Sai Prarthana and Kashyap Mahesh highlight the richness of Tamil literature in Carnatic music

Put collectively, Prarthana Sai Narasimhan and R. Kashyap Mahesh offered 21 compositions in their concert events spanning two hours every. It highlighted the richness of Tamil literature in Carnatic music, but didn’t discover its deeper musical potentialities. Never serving boring moments, however neither eager to push the envelope, each the vocalists sought to showcase the allure of orthodoxy, regaling audiences at the ongoing Chitirai Isai Vizha 2024 beneath the aegis of Mudhra in affiliation with Nalli.

At successive weekends of the month-long competition of Tamil compositions, Prarthana and Kashyap did, nevertheless, chip in refreshing parts. By together with works from the fifth-eighth centuries to those that lived as lately as until the final decade, their kutcheris underscored the continued contribution of the historic language to south Indian classical music. Be it the Divya Prabandham by the Azhwars, whose verses are one-and-a-half millennium outdated, or a varnam by scholar T.Ok. Govinda Rao (1929-2011), the items strengthened a continuing Tamil circulation into the stream.

In truth, Prarthana started her presentation with TKG’s ‘Aanai mugane’ in Sarasangi. While this twenty seventh mum or dad scale not often features as a starter, the singer wound up the piece along with her personal solfa sequences past the set chittaswaras. Violinist Shertalai Sivakumar couldn’t tune in simply to this extemporaneous presentation, at the same time as Ok. Arun Prakash (mridangam) and Sai Subramaniam (morsing) laid the observe pretty properly.

As if in a hangover of TKG’s unhurried Musiri faculty, the ensuing Saveri composition assumed a tempo that was lesser than traditional. ‘Muruga muruga’ (Periasamy Thooran), too, concluded with kalpanaswaras, which straightaway stemmed from the second velocity. Papanasam Sivan’s songs had been rendered back-to-back — ‘Kumarantazh’ (Yadukulakamboji) and ‘Senthil andavan’ (Karaharapriya). The second was the sub-main, bracketed by a frills-fuelled alapana and post-niraval swaraprastara that culminated with zigzags encapsulating the spirit of the melakarta raga.

Gopalakrishna Bharatiyar’s ‘Enneramum’ (Devagandhari) was the filler forward of the 50-minute essential package deal in Mohanam. Sivakumar’s solo response was proportionate to the vocalist’s five-minute alapana, whereas Arun Prakash’s measured beats escorted ‘Kapali’ (Papanasam) into the anupallavi, guiding an amused Sai Subramaniam. The swara sequences revelled in the raga’s typical bubbliness, capped by a kanakku-laden end. The following tani avartanam, too, bore geometry.

Suriya, subsequent, got here up with a welcome raga, with ‘Narahari vesha’ (Rukmini Ramani). Tarangambadi Panchanada Iyer’s ‘Arabhimanam malika’ spelt out a dozen ragas earlier than Papanasam’s ‘Ennatavam’ in Kapi. ‘Vandinam muralum’ in Thodi (Thondaradippodi Azhwar) was the swansong.

Common threads

Prarthana, educated by Mani Krishnaswami and Chingleput Ranganathan, resorts to sounding candy with out being all that sturdy. The resultant non-aggression is, coincidentally, a trait she shares with Kashyap, moulded mainly beneath the legendary T.V. Gopalakrishnan. Both the vocalists confirmed a penchant for patterned kalpanaswara, by no means going overboard with all of it the similar.

Kashyap Mahesh.
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Special Arrangement

Kashyap spun kalpanaswara in all the first 4 compositions of his recital. Starting with a shlokam in Nattai, the vocalist opened with Bharatiyar’s ‘Ganapati thaalai’ in adi tala. Ok.R. Ganesh on the mridangam initially performed beats and rolls that didn’t synchronise too properly with the music, prompting Madipakkam Murali (ghatam) to be cautious in his interventions. Suitably subdued was V.V. Srinivasa Rao on the violin, seldom attempting to attain some extent.

If Nattai helps a live performance to take off early, constructing on the momentum was Hamasanadam. Danadapani Desikar’s ‘Paadavendume’ travels principally alongside the higher ranges of the pentatonic raga, going properly with the musician’s total sprightliness. Geometric progressions went off properly in the Roopaka tala swaraprastara — as additionally in the succeeding mishra chapu throughout the singing of ‘Kadaikan’ by Ramaswami Sivan.

Kashyap Mahesh with V.V. Srinivasa Rao (violin), Ok.R. Ganesh (mridangam) and Madipakkam Murali (ghatam).
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

The first detailed alapana got here in Purvikalyani, with heat help from the violinist. The night melody was sketched alongside typical strains, after which got here ‘Marukkulaviya’, a Tiruppugazh by Arunagirinathar. The piece additionally ushered in a niraval, round ‘Tirukuravadi nizhal’. It was steeped in devotional fervour; so was the swaraprastara. Not so orderly was a short percussive gig that adopted.

Marimutha Pillai’s ‘Thillai chidambarame’ (Kapinarayani) heralded the onset of the piece de resistance — in Madhyamavati. The alapanas, spanning 10 minutes, carried the sobriety of the kriti: ‘Saravanabhava mukhane’ (Papanasam Sivan). The swaraprastara was reposeful, too, and so was a lot of the tani avartanam in the eight-beat Adi.

A viruttam, beginning ‘Kodayile’, surfed alongside Pantuvarali, Bilahari, Kapi, Nilambari and Shri earlier than settling for Jhonpuri to course alongside ‘Andavan darisaname’ (Muthaiah Bhagavatar). The fag finish featured Guru Surajananda’s ‘Muruganin marupeyar’ (Bihag) and Maharajapuram Santhanam’s thillana in Misra Sivaranjani and ‘Mannupugazh’ (ragamalika by Kulasekhara Azhwar from Divya Prabandham).