Friday Review
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Soulful recital
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Geetha Bennet’s concert was a befitting start to SICA’s new year.
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Geetha Bennet
Geetha Bennet’s play of veena was pure music stuck to sruti and melody maintaining the instrument’s quality of sound; she performed here last week for South Indian Cultural Association (SICA) at Ravindra Bharathi. Geetha is the daughter of noted musicologist and Sangeetha Kalanidhi late S. Ramanathan. She learned music from him before moving to the US, where she became Geetha Bennet after marrying Dr. Bennet, a composer.
Geetha Bennet is both a veena player and vocalist. She received many awards including that of the Madras Music academy. Her father Ramanathan belonged to the sixth generation of Thyagaraja parampara and the fact that music is in her genes reflected in her performance, which was enjoyable from start to finish.
Melody and Gamaka Sourabham marked her performance. The tonal quality of her instrument was perfect. Geetha opened with Bhairavi Atatala varnam - Viriboni and its melodic impact created a favourable atmosphere. The next was Sri Mahaganapati Ravatumam, an invocatory in Gowla of Deekshitar. This had remarkable swarakalpana. Srirama Padama of Thyagaraja in Amrutha Vauhini, a Karuna Rasa number, had the benefit of lending her voice too to her playing, to intensify the mood.
Dharmavati was the first raga essay of the concert with variations. She displayed virtuosic skills like producing gliding swaras with one pull of the string. Bhajanaseya Rada of Vasyudevacharya in roopaka Talam was another good choice with nereval and swara kalpana. Raghuvamsa Sudhambudhi of Patnam in Kadana Kutuhalan was a delight. Kambhoji was her main raga essay. It was a neat offering slowly built into imposing raga structure.
O Ranga Sayi of Thyagaraja was the right choice in this, a Vilambakala kirtana, played in contrast to earlier numbers. The kirtana was played in vocalist tempo and presented neraval and swarakalpana imaginatively. Dwaram Durga Prasada Rao on violin, M.L.N. Raju on mridangam and Haribabu on ghatam displayed intuition and scholarship. The violinist’s apt raga versions and the percussionists Tani Avartnam were enjoyable. This concert of Geetha Bennet opened SICA’s new year with a bang. Geetha also presented awards to winners in a music competition that SICA conducted earlier for children.
G.S.
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Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
|
