Author: Sunitha
Hello Friends,
If you get a chance, please don’t miss the LIVE concert by O.S.Tyagarajan.
Last night I attended a vocal concert by Sri O.S.Tyagarajan, organized by SIFAA at the West Cary Middle School. I was very impressed to see that the concert actually started on time! I think people are so used to the delays – there were very few when the concert started, but people kept entering the hall for about 45 minutes after it started! Even I was late by 2 minutes, but didn’t miss anything.
I had listened to his singing on the radio long ago, but had never been to his concerts. He looked like a ball of energy, singing effortlessly, with so much passion! He was very lively and kept engaging the accompanying artists as well as the audience. The Violinist (Mullavasal Chandramouli) was one of the best performers I have come across. His face was full of expressions and smiles and it was looking as though he was facially acting the phrases of the music he played on the violin. It was both entertaining and melodious and added a special flavor to OST’s vocal music.
OST has a very rich voice which has gone through such "saadhana" that he looked like a satellite which had reached its orbit and was on its own! His aalaaps and kalpanaaswaras sounded so effortless that it looked as though he was just sitting there and having a good time. He was very quick in getting into a raaga’s mood. His "Shruti-shuddhate’" was the highlight of the concert. There was not one note that even sounded slightly out of tune during the whole concert. All three of them (The mridangist, Trivendrum Balaji looked like a young and energetic guy) were full of stage-presence and brought a lot of energy into the concert.
He started with the Kalyani Varna, Vanajaakshi. (Naresh just finished learning it!). The next one was another favorite of Naresh – St. Tyagaraja’s Entaraneetana in Harikambodhi raaga. All of you would have recognized this – it is the same raga as the swarajati you are learning now! He did the Swara-prastaara and Neraval at the first charana "Sheshudu Shivuniki". It was very nice.
Next he did a soothing aalap of Poorvikalyani raaga, followed by a Tamil kriti and kalpanaaswara.
The next one was a quick Tyagaraja kriti, "Sanaatana Parama paavana" in the rear raaga Phalamanjari (Kharaharapriya janya).
He chose two raagas for extensive elaboration: Shankaraabharana and Kedaaragoula.
His Shankaraabharana aalaap was very good especially in the Taara Sthaayi (higher octave). He chose a Tamil kriti about Murugan in this raaga, and did swara prasthaara and Neraval. During the swara prasthaara, he used the technique of Graha-bheda. It is the same as swara/shruti bheda I had explained earlier, where they move the scale to the next swara (Aadhaara shadja gets moved by one note) which becomes a different raaga. Shankaraabharana became Kharaharapriya and then Todi and then Kalyani, and back to Shankaraabharana in the same sequence! He took a pause and explained what he just did! He said one has to be 150% sure about it to do it on the stage. I agree with him 200%! He did it so effortlessly that I was spellbound. He also mentioned that with some good amount of practice one can do Grahabheda and move to other raagas, but coming back to the original shruti/raga you started with is what makes it such a difficult technique. The violinist was equally good – he also responded doing grahabheda when it was his turn. I can’t forget his smile and the facial expressions! Stage-presence is a very important aspect of any performance. This team was an exceptional one when it came to keeping the audience engaged throughout.
The wikipedia gives a good explanation of Grahabheda. (I haven’t completely read it): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graha_bhedam
I was happy to see the very traditional raagas he picked for the concert. The next one was a beautiful Tamil song in the raaga Mukhari (You have learned it in the "Kanaka Mruga" stanza of Bhaavayaami Raghuraamam), followed by a super-fast rendition of the Tyagaraja kriti in Hamsanaada – Bantureeti. What followed it was the Raaga-Taana-Pallavi (RTP) in the very traditional raaga Kedaragowla. Looking at the swaras, it looks very close to the raaga Desh, but when you sing it in Karnatic style, you don’t even recognize any similarity. It was very refreshing to listen to this traditional raaga after a long, long, time. I still remember Sujatha singing the song "Vanajanayana" in this raaga when she was practicing for her music exams, and I had just started learning the basics of music! Baalamurali has sung a song in this raaga for a 1960’s movie, "Subbaashastry". I couldn’t find the song online.
OST was a joker! After this he gave a nice smile, looked at the organizers and said "It is 3 hours" and looked at the audience and said – I am not a machine to keep singing song after song, raaga after raaga! Everyone was laughing. He said he would sing a couple of more little songs and finish! He sang a very high-energy Tamil song (I am trying to recall the raaga – I think it was Saaramati, but not sure. I wish I had written down!). Interestingly the last one was on Ganesha, but in the raaga Madhyamaavati – "Vinayakuni Valenu Brovave". This was one of the first songs my grandma had taught me. He finished the concert with a couple of Managalams.
Throughout the concert, he was like a bouncing ball, sitting there singing raaga after raaga, with not much pause in between. I would definitely not miss his concert again.
Sunitha
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