
CAMAGA hosts Master Balamurali
Krishna
By Ram S. Sriram
Master Balamurali Krishna’s vocal music concert was held on October 15,
2005 and was organized by the Carnatic Music Association of Georgia (CAMAGA),
Atlanta. I am not referring to the concert of the doyen of Carnatic
music, the illustrious M. Balamuralikrishna but the upcoming young
artist from Chennai, who is touring the United States for the first
time. Master Balamurali was accompanied by two other young artists –
Nagai Sriram on the violin and Trivandrum Balaji on the mridangam.
As has become routine during the last couple of years, the artists
arrived in the country after much hassles and after traveling through
several airports, missing some of the flights and being tossed from one
airport to another. After being stranded in Charlotte overnight, they
arrived on Saturday morning, in time for the concert. The reason I am
writing this is to express my appreciation to these young artists. In
spite of spending three days traveling in cramped aircrafts and hardly
having even unpacked, they were rushed to the auditorium to perform and
indeed they did perform. Four hours of splendid concert that kept the
admiring audience spell bound and never was a dull moment or compromises
on the quality of rendering.
Balamurali (born in 1985), started his concert with the traditional
Bhairavi varnam, Viribhoni. The Varnam set the tone for the rest of the
concert. The varnam was followed by the equally traditional Nattai kriti,
Mahaganapathim. The third kriti was the gem from among the Pancharathna
gems of Sri Thyagaraja, Endaro Mahanubhavulu in Sri Ragam. It almost
sounded like the young Balamurali was seeking the blessings of the
audience, ninety percent of whom were above his age by saying,
“anthariki vandanamulu (my namaskarams to all of you).
He followed the Sri Ragam Pancharathnam with a Sahana raga alapana. The
Sahana alapana reminded me of an incidence that happened over 40 years
ago, when I myself was a young person. It was around 1 A.M. in the night
and I was sitting next to my father listening to Sahana being sung by an
18-year old young man during the annual Thyagaraja Aradhana (akanta
ganam) celebrations in Purasawakam, Madras. There were hardly 10 people
in the hall at that time of the night and the thin audience did not
deter the dedicated young man from rendering a Sahana that was
soul-filling. The young man was very sincere and dedicated to the music
and the Sahana came from his Mooladhara or inner soul. Listening to the
Sahana, tears started rolling from my father’s eyes. I did not imagine
at that time that after four decades, I will go through a similar
experience listening to Master Balamurali’s Sahana. It was nadopasana
for both the artists and the audience. Balamurali followed the Sahana
raga alapana with Eva Sudha Neevanti Deivamu, the Kovur Sthala kriti of
Sri Thyagaraja.
The Ritigowla, Janani Ninnuvina, that followed was equally competently
rendered. These days it has become common for younger musicians (both
professionals and amateurs) to resort to choosing and elaborating on
ragas and compositions set in ragas that give very limited scope for
elaborations. Balamurali did not resort to such unnecessary and painful
exercises; instead, he chose ragas that allowed him to bring out their
greatness: Panthuvarali, Karaharapriya and Kalyani.
The main raga for the day was Karaharapriya and he handled the raga very
deftly brining out the richness and nuances of this melakarta raga. He
followed the raga alapana with the well-known Chakkani Raja composition
of Sri Thyagaraja swami. Because of paucity of time (the concert has
already crossed its traditional 3-hour mark by this time), he had to
start on the Kalyani RTP alapana right away. Sri Raghavendram Bhajeham
in Kanta Jadi Triputa was simple but went through all the requirements
of an RTP – trikalam and thisram, not to speak of the raga malikas.
Nagai Sriram is visiting Atlanta for his third concert in that many
years. Each time, this youngster fulfilled the expectations of the
audience. He always provided excellent support to the main artists and
did not try to overwhelm the artists with his own playing during the
raga elaboration. However, when the time comes to his solo raga
rendering, Sriram has always shown his excellent training and kalpana.
Sriram showed that he can match with Balamurali both during the neravals
and during the computational swara renderings.
Trivandrum Balaji hails from the famous Palghat Mani Iyer School –
himself, a disciple of Sri Palghat Raghu. A hall mark of the Mani Iyer
School is their ability to embellish the mood and tempo of a song and in
choosing sollus and nadais that are appropriate for each grace produced
by the main artist. Balaji aptly maintained this tradition and the
nadham and sollu suddham are evidences of his training and knowledge.
The thani was excellent and was rendered with precision and complexity.
These three young artists have a very good future ahead of them and if
they continue to maintain their sincerity and devotion to their chosen
profession, all three of them will do excellently. On behalf of Atlanta
audience, I wish them well.
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