violin - b ananthakrishnan
mrudangam - tanjore praveen kumar
630-830pm
music academy mini hall
shivakaama sundari - jaganmohini - rupakam (s)
thiruvadi charanam - kambodhi - adi (n)
natamaadum naathanadi - purvikalyani - khanda chapu (r,s)
thaathai yenraaduvaar - thodi - adi (r,s,t)
virutham - “oru dharam shivachidambaram…sabhapathikku…" - aboghi, jonpuri
eppo varuvaaro - jonpuri - adi
chidambaram pogamal - senjurutti - adi
Last night's concert in Music Academy Mini Hall comprised of compositions of Gopalakrishna Bharathi, under an endowment made possible by Smt Malathi Rangaswamy. This is an annual concert that has been happening in MA for several years, and even my guru Sri Sanjay Subrahmanyan has sung in it about a decade ago.
There are many compositions of Gopalakrishna Bharathi which are sung in concerts frequently today, such as Sabhapathikku in Aboghi, Thiruvadi Charanam in Kambodhi, Irakkam Varaamal in Behag, and the list goes on. As I began making an outline of songs for this concert, I wanted to feature some of the known favorites but at the same time challenge myself by learning some new songs, and bring them out to the public as well. It was a balancing act for many weeks as I decided which songs to include and which to avoid. I began getting requests from different people for different songs, and I tried my best to accommodate those as well. However it was interesting when I had a rasika request Sabhapathikku, and around the same time I specifically had several people telling me to avoid singing that same song as it is sung every time there is a Gopalakrishna Bharathi theme, and even in concerts otherwise.
During the introduction of the concert, Music Academy committee member Sri P. Vasanth Kumar (a musician himself), shared a short story of how Gopalakrishna Bharathi had met Thyagaraja and Thyagaraja had asked him if he had composed anything in ragam Aboghi. Bharathi replied that he had not, but later that day decided to compose one, which as we all know turned out to be Sabhapathikku. After hearing this composition, Thyagaraja replied to Bharathi that he would not compose in Aboghi anymore, as his Sabhapathikku was such a magnificent composition, that he (Thyagaraja) did not feel he could do justice to the ragam beyond that. Hence, I decided to highlight just a few lines of the song towards the end of the concert, in the form of a virutham in aboghi then into jonpuri, followed by the well known composition "Eppo Varuvaaro."
Another somewhat common song I decided to include in the list is what I consider to be Gopalakrishna Bharathi's magnum opus, Thiruvadi Charanam in Kambodhi. I first heard my guru sing the song several years ago, and subsequently heard recordings of Madurai Mani Iyer singing very elaborate and emotional renditions of the krithi. Madurai Mani Iyer's neraval for the line "aduthu vandha yennai thallalaagaadhu harahara vendru sonnaalum podhaadho" is especially moving, and one of the main reasons I have developed such a strong liking for the krithi.
The main song in Thodi (thaathai yendraaduvaar) was something I stumbled upon while going through various recordings and skimming through different books with GB compositions. Being in Thodi, I was immediately drawn to it as a possibility for raga alapanai and kalpanaswara elaboration, but the song itself was quite simple and small. Finally I added a few sangathis and changed the structure a bit to feel more like a "main" item (to me at least).
I had learned a few more songs for this concert which I had to omit due to shortage of time. I will include them in upcoming concerts however.
Finally, I should thank my accompanying artists, Sri B Ananthakrishnan on violin and Sri Praveen Kumar on mrudangam, for the fantastic support they gave me. They're both artists who play for me regularly and are extremely busy in the music circuit, but a special mention must be made that they made it a point to familiarize themselves with the songs I was going to sing yesterday, especially since some of them were songs they had not heard before.
