Margazhi Musings 2019: Sowmya

Date: 4^th Dec 2019 / 18:00 Hrs

Venue: Meenakshi College

Team: Sowmya, Ramakrishnan (Violin), Neyveli Narayanan (Mridangam), Chandrasekhara Sharma (Ghatam)

 The music and dance festival was inaugurated at Meenakshi Sundarajan Fine Arts Academy (in Meenakshi College) by Mr Mangath Ram, Principal Secretary to TN Govt (Department of Education), Nalli and by Vidushi S.Sowmya. The function started by 17:30 hrs and was neatly choreographed by the college teachers. Their ex-principals and the current participated whole heartedly. The stadium was full with all the back rows filled by students. The college has a song of its own extolling Sringeri Saradamba and was beautifully sung by students.

The college proudly noted the Sangeetha Kalanidhi-designate Sowmya was an alumna of the college who topped academically too. Quite expectedly, a huge round of applause greeted her.

When Sowmya was given the go-ahead to start the concert with the words from her ex-teacher “Sowmya, the stage is yours!”, it was 18:45 Hrs. Then started a strange fight between the sound systems people and the concert group. It took a while for them to get it up and running. It was 19:00 hrs by that time. To the common rasiks, the withdrawal of sound engineer signalled a happy start. They were to discover the power the sound engineer wields in a concert later!

Sowmya started with a Malahari varnam of Dikshitar “Pancha Mathanga.” One could see the sound issues continued to impact the artists. Ramakrishnan, at violin, was clearly unhappy. Somehow the kriti ended without much fanfare. There was one videographer blocking the views of all the rasikas seated at the centre. Instead of fixing his camera at one position, he seemed to be rooted at that spot and let the camera dangle. One elderly gentleman decided enough is enough and took the matters at hand. He was waiting for the varnam to end and strode a purposeful walk towards that man. Some words were exchanged. Emboldened by this man, the otherwise passive rasikas lent their vociferous support to this new-found champion of their causes. The artists were trying to use this time to refine the acoustics again. Woken up this chaos at the centre, Sowmya was forced to intervene and appeal earnestly to the videographer. Finally, realizing the futility of his attitude, the videographer was forced to beat a retreat. The crowd clapped to convey their happiness. The champion who took up the cudgels walked back to a hero’s welcome.

Sowmya continued her signature “Yaurkkuthan theriyum”, a beautiful Devamanohari kriti. But, something was lacking. I don’t know what it is. It lacked her usual bubbly energy to this song. Perhaps, she let the acoustics effect to unsettle her?

After this, Ramakrishnan decided to voice his concerns mildly as is his wont. He pleaded with the sound engineer that no one was able to her violin at the stage. The rasiks could though. The engineer came onto the stage and changed mike. He went back to his station victoriously proclaiming his complete satisfaction. Ramakrishnan called him again to convey the lack of effect the change of mike had. This time, the engineer decided to something drastically. He tried to shift the speakers here and there hoping something would work out.

Sowmy continued with a Ranjani kriti “Dunmarga Chara” of Thyagaraja and seeing that it had very little impact, proceeded to sing a peppy Swati Tirunaal’s “Vande Sada Padmanabham.” Then came a few including Papansam Sivan’s Shankarabharam “Mahalakshmi Jaganmata.”

The fight continued with acoustics in the meantime. Ramakrishnan’s violin showed brilliant sancharams in Ranjani and Shankarabharanm. Sharma was brilliant in Ghatam.

Finally, the concert came to an end. I marvel at the power of acoustics to make or break a concert. The organizers should spend time to get this right. First of all, most halls are not designed keeping in mind the sound effects. Nothing can be done about it. Given the building layout, they can think the best way to set up the sound effects. I can’t blame the artists though for they were as keen to deliver a fantastic concert only to be check-mated.

It is not fair to give any score for this concert.