Time travel into the past

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  Vocal concert by O.S. Thyagarajan at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in Chennai. Photo: K.V. SrinivasanThe evening concert was trimmed to a little less than two hours due to the prayer-discourse held for the recent deluge in the city. O. S. Thyagarajan (OST), however, provided a sumptuous feast with his high-on-tradition rendering of Kharaharapriya that spanned for about an hour.
  Beginning with the majestic ‘Gana nathane’, a Tamil composition by Periasamy Thooran in Saranga, accompanied by madhyamakala swarams, the concert got off to a brisk start. OST followed it up with another fast-paced composition ‘Kala harana melara’ of Tyagaraja in Suddha Saveri set to Roopaka tala. The essence of the raga flowed seamlessly through the swara phrases ending with the arohanam of the raga in each set. What came after these compositions was an elaborate account of Kharaharapriya, ranging over five octaves and gliding effortlessly across the length and breadth of the raga. Mullaivasal Chandramouli (violin) enjoyed the raga essay and embellished it in his own way.
  ‘Pakkala nilabadi’ was the main kriti of the evening. OST followed the tradition with niraval at the usual phrase ‘manasuna dalachi me’ in the charanam. But the expanse of the niraval was extraordinary. The short phrases of the kalpanaswaras built up to a splendid three-avarthana, drawing applause from the audience.
  S. Thyagarajan (mridangam) in the minimal time came up with a thoughtful, crisp and well-crafted tani avartanam. The sprinkling of Tisra nadai was enjoyable.
  The post-tani session was replete with slow and melodious Tamil compositions — ‘Muruganin maru peyar azhagu’ of Guru Surajananda in Behag and ‘Kaana vendamo’ in Sriranjani by Papanasam Sivan.
  The less-heard Tyagaraja's composition, ‘Pahi Rama duta’, in Vasanthavarali stood out for its classicism and was appealing as the main piece of the concert. Starting with the anupallavi, ‘Anatha rakshaki’, OST presented a brisk Madhyamavati in ‘Vinayakuni’ another Tyagaraja composition to bring down the curtains on a concert that never had a dull moment.
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  O.S. Thyagarajan Photo: K.V. Srinivasan