67th Akashvani Sangeet Sammelan Music Concerts in Mysuru

Prasar Bharati and Ministry of Culture came together with the Director General, Akashvani, to present 67th Akashvani Sangeet Sammelan at city’s Ganabharathi auditorium on the 23rd of this month. The evening featured two concerts — a mridanga concert ‘Mridanga Taranga’ by city’s well-known mridangist H.L. Shivashankar Swamy followed by a veena recital by the distinguished veena artiste of the city young  Dr. S.V. Sahana.

The first of the two,  ‘Mridanga Taranga,’ was a unique concept, a never-heard-before event with the mridanga as the main artiste. While several other artistes were also involved in the concert, mridanga took the centre stage as the primary melodic, rhythmic and expressive medium.

While violin accompaniment by renowned violinist Dr. Jyotsna Srikanth, flute accompaniment by accomplished flautist Sameer Rao, keyboard accompaniment by eminent Sangeet Thomas, tabla accompaniment by famed Adarsh Shenoy and percussion support by Anush Shetty enriched the concert with their rich playing, the mridanga appealed to all with its musical charm.

Conceptualised and performed by Shivashankar Swamy, the concert was an experiment in expanding the mridangist’s role from accompaniment to principal narrator. What unfolded was a sophisticated, well-structured, artistically bold concert that demonstrated the instrument’s vast expressive potential — far beyond tala keeping.

Shivashankar had chosen Brindavan Saranga for the evening. While one wondered how a mridangist played a full composition with manodharma,  Shivashankar surprised everyone playing a Raga-Thana Pallavi in the raga. It was a treat to watch him play the mridanga — 15 of them all arranged in a row around him and tuned in three sthayis too !

The ragalapana came first, which was free-flowing improvisatory exploration akin to a ragalapana, which established a meditative mood, re-framing the audience’s ear to listen to percussion not as beats but as ‘voice.’ The Tanam exhibited modulation of timbre, texture, pitch hints and resonance. The pallavi was a swara pallavi set to Adi tala in two kalai. Just as a vocalist or an instrumentalist, Shivashankar played the pallavi full-fledged, in three speeds in Anuloma and Viloma, (which came to him naturally as a mridangist) also followed by kalpana swaras in trishra, Khanda, Mishra and Sankeerna Nades, which invited tremendous applause from the excited audience.

Jyothsna enriched the texture with her supportive bowing. The ‘taniyavartanam’ was marked by mathematical elegance. The entire orchestra condensed into a single percussive body. Each artiste had moments to shine without disturbing the central concept.

Shivashankar concluded his concert with the celebrated ‘Vande Mataram,’ which was a welcome piece as the entire nation is celebrating the 150th anniversary of Vande maataram.

‘Mridanga Taranga’ proved that percussion can transcend its accompanist identity and emerge as a full-fledged lead instrument. It requires not only skill but also physical strength to manage 15 mridangas  singly. Kudos to Shivashankar Swamy for this brilliant innovation.

Veena Concert

In the second slot of the Akashvani Sangeet Sammelan, Dr. S.V. Sahana gave a veena concert with Arjun Kumar on mridanga and G.S. Ramanujam on ghata.

An artiste of repute, Sahana is the recipient of Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar by Sangeet Natak Akademi. Known for her clean technique and quiet intensity, Sahana delivered a performance that was dignified and musically mature.

Sahana had selected a good choice of compositions for the evening from three different composers. ‘Maate Malayadhwaja,’ a Daru Varna in Khamas by Muthiah Bhagavatar was her opener choice, which was a neat presentation. The speed in which she rendered the composition was lively and at once established the required mood for the concert. ‘Sarasiruha Nayane’ by Sri Tyagaraja in Amrutavarshini was a pleasant surprise as it is rarely heard in concerts. Swift swaras to the pallavi section came in quick succession. It is to be noted that this is one of the few compositions in which Sri Tyagaraja has woven Ragamudra into the composition ‘Amrutavarshani maravaku lalite tyagarajanute’ towards the end of the composition. Kalpana swaras before launching into the main item of the evening were brisk and fluent with no jarring notes.

The Alapana of Kambhoji flowed smoothly from the veena and the nuances of the raga swaroopa were captivating. It is always a pleasure to listen to tana on the veena. Sahana employed the veena techniques of holds and glides here to telling effect, thereby creating a mood of celebration. In Deekshitar’s kriti  ‘Shri subrammaNyaaya namaste,’ intricate gamakas rendered with impeccable left-hand finesse were articulated with textbook precision and the tempo chosen let the emotive quality of the raga breathe. Kalpana swaras anchored at ‘VAsavAdi sakala dEva vanditAya’ were  intellectually satisfying. Arjun Kumar and Ramanujam matched each other in exchanging sharp and powerful strokes while accompanying as well and the taniyavartanam was tidy and full of power.

Sahana closed the concert with the ever-appealing Lalgudi tillana in Madhuvanti which  was bright and precise.

The venue proved inadequate for the large turnout and the heavy camera equipment. Despite placing extra chairs along the corridors, many listeners were left standing and some even left early for lack of seats. A large hall would certainly have done justice to the scale of the event and the invitations extended to the artistes.

—Dr Padmavathi Narasimhan