Students and family members of veteran violinist M. Chandrasekaran hosted a special event on his 80th birthday at the Music Academy on July 8. The two main artistes of the evening Chitravina N. Ravikiran and violinist Sangeeta Shankar played a pallavi in praise of MC.
N. Murali, president, The Music Academy, presided over the function. The special guests were Cleveland V.V. Sundaram and T.N. Seshagopalan.
A short film on the ace violinist was the highlight of the event. It showed Chandrasekaran talking about his Calcutta days, how he was named after Mahaperiyava and many more interesting aspects of his life. The short also focussed on some poignant episodes such as the loss of his eyesight and his relocation to Chennai after the early demise of his father. It also had Chandrasekharan speaking about his tutelage under his mother and guru Charubala Mohan (in whose name he runs a trust), a violinist herself, and his vocal training under legends such as T. Jayammal, Sambasiva Bhagavatar, Kumbakonam Viswanatha Iyer,and Vidyala Narasimhulu Naidu. “However, learning to play the violin was one thing that I found difficult. I loved Bismillah Khan’s Shehnai and would try to emulate him,” he confides.
He honed his skills also by listening to the greats of Carnatic Music — “Ramnad Krishnan’s music was full of essence; it was extraordinary!” Once Chandrasekharan mastered the technique of playing the violin, there was no looking back. From 1949, when he started accompanying an array of musicians, to the present when he shares stage space with young vocalists, it has been a memorable journey for him.
Extempore Pallavi
The screening of the film was followed by an enthralling jugalbandi concert. Ravikiran had penned the pallavi (Kalyani) that afternoon for the occasion and he played it along with Sangeeta. The lyric of the pallavi (greeted with applause) went thus, ‘Sunadha Chandrasekaram namamyaham geetha vadhya suswara.’
“Violinist par excellence, he is, in equal measure, a vocalist of high calibre, who has inspired me from childhood,” said Ravikiran. Both the artistes came up with a beautiful Kalyani ragam and tanam.
This was preceded by their solo performances. Beginning with ‘Marivere’ (Anandabhairavi), Ravikiran chiselled a fine Varali alapana followed by ‘Ka vaa vaa.’ Akkarai Subhalakshmi accompanied him on the violin. Sangeeta’s brief Gorakh Kalyan raga presentation was replete with the characteristics of the ‘gayaki ang’ of her school. Srimushnam V. Raja Rao (mridangam) and Saurabh Kardikar (tabla) displayed percussion intricacies.
The event began with a vocal presentation of M. Chandrasekaran’s compositions by his disciple Bharat Kumar.