Vivek Sadasivam. , Photo Credit: The Hindu Archives
Vivek Sathasivam sings Pantuvarali and Vagadeshwari for equally long durations in his two-hour rendition. Nadabrahmam, contrasting the beauty of the two ragas set at different times of the day. ‘Shambho Mahadeva’ and ‘Paramatmudu Velige’ both belonged to Tyagaraja; Merely that one imperative Tānī avatāram for the other defined its position as the main one.
The youngster’s pantuvarali alapana has catchy jhalars mixed with long notes. What began as a brigade-driven alapana soon turned unhealthy punctuated with plain resting places. Vivek had a sore throat that played towards the upper registers. The good side was a strong baritone. Violinist Indhalur Shyam Raghav in his reply delineates Pantuvarali well, overcoming initial struggles in negotiating some of the turns of the evening’s raga. The medium-paced ‘Shambho Mahadev’ didn’t quite match Alpana’s texture, but in ‘Sharangat Janrakshak’, Vivek’s Kolkata-bred Niraval infused calmness with a touch of Hindustani classical. Swaraprastha created the festival.
In fact, Vivek’s sense of exhilaration was clearly visible in the last (second number) number. It was hilarious enough for the percussionists to warm up around Papanasam Sivan’s Adi Taal composition ‘Ganpati Karunanidhiye’ at Karharapriya. VM Kannan (Mridangam) and Elathur N. Both Hari Narayanan (Ghatam) retained the supportive spirit, not leaving it even during the free passage of his Tani Avataranam.
That 14-minute interlude in the concert’s second half kept the restraint of the centerpiece in Vagdeshwari. Its credit goes mainly to the singer. Giving optimum pace to the work, he ensured that its proportions suited the duration of the court. Vivek’s 10-minute rendition of the morning raga is often accompanied by khamas, whose parenthetical scale of Harikamboji differs from Vagdeshwari by just one note. The typical Shatashruti Rishabham took center stage in Shyam Raghav’s solo response.
imaginative intonation
‘Paramatmudu’ was neatly picturized with precise loops and slides. At the opening of the leg, ‘Gagannila Tejo’ gave a (false) signal on a Niraval in the offing. Vivek sidelined the exercise and engaged in an imaginative vocalisation. This nine-minute exercise demonstrated the singer’s penchant for arithmetic progressions, but rarely reduced to chord essence.
Earlier Vivek started with Varnam in Kedargaula. Thiruvottiyur Thiagaiyar’s ‘Swamidaya Chooda’ begins on a high note. So, the singer started with raga-in-a-alpana. His pantuvarali stretched for 36 minutes, yet the one Mohanam that followed it also came with an introductory alapana – crisp and effective. There was a Virutham before the Mishra Chapu-set ‘Kadambari Priyayi’. It was the only piece in concert by Muthuswami Dikshitar, to whom Vivek traces the lineage of his gurus. Tyagaraja’s ‘amidova’ (saranga) was filler ahead of the main suite.
Concluding with ‘Iduvo Tillai’ in Gopalakrishna Bharathi’s Sindhubhairavi followed by ‘Uppam Karpooram’ (by another Tamil composer Marimutha Pillai), Vivek’s music bore as much the florality of his mentor Sanjay Subrahmanyan as the restraint of the late RK Srikkanth. To full conservatism. taught him. Either way, there was no gimmick or gimmick. Restraint and originality were its hallmark.
The author is a keen follower of the performing arts of Kerala.