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Melodious Endurance Record
 It must be a Guinness record. Chitraveena N Ganesh (grandson of illustrious immortal
Gottuvadyam Narayanayyangar and first cousin of
Maestro Ravikiran and Sashikiran) played on the Chitraveena (present name for Gottuvadyam) non-stop for a marathon 32 hours and 30 minutes last week.
The 27–year-old artiste started playing on the instrument at 1600 hrs on Thursday 27th and put it down, rather unwillingly, at 0130 hrs on Saturday 29th May early morning. This notable event took place at T Nagar, Chennai.
“I would have gone on for a few more hours but my elders coaxed me to stop the performance. In between, I had some glucon D and two slices of fruits. That was all!”.
Ganesh played during the marathon session about 200 compositions, a large number of them quite rare pieces of great Vaggeyakaras--the Trinity,
Swati Tirunal, Subbaraya Sastri,
Purandara Dasa, Maha
Vaidyanthayyar, Utthukkadu Venkata Kavi and several others. For example, Peridi Ninnu (Karaharapriya), Ninnu Sevinchina (Yadukulakhamboji), Ennudu Jutunu (Kalavathi) Ekkaalatthilum (Nattakkurinji) Narasimha
Aagaccia (Mohanam), Sankarin Sri Rajeswari (Madhyamavati – Kaamakshi Navaarnavam), Vihara Manasa (Suddha Bhairavi), Aachaara Villadha
Naalige (Rishabhapriya), Parulenu Vedanu (Balahamsa),… were all played sweetly.
No, he did not plan the format, he just played on inspiration as the composition entered his mind, ’by the Grace of Ishta Devatas
Goddess Kamakshi and
Lord
Narasimha’.
Accompanists? Karaikkal Venkatasubramanian (20 hours), Arunachala Karthick (7 hours) and Akkarai Subbalakshmi (2 hours) on the violin, Trivandrum Balaji, K V Gopalakrishnan, Rajasubramanian, 13-year-old Srivatsan (6 hours) and cousin Sashikiran on Mridangam, revered guru
Ravikiran (2 hours - Chitraveena) on Mridangam, Guruprasad (Ghatam) and
Aniruddha on Kanjira played supportively.
“No, I did not feel any pain at all. Towards the later stages of the performance, I had to support my wrist with a piece of cloth as there was burning pain due to friction. Otherwise, it was all smooth sailing!”
As for motivation, - ‘Why, I had to do something unusually creative to earn worthwhile rasika notice and appreciation. In February last, I had ‘sung’ (vocal) for about 30 hours at a stretch at Thyagaraja Sangeetha Vidwat Samajam, Mylapore. This time I played instrumental music. Well, apart from Ravikiran Anna and myself there are not many other notable Chitraveena performers. That way, this must be notable global record worthy of Guinness
notice!”
Audience appeal? “ At any given time, there were at least 25 rasikas listening raptly. I must appreciate 18-year-old Pradeep Kumar (vocalist), who stayed with me during all 33 hours. Gruelling? Not at all! It was all inspiring, invigorating, every minute of it! I won’t mind bettering it, in the very near future!”
Ganesh took particular care to assure me that it was not a publicity stunt, nor a cheap gimmick. It was a long, long fervent homage to all the venerable divine composers. Let us look at this exercise that way please!”
‘My Gurus are ‘Appa’ (maternal uncle Narasimhan), Ravikiran Anna, and Brinda Madam. I owe everything to this ‘Trinity’. Married? “Yes, to Chitraveena, of course!” I am achievement-oriented in my approach. So, one wife will do. Anyway, bigamy is punishable in Law!”
Ganesh played one particular piece during this 33 hour session – ‘Vitulakumrukyadaa’ (Thyagaraja Maayamalavagaula), an astonishing piece in which the saint pays rich homage to almost all Gods and Goddesses, about more than twenty of them. This is a rare piece in Sanskrit, he advised.
It is a tremendous endurance feat on Chitraveena by a youngster, indeed. If this instrument alone is the criterion, then probably this is a Guinness Record! Correct me, please!
R Srinivasan |
