Vignesh Ishwar crafts a cohesive musical narrative

The Kalyani Menon Foundation recently organised Vignesh Ishwar’s concert at The Music Academy’s Kasturi Srinivasan Hall to mark the fifth death anniversary of well-known singer Kalyani Menon. R.K. Shriramkumar was on the violin, Praveen Sparsh on the mridangam and Anirudh Athreya on the kanjira.

The concert opened on an energetic note with Swati Tirunal’s ‘Sri kumaranagaralaye’ in Atana. The mood then shifted with the rendition of Dikshitar’s ‘Sri matrubhutam’, a chowka kala composition in Kannada. The niraval at ‘Vasudeva mahitam’ was steeped in bhava and seamlessly seagued into kalpanaswaras at ‘Suvasita nava’ in madhyama kala.

Shriramkumar’s violin opened the next piece, Marimutha Pillai’s ‘Kaalai thooki ninradum’, in Yadukula Kamboji, with an alapana that maintained a calm and steady mood. The concert regained its vibrancy with the rapid brigas of Tyagaraja’s ‘Nenarunchinanu’.

Vignesh opened the concert with Swati Tirunal’s ‘Sri kumaranagaralaye’ in Atana.
| Photo Credit:
B. Jothi Ramalingam

The centrepiece of the concert was an elaborate Mukhari alapana, which transitioned smoothly into Tyagaraja’s ‘Kaarubaru seyu’ . Vignesh displayed remarkable breath control during a sustained phrase at ‘Sakethanagari’, and Shriramkumar stepped in with the opening word of the charanam, ‘Nelaku’, marking a moment of impressive coordination between the vocalist and the violinist. The niraval at ‘Saadi tyagaraja’ and the kalpanaswaras that followed, rendered in two kalams, moved steadily towards the tani avartanam featuring Praveen Sparsh and Anirudh Athreya. The thani highlighted the contrasting approaches of the two percussionists. While Praveen’s mridangam leaned towards mathematical complexity, Anirudh’s kanjira favoured groove and aesthetic appeal. Yet, the two complemented rather than competing with each other — their synergy shaping the thani into a wholesome experience for the listener.

A subtle thread tied the entire concert together: every piece presented belonged to the suddha madhyama janya family, a coherence that was more felt than announced. It resurfaced in the virutham, which featured verses from Adi Shankarar’s ‘Matrupanchakam’ and traversed Mayamalavagowla, Sahana and Ahiri. The concert then transitioned into Syama Sastri’s lyrically intense ‘Maayamma yanine’, a piece that left Shriramkumar visibly moved.

The final stretch moved away from the weightier centre of the concert. ‘Janaki ramana’ in Kapi introduced a lighter hue, followed by Namdev’s abhang ‘Maaje maher pandari’ — an apt choice for the month of Ashada. Bhadrachala Ramadas’s ‘Ramachandraya janaka’ brought the concert to a close.