Christmas this year was definitely a memorable day for all the rasikas who were fortunate to listen to Keyboard Sathyanarayanan, a 10-year old musician, and Embar Kannan at the Brahma Gana Sabha. No doubt when a brilliant violinist performs a concert in tandem with a prodigy, the music delights the senses, more so when the violinist uncle openly enjoyed performing with the young nephew. What added colour to the occasion was that Sathya and Kannan chose to present chaste Carnatic music to the accompaniment of Arun Kumar on the Rhythm pad, Sridhar on the Drums and Suriyanarayanan on the Bass Guitar. This was quite likely a first-of-its-kind performance where all the instruments are originally alien to Carnatic music. The performance of all the artistes, however, ensured that the audience never gave that a thought.
Starting briskly with the Mallari in Gambheera Nattai in adi thalam, the beauty and majesty of the Bhairavi ata thala varnam was brought out enhanced by the chords that Sathya played while Kannan played the melody. Gam Ganapathe followed in Hamsadwani with Kannan and Sathya preceding the krithi with a short alapana. The bubbly and effervescent krithi with crisp kalpanaswaras sparkled in the hands of these talented artistes.
For Sathya’s first public concert in 2001, Kannan had composed a piece in Srothasvini and that followed. Kannan’s skill as a composer coupled with his excellent understanding of the western musical idiom was highlighted in this composition which quite seamlessly merged the melody and the western rhythmic patterns. Arun and Sridhar complemented the artistes very well.
What came next was a purely Western composition, a Hungarian Dance song. The scale changes, the precise and soothing rhythm by Arun and the melody which was vaguely reminiscent of a Carnatic raga (Kiravani?) was executed perfectly.
A RTP in Sumanesaranjani (Sathya announced the name of the raga and sang the pallavi with that sweat mazhalai voice) was a very pleasant surprise. Set to Thisra Triputa talam, the pallavi was ‘Vaa guha muruga shanmuga valli manalane vadivelava’. Excellent expositions of the raga by Sathya and Kannan and brilliant swaras were the highlight of this effort and an excellent thani was the crowning glory.
Indicating the genius within him, Sathya next played his own composition set to ragamalika – Kaapi, Kiravani and Gowri Manohari. The lyrics for the song were penned by Panneerselvam, an ardent admirer of Sathya, and Sathya’s father Krishna Babu sang the first few lines of the song.
A medley consisting of Aiye methakadinam, Adamodigalada, Nadavindu and Chenikulanagar was a sampler from Sathya’s latest album – Vatapi to Vandematharam released by Kosmic Music – and then the concert ended with a reverberating and emotional Vande Mataram.
It was noteworthy that celebrities like playback singer S.Janaki, Anuradha and Sriram, Isai Mazhalai Ramji and Chitraveena Ravikiran attended, with Janaki also speaking a few words of appreciation and encouragement and, on earnest requests, sang a few lines from one of her film songs. Janaki also remembered to praise Krishna Babu for his singing and urged him to not give it up.
Sathya has recently passed the 8th Grade Western exams from Trinity College, London. His guru for Western music, Mr. Alphonse, was honoured on the occasion and Sathya played a short piece from his 8th grade lessons. This was a very nice gesture, indeed.
The quality of sound is a very major contributor to the listening experience, and in the excellent Sivagami Pethachi auditorium, Nagaraj (the auditorium’s resident engineer) and Sound Engineer Akhilesh Aswin worked hard to provide that backup.
Janaki was also the vehicle for presenting Sathya with a gold bracelet from a rasika who wished to remain anonymous. This presentation must have reminded rasikas of similar instances in the early days of Mandolin Srinivas and Balamuralikrishna. But to the listeners that day, so did Sathya’s musical acumen and his skill on his chosen instrument.
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