The Laya Vidhya Centre in Melbourne, Australia held a concert on 25 April to commemorate the late Trivandrum R Venkataraman, a doyen among veena virtuosos. Quite aptly, it was a Veena recital by two of his favourite disciples, the Iyer Brothers, with Sridhar Chari on the mrudangam. It was held at the Ashwood Secondary College.
The Iyer Brothers Ramnatha and Gopinath had written a moving tribute to their guru in the April issue of Sruti, the premier magazine of the arts in India. They recollected some of the fondest memories of their guru in a prelude to the recital: it was clear they held their guru in great awe and affection, for he was not only a great musician, but a teacher who gave selflessly, without holding anything back; an observant and dedicated guru, and most of all, a brilliant musician.
Venkataraman’s career spanned 5 decades, during which time he won many awards and accolades, the last being the Sangeetha Kala Acharya from The Music Academy in Chennai in Jan 2010.
The concert was a celebration of the achievements of Venkataraman, and his contribution to Carnatic music, so the repertoire was a selection of music that he had taught the Iyer brothers over the last ten years, the period during which they were closely associated.
The Iyer Brothers began with a kalyani varnam in Ata tala, which, their guru believed, embodied the beauty of the raga in all its glory. He had insisted that this varnam be taught only after students had mastered a few kritis in kalyani.
They presented several Swati Tirunal kritis, the hallmark of the Trivandrum school: in mayamalavagowla; [deva deva kalayamithe] in Arabi; [Narasimha mamava]; poorvi kalyani [deva deva Jagadeeswara]; hamir kalyani [Gangeya Vasandhara]; thodi [Sarasijanabha Sodari]; sindhu bhairavi [vishweshwara darishana karo], and the well known Tillana in dhanasri.
The ragam tanam pallavi was in shankarabharanam, again, a favourite of their guru. Gopinath presented a detailed and methodical presentation of the thodi ragam, and his manodharma and rendition delighted the Melbourne audience.
A Dikshitar kriti in Suriti and Vyasaraya’s Krishna Nee Begane were some of the other items: The ragas rendered - todi, kalyani, shankarabaranam, and the choice of kritis, their guru’s own pallavi, et al, made the concert a truly ‘sampurna samarpanam’ to their great guru Venkataraman.
