Kalyanapuram Aravind’s singing is an ode to his guru T.N. Seshagopalan’s bani

Kalyanapuram Aravind with Chidambaram Badrinath on the violin, Prashant on the mridangam and Somnath Roy on the ghatam.
| Photo Credit: S. R. Raghunathan

A book needs a good publisher to sell. But that is not sufficient. It also needs a good plot and arresting narration. 

V. Kalyanapuram Aravind’s tutelage under the legend T. N. Seshagopalan gives him a solid baseline. He backs that up with fertile imagination and flexible vocal chords to execute his ideas.

Aravind’s concert for The Music Academy packed in a lot — several contrasting kritis, raga and tala spectrum and an interesting pallavi in Dwijavanthi and even trikalam and ragamalika swaras. For those yearning for a live TNS flavour, Aravind’s palette was largely that. 

A mel-sthayi trigger to the Pantuvarali alapana after the Surutti varnam established the fast-moving agenda. ‘Ninne nera nammi’ (Tyagaraja, Rupakam) with niraval and short swaras at ‘Vedasastra purana’ kept the engaging flow. Chidambaram Badrinath on the violin displayed alertness to the laya forays of the vocalist with his own punches. Mariveregathi (Ananda Bhairavi, Syama Sastri, Misra Chapu) was preceded by a sloka teaser from Meenakshi Pancharatnam. It’s a better ploy compared to a brief raga sketch as it underlines the spiritual state and lyrical enunciation of an artiste. Time pressure halved the expanse of a kriti. 

Kalyanapuram Aravind performing at The Music Academy’s December Season 2024 music festival
| Photo Credit:
S. R. Raghunathan

‘Kanu kontini’ ( Tyagaraja, Bilahari) was chosen as a breezy interlude but with no normative swaras. Instead, Aravind used the time to delineate a classical Saveri alapana with more karvais and sustains and minimum jerks. Badrinath’s Saveri was quaint as he dosed it perfectly. Both had block-booked the ‘ma da sa’ phrase in their alapanas. ‘Sri Rajagopala’ (Dikshitar, Adi) is one of the tallest kritis in this raga, as it refers to the gopuram of the Mannargudi temple. The TNS shades were very evident, especially the oozing raga lakshana. Sometimes, rendering a big kriti with all the bells and whistles is itself a manodharma output, as Aravind showed. Niraval and swara at ‘purane srividya’ by both Aravind and Badrinath had good raga contours and laya feast that the school is well known for. Tani avartanam of Prashant (mridangam) and Somnath Roy (ghatam) was in tune with the pace of the concert. 

An abbreviated raga alapana of Dwijavanthi had enough charming flights from the vocalist and the violinist. The tanam was a squeeze. The pallavi in Kanda Triputa with a delayed start (‘Dasarathe maampalaya dayanidhe’) showcased Aravind’s manodharma and laya suites (like the narrative of a book). Ragamalika swaras in Bahudari and Revathy ensured the pallavi was larger than life, despite the hustle. Aravind rounded off the concert with a Darbari Kanada tukkada. Badrinath is not just a competent violinist but handled the laya challenges and the brevity demands immaculately and with polish in sangathis. 

Aravind is clearly poised for some acceleration in career. If this concert is any indication, his preference for sensitive controlled voice production (rather than loud thuds) that settle on the ears gently, is a virtue to be encouraged. Just as he is understandably keen to show the origin of the calf, he will also be expected to undertake journeys that go beyond the TNS playbook. The occasional sruthi swerves need a watch.