Venue: Srinivasa Sastri Hall, Luz, Mylapore
Date: 11th Nov 2006
Occasion: 42nd Guru Puja day of the late Violin Maestro Dwaram Venkatasamy Naidu
Vocal: Prof. T.V. Gopalakrishnan (TVG)
Violin: Sri S. Varadarajan
Mridangam: Sri Tiruvarur P. Bhaktavatsalam
Ghatam: Sri T.V. Vasan
List of songs:
1) viribONi (varnam) – bhairavi – kanDa aTa – pachimiriyam Adiappa (O)
2) srI gaNapatini – sOwrAshtram – Adi – thyAgarAja
3) teratIyagarAdA – gOwLipantu – Adi – thyAgarAja (S)
4) brOvabAramA – bahudAri – Adi – thyAgarAja (AS)
5) durmArgacharA – ranjani – rUpakam – thyAgarAja (AS)
6) anAduDanugAnu – jingaLa – Adi – thyAgarAja
7) sAmaja vara gamanA – hindOLam – Adi – thyAgarAja (AST)
8 ) rAgam tAnam pallavi (RTP) – shankarAbharaNam – rUpakam
pallavi wordings: “mahIma teliya taramA , rAmA nI” – anai iyer & annavayyAr
9) idhu tAnO tillai – behAg – Adi – gOpAlakrishna bhArati (O)
10) pAvana guru – hamsAnandi – rUpakam – lalitAdAsar
11) viruttam – sindhubhairavi
12) pavamAna (mangaLam) – sOwrAshtram – Adi – thyAgarAja
(Key: O=raga outline, A=raga alapana, N=neraval, S=kalpana swaram)
Before the concert started, Prof. S.R. Janakiraman and Prof. T.V. Gopalakrishnan (TVG) spoke about the greatness of the music of the late violin maestro Dwaram Venkatasamy Naidu. The multi-faceted musician TVG gave a very emotional speech recollecting the days he played for Sri Naidu. In the concert that followed, TVG took up songs that were supposed to be the very much liked by Sri Naidu and also spoke a few words on how Sri Naidu would played some of the songs he chose in the olden days.
I think TVG came into his full form in the second song srI gaNapatini following which he sang some racy kalpana swarams for teratIyagarAdA. Raga alapanas of ranjani and hindoLam were very beautifully sung and were reproduced (with a lot of improvisation) to the same effect on the violin by Sri Varadarajan. TVG sang chitta swaram in normal speed, tisram and double speed for jingaLa composition. A short ragam tAnam pallavi followed the hindoLam composition, which again TVG said was to just demonstrate how Sri Naidu would play an RTP on the violin.
The percussion team consisted of seasoned vidwans Sri Bhaktavatsalam and Sri T.V. Vasan. Two taniavartanams were played. The first one for sAmaja vara gamanA had kanDa naDai followed by a short kuraippu. The second one in rUpaka tALam, which essentially just comprised of a mOrA and kOrvai, was played for the RTP. When Sri Bhaktavatsalam finished essaying the first part of his taniavartanam in Adi tAlam, lots of crackers were suddenly heard bursting outside. To this TVG remarked jovially:“ingayum pattaasu, angayum pattaasu (crackers – both here and there)”.
One thing that never seems to change at Sastri Hall is the awful sound system. The microphones would suddenly stop working and all sorts of stupid things that one can imagine would happen with the amplification inbetween a concert. For example, in a concert by Akkarai Sisters a few weeks back, the speakers suddenly produced a trembling sound while all that the sisters were playing was a simple extended note on the violin. Today was no exception. The microphones suddenly stopped working when TVG was singing to which TVG turned towards the experimentive sound system guy and said “adhu nalla thaana set aagi irundhadhu. nee kaiya vekkadhe. naan pathukkaren (The system had got set well. You don’t touch it. I will take care)”
This is the first time I am hearing TVG sing. Since TVG tried to sing songs in the style in which Sri Naidu would have played them, as demanded by the occasion, I don’t think much of his own individual style came out. Looking forward to hearing more of him in the near future.
Ramkumar R 