Balamuralikrishn-AH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Another version of this review appeared in The Hindu on January 29, and can be accessed at http://www.hindu.com/fr/2010/01/29/stories/2010012951390800.htm).
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At 79, he is still Balamuralikrishn-awe!

The ‘event’ that took place on Sunday, January 17, 2010, at Nungambakkam Cultural Academy--it can be called a ‘concert’ only in a technical sense--was actually a Festival of Manodharma, its glory enhanced by the low frequency of the great singer’s performances.

The numbing spell that Balamurali binds his audience in was palpable from the pin-drop unbearable silence that engulfed the hall when the curtains went up. It was as though the audience was waiting to catch the first move of some gladiatorial sport.

The silence was broken only when Balamurali, as though with careful deliberation, opened up with several low gurgles of omkarams, like you hear in temples. And then, anchoring himself in his base sruthi and signaling to the sound technician to raise volume, Balamurali took off.

The voice was strong as a rod of steel, which made Veeraraghavan’s ‘vocal support’, ridiculously irrelevant.

Kalaimamani Dr S Natarajan, the General Secretary of Nungambakkam Cultural Academy, had placed a request for an all-Tamil concert (a point that Dr Shanmugasundaram of Tamil Isai Mandram, who keeps complaining that the world of carnatic music ignores Tamil, needs to take note of).

The concert with an alapana of Hamsadhwani. Balamurali style is said to be one of obscure, teaser alapanas, that leave the audience guessing its identity. But that style was not the one he used that day. Hamsadhwani shone clearly and presently the alapana made way for ‘pirai aniyam perumanai’, a Balamurali composition. Balamurali then tailed it with lots of half-avarthana swaras and it was in this infinite variety that the singer’s powerful manodharma shone. Here, I must mention violinist Akkarai Subbulakshmi’s enthusiastic support.

The next component was another Balamurali-composition, ‘varuga varuga maa mayil yeri’ in Panthuvarali. Again, it was an out-of-the-world alapana where the vocalist spanned the all the three octaves with obvious ease, going right up to the second upper sa. The composition as well as the swaras that followed were rendered practically without gamakas – which brought in a touch of Hindustani – and perhaps it would therefore be appropriate to call this Kamavardhini, rather than Panthuvarali. (Some experts say that both are the same raga except that Kamavardhini is Panthuvarali sans gamaka. However, when I asked Dr Balamuralikrishna if I should call it Kamavardhini or Panthuvarali, he said his composition ought to be called Kamavardhini, though not was because it was gamaka-less. He said the difference between Kamavardhini and Panthuvarali goes deeper than that, the latter being a derivative of the former. It was a brief conversation on the phone and did not offer scope for an elaborate discussion, and therefore, I'm unable to present, at the moment, the nuances of Kamavardhini and Panthuvarali as according to Dr Balamuralikrishna. But do keep an eye on this post, for I shall sooner or later catch up with the singer and obtain the necessary amplification on the subject.)

A Mohanam followed. After a brief alapana came ‘Aya kalaikkellam arasiye’ yet another brilliant Balamurali creation. At the end of this piece came a thoroughly enjoyable tani by percussionists Harikumar (mridangam) and Karthik (ghatam).

The concert then swung into a bunch of ‘light classical’ pieces, notable of which was ‘appa naan vendudal kaetarul puridal vendum’ in Vagadheeswari, a Ramalinga Adigalar Thiruvarutpa piece. Thyagaraja swami’s Seetha kalyana vaibhogame brought the curtains down.

It was an excellent concert, befitting the great musician's stature, but yet one shortcoming needs to be pointed out. Throughout the concert, there was no niraval. Niraval singing has its charm and it is not fair on the part of any artiste to deny his audience the pleasure.

In fact, this was the disappointing feature of the singer's concert at the same venue two years back (a review of which appeared in The Hindu and can be accessed at http://www.hindu.com/fr/2008/02/08/stories/2008020850550300.htm).

Comparing the two concerts (of January 2008 and 2010), I felt that the 2008 concert was a trifle better. Maybe this impression arises out of the tillanas. The current concert featured a tillana in Dwijavanthi; the previous one had Balamurali's own creation, in Garudadhwani. The Garudadhwani tillana was just celestial. It was so, so good that the audience just could not stop applauding.