Carnatica's Rasika Forum

Veena concert by TNS at Bharathiya vidhya bhavan on 8.9.2009

Veenaavaadhan thatthvajnah

The concert was arranged as a part of the veena Navarathri and veena yajna by The veena foundation, New Delhi. TNS was assisted by Prapancham Ravindran on mridhangam and Trichy Murali on ghatam. The concert made the audience spell bound as it was a vidvatpradharsanam and mahatthva nidharSanam.

TNS started the concert with raga Ananadavbhairavi and played kamalaambaam of Dhikshithar . In accordance with the theme veena navarathri, TNS started with this and ended with the last keertana of kamalamba navavarana in sreeraga.

The Anadabhairavi was really a thrilokya mohana chakravarthini and left the rasikas stunned as though bound by magic. The next was even more enchanting. To say that he played the raga poorvikalyani followed by meenaakshi me mudham of Dhikshithar is enough for those who have heard him play it bringing out all the dasagamaka of veena gaana, which was the place he chose to elaborate, but what ensued was surpassing all expectations., and mesmerized the audience.

Next TNS started manji alaapana proving what he always used to say that manji has got a face (moonji) of its own. Right from the first plucking of the strings it was unmistakably manji and the krthi brovavamma of Shyama sastri was presented in all its beauty.

Perhaps the expression plucking of the strings is not appropriate, because his fingers touching the strings and the music that emerged was simultaneous and the veena seemed to produce the music by itself. It was as though some devata got inside and created music and his playing was only a vyaaja for the music to emerge. This is no exaggeration as all who witnessed the performance will validate my statement. The audience comprised mostly of vainikas and veena enthusiasts and all were astounded.

The raga sankarabharana that followed fully corroborated the above description and TNS played the thana in ragamalika, pressenting the ragas in capsule form with high potency and the kapi among them was a cappuccino, small, strong and delicious. TNS then played akshyalinga vibho of Dhikdhithar, with svaraprasthara at badharivanamula which was layapraDhaana.

The concert ended with sri kamalambike in sree raga , the last of the kamalamaba navanarana of Dhishithar.

The co ordinator of the programme Sri B.Kannan, who was seen enjoying the concert immensely, called out for a standing ovation to which shook the audience from their stupor who reciprocated with a thunderous standing ovation. .

Even to a seasoned rasika of TNS this was something utterly amazing.