Good music is not just artistic. It has to evoke the soundness of the tradition, which vocalist T N Seshagopalan carried out in his concert for Krishna Gana Sabha on Saturday.
In the sampradaya-laden performance, when the vocalist commenced with the Bhairavi Raga (Viriboni) of Pachimirum Adiyappaiah and transcended to Begada Raga Kirtana (Vallabha Nayaka) of Muthuswamy Dikshitar, with richly flowing swaras, and the articulated traditional touch, we were certain that the artiste wanted to usher in a ‘classical tryst’ with quality.
Followed by Poorvi Kalyani Raga (Ekkalathilum Unnai Maravamal) of Thiruvarur Ramasamy Pillai and phrases around moorchana swaras, his perseverance to hold up the virtues of Carnatic music was intensely visible.
The piece de resistance of the evening was the Raga Kalyani Alapana and presentation of (Etha Unara) of Thyagarajar, that followed with clear sangathis, had a blithe spirit, quite pleasing.
The elaboration at Vaageeswari Sudda Gowri with sarva lagu swara patterns and proper Kalapranamam, was sensitively handled. Each sanchara, he employed was in search of more alluring facets of raga.
It was obvious that Seshagopalan wanted to give a personal identity to his concert technique and his exposition earlier of (Marukelara) of Thyagarajar in Raga Jayanthasri, which was delivered with sensibility to Ragalakshana and the rendition of Pasuram, provided a distinctly satisfying devotional atmosphere.
Though the concert as a whole had the classical element with a concern for imparting quality, it failed to some extent to click very effectively, as he had used mostly Mantharasthai sancharas, suiting his voice on that day. Hence, deciphering the lyrical expressions was not that easy.
Chandrasekaran on violin, communicated the nuances of the kritis, in his usual style and tempo. T K Murthy on mridangam and Anirudh Athreya on kanjira revealed the robustness of the stamp of their classicism.