16 Chandrashekhara eesha

 

 

If you stumbled upon this post, reading this introduction might help

As far as I can remember, I had never listened to the pair known as Alathur brothers live. They were brothers only musically and not really siblings. Alathur Shivasubramanya Iyer having passed away in 1965, I had perhaps had never had a chance to listen to them singing together.

Mysore had something called Aralikatte Ramamandira. There was a small Rama temple next to an old peepul tree (Arali mara in Kannada) and hence the name. One Babu, popularly known as Aralikatte Babu started organizing concerts during Ramanavami at the ramamandira. It was at the junction of two roads and the Arali mara was at the acute angle formed between a larger road and a minor road. A modest pandal would be erected at the base of the tree and concerts held for some days – a fortnight or so. It was open to public and all the expenses were met through donations. The roads leading to the junction would be blocked in the evenings and concerts would be held. Across the stage was the compound wall of a large house and we often sat on it and listened to the concerts.

In the mid-seventies, there was this concert of Alathur Srinivasa Iyer at that place and I attended, Srinivasa Iyer was giving a concert in Mysore after a long time, perhaps the first time after the demise of his partner. He was accompanied on the violin by M Chandrasekharan but I do not remember the Mridangist. It was a wonderful concert. As the last part of the concert, he was singing some tukdas (short musical pieces) and he sang a short alapane in Sindhubhairavi and started singing the composition Chandrashekhara eesha.  Within minutes he broke down and stopped singing. That song was popularized by Alathur Brothers and he was singing it after a long time and he was overcome with emotion at the loss of his partner. In a little while he composed himself and brought a glorious concert to an end.