aDate: 21st Dec 2019 - Venue: Charsur,
Myalpore
Team: Subhalakshmi (Violin), SaiGiridhar (Mridangam),
Harihara Sharma (Ghatam)
My legs, heart and soul chose BMK for the 18:00 hrs slot on 21st.
There were so many concerts. The BMK, I heard
in Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, was not enough! As he has the unique ability to
bring in unexplored dimensions to each concert, I was sure of something. What I
didn’t bargain for was that it would transport the rasikas into a bliss!
 |
| Kunnakkudi BMK's start at Tiruvarur |
The topic, for all artists, is the same – a pilgrimage from Mylapore to
Kanyakumari. Of course, they can choose any route. BMK started by saying it
would be a devious route and if anyone wanted to follow, he would be at his own
peril for it would take more than 3 days to reach Kanyakumari! Tiruvarur
Ganapathy (Mattruraitha Pillayar) provided the start in the form
of Dikshitar’s “Sri Maha Ganapathi ravatumam” in Gowlai.
An Atana of Thyagaraja was next. Then a mind-blowing Vasanta
came of Tiruvarur
Ramaswami Pillai – Kamakshi Kadakshi, wrongly attributed to
Subbaraya Sastry. If that didn’t melt anyone in the audience, I wonder what
would. Both the alapanaa, violin support and niraval were a class apart. BMK
took us to Madurai next and showered a Saramati. The kriti was Arula
vendum Thaye of M.M.Dhandapani Desikar.
We took a detour at Tirunelveli and
worshipped Goddess Kantimati.
Dikshitar provided us (a not so often heard) a
kriti in Devagandhari starting with “Shalivatishvaram bhajeham
shalivati nagaraviharam.” Such a beautiful gem. Then, BMK moved us to Thanjavur.
In the process, he transported us to bliss. Poorvikalyani was the
raga of the day. I haven’t seen anyone exploring this raga so beautifully. The
audience were enrapt like a bee sucking honey. No amount of alapanaa was
enough. A pin drop silence. Subhalakshmi’s
violin spoke beautifully! An unmatched support from her. Her father Mr Swaminathan,
a great violinist, was sitting next to me and I had the fortune of listening to
his words. He echoed the sentiment saying it was a heavenly Poorvikalyani
indeed! Satileni guruguha murtini reverberated in the air. This
is part of the Navaratnamalika kritis composed by the Tanjore Quartet as a
Guru Dakshina to Dikshitar. I have, earlier, listened to a recording of this
song by the one and only N.C.Vanatakokilam.
Koti manmatha rupude sadguna sagara candrude was chosen for
Niraval and Kalpanswarams. Sai Giridhar and Harihara Sharma came alive and showcased their talents during the thani so well that the audience asked for more!
 |
| BMK's shower of Bliss |
 |
| Akkarai Swaminathan & Subhalakshmi |
In Chidamabram, we heard Muthu Thandavar (Part
of Tamil Moovar) composition “Araar Asaipadaar.” With a pasuram
of Thondaradipodialwar
on Srirangam and a thillana on Mylapore, BMK ended the concert. A well-deserved
standing ovation!
The venue was great too as I had written about it earlier. A word of
caution on the acoustics. The problems started right from the beginning till
mid-way. Perhaps, I spoke too soon about the good acoustics in my last concert!
Ambience: **
Vocalist: ****
Accompanying artists: ***
Raga of the Concert: Poorvikalyani
Overall: ***
No comments:
Post a Comment