By Dr. Padmavathi Narasimhan
The Music Festival at 8th Cross, V.V. Mohalla, began with all grandeur on the 2nd of this month with Harish Pandav’s auspicious saxophone concert. An extremely talented and versatile young artiste, Harish has performed for various Sabhas all over the country.
Harish started the concert with the Suruti varna ‘Ento Prema’ by Veena Kuupaiyer and bowing to Vinayaka with Mysore Vasudevachar’s ‘Pranamamyaham Sri Gauri Sutam’ in Gowla for which he developed brief swaras, he chose to play Bilahari, the raga of which was elaborated leading onto ‘Paridanamicchite Palinchu’ by Patnam subramanya Iyer.
Hamsanada was also treated with a short ragalapane and a neraval at ‘Raamanaamamane’ for the kriti ‘Bantureeti kolu’ by Tyagaraja. Harish also played an RTP in Shanmukhapriya, the lyrics of which were ‘Nayaka Vinayaka Gana Vinayaka Sakala Siddhidayaka’ set to Khanda Triputa tala. The other inclusions in the concert were ‘Pahi Pahi Gajanana’ in Sindhu Bhairavi (Ganapati Sachchidananda Swamiji), the popular ‘Jagadoddharana’ devaranama of Raja Iyengar fame, ‘Yena Bedali Nanu’ devaranama in Revati and the concluding ‘Bhagyada Lakshmi Baramma.’
Harish was ably supported by Achyuta Rao on violin, A. Radhesh on mridanga and S. Manjunath on ghata. That the entire team (except the violinist) is from Mysuru is appreciative.
On the second day of the concert series, Trichur Brothers — Krishna Mohan and Ramkumar Mohan — gave a vocal concert. The concert attracted a huge number of audience from all over Mysuru. It goes without saying that the brothers are trained in the laya aspect from their father Trichur R. Mohan who invariably accompanies them on all concerts.
The brothers have a melodious voice and a very impressive style of presentation which have a magical appeal on the listeners. The concert commenced with the Adi Tala Varna in Saraswati Raga on Lord Ganapati. The second composition was a rare and lively one — ‘Namami Vighna Vinayaka’ in Hamsadhwani by Krishna Swamy Ayya. The Kriti has enchanting sangatis and the brothers rendered the composition in the way it was meant to be rendered by the composer.
‘Rave Himagiri Kumari’ Shyama Shastri’s swarajati has a desperate appeal to Goddess Kamakshi as in many other compositions of Shyama Shastri. Here the composer implores to the Goddess — ‘I have always placed my implicit faith in you. Please protect me and dispel my agony and fears. I have no place to go but to surrender at your feet.’ The brothers sang this with appeal and did justice to the composition.
‘Innu Daya Barade Dasana Mele’ in Kalyana Vasanta by Purandara Dasaru was good except for the fact that there were many mistakes in the lyrics, which is excusable as they are not familiar with the language. ‘Taye Tripura Sundari’ in Shuddha Saveri, a Tamil composition was well-sung with also a neraval and kalpana swaras at the charana — ‘Kamadhenu Valandu Karuna Roopini.’ After the filler ‘Mokshamu Galada’ in Saramati by Tygaraja, which started with the Anupallavi ‘Sakshatkara nee,’ the brothers proceeded to the main attraction of the evening — The RTP.
Rarely, Gamanashrama was chosen for the pallavi rendition. The brothers practice a special brand of ragalapana with both the partners exchanging phrases in an equally distributed exploration of the ragas they take up. The ragalapana and the tana were developed elaborately in a splendid manner. The tana was excellently sung enhancing the richness with ragamalika in Hamsanada, Sindhu Bhairavi, Vasanta and Revati. The pallavi was short set to Mishra Chapu Tala. While rendering the trikalas, the elder of the brothers faltered as also in the swara kalpanas earlier in the concert.
Kalpana swaras for the pallavi in ragamalika in the ragas Begade, Saranga, Kapi, Kuntalavarali, Behag and Charukeshi were colourful. ‘Nanati Baduku Natakamu’ of Subbulakshmi fame was preceded by a shloka ‘Samprapte Sannihite Kale’ from the well-known ‘Bhaja Govindam’ of Adi Shankaracharya. On a request, the artistes also sang a bhajan in Yamankalyani.
They concluded the concert with Purandara Dasaru’s ‘Chandra Chuda Shiva Shankara Parvati Ramana’ in Darbari Kanada.
Young Gokul is a gifted violinist. His following of the vocalists and reproducing the swaras and pallavi was praise-worthy. Trichur Mohan and Kovai Suresh added grace to the concert.
I would like to thank Sri. Prasanna Vidya Ganapathi Mandali Charitable Trust (SPVGMC) Mysore for conducting Heritage Music Festival from September 2 to 14-2019.
I appreciate the music review by Dr.Padmavathi Narasimhan, who has an in-depth knowledge of Classical Music and her opinion of different artists. However, I differ with her views about the many mistakes made in the lyrics of Purandara Dasara Kirthana Innu Daya Baarade Daasana May Lay by Trichur Brothers, while excusing them for not being familiar with the language. This is no excuse at all. They are professionals and need to be prepared thoroughly while giving public performance.
It is just not the wrong lyrics but many of the veterans sing Purandara Dasara Kirthanas in heavy Tamil accent. They simply take Kannada Language for granted and have been doing this for ages. They should seek the help of local musicians to know if the lyrics and their accent is correct and try to improvise before embarking on stage.
These South Indian vocalists can pick up our language easily but they will not attempt.
Take the case of Sonu Nigam, the playback singer from North India, who can neither understand nor speak our language but delivers Kannada songs to perfection lending his voice to Sandalwood movies. His accent, diction, clarity and pronounciation is spot on.
It is said that Sonu Nigam spends time in understanding the meaning of lyrics to give vocal expressions, listens carefully to the Native Track singer to follow the required accent before recording the songs. This is called professionalism.
How I wish if SPVGMC can forward my letter to all the artistes whom they intend to invite for future programs.!