Chetulara Shringaramu chesi - Bhairavi - Tyagaraja - M Balamuralikrishna - M C - U K S

Описание: Album narration by Smt. Kamini Dandapani.

The great composer Thyagaraja’s love for his beloved Lord Rama is boundless. It finds articulation in his songs in a myriad ways. Sometimes it is deeply spiritual and philosophical, sometimes it is playful; it can be tender, scolding, joyous, visceral. It is an expression of the multiple dimensions, the churning emotions, the many complexities, of life itself. In this song, the emotion of vatsalya bhava, or the love of a mother for her child, finds exquisite expression. Thyagaraja (possibly imagining himself as Rama’s mother Kausalya) sings of bedecking Lord Rama with his own hands - with glittering gold anklets, gilded garments, fragrant parijata flowers, aromatic sandalwood paste, and more, and worshipping him thus beautified.

Chetulara is in Bhairavi ragam and Adi talam. The ragam Bhairavi is so aptly named as it shares many of the attributes of the great goddess it is named after: beauty, grandeur, majesty, tenderness, complexity, as well as an intense, stormy spirit that cannot be easily captured and tamed. It has a larger-than-life presence and personality and it is the rare musician who can bring together the many, often contradictory facets of this ragam, and showcase its dazzling beauty in a way that does it justice. Balamurali is one of them.

Balamurali plunges into the ragam right away in his alapanai, making a bold entry into the realm of Bhairavi without too much of the exploratory ragam-establishing phrases. He starts around the panchamam and spends a good deal of time elaborating the raga in the middle range. And indeed, this is where the beauty of this ragam reveals itself most powerfully. The familiar phrases of Bhairavi come at you in a rich flow, cloaked in the sheen of his matchless voice and musical sensibility. How deftly he weaves disparate qualities together - the smooth and the crisp, the tender and the grand, the leisurely gamaka-laden phrases and the razor-sharp glides up and down. As he winds down towards the finish, he gives us a glimpse of the the gentle and haunting side of Bhairavi, as if to set the mood for the song to follow. This is an alapanai that is truly worthy of the magnificent Goddess it shares its name with.

Over the years I have watched many performances of Balamurali and M. Chandrasekaran and have witnessed the enormous mutual respect, admiration and affection they share, and this is reflected in their musical compatibility. It is sheer pleasure to listen to them perform together - and with UKS on mridangam, the joy is enhanced still further - and MC’s alapanai is a worthy follow-on to Balamurali’s.

Now put yourself in the state of mind of a mother’s love for her child as she adorns him with the finest jewels and clothes, and listen to the song. Like most Thyagaraja kritis, the sangatis build up slowly in complexity, allowing the listener to savour the lyrics and music with cumulative pleasure. The many ways BMK has sung the first lines of the Anupallavi - Sethu Bandana Surapathi recalls the effort by the many different people and creatures who helped Rama in this endeavour. The aura and meaning of the song is so beautifully evoked by Balamurali’s rendition of it. The mood never lets up and in the last lines of the charanam - Vani Suratiche Visaraga Vasi Vasi Yanucu Thyagarajuni Pogada - it takes a heightened turn and there is such a beautiful sense of fulfilment. The adornment has been completed and even the Goddess Saraswathi (Vani), who has been fanning lord Rama, is filled with admiration, while I, Thyagaraja, worship you, my beautifully bedecked Lord. BMK’s voice almost cracks with emotion when he sings these lines. It is pure perfection.

The song done, he starts on the swara kalpana section. And as he did with the raga alapanai, he plunges right into more complex swaras without the preliminary short ones. It is as if, having immersed himself in the beauty of the ragam, he cannot bear to let go. He sings several phrases before steering it to the panchamam. It is now BMK’s turn to adorn the Lord, and adorn him he does with one exquisite phrase after the other in Bhairavi. Here too, he concentrates largely in the middle range, bringing his swarams back to Pa. We expect to be surprised and delighted, but don’t know how, and when, and sure enough, he pulls out new tricks from his arsenal with effortless ease. There are countless paths that lead to Pa and Balamurali takes us through so many of them, each one unique, each one fresh and captivating. The part when he takes turns with Chandrasekharan and Sivaraman is really wonderful. The three are in perfect sync.

Umayalpuram Sivaraman’s tani avartanam is beautiful and brilliant. The spell cast by BMK is kept intact and his playing is a true tribute to the song and brings this performance to a most satisfying end.
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