News - Views - Reviews
MADRAS MUSIC MELA 2001
NEYVELI SANTANAGOPALAN - THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE INDIFFERENT
The good aspects were his sruti suddham, musicianship, his selection of ragas and kritis, and the meditative feel throughout the concert. The bad aspect was his planning and presentation. There were a couple of aspects which conveyed indifference:
1. Lack of concentration while
putting tala, sometimes devouring even laghu-s as in the Ata tala Varnam.
He tried to cover it up with unintelligible sounds!
2. Made quite a few avoidable slips like in the Pantuvarali alapana.
The kriti Sundaratara deham, attributed to Tyagaraja, was sung with gusto and registered very well with the rasikas. Madhyamakala swaras were enchantingly affixed to the Charana line 'Ragadi samharam'. The mridangist scored in these portions by following the vocalist to the hilt.
The main raga Bhairavi was sung in a leisurely manner with poise using classical phrases, creating a musically aesthetic atmosphere. Dikshitar's majestic kriti, Balagopala, was rendered in the usual speed with bhava-laden phrases till the line 'Neela neerada sareera'. Suddenly from then onwards, there was a downward spiral. Santanagopalan rushed through the kriti, owing to lack of time and handed it over to the percussionists to play their Tani Avartanam, which they did in a crisp manner. There were no kalpanaswaras, leave alone neraval in this main piece! But then, Santanagopalan managed to wind up the concert with a Tiruppugazh (Jonpuri) and Swati Tirunal's Visweswara (Sindhubhairavi). One felt that for an artiste of his experience, he could have managed the time better.
However, some of the other kritis that he rendered during the concert like Sobhillu (Jaganmohini), Ramabhakti (Suddhabangala), Ramabhadra rara (Anandabhairavi) and Ramanukku (Hindolam) were musically rewarding.
General remarks:
1. The good aspects over-shadowed the
unwanted portions to a certain extent.
2. The concert effect was mainly lifted to a comfortable level by the
unflinching and extra-ordinary support that the accompanists provided.
Ratings:
Fidelity to sruti - 90 %
Selection of items - 90 %
Sowkhyam - 90 %
Planning and presentation - 40 %
Concert effect:
Vocal - 65 %
Violin - 80 %
Mridangam - 90 %
Ghatam - 65 %
Overall - 75 %
Audience:
About 150 people in Swamy's hall; fairly good response.
Other remarks:
Decent hall and sound system
- Deelen
