evari mAta-Dr. M Balamuralikrishna-Annavarapu Ramaswamy-Umayalpuram K Sivaraman (full version- 1981)

evari mAta- kAmbhOji, Adi (2 kalai), Thyagaraja (containing the full thani)

Live at Sri Nada Brahma Sangeetha Sabha, Mysore (1981)

vocal- Dr. M Balamuralikrishna
violin- Annavarapu Ramaswamy
mridangam- Dr. Umayalpuram K Sivaraman

Thyagaraja's pleas to his Lord are brought to life by the genius alongside Annavarapu Ramaswamy and Umayalpuram in an outstanding version held at Sri Nada Brahma Sangeetha Sabha, Mysore in 1981.

The alapana starts on the high Sa and and goes down to Pa and back up to high Sa. The 3 octave voice is crystal clear and powerful and explores every facet of Kamboji. Annavarapu's response is topnotch (my uncle loves it so much that he keeps listening to it every day) and maintains the jolly mood. Balamurali puts in so much love and soul into this rendition that the listeners can't help but say, "Thyagaraja is brought back to life." And he is complemented by a brilliant UKS who takes the rendition to the next stratosphere. "avanilO(n)ArshEya paurushEya" is so compelling that you want to sing along. The elaborations of "shaktigala mahadevudavivani" are excellent and the swarams bring the rendition to another level. I especially love the interplay between the three performers during the swarams; Balamurali sings swarams, the violin repeats and the mridangam finishes. What camaraderie!

But I bet most of you are here to listen to the full thani avarthanam by UKS which is out of this world and is cited by many laya aficianados to be one of his best. I won't spoil anything major, but I love the part where he plays softly with his thoppi taking charge and Balamurali complementing it with a Pa Da Sa. The strokes and chapu of his kuchi mridangam are crystal clear and magnetic. His farans is thunderous which provides goosebumps. And he finishes it off with a oustanding tisra gathi mohara and korvai where he plays them both slow and fast without compromising on the beat. The trio wind up the krithi with the same enthusiasm as they started and the audience is in raptures.

An interesting conversation I remember having with two devout and intelligent muraLi gANam lovers, Dr. Chandra Shekhar Balachandran and Sri Vishwanath Chandrasekhara was about Dr. BMK's neraval. Here are excerpts from it:

Dr. Chandra Shekhar Balachandran: "I have not seen BMK do a lot of neraval. It is in just the right measure. The phrasing never has ill-timed breaks (pada-chheda). This makes his brief neravals all the more enjoyable."

Vishwanath Chandrasekhara: "BMK's neraval is always to get more out of the lyrics than do it as a standardised pattern to tala/gati/speed. Be it "nannu ganna talli..." or " jaga mele paramatma.." There is almost nothing that BMK does unaesthetically in his music. I wish someone qualified takes up task of studying BMK's music from perspective of rasa siddhanta. I know people have tried doing that with Dr. Padma Subramanyam's dance, why not BMK's music."

Dr. Chandra Shekhar Balachandran: "When neraval happens and the sāhitya is mangled, unæsthesia is what happens! I know a musician from one of the "schools" (i.e. śishya-paramparās) in Chennai who proudly said, 'In our style we don't care about the sāhitya, the music is more important.' I gagged from suppressing a dozen caustic responses to that."

Dr. Balachandran continues: "About the rasa siddhānta idea: I have long pleaded that someone competent should do a critical (not hagiographic) study of BMK's many contributions to karnātaka sangīta and its aesthetics, as well as to musicology. I think he was (is) perhaps the most important personality in karnātaka sangīta in the 20th/21st century. He deserves critical examination. So far, my pleas have been like shouting into the wind."

Dr. Balachandran finishes his comment: "Critical study of his work could easily lead to a few PhDs. Alas, the academic rigor in most universities in India is sorely wanting and would probably end up not doing justice to the topic. I can think of several topical titles that could be reasonable avenues of such study."

Important note: The above conversation happened 5 years back.

Today as we all know, many people have done/are doing the job. I can definitely say muraLi gANam can be considered to be a serious discipline and original form of music that can be critically and academically studied today. There is more appreciation of muraLi gANam today than and may the great work continue.

Those who were at this concert, please share your reminiscences with us. Let's enjoy muraLi gAnam together! And may UKS nAdam shine brightly!