Salutations to the guru
B. RAMADEVI
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The disciples of M.L.Vasanthakumari came together to render a heart-warming recital on the occasion of the doyen’s birth anniversary.
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Photo: M.Periasamy
Homage to MLV: K.Sivarama Krishnan.
‘Guruvandanam,’ the day-long programme, in memory of M.L.Vasanthakumari on her birthday, organised by her disciple Meena Subramaniam at Sastha Hall, Coimbatore, consisted mainly of vocal recitals by the second generation students of the MLV school of music.
Meena Subramaniam and Nirmala Srinivasan (another ardent disciple of MLV) have a large circle of disciples in Coimbatore and they have succeeded in retaining the fragrance of MLV’s style of music. When their disciples sang on this occasion of ‘Guruvandanam,’ it was like the grandchildren paying homage to the grandmother.
Brief yet memorable
Pazhani M. Sakthivel and Pazhani S. Ramdas made an auspicious beginning in the morning with their nagaswaram recital, accompanied by Kollangode G. Guruvayoorappan and M. Karuppaiah on the thavil. The first concert was by Nirmala Srinivasan. All concerts were brief as there were many eager participants waiting to offer their homage. There was another nagaswaram recital by S. Samdeepraj and party followed by the saxophone recital by Kovai C. Jaishankar to the accompaniment of Sriranjani Ramkumar on the violin and Vadasithur M. Ramachandran on the mridangam.
G.S.Lalitha, R. Rajeshwari, Sriranjani Ramkumar, Radha Sriram, Mala Ravichandran and Latha Mohan (disciples of Meena Subramaniam) sang some of the kritis popularised by MLV.
Srividya Srikantan (U.S.), Amritha Sekhar, Niranjan Krishna and B.S.Sekhar sang in the evening.
Meena Subramaniam, along with her disciples sang ‘Namami Vigna Vinaayaka,’ ‘Kamala Charane’ and the Chathurdasa ragamalika by Dikshitar, ‘Sriviswanaatham Bhajeham.’
The last one won a lot of appreciation as the kriti is a master piece in Sanskrit and demands great grip over the ragas, sahitya and tala. The team led by Meena Subramaniam did good justice to the kriti.
The evening programme featured a talk by Vaidyanatha Krishnan on the greatness of MLV’s music. He recalled how she made each kriti glisten, polished by her pleasing gamakas. He mentioned with conviction that the jewel-like ‘Sriviswanatham Bhajeham’ is still popular only because of MLV.
C.R.Gopinath narrated a few incidents that brought out her simplicity, generosity and immense love for her disciples.
Nagaswara vidwan Sakthivel was felicitated during this function and awarded the title, ‘Mummoorthi Gaana Daasa’ in recognition of his devotion to the music trinity. Kovai K. Sivaramakrishnan gave an impressive vocal recital accompanied by Kovai K. Balasubramaniam on the violin and G. Prakash on the mridangam.
It was a heart-warming programme attended by musicians, musicologists, music promoters and music-lovers.
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