A Rare Gem

As a child when exposed to sangeeta kacheris by an art-loving father, I used to sit through those concerts not allowing myself even the juvenile giggle that emerged when I saw the musician's hand and face contort during the raagaalapana. The melody used to grip my heart. On this evening when I sat back to enjoy the Carnatic vocal concert of O S Thyagarajan, I could recall some of those tradition-filled voices that made the same impact on my music-loving ears. The strict adherence to Sampradaya was once again evident, as was the melody of the song itself.

O S Thyagarajan, or OST as he is affectionately known, is a perfectionist, with a tonal splendor unsurpassed by any of the current generation of vocalists. On this evening, he set out to delight the listener with untainted pure traditional Carnatic style music, and simply brought everyone to the edge of the seat - we couldn't afford to miss a single note!

A tempo that wouldn't slacken, high level vyavahara, well-chosen ragas and brisk rendition, all went to make the concert a memorable experience. The music just filled your ears. There was no discord from any of the artistes on the dais. Delhi P Sunder Rajan on the violin reproduced every nuance, Neyveli Narayanan on the mridangam had us all keeping laya effortlessly, and the ghatam and even the tanpura were in total sync.

Tradition set by the likes of Lalgudi G Jayaraman, O V Subramanyam and Sangeetha Kalanidhi T M Thyagarajan (the gurus of OST), when kept alive by this gem of a vocalist, is bound to sparkle with absolute brilliance - the glow reflecting even on the enraptured listener.