Bears Lalgudi's stamp of melody

S. P. RAMH IS a promising singer. With a booming voice which has occasional nasal tinge, Ramh exercises good control over his vocal chords and knows the art of impressive concert format. Ramh's essaying of Ritigowla (`Janani ninnuvina') and Mohanam (``Nannu palimpa'') were testimony of his careful raga exposition with the Lalgudi stamp of melody; a good blend of selected phrases emphasising the character appropriately. Earlier he started his concert with the varnam in Varamu, followed by `Raghunayaka' (Hamsadhwani) and `Korinavara' (Ramapriya) and concluded with Lalgudi Jayaraman's tillana in Revathi. The accompanists T. T. Srinivasan (violin), Neyveli R. Venkatesh (mridangam) and Papanasam Sethuraman (kanjira) were not very active but just adequate.

Madurai R. Sundar opened his vocal concert with the famous Navaragamalika varnam `Valachi' in two tempos. `Siddhivinayakam' in Shanmugapriya was the next. The present trend seems to be to ignore Hindolam for Varamu. How can an NRI like Sundar be antediluvian? He detailed Varamu and the kriti was `Varamum arulvai' in rupaka talam. Later he sketched Kalyani and sang Dikshitar's `Abhayamba Jagadambaksha'. Well, now I present my observations. Sundar's voice does not have any special charm but he has cultivated the skill to sing rigorously. He looked positively tense and agitated on stage than inspired. His raga alapana and swaras were done with great fervour than feel. Nevertheless, Sundar impressed the audience with some bright patches of his musical prowess here and there. Sandhya on the violin, another NRI, was a contrast to the vocalist. Cool and composed, her interpretation of Varamu, Kalyani and kalpanaswaras were well rounded and graceful with her expert bowing. Papanasam R. Kumar on the mridangam and Ernakulam Ramachandran on the ghatam just filled the bill.

Sumitra Nitin's voice sounded like one among the host of fresh voices we hear everyday. But on closer observation, she revealed a controlled proposition to her musical exercise. She did not mull over at length in raga vinyasa. Her exposition of Kalyani was marked by intelligent idioms extracting some of the choicest prayogams of the ragam. Her selection of the kriti was equally impressive - Dikshitar's `Kamalambam bhajare'. Sumitra's niraval on the pallavi itself was precise and so were her brisk swaras. It had almost become wont among the singers to meander a few kilometres before they land on the customary `Ga ri sa ni dha'.

Luckily, there was no such wild goose chase. Her concert included `Sri Venkatagiri' in Suruti, `Oararu mugane' in Arabhi and a ragamalika viruttam ending in Behag with the composition `Muruganin maru peyar'. Nagai Sriram seemed to play on the violin with slight indifference and G. S. Krishnan followed Sumitra devotedly.

Fast tempo

Bombay Ranjani and Gayatri gave a violin duet set at a very fast tempo. This is my regular request to the instrumentalists to kindly announce the kritis and composers to the audience before or (if they do not want to spoil the `guess the raga game' of the enthusiastic audience) after the rendition. I do not think that it will in anyway belittle the scholarship of the rasikas.

Ranjani and Gayatri accelerated the concert right at the start with `Karunimpa', the Sahana varnam (2 speeds) and `Mahaganapathim' in Nattai followed by a string of firework swara package. Gayatri briefly essayed Karnaranjani, good treatment, and played the song which I came to know `Vanjayathulu Bagalu' by Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavathar later from their father.

Ranjani switched over to Arabi and they played `Tsalagallala' of Thyagaraja. The main dish was Shanmugapriya again by Gayatri with perfect understanding of the gaiety of the melody.

Poongulam Subramanian's mridangam will never allow the vocalist to miss the beat. It suited the spirited performance of the duo. Madipakkam Murali on the ghatam contributed his mite to the mela.

G. SWAMINATHAN

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