A great bhairavi canvas - part IV

I am back after a long gap (and yes, there were some really strong excuses for the gap). Nevertheless, continuing from where I left the last time around, today's post is (what I imagine will be) the final installment of the bhairavi-canvas theme. tanayuni brOva is another lovely bhairavi kriti by tyAgarAjA, and this time, MDR wears a teacher's cap - something, I believe, he used to do quite often. MDR eschews sophisticated phrases and sangatis, and keeps it very simple, yet eminently enjoyable. For example, in the AlApana, he shows how even a plain phrase like sa pa sa pa ri, can be made to sound unmistakably full of bhairavi. As for the kriti itself, MDR is in his usual unhurried mood, keen on rendering with a clarity that is easy to learn from. Almost anyone (with even just half-a-decent pair of vocal chords) would hum some reasonable bhairavi after listening to this! There are dozens of examples of such teaching-style renditions, as I call them, in MDR's catalogue. After all, it is not for nothing that he is referred to as a musician's musician.

A great bhairavi canvas - part III

As we continue to explore MDR's bhairavi portfolio, we come upon MDR's rendition of upacAramu, a lovely little kriti by tyAgarAjA. In contrast to the amba kAmAkshi posted earlier, upacAramu, here, is really short - barely touching the four minute mark. MDR has this rare ability to treat the same rAgam (or even the same song) at different levels of granularity in different renditions. Today's post is a case in point. My personal all-time-favourite rendition of a bhairavi has always been (and will always remain) MDR's grand amba kAmAkshi, but upacAramu is an important element in MDR's diverse bhairavi canvas. His succinct treatment of bhairavi here, however, may be more "accessible" and much easier to "get" to the many who are uninitiated to MDR's brilliance-in-detail.

A great bhairavi canvas - part II

MDR's vilambakAla rendition of the shyAmA sAstri magnum opus, amba kAmAkshi, is a masterpiece. From AlApana to kalpana svaram and most importantly, through eight wonderful caraNams in-between, MDR takes us through a spectacular journey of bhairavi. shyAmA sAstri composed the caraNams beautifully -- the first caraNam begins with sa, the second with ri, the third with ga, and so on until the last caraNam, which begins again with sa (but of the next octave). Such a composition allows MDR to explore the full range of bhairavi's nuances. As always, MDR pays attention to the words, e.g., dikkanusu, nammitini, sampadala niccEvippuDu, etc. are never split in ungainly ways. But this is only part of the story. The most striking feature is the depth of delivery -- MDR dwells and rests on each note, caressing note after note, allowing the listener to absorb their each individual resonant quality. In the seventh caraNam (that begins ni ri sa ri ni ri ni da pa) notice how beautifully MDR sings the svara sequence sa ri ga ma pa, sa ri ga ma pa da, ma pa ga ri ga ma~ -- the last ma~ (with brugA) being the most beautiful note of them all! When he next sings the corresponding sAhityam, he strikes this beautiful ma~ once again -- aparimita vaibhavamugala nIsmaraNa madilo~!! The entire rendition is full of this kind of brilliant detailing. MDR ends, typically, with some simple but striking kalpana svara phrases - check out, e.g., ni ni ni ni~ da pa da ni da pa da ma ma, ma ma ni da ni pa da ma!

A full forty minute track is not in the least bit blogosphere-friendly and I had to cut it down cruelly to half its length in the version below, retaining only three of the eight caraNams (first, seventh and eighth). I urge you to listen to it and if you do not enjoy it, I urge you to try again, perhaps more than once if needed, until (I hope) you eventually get it -- a bhairavi in all its glory, a masterful composition at the hands of the master practitioner of musical detail.

A great bhairavi canvas - part I

rAgams like bhairavi that allow for extensive elaboration are right up MDR's forte. In a series of posts, I will try to showcase MDR's gorgeous bhairavi canvas - from viribONi to amba kAmAkshi to tanayunibrOva to upacAramu. But first, let me start at the very beginning.

More than 15 years ago, a relatively obscure music company called "Geeta Cassettes" released a double-cassette live concert of MDR, lAlguDi jayarAman and pAlakkAD maNi. It was a 1970 concert at Sri Krishna Ganasabha, Chennai (It has since been repackaged as a 2-CD set by Kosmik Music). I got hold of the album almost as soon as it was released and (hold your breath, a cliche's coming your way) life has never been the same ever since. Even today, I regard that concert as one of the greatest karnATik music concerts of all time. The concert begins with pacimiriam AdiyappiAh's brilliant varNam - viribONi - and what a cracker of a start!!

There is great energy and intensity, though somewhat surprisingly, MDR does not innovate here. He hardly deviates from pacimiriam AdiyappiAh's script. pAlakkAD maNi is in great form and you can almost hear the mrudangam play in bhairavi. Notice how MDR, in the sangatis, carefully splits the words konnadirA into konna-adirA and rAjagOpAla into rA-AjagOpAla. If you are new to MDR, this is definitely a great place to start.