KOCHI: The Navarathri Mandapam at the Chottanikkara Bhagavathy Temple was virtually transformed into a classroom by renowned singer Thrikkodithanam Sachidanandan, as he delineated the power of music to the crowd who gathered to listen to his old hits. The concert organised jointly by the Devaswom Board and the Temple Advisory Committee became a crowd puller owing to the unique singing style of Sachidanandan.
“I know you are here to enjoy my nostalgic semi-classical drama songs,” Sachidanandan said in his interaction with the listeners before the concert. “Before that let me open a small window to classical music for you.” With these words the singer rendered a piece in rag hamsanandi.
Instead of using jargon, he adopted a unique humming style.
He switched to a composition which began with the word Muruga.
To elaborate on the structure of the composition the singer chose to hum with open throat, which was enjoyable even for a common man. The next switch was to a popular Tamil film song, Ayyankaaru Veettu Azhage.
After rendering a line, Sachidanandan presented another carnatic composition, Swaminatha Paripalaya… The listeners were wonderstruck as they heard the many similarities between the film song and the carnatic composition, both tuned in rag natta.
Sachidanandan proceeded to sing a few lines of the songs Karimukil Kaattile, Guruvayoor Ambalanadayil, Chakkara Panthalil Thenmazha and Kayaamboo Kannil Vidarum. The singer introduced the rag in which these songs are composed as mohanam.
The composition Sarasija Naabha Sodari was well-received by the listeners who absorbed the subtle elements of each composition just by feeling the Ragabhavam filled with emotion. The listeners were taken to the heights of heavenly music with his all-time hit Puthen Thiruvaathira Poothiruvathira, the famous drama song scored with basic notations similar to those of Shanmukha Priya followed by a ragamalika with ragas like mohanam and abheri.
Another simple but meaningful song Kathayariyaamo Thattamme was presented with a folk element.
This was followed by the masterpiece, Poovanangalkkariyaamo, Oru Poovin Vedana.
Before concluding the musical evening Sachidanandan began the famous bhajan of M S Subbulakshmi, Sree Rangapura Vihaara. Without completing it, Sachidanandan switched over to his all-time hit, Parannu Parannu Parannu which is also in the same rag. When he concluded the songs with a soulful humming the listeners responded with thunderous applause. “All these songs are immortal just because of the simple style followed by the great composer L P R Varma,” said Sachindanandan.
“LPR moulded a style of his own which I would like to call the music of Changanasseri.
An entirely different style can be found in M S Baburaj’s music which is the music of Kozhikode,” he observes.
“Carnatic music is not a collection of ‘sangathis’ as depicted by the judges of some reality shows,” said the singer later in a chat with Expresso. “Those ‘judges’ often try to confuse talented youngsters with clichéd terms like Shadjam, Gandharam or Andhara Gandharam. Music, whether it is carnatic, hindustani or rock, is an expression of human emotions.” The great composer Saint Thyagaraja himself rendered his countless compositions as a medium to express his grievances. “Later we, the learners, redesigned those immortal compositions with notations just to make the learning process easy,” he added.
“Classical music is not restricted to the elite class or to learned music buffs,” he said. “Anyone can enjoy the sweetness of each raga without a knowledge of the lyrical beauty,” Sachidanandan concluded.
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