalitha. She began with (Maha Ganapathi) in Nattai of Thanjavur Sankara Iyer, and then proceeded to render (Bhuvaneswari) in Raga Mohana Kalyani of Muthiah Bhagavathar.   When she commenced to explore (Katrinile varum Geetham) of Kalki in Raga Misra Jone in Eka Thalam, it would not be an exaggeration to say that her sonorous music reflected the classical substance. Following this, the second session of Nadaswaram presentation by PV Shanmugam saw the Raga swarupas of Sahana (Vandamanu) of Thyagaraja, Hindolam (Saraswathi Namosthuthe) of Dikshitar and Kapi (Jo Achuthananda) of Annamacharya being explored. The third session, sambhashana, when in the musical conversional mode, took up Ragam – Thanam – Pallavi in Mohanam, the pallavi (Ma Madurai Meenakshi), converting into Raga Malika of Chakravaham, Sindhubhairavi, and Charukesi. The alternating presentation of violin and nadaswaram, with percussion instruments – thavil, mridangam, kanjira and konnakol in attendance, was indeed a real pleasure. It was marked by emphasis on layam and raga bhava.On the whole, violinist Lalitha in the company of nadaswaram, demonstrated with considerable elan, the subtleties of the various raga structures and kritis. Audiences were left admiring her bowing techniques.The artistic level of the concert as a whole, seemed to have influenced Neyveli Ramkumar (Mridangam) who played with sensitised, rhythmic resonance, in the company of Kanjira / Konnakol artiste Venkatramani.