KL Kaushik, IIT Madras Music Club

K L Kaushik - Flute
Arunachalam Karthik - Fiddle
S R Ethirajan - Mridangam

Music Club IITM 8th November 2005

viribhONi - bhairavi - aTa tALam - pachimiriyam Adiyappaiyar (short sketch)
nADADina mATa - janaranjani - misra cApu - T (S)
angArakam - suruTTi - rUpakam - MD (short sketch)
karuNa yElakaNTE - varALi - Adi - T (RNS)
mAnasa guruguha - Anandabhairavi - tisra Ekam (2 kaLai) - MD (R)
aTukArAdani - manOranjani - Adi - T
tulasi bilva - kEdAragauLa - Adi (2 kaLai) - T (RNS)
taniyAvaratanam
dEvi brOva - cintAmaNi - Adi (2 kaLai) - SS
marubAri - khamAs - dharmapuram subbarAyar jAvaLi
nI nAma rUpamulaku - saurAshTRam

Our "knowledge-pretending" critics of the press usually have the habit of lamenting over all of contemporary carnatic music, saying "it lacks depth, these people have no understanding of the Carnatic idiom" and so on. They do not care to fan the obscure sabhas and pick the artists who can outclass the classical musicians of yesteryears. These thoughts passed through my mind as I sat listening to one of the most promising prospects perform at Music Club, IIT Madras.

The first indication of classicism is the menu card; it says a lot for where the artist's heart lies. The brief or elaborate rAga essays, the renditions soaked in melody, with no sign of discontinuity, were out of the world! The varnam in bhairavi was rendered as best as any that I have heard. janaranjani flowed smoothly. The Lord of the Day of the week, angAraka, was duly paid homage. Then came a breathtaking AlApana of varALi. Flautists would know the extent of control required for handling an entire set of 'half-holed' notes for this rAga. Kaushik was absolutely at ease, playing a memorable spell of the rAga and the kriti.

Did you look for a change to the light after that? Sorry, next came Anandabhairavi vying for honours with the preceding AlApana followed by another weighty rendition of 'mAnasa guruguha', Dikshitar's masterpiece. For a break, therafter, came a brisk manOranjani, to be followed by kEdAragauLa as the main item for the day. Frankly, though this was also an impressive elaboration, it did not measure up to the standards of varALi and Anandabhairavi; his earlier excellence was his own enemy! It was refreshing to hear tuLasI bilva taken up as the main piece and aired so beautifully. The niraval ans swaras were followed by the tani -- Ethirajan on the mridangam -- there was nothing left to look forward to from a guy who seemed to play bhairavi, Anandabhairavi, varALi and kEdAragauLa on the mridangam, if you ever thought that was possible! The melodic accompaniment that Ethirajan provided for this concert was so impressive that the tani sounded redundant, though he played well! Expected some light stuff after the tani, at least? No, there was still cintAmaNi to come! The jAvaLi in khamAs made up for that need after which the concert concluded, AruNAcala kArthik supported well on the violin without showing any kleptomaniac tendency to steal the show like Ethirajan did!