TVG sparkles

Half the fun of being at TVG’s concert comes from his music, which is a product of his eclectic talent. The other half comes from his affecting cheer. Happiness just exudes from the colourful artiste and engulfs everyone. The nonchalant stroking of his long locks, the up-extended arm that indicates the place of a swara, the roll of his shoulders in rhythm with the tala, the effusive praise showered on accompanists, the unfading smile on his face – all these weigh so much upon his concerts to make them a success.

Not that his music is any less compelling. TVG has a heavy, a rather non-mellifluous voice, much like his Guru, the venerable Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar, but the voice suits his emphatic style of singing. His concert comprised three major elements – Vasantha Bhairavi, Bilahari and Kalyani. The alapana of Vasantha Bhairavi was breezy and had obvious touches of Balamuralikrishna, whom TVG has accompanied on the mridangam innumerable times. Thyagaraja’s Nee Daya Raada was the song chosen and was delivered without any loss of the composition’s devotional import.
The kalpana swaras that tagged the composition ended in ‘ni’ rather emphatically, like the sharp ring of a bell, and that made the listening even more fun.

After a quick Kannadagowlai (sogasu chooda tarama), came the Bilahari alapana. The alapana was neat, though unremarkable, but it was in the song that followed – Patnam Subramanya Iyer’s Parithanamichethe – that TVG’s affecting mannerisms had a telling bearing on the listening experience. The jampa tala composition is generally delivered in a speedy gait, which is very appropriate for the style of play of mridangist Tiruvarur Bhaktavatsalam and as such the Bilahari piece came out very well.

After Bilahari, TVG offered a Syama Sastri composition in the raga Kalagada, a derivative of the 13th Melakarta Gayakapriya. The raga uses a vivadi note, sudha nishadam, and sounds a bit like Bowli. TVG’s rendition of Parvathi Ninnu brought memories of D K Jayaraman who used to love singing the song in his concerts.

The main piece of the concert was Kalyani. The alapana featured unmistakable signature phrases of his guru, Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar, which TVG produced with closed-mouth and sideway-jerks of the lower jaw—an interesting style of singing.