Indian-Australian organisation InConcertMusic showcases Carnatic music in Melbourne
InConcertMusic presented an evening of delightful music in early March at the Wellington Secondary College. It began with a short segment by the ‘Melbourne Brothers’ Raghuveer and Narayanan Rangan.
This young duo has taken the Carnatic music scene in Melbourne by storm, and have performed several concerts here and in the Chennai music season to critical acclaim. They presented a very polished and crisp section, ending with a soul-stirring rendition of Vasudevayani in Kalyani.
They were accompanied on the mrudangam by Vijayapalan, for whom it was a debut solo performance, and Manisha Jothin on the violin, who is fast becoming an accomplished accompanist. This was followed by a choir of several Melbourne vocalists and music lovers, who sang a composition by Neyveli Santhanagopalan in ragamalika on Australia: ‘Australia namnaadu, eduvum illai idarkeedu’ (Australia is our country: there is none that is its equal).
It was much appreciated by the audience and wowed everyone! These very impressive lyrics were also written in Tamil by Santhanagopalan. Neyveli Santhanagopalan’s own concert followed afterwards, and his unhurried style and dulcet voice was like a balm for tense nerves.
There were no pyrotechnics or gimmicks – just pure unadulterated music. From his varnam in Vasantha to the kritis in Naattai, garudadhwani, bhairavi, Hamir kalyani, he let his audience savour each raga and kriti, and embellished them some from time to time with kalpana swaras and niraval.
The Dikshitar kriti Parimala Ranganatham was the piece de resistance, which enthralled the listeners. Santhanagopalan was accompanied most ably by Mannargudi Eeswaran on the mrudangam and Nagai Mukundan on the violin.
