Brilliance. In dictionaries, it is defined as ‘very bright and vivid’, ‘extremely clever or talented’ and ‘excellent’. At one go, all three might sound similar, almost the same. It is a known fact, instilled in everyone from school days that a talented child is always bright and the vice versa. And hence he or she excels in the normal parameters used to describe brightness or talent.

But in deep introspection, I would paint a different dimension to it. They are not one and the same. These are various avatar-s, forms or incarnations of brilliance.

In the recent December Music Season 2011, as any die hard rasika would, I attended quite a handful of concerts. The incarnations of brilliance, as I would call, were very evident in each concert and helped me in giving shape to this thought. To top all this, I should not forget the fellow rasikas and newspaper reviews, whose views in a purely conversational and leisure mode, contributed immensely to mold this primitive thought.

In the yester years, we have had stalwarts who have walked this Earth and created music of ‘sheer brilliance’. What can be spoken about Brindamma’s shruti, or Ariyakudi mama’s vibrancy, or MS amma’s devotion, etc.? Each of these artistes was brilliance personified, standing on his or her own strength, not stooping down to anything lower than that. It is a widely accepted fact that all these stars had a profound practical knowledge of music, yet each had his or her own way to bring out that knowledge on stage. So, if Brindamma chose to present Vilamba kala (slow paced) compositions in her performances, it was not because she was anywhere close to being inefficient in the faster speeds. It was her ‘path’, the one she created for herself to reach the supreme, the ultimate of any activity. It is the same with that of stars on the other end of the spectrum, like Ariyakudi mama or GNB mama. They created magic with fast speeds and were equally adept in handling slower compositions. It was a different path that they chose. But the destination is one and the same.

Both were accepted as brilliance because they were nothing but that. Rasikas and critics knew just the right thing by which brilliance could be judged.

These days, brilliance is very wrongly interpreted as only ‘vibrancy’. A brilliant concert, in today’s terms can be described as one, full of high energy, superfast bhrka-s, not even having a moment of silence lest the energy should drop, even if that moment of silence could create more than what so many minutes of continuous music could. Why isn’t silence, at the right moment regarded as brilliance, when a lightning sangati, at the precise moment, is, evoking rapturous appreciation and applause? In which way is a gamaka laden raga alapana less vivid than bhrka laden exposition? It is like a painting. Give a brush to a worthy artiste; he can create magical brillliance with it, whatever color he uses. Are people who give importance to that silence or tranquility less talented or excellent than those who tag durita kalams and full energy and excitement, important? In some cases it can turn out to be the vice versa too.

A parallel can be drawn with the dashavatarm-s of Lord Vishnu. In the ‘Parashurama’’ avatar, He was described as a very aggressive, energetic ( for the purpose of slaying evil kshatriys-s, reason behind the incarnation) and a powerful sage. But in the ‘Vamana’ avatar, He was characterized as a highly peaceful and soft spoken Brahmin boy.Would anyone say that Lord Vishnu was less brilliant in either of these avataram-s? They were just forms to show that brilliance is only subjective. It is not objective. One must ideally be like Lord Krshna, ninth of lord Vishnu’s ten incarnations. He knew how to be both mischievous and enthusiastic and when to be subtle and calm!

In the end, one must understand that brilliance has varied forms. Each form is beautiful in its own way, giving ample space to delve into the beauty and savor it endlessly. If this point is driven home, a whole new world is awaiting each person, a world he or she has never considered, due to its ‘lack of brilliance’. So let us all, as the new age listeners, know that brilliance can never be categorized. It is ‘a culmination of talent, cleverness to present the brightest form of art we consider to be vivid, in the most excellent manner!’