Veni,Vidi,Vici- Musically Yours Narasimhan Vijayaraghavan He came. He sat. He sang. And Musically Conquered. One does not need to exhibit eccentric behavior to be ‘accepted as genius’ said Justice V R Krishna Iyer. The two faculties do not ‘always’ go hand in hand or need to be found in the same terrain. There can be and are ‘normal geniuses’. Genius is a characteristic of original and exceptional insight in the performance of some art or endeavor that
Veni,Vidi,Vici- Musically Yours
Narasimhan Vijayaraghavan
He came. He sat. He sang. And Musically Conquered. One does not need to exhibit eccentric behavior to be ‘accepted as genius’ said Justice V R Krishna Iyer. The two faculties do not ‘always’ go hand in hand or need to be found in the same terrain. There can be and are ‘normal geniuses’. Genius is a characteristic of original and exceptional insight in the performance of some art or endeavor that surpasses expectations, sets new standards for future works, establishes better methods of operation, or remains outside the capabilities of competitors. Yes, what this artiste can come up with as magical,others can only dream of.
Why this philosophical construct? This boy/man is a genius. He is all of 36 years. And has been a veteran for over a decade plus. And he is normal, off and on stage. Unlike some notorious artistes. He plays contrarian too. By being different and distinct in his rendition. Not in rebellion. He exudes class. He is tradition bound in looks, on stage. Wore a red Jubba not a red and black full arm neckless T shirt. Does not come to catch your eye. He comes to catch your ear. To tug at your heart. And let it hug his vocal cords. From the moment of release to its disappearance in the air. He lets the swarams form a regal throne, on which he is lightly seated and the rasikas in tandem, in splendid stupor.
If you know your grammar and nuances, you would be dazzled. Even if not, you would still be sucked in. Hear an accompanist, who revealed this stunning anecdote, in private. “ He leaned across and told each of us accompanists,ahead of his entry into the raga and the krithi. So that we were ready to respond. Yet, when he deep dived, we were lost. The twists, turns and crevices he conjured up, stumped us. It was new and novel to us veterans. We exchanged glances as to whether we were shadowing him or letting him ‘play’ with us, with his genius. Truth to tell, I put my fiddle down and enjoyed him as a rasika, not to miss out on the sublime occasion. We knew we had a phenomenon in our midst. Ever since, I have been his devoted fan, with the best seat on stage”. Some compliment that!
I was privy to the occasion, in recall. It was at the Academy, the Lords of music. The singer was on song. The singer was smiling big. He was not mocking at the accompanists. He was challenging them, the best and brightest. He was in a zone of his own. Zone of One. The swarams came out smiling. They were sparkling. And he let them dance, for us to see, not just hear. The accompanists were ‘blinded’, as a friend messaged me.It was not as if they were ‘beaten’ in a contest not concert. They were mesmerized by his manodharmic revelations on stage. They did not know plumbing such distances and depths in raga alapana and swaraprastharams were real or possible.Class always tells.Or talks.Or rather sings.There was musical eloquence in his silence and pause too. Regal Reengaaram, they say.
And the voice he has , is god’s gift. He could sleep walk onto stage and render a thematic concert. His repertoire is alarmingly huge, for an accompanist to be closely aligned. Nothing is out of syllabus for him. Let that not fool you. He prepares, prepares, and some more.Music ‘plays’ in his head, he says. Neville Cardus put it beautifully,”When great artistes perform live, mind you, they have played it several times, in their head already”. (Cardus the cricket critic was a legendary music critic too- in fact it is reported that sometimes he missed even test matches, if there was a matching concert at the Royal Albert Hall- yet skillfully reported on both, as if he was there).
One is reminded of Rajan Bala talking of Erapalli Prasanna, and Vaman Kumar, in the same breath, the legendary offie and leggie, once. “ Both were crafty and cunning. They spoke with their fingers. They sent the deliveries with a message. The ‘ball’ had to behave. They better did. They were sent by stern masters. They were prodigious spinners even on docile tracks. And versatility was their middle name. Yet, they forgot on occasions that they had a ‘role’ to perform, to win matches for their teams. They were lost in the art. I was privy to many an occasion, when, on tracks which were spitting venom and fire, spinners’ paradise, the two would be teasing, with experiments, to ‘go straight’. Sunny Gavaskar once told me that ‘ it was tough to play their straight ones than the bamboozling prodigious spinning ones. It was fascinating display by two supreme artistes, undoubted geniuses, at work in their art. Facing them was fascinatingly daunting. I loved it from the non striker’s end where I could put my bat down and simply follow these crooks at work. I was privileged to have the best seat on stage’.
This man on the Carnatic music stage runs the spin twins close.He teases, experiments, elongates, bonsais the swarams and phrases at will. And he torments the accompanists. They always have to do catch up. Most try. But falling short is no shame, as the accompanist candidly confessed.
And once, legendary Umayalpuram Sivaraman Mama, eighty plus, unabashedly Sabhashed him with a bowed head, after an alapana, while an accompanist. Vashistar had crowned the Brahmarishi. The singer was beaming like a sheep, as only a humble genius could. He is art itself. Music personified. As my father once said, “Ariyakudi ordered coffee tunefully”. You can add – this boy-man – mellifluously orders a burger,pizza and nachos with a diet coke, as a millennial or a GenZ would. Awesome!
It was a concert for the gods. It was pouring just kittens and puppies, if you will. The hall was full of devotees not rasikas. They were in worshipful mode. Each one was in a tussle with the other to gather bags full of memorabilia that were chivalrously shared from the stage. Yet, there was more and more and more for the taking not less. Mylapore mamas and mamas were dancing in the aisles. When with creaky knees shaking a leg is a tough ask.That is my imagination run amok. He was that liberal not niggardly. And I got my fill in these words.
Neville Cardus famously said of Steve McCabe , “ He dismissed the fearsome bowlers, as if trundlers, from his presence”. Well, this man embraced all comers from his sitting posture/presence. Cardus wrote “ It is in the arts that I have found the only religion that is real and once found omnipresent,”on the last page of his autobiography. And “without creative urge and imagination man would be less than the animals … “. And this performer’s ‘creative urge and imagination’ are inimitable.
Sticking to discipline of a Katcheri format, he began with a fast paced varnam. What else. Tucked into
Tyagaraja’s immortal Teliyaleru Rama Bhakti Margu.. and then….and Forget it. He recited the alphabets. And select rhymes. No difference.
Abhishek Raghuram.At the NGS today. He came. He sat. And he sang,you see.
(Author is practicing advocate in the Madras High Court)
