A Grand Carnatic-Hindustani Jugalbandhi Violin Concert by Dr.Sriram Parasuram
Dr. Sriram Parasuram’s scintillating violin concert presented a jugalbandhi of the two major styles of Indian classical music, under the aegis of Powai Fine Arts on 18th May 2013, at the newly renovated auditorium of the S.M.Shetty School in Powai. He was accompanied on the mridangam by Rajesh Sreenivasan, on the kanjira by N. Y. Easwaran and on the tabla by Viswanath Shirodkar.
The concert began with a traditional varnam in ragam Kanada and concluded with an equally time-honoured mangalam in ragam Sourashtram. However, the organization of the concert was unique and perfect, wherein Sriram rendered Carnatic and Hindustani pieces back-to-back seamlessly with great mastery. His deep involvement and scholarship in the exploration of each aspect, be it the lyrical, the rhythmic or the raga, was in perfect adherence to the said stream of music. Interestingly, the joy he derived from these renditions was palpable and infectious! The spirited accompaniment on mridangam, kanjira and tabla matched up and proved this point. Rightly so, it led Santoor maestro Pandit Satish Vyas not only to applaud Sriram, but also to express his astonishment at the perfection and ease with which he did justice to both systems of Indian Classical Music.
Early in the concert Sriram presented alap, jod and a beautiful composition in praise of Lord Shiva by Shree Kumar Gandharva, followed by a kriti couched in a rare raga Sthavaraj composed by Muthuswamy Deekshithar. Next, he coupled Kalyana vasantham and Jogkauns for a jugalbandhi. The musicologist in the artist came to the fore when Sriram spoke about choosing ragas with similar sensibilities as against choosing only closely corresponding ragas for jugalbandhi. He proved this, to the utter delight of the listeners, by traversing the two ragas with great ease and grace. There was not a dull moment during the concert as Sriram raced ahead with pairing Yamuna kalyani with Misrakalyan, followed by a breathtaking thillana in Desh, paying tributes to great violin maestros and his gurus in the field, and sharing his knowledge through tit bits, small and significant, with the audience. In all, it was a memorable concert!
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