S Srivatsan’s unique ‘Ragam Tanam Mallari’ adds to the appeal of his concerts

Vaibhav Ramani (violin), L. S with Sudarshan Srinivas (mridangam) and KR Sivaramakrishna (kanjira). Srivatsan. , Photo Credit: Courtesy: Mudhra

With Mallari inspired by Ragam-Taanam, S. Srivatsan’s 35-minute suite, a neat centerpiece, emerged as the highlight of his performance. Beyond the novelty of the patterned items of the Nagaswaram repertoire, the impulsive innovations of the youth generated a range of embellishments. Nevertheless, the obvious pre-planning around the RTM in Gambhiranattai as well as other tunes showed his respect for tradition.

It is challenging for a singer to present a long song without any lyrics. Mallari, which is generally played when the deity is taken in procession to the temple, is based only on syllables. Srivatsan chose the slow-paced Aadi tala of 16 beats, before adding measured dashes of Nattai and Sri, further coloring the swara chakra with a flurry of ragas – Hindolam, Anandbhairavi, Purvakalyani and Kalyani. The last two were reminiscent of the first and last of the five Ghan ragas sequenced in Tyagaraja’s famous Pancharatna works. Surprisingly, ahead of Mallari, the last end of Tanam also came up with all of them including Gaula, Arabi and Varali. However, the alapana remained entirely confined to the center of Gambhiranattai, while it coined a few phrases which indicated the arrival of Mallari.

Such descriptions may give the impression that RTM was heavy on technical aspects. This was not the case, thanks to Srivatsan’s liveliness as well as the solid support of his accompanists: Vaibhav Ramani (violin), L Sudarshan Srinivas (mridangam) and KR Sivaramakrishna (kanjira). Together, the team’s two-and-a-half-hour Kacheri in Mudhra exemplified the synergy between the youth on the field.

The main package was in Canada, which was one hour. If Alapana was a purist’s delight, Kriti was suitably surreal. ‘Sukhi Ivevaro’ started off peacefully, but got into a funk once we entered the Anupallavi part, where the percussionists immediately appreciated it. The solfa stretch outlined a steady climb; What’s more, the noise along the coastline also increased accordingly. The 20 minute Tani Avtaranam was beautiful without aggression.

Earlier, Srivatsan opened with a rousing rendition of Sarasuda Varnam in Saveri. The microtones were particularly attractive when climbing ‘Karunincha’. Tyagaraja’s subsequent rendition of ‘Telialeru Rama’ (Dhenuka) was evidence of the singer’s grooming under AS Murali. The resulting loyalty to the Semmangudi school was particularly evident in the sarvalaghu moments woven into the Kalpanaswaras. Subsequently, the springiness of Raga Mohanam came right out of the alapana, tracing Maharajapuram Vishwanath Iyer’s stylistic affinities with Niraval around ‘Viravar’ (in the Dixit work ‘Narasimha Agacha’). The strong saranga had Kanmani Souladi filling.

The subsequent bit of RTM included a soulful Kavadi Chindu (Subramaniam Bharathi’s ‘Villinai’) as well as a Purandaradasa Ragamalika lined up with Kurinji, Kapi and Sindhubhairavi ahead of the Mangalam.