Raga saga!

Lovers of Carnatic music were treated to a bevy of unique performances at the annual Sydney Music Festival

BY MALLI IYER

The Swara Laya Fine Arts Society’s 7th Annual Sydney Music Festival kept lovers of Carnatic music enthralled for the better part of the Queen’s birthday weekend at the Riverside Theatre in Parramatta. The 3-day festival was notable not just for the high quality and calibre of the artistes, but for the opportunity it offered to the performers to express themselves creatively.

Ms Julie Owens, Federal Member of Parliament from Parramatta was Chief Guest, and Ms Julia Finn, Councillor from the Parramatta City Council was a special guest. The honour of playing the saxophone for the inaugural concert went to Dr Kadri Gopalnath, the only world-renowned saxophonist who plays Carnatic music. Credit was duly given to him for mastering a complex western instrument, modifying and perfecting it for 20 years, adapting it to playing nuances of Carnatic music. Dr Gopalnath was commended for his achievements, his versatility to play music for well-known AR Rahman compositions, and playing in Jazz festivals in Prague, Berlin, France and Mexico.

Swara Laya organisers deserve kudos for mobilising a team of Sydney’s music teachers and students to kick off the festival with an innovation titled Kshetra Magimai and singing compositions and krithis in the praise of deities associated with the following dharma kshetras in South India, namely Thirukkadaiyur Abhirami, Kanchi Kamakshi, Madurai Meenakshi, Thirunelveli Kanthimathi, Chidambaram Sivakamasundari, Thanjavur Brihadambika, Thiruvaiyaru Dharmasamvardhini, Thiruvanmiyur Thripurasundari and Thirumayilai Karpagambikai. Musical treats enjoyed by rasikas at the festival varied from orthodox styles at one end of the spectrum, to the unconventional at the other. There were 10 major concerts where performing artistes sang 87 unduplicated ragas. The other notable feature was the rendering of 16 rarely heard ragas such as Vairavam, Devamruthavarshini, Manoranjani and Nari Ritigowla. There were several examples of individual brilliance, as with Nithyashree Mahadevan and Sanjay Subrahmanyan, among the vocalists. P Ganesh on the chitravina (aka gottuvadyam) and playing solo; Srimushanam Raja Rao on the mridangam, and TG Muthukumaraswamy on the thavil excelled as accompaniments.

Among the team concerts, Mysore Brothers Nagaraj and Manjunath raised violin solo concerts to another level with their faultless and synchronised rendering of Manasa Sancharerey in raga Shyama and Rama Katha Sudha in raga Madhyamavati.

The vocal team of KN Shashikiran and P Ganesh sang a pallavi written and composed by Shashikiran and dedicated to the Sydney Murugan Temple in Westmead. The original creation was set to pancha raga and pancha tala. It was a classic example of artistes expressing their bond with the city of Sydney.

Two other teams of vocalists beautifully and complemented each other as they went on to analyse the nuances of Saint Thyagaraja’s Koluvai Unnade raga Bhairavi. Their ragam, thanam and pallavi in raga Amir Kalyani in praise of Lord Krishna with lyrics, Brindavana gana lola murali dhara was a case of oodles of melody, particularly as their ragamalika four ragas embellished the concert.

The genius of Sanjay Subrahmanyam was amply evident as he tested his accompanists, Mysore Nagaraj and Srimushanam Raja Rao by venturing into uncharted depths in raga Gauri to match him, blow for blow. Sanjay has all the makings of a musical great!

One youngster who rates the praise of Lord Krishna and the other Vishnu avatars. Her discourse gave every indication of her confidence and a full self-gratification.

Among the quiet achievers of this festival were Poongulam Subramaniam and TK Murugabhupathi on the mridangam, HN Bhaskar, Mysore Manjunath and Nagai Sriram on the violin, and Chidambaram Suresh on the morsing. Their performances as accompanists added lustre to each of the concerts. Vandana Dixit and Ankita Manoharan did a splendid job of compering and introducing the concert artistes to the audience.

All credit for the success of the Sydney Music Festival goes to Mr and Mrs Kanagasabhai Jayendran and their family who have worked tirelessly to bring top artistes from India to perform here, initiating necessary actions to run a highly successful program. Sydney’s Carnatic music lovers owe them a debt of gratitude.

The vocal team of KN Shashikiran and P Ganesh sang a pallavi written and composed by Shashikiran and dedicated to the Sydney Murugan Temple in Westmead. It was a classic example of the artistes expressing their bond with the city of Sydney