Ashwath Narayanan presents a classy Kamboji at The Music Academy’s December music festival

Ashwath Narayanan with violinist M.S. Ananthakrishnan, mridangist Tiruvavrur Bhaktavatsalam and B.S. Purushottam  on the kanjira. 
| Photo Credit: K_Pichumani

Ashwath Narayanan is a musician with impeccable tutelage, good voice range and dynamics and respect for tradition. His concert for The Music Academy shone on all these fronts. Good programming added to the satisfactory outcome, even though he may have wanted more time for the later part of the concert.

Kalyani varnam in Ata tala was a facile starter for Ashwath, offering a good sense of how the concert would traverse. ‘Yochana kamala’ in Darbar was prefaced by a short raga alapana. The kriti rendition had a limited impact but the swara appendage was aesthetic, making full use of janta usage. Ashwath flipped the programme somewhat with an elaborate Thodi alapana and a shloka sung as a viruttam was pleasant. The fullness of a Thodi fare was elusive. ‘Tanigai valar Saravanabhava’ by Papanasam Sivan seemed like the logical sequel to the shloka on Muruga. The kriti is a masterpiece in Khanda Chapu and Ashwath’s patantara allegiance took the concert to a good high. Niraval at ‘thulli vilayadi varum’ brought out good synchrony with violinist M.S. Ananthakrishnan and mridangist Tiruvavrur Bhaktavatsalam.

‘Jambupathe’ (Yamuna Kalyani, Dikshitar) was a good idea to stoke in some serenity, but the execution skipped the emotive weight and the vilamba kala mastery Dikshitar presents in such kritis. Such songs look like half-volleys but are deceptive in their in-built trajectory. Not done well, such kritis could drag the concert’s momentum, as it happened here.

Malayamarutham Tiruppavai (Sitru) filler was followed by a good classical Kamboji episode. Ashwath’s alapana was competent, but kriti rendition (‘Evarimata’, Tyagaraja) was outstanding with powerful vintage melody from the Ariyakudi-KVN stable. The anupallavi was particularly exhilarating, with the high notes underlining Ashwath’s voice maturity. Novelties are common in today’s concerts and thus was born Aswath’s niraval at ‘Sakthikala mana devude neevani’ instead of the more conventionally-heard lines. Once again, there was grandeur and ‘suddham’ in the sangathis employed in the niraval. Swaras were measured with short sequences and the normative kuraippu.

Ashwath Kamboji
| Photo Credit:
K. Pichumani

Ananthakrishnan was swift and equally intelligent as Ashwath in these manodharma segments. Bhaktavatsalam eagerly awaited this moment and embellished the ascending beauty of the Kamboji piece. There were robust dynamics and punches in the tani in different nadais following Bhaktavatsalam’s wont template. B.S. Purushottam was an able foil in these parts of the concert. Bhaktavatsalam, perhaps, let the enthusiasm breach decibel norms though. Rapturous rhythm sometimes overshadows skill.

Ragam Tanam Pallavi in Behag began later than Ashwath would have liked it to. He and Ananthakrishnan compensated with a nice tanam that allowed the audience to savour the raga more. It’s not easy to go as per plan when the vocalist is racing against the clock, but Ashwath still did due justice to the pallavi in Khanda Triputa (one-fourth eduppu) and presented four kalams, engaging niraval and a basket of swaras. ‘Thenai paruga thumbiyaakinen’ lyrics by Bharat Sundar is another in a series of contemporary pallavis that are in vogue these days. The lyrics contain a Tamilised mention of the raga too and many would have cracked the quiz.

Good alapana and tanam by Ananthakrishnan was not a surprise, as his mentors and seniors of the Parur school revelled in playing the raga. ‘Chittam eppadiyo’ in Nadanamakriya had a natural brightness and Ashwath enjoyed presenting it with true bhakti shades. Ashwath would be partially satisfied with this concert, as he will perhaps want to convert such good concerts into great concerts. There is no doubt that he has the ability to do so.